100 Fun Facts About Aerosmith

In which city was Aerosmith formed in 1970?

Boston was home base: the five shared an apartment at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue, and in 2012 they came back to play a free concert in the street outside it.

What nickname is given to Aerosmith's songwriting duo of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry?

The Toxic Twins got the tag for their drug habits on and off stage in the 1970s, and it outlived the habits: the name stuck long after both men got sober.

What is Aerosmith's fan following known as?

The Blue Army gave its name to a 2015 tour, and when the band retired from the road in 2024 their farewell statement thanked 'our Blue Army' by name.

Which instrument did Steven Tyler play in his 1960s bands before he fronted Aerosmith?

Drums came first for Tyler, who sang in those bands too; when Aerosmith formed in 1970 he left the kit to become the lead singer.

What was the name of the group Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton played in before Aerosmith?

The Jam Band shared a bill with Tyler's group in 1970; Tyler loved their sound and pushed to merge the two bands, and the result was Aerosmith.

Whose album Aerial Ballet gave drummer Joey Kramer the idea for the name Aerosmith?

Harry Nilsson's 1968 album set Kramer scribbling the word on his school notebooks; when he pitched it years later, his bandmates thought he meant Arrowsmith, the Sinclair Lewis novel.

What were Aerosmith reportedly watching before the meeting at which they chose their name?

Three Stooges reruns were a daily ritual in the band's shared apartment; at the meeting that followed they also weighed calling themselves the Hookers or Spike Jones.

Aerosmith were the first band to guest-star as themselves on which animated series?

The Simpsons brought the band to Springfield in the 1991 episode Flaming Moe's, where Moe's suddenly fashionable tavern draws them in and they end up jamming on stage with Moe.

Which Columbia Records president signed Aerosmith after seeing them at Max's Kansas City?

Clive Davis signed them in 1972 for a reported $125,000, and the band wrote the night into their 1979 song No Surprize, which names both him and the club.

Which single from Aerosmith's 1973 debut album first peaked at only number 59?

Dream On grew from chords Tyler traced to lying under the piano as a small boy while his classically trained father played; reissued in 1976, it climbed to No. 6.

Which producer made Get Your Wings and Aerosmith's string of 1970s multi-platinum albums?

Jack Douglas worked so closely with them that Joe Perry said he 'really became the sixth member of the band'; decades later they called him back to produce their 2012 album.

Aerosmith's Get Your Wings included a cover of Train Kept A-Rollin', previously done by which band?

The Yardbirds played it the night Tyler's teenage band opened for them in 1966, as he watched from the edge of the stage; it became a closing number at early Aerosmith gigs.

Which 1975 album was Aerosmith's breakthrough and is their best-selling studio album in the US?

Toys in the Attic was, Joe Perry said, the first record they had to write almost from scratch, building songs in the studio from a couple of guitar riffs; it has sold nine million copies in the US.

What was Aerosmith's first Top 40 hit?

Sweet Emotion grew from a bass riff Tom Hamilton had carried around for years and pulled out when the producer asked for last ideas at the end of the sessions; it reached No. 36 in 1975.

Early Aerosmith were often compared to which band, partly because Steven Tyler resembled its lead singer?

The Rolling Stones comparison dogged their first albums: bluesy, swaggering rock and a frontman who looked like Mick Jagger. Multimillion-selling records in the mid-1970s gave the band a name of its own.

Co-writer Desmond Child says Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like a Lady) began when Steven Tyler mistook which singer for a woman?

Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, seen from behind at a bar with his big blond hair, was the lady in question; Child then talked the band out of their working title, Cruisin' for the Ladies.

Which grunge frontman put Aerosmith's Rocks on the list of his 50 favourite albums in his journals?

Kurt Cobain's handwritten Top 50, published in his Journals, includes Rocks; Joe Perry chose the title because diamonds are called rocks and nothing is harder than a diamond.

Aerosmith's cover of which Beatles song was their last Top 40 hit for nearly a decade?

Come Together came from the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in which Aerosmith played the villains, the Future Villain Band; the film was panned, but the single was a hit.

What did Joe Perry's wife throw at Tom Hamilton's wife backstage in 1979, triggering Perry's exit?

A glass of milk flew during a backstage row in Cleveland, the last straw on a feuding tour: Tyler and Perry argued that night, and Perry was soon out of the band and leading the Joe Perry Project.

Which guitarist replaced Joe Perry as a full-time member of Aerosmith in 1979?

Jimmy Crespo held the job until a backstage meeting on Valentine's Day 1984 began the reunion of the classic line-up, which Rick Dufay, Whitford's replacement, had urged Tyler to pursue.

