What saved Get a Grip wasn’t rehab, however, but rather the other big secret to Aerosmith’s late-career success: outside songwriters. Getting clean was one thing, but using well-known fixers like Desmond Child (who cowrote “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” and Diane Warren (who wrote all of 1998’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” Aerosmith’s only No. 1 hit) was a topic that the members of Aerosmith did not care to discuss publicly. But the band’s resolve to write songs without input from proven hit makers grew weaker after they signed a deal with Sony in 1991 worth $30 million, the most tangible
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