Steven Tyler (1) (1948–)

Tyler delivers an honest and entertaining reflection on his career, substance abuse problems, and rich life. Self-deprecating and self-searching, Tyler offers hard-earned nuggets of wisdom and all the salacious details one can want from drugs excess to the sexual escapades including conceiving his daughters. This is an entertaining, engaging, and even enlightening read; definitely one of the better rock memoirs. I enjoyed this much more than Life, for instance.

One of Tyler's main points is show more his brotherly relationship with Joe Perry (and all the struggles that can include) as key to the Aerosmith success and analogous to key fraternal rock pairs from The Everly Brothers to The Glitter Twins the Davies brothers in The Kinks.

My audiobook copy kept jumbling and repeating sections of the penultimate and antepenultimate chapters. Fortunately, I soldiered through that to be treated to an additional pieces with Tyler himself reflecting on the autobiography process and highpoints of his career and life. show less

Wow. Okay. The title of this autobiography should be taken as a warning, or at least seriously considered by anyone thinking of reading Steven Tyler in his own words (I'm not sure how much Rolling Stone writer David Dalton contributed to making sense of the past, but I would hate to read the unedited version!) Tyler is everything you would expect of the 'Demon of Screamin' and more, way way more, but I will admit to skimming through some of his random ranting. A talented musician and an show more extraordinary frontman no doubt, but I would hate to be stuck in a lift with the guy.

'Fucked-up voices with a ton of character - that's my idea of a great voice', Tyler writes, and that's how I would rank him personality wise too, up there with his idol Janis Joplin, only somehow the Aerosmith singer is still going 70 years on. Descended from Italian immigrant musicians and a pianist father, Steven Tyler has music in the blood, and his band, Aerosmith, came about the old-fashioned way, formed after various failed line-ups and then working their way up from school auditoriums and small clubs to becoming a successful 'multiplatinum band with four albums in the space of three years'. Tyler is a singer-songwriter who seems to truly understand music, often riding the others in the band - guitarist Joe Perry and the LI3 (Least Interesting 3, Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton) - to the point where I wanted to punch him on their behalf. At least he admits to being a knob with 'Lead Singer Disease', though! Tyler also plays drums, piano and harmonica, so he's not just sound and fury. Or at least he wasn't.

What the band is most famous for, however, is addiction. As he says, 'For the whole of the seventies, we were all nicely fucked-up and deep-friend'. Would they have been a better band for longer without the drugs and drink, or did that lifestyle make them who they are? After reading Steven's biography, I'm not sure. At least they're still going, forty years on, bar a few epic break-ups and stints in rehab.

Should you take what Steven can recall of his past with a pinch of salt? Probably. 'Everybody likes to overblow their past, including me—to squeeze out the relevance of what may or may not
have really taken place', he says, including refuting certain claims in the memoirs of his bandmates and past wives and girlfriends. There are two sides to every story, I suppose, and at least Steven is talking about his own life and not waiting for some moneygrubbing 'biographer' to do so for him. He's very proud of his biggest hit, Dream On (admittedly my favourite song too), and repeats himself a lot, but Mr Tyler is definitely entertaining with a unique narrative voice. Worth a read. If you dare. show less

Dear Steven Tyler;

The noise in your head doesn't bother me so much, I get a lot of noise in my own head so I can relate, to a degree, but the words in your book really bothered me. A lot. Because the words in your book are a poorly put together bunch of sentences and nonsensical tripe. Way worse than almost any noise. Except for maybe that noise Jim Carey makes in "Dumb & Dumber" when they are having that most irritating noise contest.

Your anecdotes aren't even funny or entertaining. Also - show more you sound a bit whiny. Did you know that? I mean, look, those who know even a bit about Aerosmith know about the drugs and the girls and the antagonistic relationship you and Joe Perry share. So, none of this is new(s). It felt like, in reading, someone doth protest too much. Seriously. This book could have been 100 pages shorter if the repetition had been edited properly. Usually, if someone is a dick or a jerk or an ass-hat but they are aware of that aspect of their personality and are upfront about said trait, I can deal with them and even find them funny or appreciate their eccentricities. For some reason, your upfrontness did not translate into me caring about your story (or you). I didn't expect that from reading your book. I thought it would be a bit of fun, a brain-cleanse for the end of the year.

SIGH!

Also - I didn't count but totally should - never have I encountered the word 'placenta' used so often in situations having nothing to do with birth or pregnancy. I do not think that words means what you think it means.

So that I am not a total cranky-pantsI about this read, I do have to give you props for your apparent Bookishness. The literary references were cool to find and I wouldn't have guessed that about you, Steven Tyler.

Still, I would offer a bit of advice (that I know you won't listen to, or even read for that matter but it's fun to pretend):
a) placenta - get a dictionary, look it up and then use the word sparingly and in its appropriate context;
b) quit whining - no one likes to hear a person of wealth and privilege whine and complain;
c) find a boxing club, take Joe Perry and then hammer the hell out of each other in the ring for a while, The two of you really need to punch each other and I would say it is really time to get that shit out of your systems.
d) photos of nearly-naked 60+-year-old men are never a good idea. EVER. I don't care who you are.
e) you should find something fun to do. FUN. Have some. Preferably with laughter. Antics equal not fun.

I think that's it. There might be more but, frankly, reading your book made me tired.

Best,

Jennifer show less

Steven Tyler has a big, flashy personality and his book is no different. He tells it like it is, holding nothing back. We learn about his childhood, his personal life, the making of Aerosmith, his relationship with its members (particularly Joe Perry), his addictions and his songwriting process.

Occasionally Tyler wanders off topic and offers personal insights on life. I noticed this bothered many of the other reviewers who wanted a linear, professional autobiography. Unlike those reviewers, show more I thoroughly enjoyed his meandering. For me, his writing style and (sometimes) lack of structure felt more personal. We're given a glimpse into the real Steven Tyler, the man behind the lead singer persona. He has packed a lot of living into his 60-plus years and has a lot to say.

I found the book entertaining, sad, silly and poignant. Steven Tyler is far more intelligent than most people give him credit for. He's also over-the-top crazy at times. But isn't that what we love about him? show less