Which 1982 album is the only Aerosmith studio album made without guitarist Joe Perry?

Rock in a Hard Place lost Brad Whitford too: he quit after a single song had been recorded, and the album, finished with stand-in guitarists, stalled at No. 32.

Which rap group's 1986 cover of "Walk This Way" revived Aerosmith's career?

Run-D.M.C. had only ever rapped over the record's opening drum break and didn't know the rest of the song; producer Rick Rubin talked them into covering it, and it reached No. 4.

Which 1993 Aerosmith hit was partly inspired by the previous year's Los Angeles riots?

Livin' on the Edge came out of the unrest that followed the Rodney King verdict; by the band's account the loud thumps near its end were played on a bass drum taken years earlier from a high school.

Which 1987 comeback album was the first Aerosmith made after getting sober?

Permanent Vacation was also the first album on which they wrote with outside songwriters, a push from Geffen's John Kalodner that gave them three Top 20 singles.

Songwriter Holly Knight earned a credit on which Aerosmith hit mainly for suggesting its new title?

Rag Doll was called Rag Time until the label's A&R man said kids wouldn't care about that; after three days of brainstorming, Knight spotted the new title in Tyler's own lyrics.

Who produced Aerosmith's two late-1980s comeback albums?

Bruce Fairbairn, a former trumpet player, brought the band to his home city of Vancouver to record both albums and dressed their hard rock with a horn section.

Which song won Aerosmith their first Grammy?

Janie's Got a Gun sat unfinished for months until Tyler saw a Time magazine article tracking handgun deaths minute by minute; it became a song about a girl who shoots her abusive father.

Which band opened for Aerosmith on the 1988 comeback tour, testing the headliners' new sobriety?

Guns N' Roses, their wild young labelmates, were asked not to use drugs around the newly sober headliners; Tyler insists the reported ban on their drinking backstage never happened.

Aerosmith's 1990 Saturday Night Live appearance came in which recurring sketch?

Wayne's World had Wayne and Garth quiz the band on the fall of communism, then join them for the sketch's theme song, with Garth behind the kit and Joey Kramer handed a tambourine.

Which actress starred in Aerosmith's Cryin', Amazing and Crazy videos?

Alicia Silverstone was 16 and fresh from her film debut in The Crush when director Marty Callner cast her in the first; the three videos helped her land the lead in Clueless.

Which 1993 album was the first Aerosmith record to reach No. 1 in the US?

Get a Grip nearly came out a different record: Geffen's A&R man turned down the first batch of songs in 1992, so the band went back and wrote new ones with outside songwriters.

Which single from Nine Lives won Aerosmith their fourth Grammy, in 1999?

Pink was written by Tyler with Richie Supa and Glen Ballard, the producer the band parted with before the album was finished.

Aerosmith's only Hot 100 number one came from which film soundtrack?

Armageddon starred Tyler's daughter Liv, and its ballad, which the band did not write, entered the Hot 100 at No. 1 in 1998 and stayed four weeks: their first chart-topper in 25 years of trying.

Which songwriter wrote Aerosmith's 1998 ballad I Don't Want to Miss a Thing?

Diane Warren pictured someone like Celine Dion singing it and was surprised when it went to a hard rock band; she taught Tyler the song herself at a hotel piano.

Which Walt Disney World park opened a roller coaster starring Aerosmith in 1999?

Hollywood Studios, then called Disney-MGM Studios, ran the ride with the band's songs for almost 27 years; in 2026 it closed and reopened with the Muppets as its new stars.

Aerosmith co-headlined the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show with which boy band?

NSYNC traded songs with the band in 2001 in the first halftime show produced by MTV, before Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige and Nelly joined them all for a finale of Walk This Way.

Which Aerosmith single was on the charts when the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001?

Jaded began as a melody Tyler liked so much that he kept it from the band at first; it peaked at No. 7, and he later claimed the hit stopped their label from dropping them.

Aerosmith's 2004 album Honkin' on Bobo was a collection of what?

Blues covers fill all but one track: Joe Perry wanted the band playing live in the studio after an album pieced together from overdubs, and only The Grind was newly written.

In 2008 Aerosmith became the first band with its own edition of which music video game series?

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith let players strum through the band's career on a plastic guitar; the publisher's chief executive said it earned the band more than any of their albums had.

Which singer said he was flattered but could never replace Steven Tyler when 2009 rumours linked him to Aerosmith?

Lenny Kravitz shut the rumours down himself; they had started after Joe Perry, feuding with Tyler, posted that the band was looking for a new singer to work with.

