Eagles (often referred to as "The Eagles") is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. The group chose the name Eagles as a nod to The Byrds (as founding member Bernie Leadon had been in Dillard & Clark with former Byrds singer Gene Clark and in The Flying Burrito Brothers with former Byrds Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke). Steve Martin records in his autobiography, Born Standing Up, that Frey was very particular that the name was Eagles and not The Eagles. The band played initially as Linda Ronstadt's backing group.With five number one singles, six Grammies, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the U.S. according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
The group's eponymous debut album was recorded in England in February 1972 with producer Glyn Johns and released on June 17, 1972. Eagles was a breakthrough success, yielding three Top 40 singles.Their second album Desperado (1973) was less successful, but artistically strong - a concept "rockers as outlaws" album that was ahead of its time. It was their third album On the Border (1974), however, that produced their first number one hit: Best of My Love. That song would start a trend of number ones over the next six years. It was also during the making of On the Border when the Eagles switched producers from Johns to Bill Szymczyk, who gave them more freedom in their approach and was open to making the albums more "rocking." A "late addition" to the album was guitarist Don Felder, who joined the group officially after the album was released.
In 1975, the Eagles are ready to release their fourth album One of These Nights. The title track "One of These Nights," a rhythm and blues song, is released early and the album is gold certified within a week of its release. By years end, Bernie Leadon departs from the band and is replaced by Joe Walsh. By 1976, the band's success is still growing. Asylum releases Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and sells over a million copies upon its release, earning the first RIAA platinum award given in that category. This album is also the third in history to sell at the million-unit mark upon release. This same year, the band is awarded its first Grammy for the single "Lyin Eyes." At years end, the new incarnation of the group releases their next album Hotel California, receiving outstanding commercial and critical success and reaching 1 on the Billboard Charts and goes gold. At that point, Hotel California sells nine million units, which surpasses the seven million units of Eagles.
Unfortunately, the decadence of Hotel California was being enacted by the band in their every day lives. Their "third encore" parties after shows became infamous carnivals of sex, drugs, and booze. The substance abuse did not make the tensions in the studio and on the road go away; in some ways, it exacerbated them. Egos that had always been at odds were now on their way to a Battle Royal. Meisner left at the end of the tour, not wanting to deal with it anymore.
As a replacement, the Eagles brought in Timothy B. Schmit who, like Meisner, used to play bass for Poco. They began work on The Long Run (1979). The huge pressure on them to match and even outpace Hotel California made the already-clashing egos hyper-sensitive as well. The music-making process became an ordeal rather than a joy. Frey was especially miserable, and started to consider breaking up the band. He made the final decision to do so at a 1980 benefit show in Long Beach for Senator Alan Cranston. When Don Felder declared at a press conference prior to the show that he didn't care a thing about Cranston and had just showed up to play, Frey was embarrassed and infuriated. They exchanged threats during the show and then afterwards, got into a physical fight which ended with Felder swinging a guitar at Frey before running off at top speed.
After a 14-year "vacation" the Eagles returned for an MTV special. This live recording became the bands' 1994 release quintessentially titled Hell Freezes Over, which reaches #1 on the Billboard Charts. During the next two years, the band tours, breaking all kinds of sales and attendance records proving to be the most successful tours in music history. Hell Freezes Over went on to sell over 15 million copies. In 1998, the Eagles were inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame.
1999, the new millennium was arriving and the Eagles decided to play a New Year's Eve show opening the new Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Later that year a four CD box set Eagles Selected Works 1972-1999 is released which includes highlights from that New Year's Eve show as well as hit songs throughout the bands' career.
The band now consisting of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit, toured Europe in the summer of 2001. The Eagles, in their third decade of entertaining fans around the world have amazing longevity that has lasted the test of time.
In 2007, the Eagles consisted of Frey, Henley, Walsh, and Schmit. On August 20, 2007, "How Long," written by J.D. Souther ? who had previously worked with the Eagles co-writing some of their biggest hits including "Best of My Love," "Victim of Love," "Heartache Tonight" and "New Kid in Town" ? was released as a single to radio with an accompanying online video at Yahoo! Music and debuted on television on CMT during the Top 20 Countdown on August 23, 2007. The band performed the song as part of their live sets in the early-to-mid '70s, but did not record it at the time due to J.D. Souther's desire to use it on his first solo album.
