Aerosmith is known to most people as “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” Formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970 by Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Steven Tyler, who was actually the drummer at the time, 
Aerosmith legacy began. The band eventually rounded out with the inclusion of Joey Kramer as the drummer, moving Tyler to lead vocals, and Brad Whitford. For two years after they were all together, they all lived together in an apartment in Boston and played almost every night in the surrounding area, included New York City. It wasn’t until they played at Max’s Kansas City in New York when Clive Davis first heard them perform and signed them to Columbia Records.
Their first album was titled Aerosmith was released in 
January 1973 and included the hit “Dream On” which at the time was a minor hit until they began to tour to new locations. Eventually in 1976, a re-released “Dream On” recharted to the Number Six position on the charts. Then by the time “Walk This Way” was released to a Number Ten position they were officially declared headliners. This success unfortunately did not last too long, although they had a series of sold-out tours and platinum albums with Aerosmith, Get Your Wings, and Toys in the Attic.
In 1977 with all of the touring and heavy drug use by all of the band members, the band started it hit a wall. Perry and Tyler were known as “the Toxic Twins” for their heroin abuse. Although after time off, Aerosmith recorded Draw the Line, appeared in the movie, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and their remake of “Come Together” was released, Aerosmith began to fall apart.
In 1979, Perry quit the band after revealing personality and musical conflicts with Tyler. He was replaced with Jim Crespo. From there in 1980, Whitford left the band to form his own band and was replaced by Rick Dufay. Both Perry and Whitford would have no success on their own with releases of their own records.
Rock in a Hard Place was the first new recording from Aerosmith in 1982, the first album in three years. It peaked at Number 32 even though it was the first album without Perry. Then in early 1984 the original Aerosmith members were all backstage at a Aerosmith concert with the replacement playing at the time, when they decided to reform to the original band. From that they released Done With Mirrors, which didn’t sell that well. Aerosmith didn’t begin to get back into the mainstream until Perry and Tyler appeared with Run-D.M.C. in a video of their original hit “Walk This Way”, which went to Number Four on the charts in 1986. Then with Aerosmith’s release of Permanent Vacation, at Number 11 in 1987, which included “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”, “Angel”, and “Rag Doll”, Aerosmith was officially reintroduced to a new generation.
Their 
success continued with a quadruple-platinum album titled Pump, which went to Number Five in 1989. This album included “Love in an Elevator”, “Janie’s Got a Gun”, “What It Takes” and “The Other Side”. The song “Janie’s Got a Gun” won a Grammy in 1990 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
In 1991, Aerosmith signed a record deal with Song that was worth roughly $30 million for them to produce four albums with 22 percent of the album royalties in return as well. Three years later they even got a seven-figure deal from G.P. Putnam’s Sons for rights to their group autobiography. Even following that their release of Get a Grip hit Number One in 1993, with hits “Living on the Edge”, “Cryin”, and “Crazy”. Following that they released their greatest hits album, Big Ones, which went double-platinum. Eventually in 1995, there was a release of Aerosmith’s Columbia albums in a 12-CD set titled Box of Fire.
Aerosmith did return to rough waters in 1996. They started working on a follow up album to Get a Grip, which was their first album back on Columbia, but they had issues with producer Glen Ballard. He left in the middle of the recording sessions and was replaced by Kevin Shirley. Then Joey Kramer’s father died, which sent him into a huge depression stage that he had to be replaced during the sessions on some of the tracks by Steve Ferrone. Then the band fired its long time manager, Tim Collins, who helped them with sobriety and in their Eighties comeback. When Nine Lives was finally released in 1997, it started at Number One but it had disappointing sales the week of its release, although “Pink” did with a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1999.
The band then hit a good moment with their release of “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” in 1998 
which was a Number One hit and was released on the soundtrack to the movie Armageddon, which starred Tyler’s daughter. The song was also nominated for an Academy Award. Then in early 2001, Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as they released their new album Just Push Play to a Number Two slot. The band also performed at the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXV.
O, Yeah! The Ultimate Aerosmith Hits was the first best-of collection that Aerosmith released which included music from both Columbia and Geffen Records tenures. It also included a new single “Girls of Summer”. They also released Honkin’ on Bobo in 2004 that was a blues based album.
In 2006, two band members became ill.
Tyler had ruptured blood vessels in his larynx, and Hamilton was being treated for throat cancer. As they both recovered the band released their fifth greatest-hits album, Devil’s Got a New Disguise – The Very Best of Aerosmith. Their success also led to the release of a Guitar Hero Aerosmith, a game specific to the history of Aerosmith and their music. Currently they are working on their final studio album with Sony, to be released before their latest tour to go live in June 2009.
"Aerosmith Biography." Aerosmith: Biography: Rolling Stone. <http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/aerosmith/biography>.
"Aerosmith." Aersomith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerosmith>.