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Night in the Ruts is the sixth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on November 1, 1979 by Columbia Records. Guitarist Joe Perry left the band midway through the album's recording. The album was initially produced at the band's Warehouse rehearsal space by Jack Douglas, who'd produced Aerosmith's previous four albums, but later Columbia Records brought in Gary Lyons to replace Douglas as producer. Recording of the album began in the spring of 1979, but right from the beginning there were delays. Hampered by rampant drug use, vocalist Steven Tyler had difficulty completing lyrics and vocals. Bassist Tom Hamilton recalled: "We worked on the album, but we couldn't finish it. It was supposed to come out in June and be called Off Your Rocker, but there were no lyrics. It was a big crisis." The relationship between Aerosmith and Jack Douglas also became frosty and unstable when the producer divorced his wife, whom the band had liked. Aerosmith spent the summer at Mediasound Studios in New York trying to finish off the album with producer Gary Lyons. The band caught a second wind when Tyler came up with lyrics for a song he had been composing with Perry that "told the story of the band," which became "No Surprize," a song that Tyler has cited as his favourite.