[6] In the UK, it was the second Aerosmith album to be certified Silver (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in September 1989.

Pump was the second of three sequentially recorded Aerosmith albums to feature producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineers Mike Fraser and Ken Lomas at Little Mountain Sound Studios.

In December 1988, Aerosmith got together at Rik Tinory Productions in Cohasset, Massachusetts to rehearse and compose new songs, as the band members thought the isolated nature of the studio would help their creativity.

[7] Some songs proposed for the album, though never released in their original form, include "Girl's Got Somethin'", "Is Anybody Out There", "Guilty Kilt", "Rubber Bandit", "Sniffin'", and "Sedona Sunrise".

In January 1989, the band went to Vancouver to again record at Fairbairn's Little Mountain Sound, where the producer had helmed Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and New Jersey.

[11] The interludes were done with the collaboration of musician Randy Raine-Reusch, who was brought to the studio after Perry and Tyler visited his house to search for unusual instruments to employ.

[10] On a 1989 MTV special entitled "Aerosmith Sunday", Brad Whitford explained the album title with "Now that we're off drugs, we're all pumped up.

"But Pump – like, real subtle – has more going for it than locker-room laughs, such as the vintage high-speed crunch (circa Toys in the Attic) of 'Young Lust', the sassy slap 'n' tickle of 'My Girl' and the kitchen-sink sound of 'Janie's Got A Gun'.

"[29] "Messrs Tyler and Perry" observed Hi-Fi News & Record Review, "have cleaned up their act, hoovered their nostrils, added a few more items of choice veg to their cod-pieces and come up with a stonker.

279 on their list of "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years", and said "Aerosmith gets no respect for locating that perfect sweet spot between the shamelessness of ‘80s sleaze-metal and the self-aware wink of proto-ironic ‘90s MTV culture".

[32] Loudwire ranked the album fourth in their ranking of Aerosmith studio albums, and said, "'Pump,' like its multiplatinum predecessor, 'Permanent Vacation,' unabashedly catered to '80s hair metal trends with glossy mega-productions like "Love in an Elevator" and the Grammy-winning "Janie's Got a Gun," but it also did a commendable job of reviving the vintage Aerosmith style on loads of amazing tunes".