“When I read stories about guys who snorted everything they had, I said, ‘That‘ll never happen to me.’ But in the end I blew 20 million”: The wild story of Aerosmith’s spectacular 1980s fall and rise

Aerosmith posing for a photograph against a bright green background in 1984 .

It’s January 1980 and Aerosmith are playing Reefer Head Woman from their new Night In The Ruts album at the Civic Centre in Maine. It’s a sold-out show, but singer Steven Tyler doesn’t care.

Frustrated at having no cocaine to counteract the intoxicating effects of all the booze he’s swallowed since waking – rounded off by two double martinis gulped minutes before taking the stage – he gives up and pretends to pass out. Throwing himself to the stage he fakes a seizure, twitching his leg to make it look authentic.