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-- Interviews by Jesse Ignjatovic
If you're in your teens, perhaps "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" from the "Armageddon" soundtrack was your introduction to Aerosmith. For those in their 20s, it's a good bet that first memory of the 'Smith is inextricably linked to the Alicia Silverstone video trilogy from the early '90s ("Cryin'," "Crazy," "Amazing"). Someone in their 30s may have first seen and heard the band in Run-DMC's 1986 video for "Walk This Way," which saw Joe Perry and Steven Tyler busting through the recording studio wall with their mic stand, angry at the Adidas-wearing rappers for biting their rhymes. And a person in their 40s may remember the first time they pushed an 8-track tape of Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic into their car stereo in 1975, screaming along to "Sweet Emotion" while day-dreaming about Steven Tyler galloping around the concert stage in a black-and-white-striped unitard.
Whatever that moment was when you first realized that Aerosmith existed, that there were five guys named Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford who played rock and roll together and who immediately warranted an "Aerosmith Rocks!" or "Joe Perry Rulz!!!" pen-scratched into your loose-leaf binder, it's a moment that sticks. Aerosmith have been around for so long that they're a cultural reference point for people born in four different decades. Maybe even five. And that's why they're icons.
All five guys spent hours talking about what it's been like to be in Aerosmith for the last 30-plus years for the "mtvICON" special. We've compiled some of the best moments from those interviews here. In "In the Beginning ..." the band remembers the early days, from how Steven Tyler and Joe Perry met in the kitchen of a hamburger joint to how Tyler crouched under his father's piano, listening to Brahms as a six-year-old when he wasn't allowed to go downstairs to see the girl he liked. In "Making the Music," the guys talk about the songwriting process, and share their memories of writing "Walk This Way," "Janie's Got a Gun" and other classic tracks. "The Drug Years" is a chronicle of the group's battle with drug addiction and alcoholism. And in "Brotherly Love," the bandmates divulge how they've managed to get along — or not — over the years, and how the days of furniture-throwing and awkward moments between Joe and Tom's wives have turned into one big lovefest.
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Photo: Sony
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