Steven Tyler angered Joe Perry in 2010 by joining which TV talent show as a judge without telling Aerosmith?

American Idol caused a public row: Perry complained that he had to read about the job in the press, and Tyler later admitted on television that he took it without telling the band.

Which country singer duetted with Aerosmith on the 2013 single Can't Stop Lovin' You?

Carrie Underwood had already sung with Tyler at the 2011 Academy of Country Music Awards and in a television special, so he called her when the band wanted a second voice for the song.

What was the name of Aerosmith's Las Vegas residency that began in 2019?

Deuces Are Wild borrowed the title of the band's 1994 single, a neat fit for a casino town; after its Las Vegas opening the show also played casino theatres on the East Coast.

Why did Aerosmith cancel the Peace Out farewell tour and retire from touring in August 2024?

Tyler's vocal cord injury came at the tour's third show in 2023 and proved worse than first thought: he had also fractured his larynx, and the band said a full recovery was not possible.

Which artist collaborated with Aerosmith on the 2025 EP One More Time?

Yungblud, a British rocker in his twenties, announced the five-song EP with them a week after he, Tyler and Perry paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the MTV VMAs; it was the band's first new music in over a decade.

Joe Perry formed the Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and which actor?

Johnny Depp plays guitar in the supergroup, which is named after the celebrity drinking club Alice Cooper ran in the 1970s with friends such as John Lennon and Keith Moon.

What does Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer's company Rockin' & Roastin' sell?

Coffee: Kramer launched his own organic brand, roasted to his specifications, and went on to open two cafés under the same name, which have since closed.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith was born with which surname?

Tallarico was shortened to Tally in his 1960s band; his first idea for a new stage name was Tyler Britt, until the band's manager talked him into Steven Tyler instead.

Which Eminem song samples an Aerosmith classic?

Sing for the Moment loops Steven Tyler's chorus from Dream On, and Joe Perry went into the studio to record a new guitar solo especially for Eminem's track.

Which country star turned Aerosmith's Fever into a 1995 rodeo single?

Garth Brooks had the lyrics rewritten, trading the original's drugs and sex for a bull rider hooked on the ride, and released it as The Fever from his album Fresh Horses.

Aerosmith took the title of Walk This Way from a gag in which comedy film they watched during a recording break?

Young Frankenstein has Marty Feldman's hunchback tell Gene Wilder to follow him, then limp away; in the studio afterwards the band's producer suggested the gag as a title for their unnamed song.

Aerosmith withdrew the original cover art of 1997's Nine Lives after protests from followers of which religion?

Hinduism's Lord Krishna appeared on the sleeve with a cat's head, dancing on a snake demon. The band had not known where the image came from, and later pressings dropped it.

Aerosmith played the Future Villain Band opposite which group in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

Bee Gees brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb played the heroes alongside Peter Frampton, while Aerosmith's villains got to sing a Beatles classic.

Liv Tyler grew up believing which rock musician was her father before learning it was Aerosmith's Steven Tyler?

Todd Rundgren signed her birth certificate and raised her as his daughter; she guessed the truth as a child after noticing how much she looked like the Aerosmith singer.

What does Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler famously drape from his microphone stand during the band's live shows?

Scarves trail from Tyler's stand at every show, a trademark as recognisable as the piercing screams that earned him the nickname the Demon of Screamin'.

Aerosmith recorded a hard rock cover of the 1967 cartoon theme song for which superhero's first blockbuster film?

Spider-Man reached cinemas in 2002 with the band's version of the 1967 theme on its soundtrack album, though the film's closing credits kept the original cartoon recording.

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry gave the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech for which British band?

Led Zeppelin's own guitarist asked the Aerosmith pair himself, and after their speech they joined the band onstage for a short set.

Aerosmith celebrated their 50th anniversary with a September 2022 concert at which historic baseball stadium?

Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, hosted the party two years late: the show was first planned for September 2020, before the pandemic forced a postponement.

The cover of Aerosmith's 2001 album Just Push Play shows a female robot modelled on which Hollywood star?

Marilyn Monroe was the model for the gynoid, drawn for the sleeve by Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama, an artist famous for his gleaming robot women.

Aerosmith co-headlined the 2003 Rocksimus Maximus Tour with which fellow American arena rock band of the 1970s?

Kiss shared top billing on the 2003 trek, pairing two of the biggest American hard rock acts of the 1970s while Aerosmith readied their next studio album.

Aerosmith played their first gig in November 1970 at what kind of venue in the small town of Mendon?

