Talk this way: The story of Aerosmith as told by the band
Aerosmith’s iconic career has not been without plenty of adversity along the way. Sex, songs, drugs and danger were the band’s formula for success and failure. Culled from various sources, here is the story of Aerosmith in the band’s own words.
THE ORIGINS OF AEROSMITH
Steven Tyler: I’d been playing in bands for something like seven years at this point. And we were always trying to get ahead, trying to rehearse and sound professional. But then I go to see the Jam Band (Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton’s band before Aerosmith), and it blew me away. I wasn’t expecting too much. Then they got up there and did “Rattlesnake Shake” by Fleetwood Mac. And I said to myself, “That’s it. These guys suck. They can’t even tune their instruments. But they have a great groove going that’s better than any (sex) I’ve ever had.” I just knew that if I could show them a little of what I knew, with the looseness and balls that they showed up there, then we’d really have something.
Tom Hamilton: Steven and Joe had an argument the first night about Joe playing too loud, and so began an Aerosmith tradition.
Joe Perry: These days it’s almost like a lot of kids get into bands because they want to get rich and famous, but when we started this band that wasn’t really part of it. I never envisioned what I was doing as part of a career. We weren’t even aware of all the stuff that came with it. We just looked at the bands that we idolized — like the Yardbirds — and we were blown away by how they could play. All we wanted to do was play like that, to be a great band like that.
Tom Hamilton: I think what we wanted to do, without ever really saying it, was to be the American equivalent of all the great British bands like Cream, the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. They were all so classy and powerful sounding. We couldn’t think of an American band like that. We wanted to be the first one.
Joey Kramer: We never wanted to be a bar band. We were always a concert band.
Steven Tyler: We were the guys you could actually see. It wasn’t like Zeppelin was out there on the road in America all the time, the Stones weren’t always coming to your town. We were America’s band — the garage band that made it real big, the ultimate party band. What I like about Aerosmith, and what we always try to do, is to keep the balance of fun. There’s enough (crap) going on. You don’t need to come to our shows and have your face rubbed in it, too."
Steven Tyler: The thought that we might not make it never occurred to us. Everybody was totally committed.
FINDING SUCCESS AND ‘TOYS IN THE ATTIC’
Joe Perry: We started playing bigger venues and before bigger crowds. Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland. We felt like if we could win the heart of America, the rest of the country would follow.
Steven Tyler: “Toys in the Attic” was where I knew we’d made it. It’s a statement of longevity. The record would be played long after you’re dead. Our records would be up there in the attic, too, with the things you loved and never wanted to forget. And to me, Aerosmith was becoming that.”
Joe Perry: “Toys in the Attic” arrived at the moment when rock ‘n’ roll albums were becoming an important part of people’s lives. It was an important ritual, waiting for a record to come out, going to the record store the day it was released, buying it, taking it home, cracking the plastic, dropping the needle, sitting down in front of the stereo and listening to every song while you stared at the cover and read the liner notes. The experience was bigger than the record itself, and that’s part of why “Toys” has endured.”
Joe Perry: If you can go out on stage and create a good impression, you can count on those people coming back. That’s always been one of the truisms of music.
DRUGS: FROM DREAM TO NIGHTMARE
Joe Perry: You know, I definitely enjoy it, to be this close to that kind of insanity every day.
Steven Tyler: All you’re doing is chasing the first buzz. It’s like you’re chasing that high, and you can never quite get to the same place as you did the first time. And the more you give it, the more it strangles you.
Tom Hamilton: There is something about being high that makes you look at things differently. But that period for some people can be relatively short. I think (drugs) all gave us energy and concentration. It was beneficial for a while. But in a few years it became so destructive. It was just so awful. We worked hard to be able to play with feelings and really tight, and then after “Rocks,” it fell apart. We started making a lot of money, and that was the beginning of the end.”
Joe Perry: We’d stopped leading our band, we’d stopped giving a (crap). We’d go out to play and we’d struggle to get through “Back In The Saddle” as opposed to getting out there and moving things ahead. And all of a sudden there were all these new bands like Van Halen taking up the slack. We were just laying down sleeping and other people came in. We just blew it.
Steven Tyler: Everything I’ve ever loved was immoral, illegal, or grew hair on your palms.
Brad Whitford: Things were getting more like ‘Sid and Nancy’ than ‘Spinal Tap.’ It wasn’t funny anymore.
Joe Perry: Our story was basically that we had it all, and we pissed it all away.
Tom Hamilton: I remember when Joe left, he gave an interview that really hurt me. He said, ‘Aerosmith is not ready for the ’80s.’ That hurt. It hurt because he was right. I thought about that on New Year’s Eve (in 1989) when we were playing this great gig at home in Boston. It was my birthday, and I was thinking that Aerosmith is a band ready for the ’90s We have a future now. For a while we didn’t have one. It’s one hell of a nice thing to have.
SOBRIETY
Tom Hamilton: In the beginning of 1984, we looked at our (situation) and decided we had to get clean, coherent and, God forbid, humble. We looked at what we threw in the trash and it forced us to come out of our denial.
Joe Perry: I guess we all have a bad night now and then and really screw up. I listened to our earlier stuff and we screwed up a lot. But at least now that we are sober, when we screw up, it’s for real.
Steven Tyler: I realize that the best part of me is who I am sober, so that’s all there is to it. I don’t know whether I will use tomorrow, but today, I’m happy. There’s a 500-pound gorilla on my back, waiting in the parking lot for me that wants to take me down, and I won’t for any reason go out there and deal with that. I’m still in Aerosmith, so the circus is still in town.
Tom Hamilton: I don’t like the word ‘sobriety,’ because to the public it sounds very Amish and I’m definitely not Amish. We really are teetotallers at this point, because mentally, we’re too close to the consequences of (screwing) up again. If you have a leaky roof and you let it leak a drop at a time, eventually you’ll have a waterfall coming down on you.
Joey Kramer: If we’ve handled everything up until now, we can do anything.
THE AEROSMITH LEGACY
Steven Tyler: The thing that really stands out in my mind about Aerosmith is that we’re still together. Whatever we’ve done together and whatever we’ve become, is second to the fact that we’re still doing this. I’m still in love with these guys. I’m not saying it didn’t take a lot of work, because drugs will take you and pull you apart. But it wasn’t anything we shot up or put up our noses that gave us the edge — it was Joe Perry’s (screw)-all, being as abrasive as that (expletive) is, and Brad Whitford’s ear, Tom Hamilton’s well-aimed simplicity and Joey Kramer’s solid bed of backbeat. Keeping this band together has been the hardest and the happiest thing we’ve done in our lives. It’s been a long time coming. So for all the other stuff that comes from Aerosmith, the most amazing thing is that we’re still playing and still having fun.
COMPILED BY B.J. LISKO
WHAT: “Concert for Legends” featuring Aerosmith, Living Colour
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, Earl Schreiber Circle NW, Canton
TICKETS: Sold out.
MORE INFO: A limited amount of paid parking will be available at McKinley High School. Concert goers are also asked to park at Stark County Fairgrounds and use the shuttle service provided by the Pro Football Hall of Fame that runs all evening. Gates for the show are scheduled to open at 6 p.m. Beer will be served during the concert with proper ID.