The Boston band's first album was a solid slab of hard rock that initially attracted little attention outside of New England. This album and the song "Dream On" became a hit only after the release of Aerosmith's third album, TOYS IN THE ATTIC. Columbia re-released AEROSMITH in 1976 and put out "Dream On" as a single, 3 years after its original release.

After entering a partnership with Frank Connelly, David Krebs and Steve Leber invited members of two record labels – Atlantic Records and Columbia Records – to view an Aerosmith concert at Max's Kansas City. Clive Davis, the president of Columbia, was impressed with the band and Aerosmith signed with Columbia in the summer of 1972. Although lead singer Steven Tyler had been in several previous groups, most of the band members had never been in a studio before. The band was heavily influenced by many of the British blues/rock bands of the 1960s, including The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Yardbirds, and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.