Aerosmith's 1975 single "Sweet Emotion" cracked the Billboard Top 40 and effectively launched them from Boston phenomenons into the heart of a growing national hard rock scene. They would have significant impact on rock 'n' roll lifestyles and sounds for the next quarter of a century.

Vocalist Steven Tyler's leering bad-boy moves and androgynous charisma proved the perfect visual complement to lead guitarist Joe Perry's unstructured riffs and the band's bawdy subject matter. The band's most enduring single, "Walk this Way," chronicles the sexual awakening of an adolescent male.

In 1985, just when it seemed Aerosmith had faded into the same obscurity as most 1970s bands, a drug-free Tyler and Perry engineered a reunion. They collaborated in 1986 with rappers Run DMC on a hugely successful remake of "Walk this Way," won the Grammy in 1991 for "Jamie's Got a Gun," and showed no signs of slowing down approaching the turn of the century.

Further Reading:

Aerosmith with Stephen Davis. Walk this Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith. New York, Avon Books, 1997.

Huxley, Stephen. Aerosmith: The Fall and Rise of Rock's Greatest Band. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1995.