Sex. Drugs. Rock and Roll. Amplified to 11 with the power of a freight train. For those who rabbit on about being a “rockstar”, know that the Bad Boys from Boston wrote the book and then set it on fire. #aerosmith #classicrock #hardrock #rockandroll #loveislove #LGBTQ

NOTE: There is only one ballad in this program, but it’s the original power ballad, so maybe that doesn’t count.

A few years ago, when my husband Travis and I were early in our relationship, I happened to be a member of Aerosmith’s fan club, Aero Force One. The band were having contests revolving around the release of what I consider their best studio album of the 90’s, Nine Lives, in 1997.

“Name our new album” was a contest they were running. After talking to Travis about this, the first word out of his mouth in describing an Aerosmith song from their perspective was pussy. I added that the whole album would probably be “more songs about pussy”, and that is what we submitted. Needless to say, we didn’t win, but were awarded 4th row center stage tickets to their San Diego show in December. They were the first rock band to play a new arena in town. It was billed as “Aerosmith at the Cox” in the newspaper, with a screaming cat as the image. I can’t even make this up.

Steven Tyler, 1978, at Giants Stadium, New York. Courtesy of Getty Images.

Of the numerous times we had seen them, Travis in the 70’s and myself in the 80’s and 90’s, it was by far the best performance either one of us had even witnessed by the group. At the end of the night, after the band finished bluesman Tiny Bradshaw’s “Train Kept A-Rolling” (Aerosmith’s version was heavily influenced by the Johnny Burnett Trio and The Yardbirds covers of the song), lead singer Steven Tyler was heaving, as if he was almost about to collapse.

Two solid non-stop hours of hits, album cuts and covers; a whole lot of energy, speed, volume and most importantly, fun. We both remember seeing Tyler smiling from ear to ear, knowing that Aerosmith had literally broken the venue’s cherry that night. At the end of the month, the San Diego Union-Tribune music editor, who was typically averse to anything loud or heavy, called it one of the ten best live performances of the year.

“There will never be a rock group more all-round great than Aerosmith.”Brian May of Queen

It wasn’t always sunshine and roses, though. Starting out in 1970 playing at a high school gymnasium, Aerosmith were the hardest working rock band of the decade. They opening for acts they would eventually outsell, including Rush, Queen and Mott The Hoople. They even were on bills with banjo player Eric Weissman and opened for Jazz fusion group The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

They were the last act signed to Columbia Records by legendary music mogul Clive Davis before he was fired from the label. Their first album was released on the same day as the debut album by Bruce Springsteen. According to the band in their best-selling autobiography Walk This Way (Dey Street, 1997, Aerosmith with Stephen Davis), “For every $100 they spent on Springsteen, they spent a dollar on us.” For the record, in the 1970’s, Aerosmith also outsold Springsteen.

Aerosmith. (l-r) Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. From the TV program “Midnight Special” June 1974 Burbank, CA. at the NBC Studios in Burbank, California (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)

The band were also utterly hated by many in the so-called “hip” musical press as sloppy Stones seconds,