Joe Perry Looks Back on the Making of Aerosmith’s ‘Get Your Wings’

Get Your Wings became the album where Aerosmith stopped sounding like a band searching for direction and started sounding like themselves. It was their second record, released in 1974, and it captured a moment when the group was still rough around the edges but hungry enough to push forward. They had just teamed up with producer Jack Douglas for the first time, and that partnership would end up shaping some of Aerosmith’s most defining years. Yet behind the scenes, the sessions weren’t as smooth as the final product suggests.

What still surprises many fans is how much creative tension surrounded the guitar work. Joe Perry, the band’s driving force and one of rock’s most recognizable guitarists, found himself tested during the making of the record. While his feel was undeniable, Douglas needed a level of precision the young band hadn’t fully developed yet. This became one of the rare points in Aerosmith history where outside musicians quietly stepped in.

Those decisions carried emotional weight. Perry didn’t hide his frustration, even decades later. But the experience also helped solidify the group’s future. As the band kept touring, learning, and refining their craft, Get Your Wings became not just an album—it’s where Aerosmith turned a rough spark into a lasting fire.

Joe Perry’s Raw Style Meets Studio Reality

Jack Douglas admired Perry from the start. He saw him as a fearless, instinctive guitarist—someone who played entirely from the gut, even if that meant jumping into keys or phrases without thinking twice. That unpredictability made Perry exciting, but it could also complicate things in a controlled studio environment. Aerosmith was still young, and the gap between energy and execution showed when certain songs demanded cleaner, tighter playing.

Douglas recalled that Perry’s feel often worked beautifully on tracks that leaned into blues, swagger, and grit. But some cuts on Get Your Wings called for the kind of discipline that comes from years of studio experience. The band didn’t quite have that yet. Douglas wasn’t trying to diminish Perry; he simply wanted the record to land with the punch and precision he knew it needed.

That led to a tough call. For a couple of tracks—“Same Old Song and Dance” and “Train Kept a Rollin’”—Douglas brought in session legends Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter. They were known for their precision and could nail the exact tone and structure the producer wanted. Steven Tyler understood the move immediately, but Perry took it hard. It was a blow to his pride and a reminder of how far the band still had to go.

The Controversy Behind the Replacement Guitarists

For longtime fans, the idea of outside musicians performing on an Aerosmith record feels almost unthinkable. But in 1974, the band was still fighting to prove itself. Douglas didn’t make the decision lightly. He approached Tyler first, who agreed that the songs needed more structure than the band could deliver at the time. Getting Perry on board, however, was another challenge entirely.

From Perry’s perspective, the guitar was his identity. Being replaced—even on only two tracks—felt like an intrusion into his creative space. Douglas later described Perry as “dangerous” in the best possible way: someone who didn’t care about rules, key signatures, or correctness. That wildness would become a hallmark of Aerosmith’s sound, but in the moment, it clashed with the producer’s technical expectations.

The session players did their job quickly and cleanly. Wagner and Hunter were professionals who had already stepped into uncredited roles for acts like Alice Cooper and Lou Reed. Their presence wasn’t meant to overshadow Perry—it was simply a way to get the record across the finish line. Still, the decision created a quiet tension that followed Aerosmith throughout the rest of the sessions.

How Get Your Wings Changed Aerosmith Forever

Once the album came out on March 15, 1974, the conversation shifted from studio drama to real momentum. Get Your Wings didn’t explode overnight, but it gave Aerosmith the push they needed to break nationally. The record eventually sold more than 3 million copies and set the stage for the breakthrough albums that followed, especially Toys in the Attic and Rocks. Fans connected to the swagger, the riffs, and the growing chemistry between Perry and Tyler.

What matters most in hindsight is how much the band grew after the experience. They spent a year on the road performing the solos—those played by Wagner and Hunter included—until the lines became their own. Douglas later said that when Aerosmith returned for the Toys in the Attic sessions, they sounded like a completely different band. The fire was still there, but the control had caught up.

Looking back, Perry’s difficult moment in the studio became one of the sparks that sharpened him. The experience pushed Aerosmith forward musically and professionally, helping them transition from a gritty bar-band mentality into a group capable of making landmark rock albums. Get Your Wings wasn’t just a sophomore release—it was where Aerosmith figured out how to transform potential into power.