Was this iconic 70s band the most scandalous in rock history?
Was this iconic 70s band the most scandalous in rock history?
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When you think about rock star behaviour, you probably think about Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. One of the biggest rock bands in the history of music, Aerosmith rose to fame in the mid to late 70s and have become synonymous with the debauchery and the blood-pumping, raw live shows associated with the era.
![[Aerosmith 1977]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-1201050189.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
David Krebs, one of the band’s managers, said in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone that the band’s incomparable energy is how he helped rocket them to the top of the rock scene. He said: ‘We learned to play our market so that Aerosmith opened for acts that were slightly on the downslide – bands whose audience we could cop. Even if we didn’t blow them off the stage every time, we could at least count on some to buy an Aerosmith album.’.
![[Aerosmith in Concert on Midnight Special - June 1974]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-104605163.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=594)
But all of that head banging and those screaming vocals came with a rock and roll lifestyle that was just as unhinged as the gigs the band played. As Tyler would later describe it: ‘I got a chance to ride in the front seat of a roller coaster with Hendrix once. We were both doing poppers. Didn’t know him well, but we played the night before together at the Scene. Just to have experienced all that and think that he’s dead, and Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison.
![[Photo of AEROSMITH]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-84843196.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=594)
‘Because coming up with it — you’re getting high to be able to drive from here to Tempe, Arizona, for a few shows, and so you smoke a little pot, and then you hear your record on the radio and you get caught up in the wow-ness of it all, you do a little blow. And some beautiful girl and her girlfriend decide to enjoy each other as they whip out a needle, and so you try shooting coke as you’re getting blown.’.
![[Aerosmith in Concert - Circa 1975]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-75552890.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=398)
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