On October 30, 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden, their first album of all-new material since 1979. For the first year after the album's initial release, it was available in the U.S. exclusively via the band's website, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. It was commercially available through traditional retail outlets in other countries. The album debuted at #1 in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands and Norway. It became their third studio album, seventh release overall, to be certified at least seven times platinum. In an interview with CNN, Don Henley declared, "This is probably the last Eagles album that we'll ever make."
The Eagles made their awards show debut on November 7, 2007, when they performed "How Long" live at the Country Music Association Awards.On January 28, 2008, the second single off Long Road Out of Eden was released. "Busy Being Fabulous" peaked at #30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and at #18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.The Eagles won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "How Long." It was the band's fifth Grammy Award.On March 20, 2008, the Eagles launched their world tour in support of Long Road Out of Eden at The O2 Arena in London, England. Long Road out of Eden Tour concluded their last currently scheduled American venue on May 9, 2009 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. It was the first concert ever held in the new soccer stadium. The group was touring in Europe, their last tour date scheduled on July 22, 2009 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Little did the Rolling Stones know how apt their name - inspired by the title of a Muddy Waters song, “Rollin’ Stone” - would turn out to be. Formed in 1962, they hold the record for longevity as a rock and roll band. There have been hiatuses, especially in the 1980s, but never a breakup. Moreover, critical acclaim and popular consensus has accorded them the title of the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” Throughout five decades of shifting tastes in popular music, the Stones have kept rolling, adapting to the latest styles without straying from their roots as a lean, sinuous rock and roll band with roots in electric blues and Chuck Berry-style rock and roll. In all aspects, theirs has been a remarkable career.
The Rolling Stones are a British rock band who rose to prominence during the mid-1960s. The band was named after a song by Muddy Waters, a leading exponent of hard-rocking blues. (This was a popular choice of name; at least two other bands are believed to have called themselves The Rolling Stones before the "real" Stones were formed.) In their music, the Rolling Stones were the embodiment of the idea of importing blues style into popular music. Their first recordings were covers or imitations of rhythm and blues music, but they soon greatly extended the reach of their lyrics and playing, but rarely, if ever, lost their basic blues feel.
The original lineup included Mick Jagger (vocals), Brian Jones (guitar), Keith Richards (guitar), Ian Stewart (piano), Charlie Watts (drums) and Bill Wyman (bass). By the time of their first album release Ian Stewart was "officially" not part of the band, though he continued to record and perform with them.Brian Jones, although popular and charismatic, was forced out of the band and died an enigmatic death, presumed accidental at the time, although accusations have surfaced that he was murdered. Jagger and Richards took over songwriting and performance leadership. Jones had favored sticking close to the blues base, although he had also experimented with the sitar, but Jagger and Richard broadened their approach.
The band came into being in 1961 when former schoolfriends Jagger and Richards met Brian Jones, while all three were students (Jones & Richards at art school, Jagger at the London School of Economics). United by their shared interest in rhythm and blues music the group rehearsed extensively, playing in public only occasionally at Alexis Korner's Crawdaddy Club in London. At first Jones, a guitarist who also toyed with numerous other instruments, was their creative leader. Taking their name from a Muddy Waters song, the band rapidly gained a reputation in London for their frantic, highly energetic covers of the blues and R'n'B songs of their idols and, through manager Andrew Oldham were signed to Decca Records (who had passed when offered The Beatles). At this time their music was fairly primitive: Richards had learned much of his guitar playing from the recordings of Chuck Berry, and had not yet developed a style of his own, and Jagger was not as in control of the idioms as he would soon become. Already though, the rhythmic interplay between Watts and Richards was clearly the heart of their music.
In 1966, after The Beatles stopped giving live performances, The Rolling Stones took over as the unofficial "biggest touring band in the world" for the next few years. During 1966-1969 they toured the world, and constantly updated their song-list with many great hits like "Lets Spend the night together" (1967), "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968) and "Honky tonk woman" (1969). The incredible international success of the Stones came with a sad side, caused by Brian's drug and alcohol abuse that impaired his speech and appearance, so the band-mates had to replace him. In July 1969, Brian Jones died of drowning in his swimming pool while having signs of drug overdose. Upon Richards's and Jagger's approval, guitarist Mick Taylor took Brian's place. Brian's death at age 27 made him one of the first members of the infamous "27 Club" of rock stars who died at that age. Although Brian's estrangement from his band-mates, and his numerous arrests were caused by his personal problems with drugs, both Richards and Jagger were blamed at the time for Brian's death. The loss of one of their founding members was a painful moment for the Stones. However, at the end of the 1960s their creativity reached the new highs. Their albums "Beggars Banquet" (1968) and "Sticky Fingers" (1971) were among the most popular albums they ever made, having such hits as "Wild Horses" and "Brown Sugar."
