Joe Perry in in the classic mold of the rock guitarist. He's the cool, silent type who shreds opposite his flamboyant frontman. Think Slash to Axl Rose, or Keith Richards to Mick Jagger. Perry held down the role with panache during the golden age of Aerosmith in the 1970s. Then, he walked.
Perry was not part of the band from 1979 to 1984. An eternity in the lifespan of most bands, but only a blip in the lifespan of Aeresmith. The Boston outfit has had so many hits and so many rebrands over the decades that it can be easy to forget the wilderness years, when Jimmy Crespo took Perry's spot as lead guitarist.
Perry walked away from Aerosmith in 1979
Tensions ran high between the members of Aerosmith during the World Series of Rock in 1979. Joe Perry's wife reportedly threw a glass of milk at the wife of bassist Tom Hamilton. All hell broke loose, and Perry and frontman Steven Tyler got into an argument that soured their friendship. Perry left the band soon after, despite being halfway through the recording of the album Night In the Ruts.
During a 2024 interview with Guitar World, Perry admitted that he was not so much angry at his bandmates as he was tired of being in the band. He was also frustrated by the lack of transparency when it came to Aerosmith's finances. "I wanted to do an audit of the business and see where our money was," Perry noted. "We didn’t pay any attention to that stuff; we would get checks and put them in the bank."
The guitarist rejoined the band in 1984
The guitarist took some of his compositions with him and founded the Joe Perry Project. The band found success out the gate with the 1980 album Let the Music Do the Talking, but subsequent tapes failed to make much noise. Perry initially felt like a "weight" had been lifted from his shoulders when he went solo, but in retrospect, the guitarist claimed that it was never going to be a permanent split.
"In my heart, I never thought, 'I’ll never play with them again,'" Perry asserted. "It was just like, at the moment, we just needed a break." He was right. The guitarist rejoined Aerosmith in 1984, and he's been with the band ever since. Furthermore, Aerosmith would go on to score some of the biggest singles of their career in the late 1980s and 90s.
Joe Perry was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with his Aerosmith brethren in 2001, and retired from touring in 2024.