Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0060515805, Paperback)

From Aerosmith's heyday in the late 1970s, which they spent "gacked to the nines" (as lead singer Steven Tyler puts it), to the Aerosmith of today--clean, sober, and adored by millions--the band has a long, hard history. Walk This Way chronicles the whole story: drugs, booze, and all.

Prefaced with the now familiar rock-star "intervention," when Steven Tyler's loved ones cornered him in his manager's office in 1986, the autobiography traces Aerosmith's twisted road, from their New Hampshire roots to their success in Boston to the worldwide fame that they long craved and currently enjoy. Tyler kicks off this rock & roll exposé, briefly recounting the history of his ancestors in Italy and sharing incidents from his own Northeast childhood. The book is written in interview style, with all five band members talking candidly about the good times--and the bad. We also hear from girlfriends, wives, friends, and various hangers-on.

The story of Aerosmith and their constant ups, downs, and detours never fails to grab you and force you to read another page--if only to see what train wreck awaits around the next corner. Walk This Way is a must-read for devoted fans of Aerosmith as well as anybody who wants to live the full-on '70s rock-star life--without having to go through rehab. --Paul DeBruler