During the 1970s The Rolling Stones remained the biggest band in the world, albeit they were rivaled by the Led Zeppelin. The Stones made thousands of live performances and multi-million record sales with hits like "Angie" (1973), "It's Only Rock and Roll" (1974), "Hot Stuff" (1976) and "Respectable" (1978). At that time both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger had individual ambitions, and applied their untamed creativity in various projects outside the Stones. Keith released his own single. In 1974 Ron Wood had replaced Mick Taylor on guitar and Keith and Ron both played lead guitars. During the decade Keith Richards had a family crisis on his hands, and suffered through emotional pain and drug abuse, albeit it didn't stop him from being himself. In 1980 the group released "Emotional Rescue" which Keith Richards didn't care for, and the group didn't even tour to promote the album. In 1981 with the release of 'Tattoo You', the group went on a major world tour filling stadiums in the US and in Europe. In 1983 the Stones recorded the album "Undercover" at the Compass Point in Nassau and during this time Mick and Keith were having arguments over rights of the group. After having created tens of albums and over a hundred popular songs together, their legendary song-writing partnership was undergoing the most painful test: the bitter rivalry between two enormously talented and equally ambitious superstars.Often billed as "the world's greatest rock and roll band," the Rolling Stones have earned the title; if not for their musical prowess, then certainly for their longevity.
In May 1963 the Rolling Stones signed to Decca Records and cut their first single. With a Chuck Berry-penned A side (“Come On”) and a Willie Dixon cover on the flip (“I Want to Be Loved”), this 45 set forth the rock/blues dichotomy whose eventual melding in the Jagger/Richards songwriting team would come to define the Stones’ sound and sensibility. Their second single, “I Wanna Be Your Man,” was provided to them by the Lennon/McCartney songwriting tandem, proving from the outset that there no hostilities existed between the Beatles and the Stones. However, a spirit of friendly competition would serve each band well throughout the Sixties. The first half of 1964 saw the Rolling Stones headline their first British tour (with the Ronettes) and release the single “Not Fade Away” (a powerfully retooled Buddy Holly cover) and their eponymous first album, retitled England’s Newest Hitmakers/The Rolling Stones for U.S. release.
The Rolling Stones already had two albums out in England by the time they broke the U.S. Top 10 with "The Last Time," written by Jagger and Richard. And in the summer of 1965 they had a worldwide Number 1 hit with "Satisfaction." Propelled by Richard's fuzz-tone riff and Jagger's lyrics of a man who couldn't get enough, the song immediately secured a seat in rock history. Oldham had played up the outlaw image of the band to the point where they became the image, and he was no longer needed.The year 1967 was an eventful one for the Rolling Stones. Not only did they release three albums, but also they were beset with legal troubles stemming from a string of drug busts engineered by British authorities wanting to make an example of them. When the dust cleared, Jagger, Richards and Jones narrowly escaped draconian prison sentences. However, whereas the ordeal seemed to strengthen Jagger and Richards’ resolve, ongoing substance abuse was rapidly causing Jones’ physical and mental states to disintegrate. He was only marginally involved in sessions for Beggar’s Banquet, the Stones’ 1968 masterpiece, and his departure due to “musical differences” was announced on June 8th, 1969. Less than a month later, Jones was found dead in his swimming pool, the official cause being given as “death by misadventure.”
His replacement was Mick Taylor, an alumnus of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers who made his debut with the Stones only days after Jones’ death at a free concert in London’s Hyde Park. The enormous outdoor concert launched the Stones’ 1969 tour while also paying last respects to Jones. By this time, the Stones had returned to definitive, hard-hitting rock and roll. The string of muscular Stones classics from this period includes “Jumping Jack Flash,” “Street Fighting Man,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Midnight Rambler.” The last two songs came from Let It Bleed, an album filled with violence, decadence and social cataclysm. Perhaps the all-time classic Stones album, Let It Bleed debuted on the U.S. charts at #3, behind the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Led Zeppelin II. While the counterculture foundered, the music scene remained unassailably strong as the Sixties drew to a close.
