Aerosmith's debut album

Aerosmith is the debut studio album by the rock band Aerosmith, and was released on Jan. 5, 1973, by Columbia Records.

“Dream On”, originally released as a single in 1973, became an American top ten hit when re-released on Dec. 27, 1975. The album peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 album chart in 1976.

The album was not a success when it was released on Jan. 5, 1973. To the band’s disappointment, it was not reviewed in Rolling Stone. Moreover, Columbia released Aerosmith at the same time as Bruce Springsteen’s debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., for which they made a greater promotional effort.

In a modern review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Aerosmith as “truly an American band, sounding as though they were the best bar band in your local town, cranking out nasty hard-edged rock;" he considered “Dream On” “the blueprint for all power ballads” and the album a worthy debut where the band’s “sleazoid blues-rock” sound is fully present but not yet perfected as in the next album.