We started Night in the Ruts with Jack in the spring of 1979. (The last became Perry's official replacement from 1979 to 1984.) Perry's last session with the band was on May 30, 1979. Prior to Perry's departure, he had completed guitar parts for "No Surprize," "Chiquita," "Cheese Cake," “Reefer Headed Woman”, "Three Mile Smile," and "Bone to Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy)." Guitar parts for the remaining songs were recorded by Brad Whitford, Richie Supa, Neil Thompson, and Jimmy Crespo.
The situation came to a head on July 28, 1979, at the World Series of Rock in Cleveland, Ohio when Perry left the band halfway through the tour after a heated argument with Tyler. This often led to missed and sloppy live performances, culminating in a fight involving the members and their wives. Substance abuse among the members gradually worsened, and they started fighting among themselves. It's ironic, because we were out on the road, playing stadiums to huge amounts of people, and yet the band was getting ready to die." So we had to go on tour before the vocals were finished, and it was dragging on and on. "Our management booked a tour," Hamilton noted, "leaving us just enough time to make the record, based on how long it'd taken us in the past, but we actually needed much more time. This premature outing during the summer months pushed the album's release to later in the year. With the album still unfinished, the band was sent on tour to generate revenue, as they had burned through the budget allotment. Come up with another hit or there's going to be trouble.' David thought I no longer exercised control over the band, which was true. This, combined with weak sales of Draw the Line, led to Columbia stepping in, with Douglas reflecting in the band memoir Walk This Way, "The label finally put a lot of pressure on them. The relationship between Aerosmith and Jack Douglas also became frosty and unstable when the producer divorced his wife, whom the band had liked. It was a big crisis." The band members were also in dire financial straits, with guitarist Joe Perry owing the band $80,000 for room service, which he planned to repay by recording a solo album. It was supposed to come out in June and be called Off Your Rocker, but there were no lyrics. Bassist Tom Hamilton recalled: "We worked on the album, but we couldn't finish it. Hampered by rampant drug use, vocalist Steven Tyler had difficulty completing lyrics and vocals. Recording of the album began some time in the spring of 1979, but right from the beginning there were delays.