As the Beatles’ final chapters were being written, the Stones shifted into high gear. If the former group expressed the heady idealism of the pop Sixties, then the Stones, by contrast, were blues-steeped, hard-rocking realists. It was them to whom the baton passed at the close of the decade. The Rolling Stones staged a free concert - at Altamont Speedway outside San Francisco on December 6, 1969, mere months after Woodstock - that literally and figuratively marked the end the Sixties. A violence-prone, drug-wracked, daylong nightmare for which Hell’s Angels provided security, Altamont was marred by the stabbing death of a concert attendee. The event, viewed in hindsight as an epitaph, was filmed and preserved in the unnerving documentary Gimme Shelter.
In 1971 The Stones formed their own label, Rolling Stones Records, and began to expand their musical horizons. Sticky Fingers contained jazz with "Can't You Hear Me Knockin," while the country-flavored "Dead Flowers" continued the trend of "Honky Tonk Women." Their next album, Exile on Main Street, oddly enough, was dismissed by critics when it came out, but over the years has come to be regarded as probably their finest recording. With Richard hanging out with Gram Parsons, the country influence was stronger than ever but the album also contains gospel ("I Just Want To See His Face"), blues ("Shake Your Hips"), and full-tilt rock ("Rip This Joint"). It is four sides of vintage Stones at their tightest, and loosest.
Their next two albums, Goat's Head Soup and It's Only Rock and Roll, contain both outstanding tracks and what some critics considered real dogs. "Time Waits For No One," with a beautiful solo by Taylor, shows just how much the Stones had changed, yet tracks like "Star Star" reveal just the opposite: the bad boys of rock just couldn't grow up.
As Richards removed himself from society, Jagger began to move in more elevated social circles. He married the pregnant Nicaraguan model Bianca P?ez Mora Mac?s and the couple's jet-set lifestyle put further distance between himself and Keith. They did have one further classic album within them. Pressured by the UK Inland Revenue service about several years of unpaid income tax, the band left for the South of France, where Richards rented a chateau and sublet rooms to the band members and assorted hangers-on. Using the recently completed Rolling Stones Mobile Studio they set about recording the double album Exile on Main Street (1972) in the basement of their new home. Dismissed by some on its release as sprawling and self-indulgent, the record is now considered among the band's greatest. The film Cocksucker Blues documents the subsequent tour.It would also be one of the last on which the band still functioned as a unit. By the time Exile had been completed Jagger had made the other band members aware that he was more interested in the celebrity lifestyle than working on its follow-up, and increasingly their records were made piecemeal, with tracks and parts laid down as, and when, the band, and Jagger and Richards in particular, could get together and remain amicable for sufficiently long to do so. When it finally arrived, Goats Head Soup (1973) was disappointing, with the Stones unique sound diluted by the influence of glam rock and memorable only for the hit single "Angie", popularly believed to be about David Bowie's new wife but in reality another of Richards' odes to Pallenberg. The making of the record was not helped by another legal battle over drugs, this one dating back to their stay in France.
By the time they came to Munich to record 1974's It's Only Rock And Roll, there were even more problems. Regular producer Jimmy Miller was not asked to participate in the sessions because of his increasing unreliabillity due to drug use. Critics generally wrote the album off as uninspired and "more of the same" from a band percieved as artistically stagnating, but both album and single were huge hits, even without the customary tour to promote them.Intra-band strife continued. Mick Taylor's intricate lead style and shy persona never quite matched Richards' outspoken image and basic, Chuck Berry inspired rhythm work. By the time of It's Only Rock And Roll Richards was reportedly berating Taylor during recording sessions, and Taylor contributed little to the album. Irked by percieved mistreatment, and a small share of the band's royalties, Taylor announced he was leaving the band shortly before sessions commenced for the next album, Black and Blue (1976).
