During a recent episode of "American Idol," the popular TV talent show in which the famously foul-mouthed and flamboyant Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has reinvented himself as a family-friendly judge, host Ryan Seacrest good-naturedly stopped by the judging table to rib Tyler about his new book, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?
"This book is not for the faint of heart," Seacrest noted, adding, "You've really exposed yourself here. Is there any area you haven't touched?"
Tyler dodged the question, but the answer may well be "no." In his wildly galloping memoir (not to be confused with Aerosmith's 2003 exercise in group autobiography, Walk This Way ), the man who has long fired up the blue-jean-wearing masses with songs including "Dream On," "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way" and "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," singing and strutting his way into rock and roll history, seems to have left no story untold, no score unsettled, no secret unrevealed.
He rips into venal ex-managers and jealous ex-wives. (No fan of lawyers or monogamy he.) He goes into detail about the drugs he's done (he seems to have done them all, fondly describing where and how he did them and with whom and how they affected him) and the women he's done (ditto). He describes longstanding grievances with fellow band members (he and guitarist Joe Perry weren't called the "Toxic Twins" for nothing: "JOE'S A CREEP … I'M AN ASSHOLE," he writes emphatically) and even goes so far as to reveal their relative endowments.
While the book is unapologetically profane, inarguably self-serving and at times ragingly uncontrolled (like a memoir amped up on speed), it's also bracingly honest, frequently funny (as "Idol" watchers and Aerosmith fans know, Tyler has a way with a clever turn of phrase) and admirably human. Tyler's now 63 and a grandpa. He's gotten clean (several times), had children by three different women (two of whom he'd married), broken up and gotten back together with his band (who knows how many times?), and has finally made peace with many of his demons: the drug addictions, the romantic betrayals, the parenting failures, the ego-driven battles with band mates.
"I may be a monster," he writes, in apparent hope that the reader might see "the more spiritual side of me" beneath the bad boy stereotype, "but I'm a sensitive monster."
Ultimately, Tyler seems torn between the urge to preserve his carefully cultivated rock star pose and the desire to drop the mask. "It's hard to tell who I am by the trail left by my musical career," he writes. "I am the Demon of Screamin', the dude that looks like a lady, the rag doll that married Lucy in the Sky. But I'm also something more than the rock 'n' roll junky whore who got his foot inside the door."
Beneath Tyler's sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll tough talk and raging narcissism -- Tyler calls it LSD: Lead Singer Disorder -- there's a surprising self-awareness, a capacity for empathy, an ability to connect. That's a big part of what has attracted all those fans and all those women -- and now, one imagines, all those readers.
--Amy Reiter
[Tyler] offers a colorful glimpse into his head as well as his life.... It’s got everything you want from a guilty pleasure: obscenity, revelation, bad behavior and humor. And, oh yeah, a beat you can dance to.” — NPR's All Things Considered
“[A] colorful all-access pass to the rocker’s storied past…replete with hilarious Tylerisms, tales of debauchery and detox and Aerosmith’s fabled climb to superstardom...as well as warmer memories of relationships with his children, wives and friends...particularly Tyler’s toxic tangles with guitarist Joe Perry.” — USA Today
“Steven Tyler has a way with words…Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? Is 376 pages of pure, unfiltered Tyler…Noise is compelling stuff…Tyler’s at times gripping, often hilarious voice keeps things moving….” — Rolling Stone
“Tyler’s turbulently high-spirited cheer holds it all together.” — New York Times Book Review
“Revealing…fascinating.” — Entertainment Weekly
“Steven Tyler is one of the giants of American music, who’s been influential for a whole generation of Rock-n-Roll fans around the world. Long May He Rock!” — Sir Paul McCartney
“Steven Tyler is an unalloyed genius.” — New York Times
“[Tyler’s] forays into music theory are absorbing snapshots of what goes into making great songs. When Tyler is able to articulate what went into Aerosmith’s music, the book becomes fascinating.” — Washington Post
“[Tyler] delivers the goods…[his] surprisingly insightful and entertaining voice brings the familiar contours of this story alive.... What on the surface seems clichéd...manages somehow to rise above that and be a fun ride [and] separates a Rock Star from a merely ordinary pop star.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“Roll ‘em: Tyler’s memoir is a wild ride. Explicit and filled with expletives, it reads like an even wilder and louder version of Richards’ best-selling “Life.” Tyler, 63, settles back and tells story after story about life in the “most decadent, lecherous, sexiest, nastiest band in the land.”” — Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
“Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll…gets a booster shot of head-spinning authenticity in Steven Tyler’s brash memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?...a frank, full, and colorful accounting of the band’s tumultuous history.” — USA Today
“The Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge delivers a no-holds-barred, ripsnorting (and rail-snorting) memoir that’s a crazy excursion into his entertaining mind.” — Entertainment Weekly
“One of the book’s charms is Tyler’s lack of guilt or regret for anything in his life…Music fans will enjoy Tyler’s remembrances of the New York scene, dating from clubs like The Scene and Max’s Kansas City.” — New York Daily News
“Strewn thought the book …are dozens of patented “Tylerisms” that can only come from his well-endowed motor-mouth.” — Houston Chronicle
“Explicit and filled with expletives, the memoir—titled Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?—reads like an even wilder and louder version of Richards’ best-selling Life.” — The Oregonian (Portland)
“At turns completely hilarious, surprisingly (perhaps, to some) coherent, poignant and sordid a heart-rending read. Once you’ve started it, putting it down is not an option. It would be easier to ignore Tyler from the front row of an Aerosmith concert.” — Buffalo News
“Tyler’s memory for detail makes for good reading.” — Detroit News
[Tyler’s] forays into music theory are absorbing snapshots of what goes into making great songs. When Tyler is able to articulate what went into Aerosmith’s music, the book becomes fascinating.
