Aerosmith performing in June of 1974 in Burbank, California.
Just in case you have been under a rock lately, let me tell you there is trouble within Aerosmith. Comments made to the media from Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry cast doubt on the band's future, and there is no official word as to what is going on.
A lot of these issues emerged during the summer when the legendary band was forced to cancel their tour with ZZ Top.
Unfortunately, shortly after rebounding from a leg injury that caused them to cancel several dates, Tyler fell off the stage at a Sturgis, S.D., show, ending the remainder of the tour.
Aerosmith has seen their share of problems over the years. They were at one time our (America’s) answer to the Rolling Stones and not just because the frontmen had matching lips. Their sound was similar and so was their drug intake. While Mick and Keith were known as the Glimmer Twins, Steven and Joe were the Toxic Twins. The band gained a lot of respect for staying sober for so many years and now it is the other members of the band casting doubt on Tyler’s sobriety. They may be right, but if they aren’t that is a cold, cold thing to do.
While the other members of Aerosmith are complaining about Tyler taking two years off, at least he gave them notice. Unlike when Perry left the band in 1979 to start the Joe Perry Project reportedly in the middle of a tour with no notice at all. Next to abandon ship was rhythm guitarist Bradley Whitford, who went AWOL in 1981. They both rejoined the group in 1984 and that became one of the most successful reinventions in history, a'70s band that emerged as a hard rock group with blues influences turned into superstars of the MTV generation.
It started back in 1986 when Tyler and Perry joined Run-DMC for the historic remake of 'Walk This Way,' which hit No. 4 on the singles charts. For the two decades since, Aerosmith has enjoyed their deserved status as icons, touring constantly, scoring hits with tracks like 'Jaded,' 'Love in an Elevator' and 'Janie's Got A Gun' not to mention finally reaching #1 with “I don’t want to miss a thing” before riding the success of '
Perry thinks the band is bigger than any one member, and feels there's work still to be done by himself, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer.
Perry, Kramer and Whitford all tell Rolling Stone in their upcoming issue that they haven’t had any direct communication with Tyler, the last time Perry called Tyler personally, he was hung up on.
When asked how Steven got on stage with him, Perry said “He just came in. There was all this commotion during our encore break and I just sat down on the couch and somebody said, "Steven is here." And I was like, "What?" He came over and it was like, "How are you doing? What have you played so far? What songs have you done?" That kind of thing. I said, "You feel like sitting in and joining the band for a while, or what?" He said, "Of course." I said, "You got your choice. You can blow harp on the blues song or sing 'Walk This Way.'" He said he wanted to sing "Walk This Way." And I said, "All right, we could always use another singer." So he came up and sang and that was the last I saw of him.”
When Joey Kramer was asked about Steven's surprise appearance at Joe's solo gig he took the opportunity to go for the jugular. He said “I think that was very self-serving and I think that... first of all I know that Joe didn't know anything about it and Steven just kind of popped up onstage and he left just as fast as he got there.”
So will Aerosmith break up? Will the other members move ahead without Steven Tyler? If they tour without Tyler will they still call themselves Aerosmith? Should they? These questions and more could be answered if CBS would just bring back Rock Star: Aerosmith.
Other stories by Mitch McCracken:
Jimi Jamison of Survivor: Where are they now
The Who will perform at Superbowl XLIV halftime show
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' to release The Live Anthology
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rocks with Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel
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Comments
Aerosmith band members need to shup up for awhile.It's seems like their always complaining about something.I would think that Steven would be tired of them after all of these years.
I know, I don't think it is such a big deal for him to take a couple of years off. Aerosmith without Tyler is like Bon Jovi without Jon.
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