1970
- Aerosmith is well received at their first public appearance, playing at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, MA in the late fall
- The newly named Aerosmith play gigs outside of Boston University's Student Union building recognizing that getting close to their fans is the key to success. Sharing an apartment at 1325 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, the band defines itself in the best possible conditions for a young rock n' roll band to do so
"There were six of us in the group, some of us were living in the kitchen, eating brown rice and Cambell's soup. Those days, you know, when a quart of beer was heaven. It was hard times and it was really good. During lunch we would set up all our equipment outside of BU, in the main square and just started wailing. That's basically how we got billed. We never got much publicity in the magazines and newspapers." - Steven Tyler interview Circus Magazine 6/75
1971
- Guitarist Ray Tabano leaves the band to return years later as a member of the crew, then Director of Marketing during which time he launched the first Aerosmith fan club and worked on developing their merchandise
- Tabano is replaced by Brad Whitford who cut his eye-teeth in rock n' roll at age 16, playing with Teapot Dome, Earth, Inc. and Cymbals of Resistance
- At this point the band is earning about $300 a night and dodging eviction notices and stealing food from supermarkets to survive. Still an unsigned local band, they compete for local press with others like J. Geils and The Modern Lovers
- The band's formative years are not without that most needed element in any successful rock band's history - sheer luck. They had worked damn hard and the payoff was on it's way
- John O'Toole lets Aerosmith practice free of charge in the Fenway Theater. He takes a liking to the band and brings in his friend Frank Connoly, the first person of some commercial significance to have more than a passing hunch about the bands potential -
"Frank was the first guy who knew, he was the one who said we were on to something" - Brad Whitford
1972
- Steven Tallarico changes his name to Steven Tyler
- Summer - Aerosmith lands a $125,000 deal with Columbia, following a show an New York's Max's Kansas City, when Clive Davis saw them play. The song "No Suprize" chronicals this event
- The band enters Intermedia Sound studios to record Aerosmith their classic self titled debut LP, produced by Adrian Barber. The album was recorded and mixed in just 2 weeks
1973
- January - The first album, Aerosmith, is released on Columbia Records.
- The band begins touring in support of the first album, opening for the likes of Mott the Hoople, The Kinks, Hawkwind and Mahavishnu Orchestra
- The first LP sells faster than any other album in Boston at the time and gets an outstanding review from Creem Magazine, while going largely unnoticed by other mainstream media
- June - "Dream On" / "Somebody" released as a single. "Dream On" gets #1 song of the year at 2 popular Boston radio stations (WVBF - Framingham, and WBCN - Boston)
1974
- March - The band finish recording Get Your Wings at the Record Plant in New York and release the first single, - Same Old Song And Dance / "Pandora's Box" is released
- Circus Magazine gives Get Your Wings the first mention as one of the year's "Ace Albums"
- Circus Magazine runs an article on Aerosmith
- April - Letter to the Editors of Circus Magazine -
"Let's have more on a fantastic group called Aerosmith. They are very well-known in Boston and New York. Their hit single "Dream On" is the number one song of the year on two popular FM stations. They were also recently on tour with Mott the Hoople, and they put on an incredible show! Lead singer Steven Tyler really knows how to please the audience, and I hope in coming issues I'll hear more about them. -Ann Marie Foley, Waltham, MA
- September - "Train Kept a Rollin' / "Spaced" (a leftover from their days performing as Chain Reaction) is released as a single
1975 - 76
- Early '75 - Get Your Wings goes Gold
- February - "S.O.S. (Too Bad)" / "Spaced" is released
- April - Toys in the Attic, recorded in NY at the Record Plant, breaks The Top 20
- May - "Sweet Emotion" / "Uncle Salty" is released, charting into Billboard's Top 40
- August - "Walk This Way" / "Round And Round" is released
- November - "You See Me Cryin'" / "Toys In The Attic" is released
- Aerosmith continues touring heavily as the venues get larger. Press coverage begins to blossom
- Aerosmith plays before a crowd of 80,000 in the Detroit Lion's Stadium, Pontiac Michigan
- Cover of The Boston Phoenix dawns a picture of Steven Tyler in a black lace top with the accompanying headline; "Boston's Biggest Export"
- Aerosmith becomes a headlining act, and along with ZZ Top and KISS, one of the top concert attractions in the country
"We were America's band, we were the garage band that made it really big - the ultimate party band. We were the guys who you could actually see. Back then in the seventies, it wasn't like Led Zeppelin was out there on the road in America all of the time. The Stones weren't always coming to your town. We were. You could count on us to come by." - Joe Perry
- February - Fueled by their recent success, the band begins recording their fourth album Rocks at The Wherehouse in Waltham, MA and Record Plant Studios, New York
- May - Rocks, the band's fourth album, often heralded as their finest, is released and immediately goes platinum
- Cover of Rolling Stone has Steven Tyler lying in bed flashing his "Ma' Kin" tattoo. The issue features a 6 page article: "Aerosmith's Wrench Rock, Music for The New Stone Age."