Revealing…fascinating.
Steven Tyler is an unalloyed genius.
[A] colorful all-access pass to the rocker’s storied past…replete with hilarious Tylerisms, tales of debauchery and detox and Aerosmith’s fabled climb to superstardom...as well as warmer memories of relationships with his children, wives and friends...particularly Tyler’s toxic tangles with guitarist Joe Perry.
Tyler’s turbulently high-spirited cheer holds it all together.
New York Times Book Review
Steven Tyler is one of the giants of American music, who’s been influential for a whole generation of Rock-n-Roll fans around the world. Long May He Rock!
Steven Tyler has a way with words…Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? Is 376 pages of pure, unfiltered Tyler…Noise is compelling stuff…Tyler’s at times gripping, often hilarious voice keeps things moving….
Roll ‘em: Tyler’s memoir is a wild ride. Explicit and filled with expletives, it reads like an even wilder and louder version of Richards’ best-selling “Life.” Tyler, 63, settles back and tells story after story about life in the “most decadent, lecherous, sexiest, nastiest band in the land.”
[Tyler] offers a colorful glimpse into his head as well as his life.... It’s got everything you want from a guilty pleasure: obscenity, revelation, bad behavior and humor. And, oh yeah, a beat you can dance to.
NPR's All Things Considered
[Tyler] delivers the goods…[his] surprisingly insightful and entertaining voice brings the familiar contours of this story alive.... What on the surface seems clichéd...manages somehow to rise above that and be a fun ride [and] separates a Rock Star from a merely ordinary pop star.
Strewn thought the book …are dozens of patented “Tylerisms” that can only come from his well-endowed motor-mouth.
Explicit and filled with expletives, the memoir—titled Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?—reads like an even wilder and louder version of Richards’ best-selling Life.
At turns completely hilarious, surprisingly (perhaps, to some) coherent, poignant and sordid a heart-rending read. Once you’ve started it, putting it down is not an option. It would be easier to ignore Tyler from the front row of an Aerosmith concert.
One of the book’s charms is Tyler’s lack of guilt or regret for anything in his life…Music fans will enjoy Tyler’s remembrances of the New York scene, dating from clubs like The Scene and Max’s Kansas City.
Tyler’s memory for detail makes for good reading.
[A] colorful all-access pass to the rocker’s storied past…replete with hilarious Tylerisms, tales of debauchery and detox and Aerosmith’s fabled climb to superstardom...as well as warmer memories of relationships with his children, wives and friends...particularly Tyler’s toxic tangles with guitarist Joe Perry.
[Tyler’s] forays into music theory are absorbing snapshots of what goes into making great songs. When Tyler is able to articulate what went into Aerosmith’s music, the book becomes fascinating.
Tyler’s memory for detail makes for good reading.
One of the book’s charms is Tyler’s lack of guilt or regret for anything in his life…Music fans will enjoy Tyler’s remembrances of the New York scene, dating from clubs like The Scene and Max’s Kansas City.
Roll ‘em: Tyler’s memoir is a wild ride. Explicit and filled with expletives, it reads like an even wilder and louder version of Richards’ best-selling “Life.” Tyler, 63, settles back and tells story after story about life in the “most decadent, lecherous, sexiest, nastiest band in the land.”