Aerosmith are an American hard rock band. Their style is blues-based hard rock. They also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, glam, and rhythm and blues.

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Aerosmith is an American hard rock band. Their style is blues-based hard rock. They also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, glam, and rhythm and blues. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. By 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston.

They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972 and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 debut album, Aerosmith. In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans. However, drug addiction and internal conflict took its toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford, in 1979 and 1981. They were replaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing one album, Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes.

Although Perry and Whitford returned in 1984 and the band signed a new deal with Geffen Records, it wasn’t until the band sobered up and released 1987’s Permanent Vacation that they regained the level of popularity they had experienced in the 1970s. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the band scored several hits and won numerous awards for music from the multi-platinum albums Pump (1989), Get a Grip (1993), and Nine Lives (1997). Their comeback has been called one of the most remarkable and spectacular in rock ‘n’ roll history. After 38 years of performing, the band continues to tour and record music today.

Aerosmith is the bestselling American hard rock band of all time, having sold 150 million albums worldwide, including 66.5 million albums in the United States alone. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and in 2005 they were ranked #57 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

The origins of Aerosmith can be traced to the late 1960s in Sunapee, New Hampshire. Steven Tyler was a drummer and vocalist originally from Yonkers, New York, who had been in a series of relatively unsuccessful bands. In 1969, while vacationing in Sunapee, he met Joe Perry, who was at the time washing dishes at the Anchorage in Sunapee Harbor, and playing in a band called the Jam Band with bassist Tom Hamilton. This meeting would eventually lead to the formation of Aerosmith.

Hamilton and Perry moved to Boston, Massachusetts in September. There they met Joey Kramer, a drummer also from Yonkers, New York who had also known Steven Tyler. Kramer, a Berklee College of Music student, decided to quit school to join the band. In October 1970, they met up once again with Steven Tyler, who had been a drummer and backup singer, but refused to play drums in this band, insisting he would only take part if he could be the frontman and lead vocalist. The others agreed, and Aerosmith was born. The band took the name Aerosmith, suggested by drummer Joey Kramer.

The members of the band used to sit around every afternoon getting stoned and watching Three Stooges reruns. One day, they had a post-Stooges meeting to try to come up with a name. Kramer volunteered that when he was in school he would write the word Aerosmith all over his notebooks. Originally, Kramer’s bandmates disagreed. They all thought he was referring to the boring Sinclair Lewis novel they were forced to read in high school English class. Instead of arrowsmith, they changed it to Aerosmith.

After forming the band and finalizing the lineup in 1971, the band started to gain some local success doing live shows. Clive Davis of Columbia Records was invited to see Aerosmith live at Max’s Kansas City club in New York. Aerosmith was not originally scheduled to play that night at Max’s Kansas City, but they were able to pay their way on the bill.

Aerosmith signed for a reported $125,000 and issued their debut album, Aerosmith. Released in January 1973, the album peaked at #166. The album was straightforward rock and roll with well-defined blues influences, laying the groundwork for Aerosmith’s signature blues-rock sound. The highest charting single from the album was “Dream On” at #59. The album reached gold status initially, but eventually went on to sell two million copies and was certified double platinum after the band reached mainstream success over a decade later.

The band released their second album Get Your Wings in 1974, the first of a string of multi-platinum albums produced by Jack Douglas. This album included the rock radio hits “Same Old Song and Dance” and “Train Kept A-Rollin’”, a cover done previously by The Yardbirds. To date, Get Your Wings has sold three million copies.

It was 1975’s Toys in the Attic, that established Aerosmith as international stars competing with the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. Originally accused as Rolling Stones knockoffs, Toys in the Attic showed that Aerosmith was a unique and talented band in their own way. Toys in the Attic was an immediate success, starting with the single “Sweet Emotion”, which became the band’s first Top 40 hit. This was followed by a successful re-release of “Dream On” which hit #6, becoming their best charting single of the 1970s. “Walk This Way”, re-released in 1976, reached the Top 10 in early 1977.