The Rolling Stones used the Black and Blue sessions (again in Munich) to audition possible replacements. Guitarists stylistically far flung as Humble Pie lead Peter Frampton and ex-Yardbirds impressario Jeff Beck were auditioned. American session players Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel appeared on much of the album, but the band settled on Ron Wood, a long time friend of Richards and guitarist with The Faces, whose singer Rod Stewart had recently gone solo. Wood had already contributed to It's Only Rock 'n Roll, but his first public act with the band would be the 1975 American Tour.The shows featured a new format for the Stones with their usual "five guys on stage, playing" act replaced by increasingly theatrical stage props and gimmicks, including a giant inflatible phallus and a cherry picker on which Jagger would soar out over the audience. This represented a further breakdown in Mick and Keith's relationship -- the pragmatic Richards considering it entirely superfluous and distracting from the music. Again, Jagger was if nothing else shrewdly interpreting market trends- the mid-1970s were the era of flashy stage acts such as Kiss and Elton John, and the band's tours were to become even more expensive and elaborate in the years to come.
Although the Rolling Stones remained hugely popular through the '70s, music critics had grown increasingly dismissive of the band's output. Keith Richards would have more serious concerns in 1977. Despite having spent much of the previous year undergoing a series of drug therapies to help withdraw from heroin, including (allegedly) having having his blood filtered, Richards and Pallenberg were arrested in a Toronto hotel room and charged with possession of heroin. The case would drag on for a year, with Richards eventually receiving a suspended sentence and ordered to play a concert for a local charity. This motivated a final concerted attempt to his drug habit, which proved largely successful. It also coincided with the end of his relationship with Pallenberg, which had become increasingly strained since the tragic death of their third child (an infant son named Tara).
While Richards was settling his legal and personal problems, Jagger continued his jet set lifestyle. He was a regular at New York's Studio 54 disco club, often in the company of model Jerry Hall. His marriage to Bianca would end in 1977.By this time punk rock had become highly influential in pop circles, and the Stones were increasingly criticized as being decadent, aging millionaires, their music was considered by many to be either stagnant or irrelevant. Clash vocalist Joe Strummer even went so far as to declare "No Beatles, no Stones, no Elvis in '77."
In 1978 the band recorded Some Girls, their most focused and successful album for some time, despite the perceived misogyny of the title track upsetting many. Jagger and Richards seemed to channel much of the personal turmoil surrounding them into renewed creative vitality. With the notable exception of the disco-influenced "Miss You," (a hit single and a live staple) most of the songs on the album were fast, basic guitar-driven Rock and Roll, and the album did much to quell the band's critics.Emotional Rescue (1980) was in a similar vein, but lacked the redeeming features of its predecessor. Tattoo You (1981), like the album before it, was composed mainly of unused songs from earlier recording outings (The ballad "Waiting on a Friend" dated all the way back to the Goats Head Soup sessions). It also featured the single "Start Me Up," showing that Richards was still capable of writing guitar parts of the same calibre as ten years earlier. Tatoo You and the subsequent tour were major commercial successes.
Bassist Bill Wyman, increasingly suffering from fear of flying, announced his retirement from the band after the Steel Wheels tour, in 1992. “I did everything but hold him at gunpoint,” said Richards of his efforts to keep him in the band.” After auditioning many musicians, the Stones picked Darryl Jones - who’d played with various jazz, funk and soul musicians – to take over on bass. The Stones released two albums of new music in the Nineties, Voodoo Lounge (for which they won a Grammy for Best Rock Album) and Bridges to Babylon. Between those albums, they re-recorded a batch of classic older songs in the then-popular “unplugged” format, released at mid-decade as Stripped. Their three tours during this busy decade were the best-attended and most lucrative live outings in rock history to that point in time.
In 2002, The Rolling Stones issued Forty Licks, a double-disc retrospective that appended four new tracks. Their 40th anniversary tour followed that same year. In 2005 came A Bigger Bang, their only studio album of new material in the decade. The Stones’ primary activity came on the touring front, as their two-year A Bigger Bang World Tour set a new record ($558 million) for concert grosses. Not even a serious head injury, sustained by Richards during a fall from a coconut palm in Fiji could stop the juggernaut for long.
Through their five decades as a band, no one has yet stripped the Rolling Stones of their title as the World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band. In 2002 Keith Richards had this to say in USA Today about the group’s improbable longevity: “People thought it couldn’t be done. We never thought of trying it. We are just here. It’s a vague mission you can’t give up until you keel over.”
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.
