Steven Tyler: The Biography Read Online Free Page A

Just a couple of years earlier, he and Joe Perry had lurked around outside The Barn listening to Steven Tyler fronting Chain Reaction, and the passage of time had deepened Tom’s respect for Steven. He felt it obvious that Tyler was destined for big things, so he was impressed when, in August 1969, Steven showed up to see the Jam Band perform.
    According to Tyler, he has no clear recollection of why he went to see the Jam Band that evening. He does recall having no great first opinion of what he saw. In inimitable fashion he has frequently declared: ‘They sucked!’ To his trained musical ear, the Jam Band lacked precision, their timing was erratic and their tuning left much to be desired. Unimpressed, Steven was on the brink of going home when the band plunged into the Fleetwood Mac number ‘Rattlesnake Shake’, and Perry’s suddenly slinky, sensuous lead guitar work stopped Steven in his tracks; he was mesmerised. Tyler later said: ‘They had a lot of raunch.’ Now watching the Jam Band closely, he grew strongly aware that were he to mesh his melodic qualities and discipline with their more raw abilities, they could create something very special together. The notion quickened Steven’s senses - it was what he had been looking for - and he quit The Barn that night with a lighter step than he had had for some time.
    The next day, still thinking about the gig, as he mowed the sloping lawn at his family’s property, Trow-Rico, Steven had stopped to adjust the grass cuttings box when he looked up to see a sleek MG sports car pulling into the drive. Out stepped Joe Perry, his long black hair glinting in the summer sunshine as he pulled off a pair of dark glasses. He approached Steven, who had abandoned the electric mower and was walking over to meet him. This meeting has since assumed near-mythical status in Aerosmith’s history, but at the time they were simply two music-mad young guys exchanging a few words - except that Steven did instantly sense a compatibility between them. His parting shot was that maybe someday they would play music together. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry went their separate ways that day, and Steven trained his sights on forming another new band. He fronted an outfit called Fox Chase, which included Don Solomon from Chain Reaction, with whom he also went on to form a band called William Proud.
    Come the end of the 1960s, America’s unsettled mood had grown even darker. For many this was epitomised by the ugly events which resulted in Meredith Hunter, an eighteen-year-old black youth, being savagely beaten to death by a handful of Hell’s Angels at the Rolling Stones’ December 1969 concert at the Altamont Speedway track in Livermore, California. The omens had been bad from the start, and the Stones had just arrived at the site when a teenage boy rushed towards Jagger screaming hatred, and punched him in the face. Drug dealers had descended on Altamont in force and a lot of bad dope had been circulating for hours, adding to the unstable mood before the tragedy unfolded in the crowd while the Stones were performing ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. The Rolling Stones’ album Let It Bleed topped the UK charts while, with the Beatles soon to implode, Abbey Road reigned supreme in America’s Billboard chart.
    For Tyler, life was pretty unsatisfactory as the new decade dawned. In terms of his drug taking, he was now snorting the highly addictive blue crystal methedrine, which stimulated in him a latent instability. William Proud was not working out and Steven was restless. A new breed of band was coming through, spearheaded by Led Zeppelin, featuring frontman Robert Plant and lead guitarist Jimmy Page. The combination of rock and blues that Zeppelin blasted like a life force straight off the stage left Tyler hugely impatient with covering much tamer Beatles songs. He yearned to be delivering a harder rocking sound at his own gigs. William Proud comprised Don Solomon on keyboards, guitarist Dwight