Aerosmith’s next album was 1976’s Rocks, which captured Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking. It went platinum quickly and featured two FM hits, “Last Child” and “Back in the Saddle”, as well as the ballad “Home Tonight”, which also charted.

The next album, 1977’s Draw the Line, was not as successful or as critically acclaimed as their two previous efforts, although the title track proved to be a minor hit, and “Kings and Queens” also experienced some success. The album went on to sell 2 million copies; however drug abuse and the fast-paced life of touring and recording began affecting their output. Their cover of the Beatles hit “Come Together” would be the band’s last Top 40 hit for nearly 10 years. The live release Live! Bootleg, originally released as a double album, was put out in 1978 and captured the band’s rawness during the heyday of the Draw the Line tour. Lead singer Steven Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry became known as “The Toxic Twins” because of their notorious abuse of drugs on and off the stage.

Just after the recording of their sixth studio album, 1979’s Night in the Ruts, Joe Perry left the band, citing differences with Steven Tyler, and formed The Joe Perry Project. Perry was replaced first by longtime band friend and songwriter Richard Supa and then by guitarist Jimmy Crespo. Night in the Ruts quickly fell off the charts, its only single being a cover of The Shangri-Las’ “Remember (Walking in the Sand)”, which topped out at #67.

In 1980, Aerosmith released their Greatest Hits album. The album has gone on to become the band’s bestselling album in the United States, with sales of 11 million copies. In the fall of 1980, Tyler was injured in a serious motorcycle accident, which left him hospitalized for two months, and unable to tour or record well into 1981. In 1981, the band suffered another loss with the departure of Brad Whitford.

Whitford was replaced by Rick Dufay and the band recorded their seventh album Rock in a Hard Place in 1982. The album was considered a commercial failure, only going gold, and failing to produce a major hit single. During the tour for Rock in a Hard Place, Tyler collapsed onstage, at the band’s homecoming show in Worcester, Massachusetts, after getting high with Joe Perry, who met with Aerosmith backstage that evening.

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History (Edit)

On Valentine’s Day 1984, Perry and Whitford saw Aerosmith perform. They were officially re-inducted into the ranks of Aerosmith once more two months later.

In 1984, Aerosmith started a reunion tour called “Back in the Saddle”, which led to the live album Classics Live II. While concerts on the tour were well-attended, it was plagued with several incidents, mostly attributed to drug abuse by band members. Their problems still not behind them, the group was signed to Geffen Records and began working on a comeback. Despite the band signing on to a new record company, Columbia continued to reap the benefits of Aerosmith’s comeback, releasing the live companion albums Classics Live I and II and the collection Gems.

In 1985 the band released Done with Mirrors, their first studio album with Geffen and their first album since the much-publicized reunion. While the album did receive some positive reviews, it only went gold and failed to produce a hit single. The album’s most notable track, “Let the Music Do the Talking”, was in fact a cover of a song originally recorded by The Joe Perry Project and released on that band’s album of the same name.

In 1986, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry appeared on Run D.M.C.’s cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”, a track blending rock and roll and hip hop that not only cemented rap into the mainstream of American popular music, but also marked Aerosmith’s true comeback. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and its associated video helped introduce Aerosmith to a new generation of listeners.

Yet the band members’ drug problems still stood in their way. In 1986, lead singer Steven Tyler completed a successful drug rehabilitation program, at the discretion of his fellow band members and manager Tim Collins, who believed that the band’s future would not be bright if Tyler did not get treated. The rest of the band members also completed drug rehab programs over the course of the next couple years. Their next album was crucial because of the commercial disappointment of Done With Mirrors, and as the band members became clean, they worked hard to make their next album a success.

Permanent Vacation was released in September 1987, becoming a major hit and the band’s bestselling album in over a decade, with all three of its singles “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”, “Rag Doll”, and “Angel” reaching the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. The group went on a subsequent tour with labelmates Guns N’ Roses (who have cited Aerosmith as a major influence), which was intense at times because of Aerosmith’s new struggle to stay clean amidst GN’Rs well-publicized, constant drug use.

