Aerosmith establishes the formula that would carry the so-called Toxic Twins - singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry - through three decades in which they'd swing wildly between hits and hokum, shotgun-blues raunch and purple balladry. 

 That goal became reality after the twin triumphs of Toys in the Attic and Rocks, hard-rock landmarks that bring the melody without stinting on the toughness.  

 That goal became reality after the twin triumphs of Toys in the Attic and Rocks, hard-rock landmarks that bring the melody without stinting on the toughness.  

 But the band's excesses soon swallowed them up, as evidenced by a bankrupt series of studio albums from Draw the Line through Done With Mirrors.  

 But the band's excesses soon swallowed them up, as evidenced by a bankrupt series of studio albums from Draw the Line through Done With Mirrors.  

 An audacious single, "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," perked up the otherwise thin Permanent Vacation. 

 Pump made their return to hard-rock glory official: It was the first wall-to-wall classic since Rocks. 

 Its success ushered in a new era of studio puffery, with ballads and gimmicks competing for space with the rockers on Get a Grip.  

 Among a truckload of compilations and retrospectives, the priciest is Box of Fire. 

 On Nine Lives the band repeated itself and others, with "Hole in My Soul" revising "Dream On," while Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" is the template for "Taste of India."  

 As a live act, the new Aerosmith came across like multimillionaire craftsmen; their hook-filled but disconcertingly sanitized bombast is documented on the live disc A Little South of Sanity.  

 Just Push Play continued to press the same buttons that recharged the band's career: power ballads so overblown they might make Mariah Carey blush and the occasional contemporary production touch. 

 O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits, which combines the classic Seventies material with "Janie's Got a Gun"Ðera hits for Geffen, is the best of many repackaging jobs. 

 The blues covers that dominate Honkin' on Bobo allow Aerosmith to play it looser and raunchier, and this time there're no gratuitous pop concessions to muck up the low-rent thrills.