Aerosmith: Five Things You Didn't Know

Aerosmith has been around for longer than you probably have imagined. The band formed in 1970 and has become one of the highest-grossing and most popular rock bands of all time. Most of the band is eligible to withdraw money from their IRAs without penalties. Lead singer, Steven Tyler, is just over two years away from eligibility for Medicare benefits and could be collecting Social Security now.

Aerosmith continues to tour, create new music and reinvent itself. Steven Tyler's new gig as a talent judge on the network show, American Idol, brings the band in front of a whole new generation of music lovers. Here are some details about the band that you may not have known:

1. Liv Tyler

Liv Tyler, an actress in films such as Armageddon, Jersey Girl and Lord of the Rings, is Steven Tyler's daughter through a brief relationship with groupie, Bebe Buell. Growing up, Bebe told Liv that her father was Todd Rundgren, with whom Buell lived for several years. According to Buell, this was to protect Liv from her real father's legendary drug use. Liv and her father were reunited when Liv was an adult and he has been involved in her life ever since. Steven Tyler wrote the song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" for the movie Armageddon. Tyler has three other children.

2. Joe Perry

Perry is a founding member of Aerosmith and a friend of Steven Tyler's since the late 1960s. However, their friendship has had epic wrinkles and their public fights over the past thirty years have been well-documented. Called "the Toxic Twins" for their use of heroin and other hard drugs in their early years, both men cleaned up in the 1990's but their on-again, off-again relationship continued. Perry and Tyler have pushed each other off the stage during concerts and staged press interviews declaring the other has left the band on several occasions. Reportedly, Tyler's latest move to become a judge on American Idol has left Perry to once again speculate publicly about the continuation of Aerosmith.

3. Dream On

This iconic Aerosmith ballad actually pre-dates the band itself. Steven Tyler wrote the song in 1968 when he was a member of the band Chain Reaction (formerly The Strangeurs). Dream On went on to become the first single from Aerosmith's debut self-titled album, released in 1973. When re-released in 1976, the song hit #6 on the Billboard charts. The song appears on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

4. Tyler's Famous Vocal Chords

Tyler has some of the most famous vocal chords in rock and has retained the ability to hit high falsetto notes into his 60s. However, in 2006, a doctor discovered a bleed on his vocal chords caused by a popped blood vessel. Tyler underwent laser surgery to seal off the blood vessel. Aerosmith had to cancel several tour dates to allow the vocal chords to heal. In May of 2006, Aerosmith returned to the studio to work on a new album. Tyler's vocal chords and surgery were featured on a NatGeo airing of Incredible Human Machines.

5. Class Action Lawsuit

In 2007, Aerosmith (aided by some incredibly bad management advice) cancelled a sold-out concert in Maui, Hawaii. A class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of concert goers. According to the lawsuit, the cancellation occurred because the band wanted to play a larger venue in Chicago. The band claimed that they simply could not get the gear back to Hawaii in time for the concert. To make matters worse, the band played a private function in Hawaii three days after the cancelled concert. The lawsuit was ultimately settled by the band playing a free concert in Hawaii in 2009 for ticket holders of the 2007 concert. It was one of the only concerts in 2009 not cancelled due to Steven Tyler's broken shoulder suffered during a fall from the stage.