Aerosmith ‘72-’82: The Columbia Years

Dive into the glory and the chaos of Aerosmith’s first seven albums—an era of ambition, anthems, and near-destruction that forged one of rock’s greatest stories.

By 1972, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, and Joey Kramer had forged a lineup built for legend, and in 1973, their debut album on Columbia Records lit the fuse with the timeless ballad “Dream On.”

What followed was a blistering run: Get Your Wings sharpened their sound, Toys in the Attic, and Rocks launched them into the stratosphere, and songs like “Sweet Emotion,” “Walk This Way,” and “Back in the Saddle” became the soundtrack of a generation, personified by the apocryphal “blue jean army” of middle America.

But success came at a price. The late ‘70s brought tension, excess, and unraveling bonds. By the time Night in the Ruts (1979) and Rock in a Hard Place (1982) arrived, the cracks had widened, and Aerosmith’s future hung in the balance.

This is the electrifying story of the creation of these legendary recordings, along with the band that clawed its way from high schools and Boston clubs to arenas and stadiums. In the end, Aerosmith was running on fumes and mental and physical collapse, with death threatening to end the band at every whirlwind tour stop along the way.