"Back in the Saddle," "Sick as a Dog," and "Last Child" remained prominent requests on classic rock stations well into the 1990s. "We were doing a lot of .. drugs by then, but you can hear that whatever we were doing, it was still working for us," Perry mentioned in Aerosmith Unwired. Draw the Line, released on Columbia Records in 1978, went platinum faster than any previous Aerosmith album. The band's Draw The Line Tour lasted through 1978 and early 1979, and their previously hectic recording schedule slowed for the first time in their career. In 1978, Aerosmith released one live album, Live Bootleg, and made their Hollywood debut with an appearance in Robert Stigwood's ill-received film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in which they covered the Beatles' "Come Together."

During the two-year tour that followed Draw the Line, Aerosmith developed a reputation for drug abuse of legendary proportions, and deep personal animosities developed between the primary band members. Tensions between Perry and Tyler escalated, and during the making of 1979's A Night in the Ruts, Perry bowed out to pursue a solo career with his own group, The Joe Perry Project. The band's 1980 debut, Let the Music Do the Talking, garnered Perry a minor hit with its title cut, and Perry did not return. Guitarist Jimmy Crespo replaced Perry and the band continued recording, keeping several tracks that Perry had recorded. However, shortly after A Night in the Ruts was completed, Brad Whitford left the band as well. In 1981, Aerosmith replaced Whitford with Rick Dufay. In late 1981, Tyler was injured in a motorcycle accident in which he had been drinking. The accident took off his heel and put him in a hospital for over six months. By the time Aerosmith's next album, Rock in a Hard Place, appeared in 1982, Tyler found that the band's popularity had been eclipsed by a wide range of second-generation heavy metal bands. In April of 1984, Aerosmith announced to the press that the original band would reunite and tour. "You should have felt the buzz the moment all five of us got together in the same room for the first time again," said Tyler. "We all started laughin, it was like the five years had never passed. We knew we'd made the right move." The band's members took their first steps toward defeating their various drug and alcohol addictions. After auditioning for Geffen Records, the band won a new contract. For their 1986 comeback album, Done with Mirrors, Aerosmith recruited heavyweight producer Ted Templeman, who had worked with Van Halen on its first six albums.