- The band embarks on 58 City tour of U.S.
- Aerosmith gets voted #1 favorite band and Rocks gets #1 favorite album in the Reader's Poll, Creem Magazine
- May '76 - "Last Child" / "Combination" is released
- August - "Home Tonight" / "Pandora's Box" is released
- November "Walk This Way" / "Uncle Salty" is released peaking into Billboard's Top 10
- November "Dream On" / "Sweet Emotion" is released
- "Dream On" reaches #3 in the Billboard Charts
1977
- Early '77, band begins its first tour of the Far East in Japan.
- March - "Back in the Saddle / "Nobody's Fault" is released
- The band sets up headquarters in a quiet, converted 300 room convent known as The Cenacle to record their fifth album, Draw The Line
"Sixty acres with a great big house, I don't know how much it cost but it was outrageous. We had motorcycles and Porches and we'd go cruising around the countryside terrorizing everybody. We had all our friends up there and we'd go shooting off all these guns at the shooting range, just blasting away. We had a great time up there." - Joe Perry Creem Magazine
- Driving back from the studio one night, Joey Kramer crashes his car
- Summer - Aerosmith begins their second European Tour
- October - "Draw The Line" single is released
- December - Draw The Line, released on Columbia Records goes platinum faster than any previous Aerosmith album
- The band embarks on "Draw The Line Tour" which lasts through 1978 and early 1979
1978
- Summer - Aerosmith co-headline "California Jam II" with Ted Nugent, the biggest rock festival of the mid to late 70's, and are featured on the double album release of the concert
- Aerosmith pays $ 3,650 in bail-money to free fifty-two fans busted for violating a No-Smoking ordinance during a show at Fort Wayne, Indiana
- The band continue their ruthless touring schedule throughout the year
- Aerosmith wraps up the tour playing a show at Boston's "Paradise" as "Dr. J. Jones and the Interns"
- Tracks recorded live at this show found their way onto Live! Bootleg
- October - Aerosmith make their Hollywood debut with an appearance in Robert Stigwood's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" movie as the "Future Villain Band"
- Live! Bootleg is released on Columbia Records
"What Live! Bootleg does make clear, as it highlights the best of their past work, is that Aerosmith really is one of the best hard rock bands that the U.S. has ever produced. I don't think that they set out to be an important group: no great messages to get across, no big causes to champion. They just wanted to be one hot Rock 'n' Roll band, rooted in the second generation guitar-calisthenics-plus-frontman approach of their heroes." - Billy Altman - Creem magazine
1979
- Aerosmith finally slow down after seven solid years of pummeling the globe
- Aerosmith begin work on their seventh album Night In The Ruts
- After some internal turmoil with the band, Joe Perry leaves Aerosmith to further pursue "The Joe Perry Project"
- Jimmy Crespo, formerly of Flame replaces Perry on lead guitar
- Aerosmith goes on tour with the new line-up to support Night in the Ruts