A high school, Nipmuc Regional, hosted the debut on November 6, 1970, weeks after Steven Tyler agreed to join only if he could be the frontman.

Which guitarist opened Aerosmith's 2014 Let Rock Rule Tour with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators?

Slash, who calls Aerosmith one of his all-time favorite bands, warmed up the crowds on the 2014 tour and joined the headliners on stage for a song at several of the shows.

On Disney's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, riders raced to the band's concert in what kind of vehicle?

A stretch limo was ordered for guests in the pre-show by the band's manager, and Steven Tyler counted down the launch. The ride ran from 1999 until 2026, when the Muppets took over.

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry launched a food brand called Rock Your World to sell what kind of product?

Hot sauce gave Perry a sideline in the kitchen: a quesadilla made with one of his flavors went on the appetizer menu at Hard Rock Cafe.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is credited as an elf lieutenant and elf singer in which animated Christmas film?

The Polar Express stars Tom Hanks in multiple roles, but its North Pole scenes also found room for Tyler among Santa's elves.

Aerosmith named their 1984 reunion tour after which song, the opening track of their 1976 album Rocks?

Back in the Saddle was written about cowboys, with whip cracks faked using a cap pistol, but its title took on a new meaning when the classic five reunited.

Which guitarist completed Aerosmith's classic line-up in 1971, replacing Steven Tyler's childhood friend Ray Tabano?

Brad Whitford has shared guitar duties with Joe Perry ever since, apart from three years in the early 1980s, while Tabano stayed on to run the band's rehearsal base.

Joe Perry says which California band's guitarist told him they started out playing Aerosmith songs in suburban clubs?

Van Halen learned their trade on the Los Angeles club circuit with Aerosmith numbers in the set, as Eddie Van Halen later admitted to Perry in person.

Joey Kramer's bandmates first assumed the name Aerosmith came from a novel by which Nobel Prize-winning American author?

Sinclair Lewis wrote Arrowsmith, a novel the band had been made to read as teenagers, so Kramer had to spell out his invented word letter by letter.

The makers of Aerosmith's Crazy video cast 16-year-old Liv Tyler after spotting her in a commercial for which brand?

Pantene put her on screen first, and the video then became her career debut and one of MTV's most requested clips of 1994.

Which Desmond Child co-write reached number three in 1988, at the time Aerosmith's highest-charting single ever?

Angel climbed to number three in April 1988, a peak the band would not better for a decade, until a film soundtrack ballad took them all the way to the top.

Aerosmith named the music club they opened in December 1994 after which song from their 1973 debut album?

Mama Kin meant so much to Steven Tyler that he had 'Ma' Kin' tattooed on his arm while the band was writing its first album.

Which future star of the TV drama Lost plays the thief who snatches a bag in Aerosmith's 1993 Cryin' video?

Josh Holloway was an unknown when the video's heroine chased him down and floored him; a decade later he was playing Sawyer, the show's resident con man.

Which producer brought Steven Tyler and Joe Perry into the studio to remake Walk This Way with a rap trio in 1986?

Rick Rubin pulled out an old Aerosmith album while producing a rap trio who had no idea who the band were, then talked both sides into re-cutting the song side by side.

Steven Tyler fell off the stage in which South Dakota town in August 2009, ending Aerosmith's tour with ZZ Top?

Sturgis was hosting the show when Tyler tumbled from the stage and broke his shoulder; he was airlifted to hospital and the remaining dates were cancelled within days.

The cover of Aerosmith's 1976 album Rocks shows five of which gemstone, one for each member of the band?

Diamonds fronted an album that Metallica's James Hetfield has named as a key influence, saying Aerosmith were the reason he wanted to learn guitar.

The original sleeve of Aerosmith's 1985 album Done with Mirrors printed nearly all of its text in what unusual way?

Backwards lettering meant fans had to hold the sleeve up to a mirror to read it, a joke that later reissues dropped by flipping the artwork.

Which label released Aerosmith's comeback albums of the 1980s before the band returned to Columbia Records?

Geffen still had the band under contract when Columbia, keen to win them back, signed them to a $30 million deal in 1991, years before they were free to record for it.

Steven Tyler and Aerosmith play themselves in which 2005 John Travolta comedy set in the music business?

Be Cool has John Travolta's Chili Palmer scheming to get a new singer on stage with the band, and its soundtrack pairs her with them on a version of Cryin'.

Aerosmith recorded a song called Lizard Love for which 2003 animated film featuring Nickelodeon characters?

Rugrats Go Wild strands the cartoon babies in the uncharted Pacific with the Thornberry family, an unlikely gig for a band once billed as rock's bad boys.

