Dodge Ad Boosts New Aerosmith Single

NEW YORK (AP) - With an endless stream of car commercials hocking vehicles via classic rock anthems such as Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," little notice was taken when Dodge trucks began running an ad with the title track from Aerosmith's multi-platinum Columbia set "Just Push Play." But unlike its predecessors, this song wasn't a hit, or, at the time, even a single. What resulted for the Boston-based rock veterans was pure Madison Avenue genius.

"The commercial is what is selling that song right now," Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer tells Billboard.com. "We have so many requests for it at radio, via the commercial, that we ended up releasing it as a single."

Indeed, although "Just Push Play" spent 15 weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart this summer, peaking at No. 10, it was never sent to other formats. It is now enjoying new life at mainstream top-40 stations, where it was among the top-5 most added tracks this week, with total spins up 350% over the previous week.

Up until last week, Columbia was planning on taking album track "Sunshine," instead of "Just Push Play," beyond rock formats. But the unforeseen support from the commercial made "Just Push Play" the natural choice.

Considering Dodge Motors is also sponsoring the Just Push Play tour, the commercial has exceeded expectations, leaving the band smiling. "It doesn't get any better than that, right?," Kramer says. Beginning next week, a different Dodge commercial using the same track will be airing with Aerosmith appearing on camera.

The group hits Tampa, Fla., tonight (Nov. 27) and wraps its North American dates Jan. 9 in San Jose, Calif. From there, six Japanese shows are on the schedule, after which Aerosmith plans to take a few months off and eventually get back into the studio to begin work on its next release, for which it has no timetable.

Here are Aerosmith's tour dates:

Nov. 27: Tampa, Fla. (Ice Palace Arena)
Nov. 29: Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (National Car Rental Center)
Dec. 1: Birmingham, Ala. (Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center-Arena)
Dec. 3: Champaign, Ill. (Assembly Hall)
Dec. 7: Little Rock, Ark. (Alltel Arena)
Dec. 9: Oklahoma City (Myriad Convention Center)
Dec. 11: St. Louis (Savvis Center)
Dec. 13: Kansas City, Mo. (Kemper Arena)
Dec. 15: Moline, Ill. (Mark of the Quad Cities)
Dec. 17: Cleveland (Gund Arena)
Jan. 5: Denver (Pepsi Coliseum)
Jan. 7: Salt Lake City (Delta Center)
Jan. 9: San Jose, Calif. (Compaq Center)
Jan. 25, 27: Osaka, Japan (Osaka Dome)
Jan. 29: Fukuoka, Japan (Fukuoka Dome)
Jan. 31: Nagoya, Japan (Nagoya Dome)
Feb. 2-3: Tokyo (Tokyo Dome)