Aerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues,, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists.. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1969. 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.The roots and route of Aerosmith is well known. A collection of punk New York toughs who were forever being thrown out of school. The drug busts. The lonely and grueling months of practicing in the lake region of New Hampshire (where Tyler is now avidly buying up lakeside properties). The endless succession of playing in beer joints and gymnasiums.The working in factories to support their music.But not as well known is just how hard it was for Aerosmith to crossover from being another local phenomenon to a SuperStar national act.
In 1972 they landed a record contract with Columbia Records. As a result, Aerosmith's self-titled debut album was released in the fall of 1973 hat included a minor hit single, 'Dream On'. After constant touring, the band released Get Your Wings (1974), which did quite well on the charts.It was 1975's Toys in the Attic that established Aerosmith as international stars. Part heavy metal, part glam rock and part punk music, Toys in the Attic was an immediate success, starting with the single 'Sweet Emotion', then a successful rerelease of 'Dream On' and a new song from the album, 'Walk This Way'. Both of the band's previous albums recharted. Aerosmith's next album, Rocks, went platinum swiftly and featured two FM hits, 'Back in the Saddle' and 'Last Child'. The next album, Draw the Line, was not as successful as the previous releases. While continuing to tour and release a few more albums in the late 1970s, Aerosmith acted in the movie version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Joe Perry also left the band, followed by Brad Whitford. After replacing the two ex-members with Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, Aerosmith released its mammoth-selling Greatest Hits album in 1980, followed by a relative failure, Rock in a Hard Place. A reunion tour was scheduled in 1984 after the return of Perry and Whitford. Tyler collapsed onstage due to drug problems early in tour.
Aerosmith's next album was 1976's Rocks, which "captured Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking". It went platinum swiftly and featured two FM hits, "Last Child" and "Back in the Saddle", as well as the ballad "Home Tonight", which also charted. Rocks has sold four million copies to date. Both Toys in the Attic and Rocks are highly regarded, especially in the hard rock genre, and appear on such lists as Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and are cited by members of Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and Mötley Crüe as having large influences on their music. Soon after Rocks was released, the band continued to tour heavily, this time headlining their own shows and playing to several large stadiums and rock festivals.
The band started calling their fans "The Blue Army" for the blue jeans that they all wore. In Walk This Way, "We were America's band," Joe Perry said. "We were the guys you could actually see. Back then in the Seventies, it wasn't like Led Zeppelin was out there on the road in America all of the time. The Stones weren't always coming to your town. We were. You could count on us to come by."
Disagreements between band members and ego clashes tore at the lineup in 1979 as their seventh album, Night in the Ruts, was recorded. Perry left, and Jimmy Crespo replaced him as lead guitarist. Aerosmith toured briefly with new lineup, but fans yelled for Perry.On Valentine's Day in 1984, after a long and publicly infamous estrangement between Tyler and Perry, the two, along with Whitford, were reunited backstage after an Aerosmith show at The Orpheum Theater in Boston. Conversations continued between Tyler and Perry, and by April of that year, the original band was back together. They began this new phase with the aptly titled "Back In The Saddle Tour" and a new manager, Tim Collins.
Pump was released in September 1989 and produced multi-platinum album sales and numerous awards. In 1990, Aerosmith won MTV's Best Metal/Hard Rock Video and Viewers' Choice Awards, as well as their first Grammy Award, for "Janie's Got A Gun," a song about child abuse.Their success continued in 1993 with Get A Grip, which shot up the charts to number one. Four tracks from the album, "Livin' On the Edge," "Cryin,'" "Crazy" and "Amazing" hit the charts. "Livin' On the Edge" won the 1993 Grammy for "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal." "Crazy" also won a Grammy in 1994.
Nine Lives debuted at number one on the album charts in 1997 and spawned the hit single, "Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees)." The following year, the band contributed a track for the movie Armageddon, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (written by Diane Warren). It was the band's first number one hit. Aerosmith continued recording for film in 2003, with a track called "Lizard Love," on the sound-track of the movie Rugrats Go Wild! Perry wrote score music for the 2003 Small Planet Pictures film, This Thing of Ours, as well.The new century saw Aerosmith gaining awards and recognition. On March 19, 2001, Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Boston's Berklee College of Music awarded Steven Tyler an honorary doctoral degree in music in May 2003. The band also has an "Aerosmith Endowment Award" recognizing outstanding musical and academic achievement, at Berklee.
In June 2010, Keystone Entertainment slapped Aerosmith with a $6 million lawsuit over the band's last minute cancellation of Canadian concert dates in 2009, after Tyler was injured falling off the catwalk at a show in August 2009. The company's attempts to reschedule dates with the band in order to recoup losses exceeding $10 million were reportedly ignored, resulting in the lawsuit. As of July 23, Aerosmith have rescheduled Canadian dates for their Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock Tour. However, Keystone has not confirmed that it will back down from its lawsuit now that the band has booked new Canadian tour dates.Problems on the band's Cocked, Locked, and Ready to Rock Tour arose in August 2010, including Steven Tyler accidentally hitting Joe Perry in the head with his microphone stand at a show in Wantagh, New York and Perry bumping into Tyler at the Toronto show, which caused Tyler to tumble off the stage.Perry suffered a minor head injury at the Wantagh show and Tyler was helped back up by fans and Perry at the Toronto show, and both shows went on.
