It is the only Aerosmith album not to feature guitarist Joe Perry, following his departure from the band in 1979. Fellow guitarist Brad Whitford also left during the recording in 1981. The band spent $1.5 million on the recording of this album, which saw them reunited with producer Jack Douglas.
Aerosmith had released six studio albums during the 1970s. But as the decade concluded, multiple problems arose. Guitarist Joe Perry had left the band in 1979 after incidents at the World Series of Rock in Cleveland, Ohio and was replaced by Jimmy Crespo. Meanwhile, Steven Tyler's drug abuse increased. After recording the single "Lightning Strikes", guitarist Brad Whitford also left Aerosmith in 1981 and was replaced by Rick Dufay.
Guitarist Dufay recalls the difficulty in completing the album in a 2008 interview: "They tried to make that album for two years but Steven couldn't finish stuff and they had trouble with their original producer but once they got Jack and me on board, we were just pushing it. When we went down to Florida, Steven was way too fucked up to do anything, he was nodding off when he was trying to write lyrics and I said to Jack that we had to get him out and get him together. It took about two or three months and we pretty much nursed him back to health. We got him off the hard stuff, sat in the sun and had some laughs and I established a bond with him. It's pretty well documented on the Behind the Music show. He was pretty sick and I just took care of him and even had to wipe his ass for him!!
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_in_a_Hard_Place)