Aerosmith made online history in 1994 by releasing the song Head First through which dial-up era service?

CompuServe offered the track to its subscribers in 1994, and it is considered the first full-length commercial product ever made available online.

Which 1994 Midway arcade shooter asks players to rescue the abducted members of Aerosmith from a dystopian regime?

Revolution X let players shoot compact discs as well as bullets, and the arcade original was a hit even though its home console ports were panned.

The 1986 rap remake of Walk This Way won Aerosmith a Best Rap Single award from which long-running TV music show?

Soul Train's 1987 Music Awards honored the best in R&B, soul, rap, jazz and gospel, which made a hard rock band one of the night's unlikeliest winners.

Joe Perry's solo instrumental Mercy lost the 2006 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance to which guitar pioneer?

Les Paul gave his name to the Gibson model Perry prefers above all others, so the Aerosmith guitarist was beaten by the man behind his own instrument.

Steven Tyler formed a band called the Strangeurs in 1964 in which city just north of the Bronx?

Yonkers was home from the age of nine, and it gave Aerosmith a second founder too: Tyler's childhood friend Ray Tabano, the band's first rhythm guitarist.

Steven Tyler grew up the son of a classical musician and music teacher who played which instrument?

Piano was his father's instrument, and he taught music in the Bronx; his son took the stage name Tyler and a very different musical path.

Joey Kramer was a student at which renowned contemporary music college before going full-time with Joe Perry's band?

Berklee also taught the guitarist who completed the line-up a year later, so two-fifths of Aerosmith passed through the same classrooms.

Aerosmith's only single from 1979's Night in the Ruts remade Remember (Walking in the Sand) by which girl group?

The Shangri-Las had a top five hit with it in 1964, and their lead singer Mary Weiss returned to sing in the background on Aerosmith's version.

Aerosmith's 1975 concert staple Big Ten Inch Record was a remake of a song originally recorded by which R&B singer?

Bull Moose Jackson cut the suggestive original in 1952, when a ten-inch 78 was the most popular format for a single, which is the joke the title rests on.

Which celebrity caricaturist, famous for his Broadway portraits, drew Aerosmith for the sleeve of 1977's Draw the Line?

Al Hirschfeld spent an eight-decade career sketching stage stars, most famously for The New York Times, which made five scruffy hard rockers one of his more surprising commissions.

Aerosmith recorded much of 1977's Draw the Line while living in what kind of building near New York City?

An old convent called the Cenacle was meant to keep the band away from drugs, but the plan failed, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry ended up writing only three of the album's songs together.

Rick Dufay, Aerosmith's rhythm guitarist from 1982 to 1984, is the father of which Friday Night Lights actress?

Minka Kelly, who played Lyla Garrity in the series, saw little of Dufay while she was growing up, but father and daughter later reconnected.

Which Joe Perry Project track did the reunited Aerosmith remake to open Done with Mirrors?

Let the Music Do the Talking returned with altered lyrics and melody, a recycled five-year-old song that one critic blamed for the album's weak sales.

Steven Tyler's 1960s band the Strangeurs changed its name to what after a line-up change?

Chain Reaction opened for the Beach Boys and the Byrds, and one of its 1966 songs later resurfaced on Aerosmith's 1991 box set Pandora's Box.

The black and white photo on the front of Aerosmith's 1989 album Pump shows one of which vehicle stacked on another?

Truck spotters can name both: a small International K Series sits on top of a larger KB Series, each with its cargo bed removed.

What accident at a gas station forced Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer off the road during the Nine Lives Tour?

His car caught fire at the pumps, leaving him with second-degree burns on a tour that had already been disrupted when Steven Tyler hurt his leg on stage.

The title track of Aerosmith's 2001 album Just Push Play featured in commercials for which American car brand?

Dodge put the song in its advertising, exposure that helped the album go platinum quickly in the spring of 2001.

Which band supported Aerosmith on the 2012 Global Warming Tour and joined them to play for Walmart shareholders?

Cheap Trick had unfinished business with the headliners: a run of dates the two bands planned in 2006 was scrapped when Steven Tyler needed throat surgery.

Aerosmith's July 2007 show drew what was then the largest concert crowd in the history of which Canadian province?

Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province, yet the band's stop there on a mostly overseas world tour outdrew every concert it had hosted before.

Aerosmith's 1973 debut album closes with Walkin' the Dog, a song written and performed by which soul singer?

Rufus Thomas wrote it, though Aerosmith learned the song from a British band's version, and the first pressing of their sleeve misprinted its title as 'Walkin' the Dig'.