"If you were playing with two other rock bands, you wanted to be the band that people remembered when they walked out": How Aerosmith got their wings and flew

The photo of Aerosmith that adorned the cover of Get Your Wings.

In June 1973, Aerosmith were a busted flush. Their first, self-titled album – released just six months before – had sold barely 30,000 copies, and Columbia Records president Clive Davis, who had signed the band less than a year earlier, informed them he would not be picking up the option for a second album. As guitarist Joe Perry says now: “We were out on our asses before we’d even got started.”

Talking to Classic Rock, Perry explains: “Your average person doesn’t realise how important being on a record label was [back then]. We had to audition three times to get the deal. They were like the bank, they fronted you.”