Aerosmith’s next album was even more successful. Pump, released in October 1989, featured three Top Ten singles: “Janie’s Got a Gun”, “What It Takes”, and “Love in an Elevator”. It re-established Aerosmith as a serious musical force. Pump was a critical and commercial success, eventually selling 7 million copies.

The band took a brief break before recording their follow-up to Pump in 1992. Despite significant shifts in mainstream music at the beginning of the 1990s, the band’s 1993 follow-up to Pump, Get a Grip, was just as successful commercially, becoming their first album to debut at #1. The first singles were the hard rocking “Livin’ on the Edge” and “Eat the Rich”. Though many critics were unimpressed by the focus on the subsequent interchangeable power-ballads in promoting the album, all three “Cryin’”, “Crazy” and “Amazing” proved to be huge successes on radio and MTV. Get a Grip would go on to sell more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone, and over 15 million copies worldwide.

Aerosmith had signed a $30 million contract with Columbia Records/Sony Music in 1991, but had only recorded three of their six contractual albums with Geffen Records at that point (Done with Mirrors, Permanent Vacation, and Pump). Between 1991 and 1996, they released two more albums with Geffen (Get a Grip and Big Ones), which meant they now had five albums with Geffen under their belt, which meant they could now begin recording for their new contract with Columbia.

Nine Lives was released in March of 1997. Reviews were mixed, and Nine Lives initially fell down the charts, although it had a long chart life and sold double platinum in the United States alone, fueled by its singles, “Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)”, the ballad “Hole in My Soul”, and the crossover-pop smash “Pink.”

1998 saw the release of the double-live album, A Little South of Sanity, which was assembled from performances on the Get a Grip and Nine Lives tours. The album went platinum shortly after its release.

The band entered their next decade by performing at the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXV, in January 2001, along with pop stars ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly. All of the stars collaborated with Aerosmith at the end for a performance of “Walk This Way”.

In March 2001, the band released their 13th studio album Just Push Play, which quickly went platinum, fueled by the Top 10 single “Jaded.” They were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame soon after their album was released, in late March of 2001. Aerosmith is the only band to be inducted to the Hall of Fame with a song active in the charts, which was the song Jaded.

In July 2002, Aerosmith released a two-disc career-spanning compilation O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits, which featured the new single “Girls of Summer”, and embarked on the Girls of Summer Tour with Kid Rock and Run-D.M.C. opening. O, Yeah! has since been certified double platinum.

Aerosmith’s long-promised blues album Honkin’ on Bobo was released in 2004. This was a return to the band’s roots, including recording the album in live sessions, working with former producer Jack Douglas, and laying down their blues-rock signature sound. It was followed by a live DVD, You Gotta Move, in December 2004.

In October 2005, Aerosmith released a CD/DVD Rockin’ the Joint. The band hit the road for the Rockin’ the Joint Tour on October 30 with Lenny Kravitz for a fall/winter tour of arenas in the largest U.S. markets.

On October 17, 2006, the compilation album Devil’s Got a New Disguise – The Very Best of Aerosmith was released. The album contained previous hits with the addition of two new songs, “Devil’s Got a New Disguise” and “Sedona Sunrise”, which were older outtakes re-recorded for the album. “Devil’s Got a New Disguise” peaked at #15 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The album was intended to complete Aerosmith’s contract with Sony and tide fans over until the band’s new studio album was released.

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In an interview, guitarist Joe Perry revealed that the band was working closely with the makers of the Guitar Hero series to develop Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which is dedicated to the band’s music. The game was released on June 29, 2008 and contains many of their best songs.

Steven Tyler announced on VH1 Classic Radio on September 4, 2008 that Aerosmith intends to enter the studio at the end of September, 2008 to complete the band’s 15th studio album. It will be the band’s first album of original material since 2001’s Just Push Play. Tyler also confirmed that the band plans to begin a new U.S. tour in April of 2009, in support of the as-yet-untitled album.

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