Aerosmith was dead. The ‘70s had chewed them up and spat them out, bloated, burnt out, and buried under a mountain of nose candy and bad decisions. The Toxic Twins were toxic for real, and the sleaze-drenched rock ‘n’ roll machine that had once ruled the world crumbled into a parody of itself. But then, against all odds, against the very laws of excess, they clawed their way back. The ‘80s weren’t just a comeback—they were a resurrection. And these three albums? The Holy Trinity of their second coming.

3. Done With Mirrors (1985)

This is the sound of a band crawling out of a grave, dirt still under their fingernails, gasping for air but alive, damn it, ALIVE. Done With Mirrors was supposed to be the grand return of Aerosmith with all five original members back in the saddle. Instead, it’s the sound of a band trying to remember what made them great in the first place. The grooves are there—“Let the Music Do the Talking” is a snakebite of a riff, “My Fist Your Face” is as mean as anything from Rocks—but the whole thing is still wading through a fog of chemical withdrawal. It’s raw, it’s messy, and it didn’t sell worth a damn, but this is the last pure Aerosmith record before the big, glossy boom.

2. Permanent Vacation (1987)

This is where they signed their souls to MTV and finally started raking in the big bucks again. The Desmond Child/Jim Vallance hit machine was wheeled in, and suddenly Aerosmith was writing stadium anthems with laser-guided precision. “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” is either the dumbest or greatest song they ever wrote, “Angel” is pure arena-schmaltz perfection, and “Rag Doll” struts like a snake-oil preacher on payday. This is the album where Aerosmith finally figured out how to sell sex, sleaze, and swagger to a whole new generation, and by God, it worked.

1. Pump (1989)

If Permanent Vacation was the rebirth, Pump was the coronation. This is Aerosmith at full power, launching into the ‘90s with an album so loaded with hits it practically explodes on impact. “Love in an Elevator” is rock ‘n’ roll decadence distilled into four minutes of neon sleaze, “Janie’s Got a Gun” is the darkest, most socially charged song they ever wrote, and “The Other Side” swings like a wrecking ball through a glass house. Every track here is tighter, harder, and nastier than the last, proof that Aerosmith hadn’t just survived the ‘80s—they’d conquered them.

Aerosmith’s ‘80s run was nothing short of a miracle. They should have been a footnote in rock history, another cautionary tale of excess and burnout. Instead, they rose from the ashes and took over the world all over again. These three albums chart that journey—Done With Mirrors is the rough, ragged start, Permanent Vacation is the slick, neon-soaked comeback, and Pump is the masterpiece. If you want to hear a band that defied death and came back louder, nastier, and hungrier than ever, drop the needle and let it rip.