In America there's a tendency to write the same book over and over because that's what sells. So in a way, my success in America has come at the expense of what I do. I haven't sold out, and I haven't taken the popular road to writing a best-selling book. I've really bucked the system. So it was necessary for me not to go and find the easy fans, the ones who want something digestible and fast with a happy ending that they can read over and over again no matter how many different books it is. I had to find fans who really wanted to think. Worldwide they all have that in common.
Steven TylerI remember the first guy who offered me a joint in the bathroom. I said 'No, man, I've got enough problems.'
Steven TylerI think if you were to really peek under the hood of what got Aerosmith back again for our second life in the Eighties, you'll find out that it's exactly this, it's the willingness to take a risk.
Steven TylerI quit my band in New York City in 1969 and I got really angry at them. I got angry at one of my guitar players and I dove over the drum set and we got into a fight.
Steven TylerSex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll... take out the drugs and you've got more time for the other two.
Steven TylerWhen that second airplane hit the building, we all changed. We need to get back to some serious thinking.
Steven TylerI get the whole thing, I can't talk about it. But they're talking and they got an offer. I hope Axl[Rose] can see the greater picture and not be mad at Duff [McKagan] and Slash.
Steven TylerI wait till the last minute to do lyrics. I seem to work best that way - bummed out and under pressure. I often don't do my homework. But I'll always walk that extra mile.
Steven TylerIf I was on an island, just for melody, I would take albums by the Stones, AC/DC and the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile.
Steven TylerRock 'n' roll is sexuality personified. It is attitude. It is all the things that your parents told you not to do. It's the freedom to express yourself. It's being alive. It expresses the times. It's a magazine, a newspaper that tells the truth. If you listen to rap today, it's all about the truth. And that's what we all want. Just give me a little truth.
Steven TylerA lot of my books deal with very controversial issues that most people often don't want to talk about, issues that, in my country, are more likely to get put under the carpet than get discussed. And when you talk about moral conundrums, about shades of gray, what you're doing is asking the people who want the world to be black and white to realize instead that maybe it's all right if it isn't. I know you'll learn something picking up my books, but my goal as a writer is not to teach you but to make you ask more questions.
Steven TylerI'll tell you what's fun - finding the right stewardess and turning her upside down in the back of a plane.
Steven TylerIn the end, I get a really good song, and in the end, I get the hits. Yeah, I'm that good.
Steven TylerI don't buy into the idea that you're not supposed to rock & roll after a certain date. Maybe I should be in Bellevue, but I'm just having a good time.
Steven TylerPeople love Axl [Rose] with the original band, they love him on his own but they want to see him with the original guys.
Steven TylerDrugs will get you out of your own way, but we lived it, and that's dangerous. It can actually turn around on itself and steal your soul, and that's what happened.
Steven TylerMy feet have been my best friend for the last 40 years. I've just been a dancing fool on stage, and after awhile you just kind of wear them out.
Steven TylerYou know...sometimes I'll be looking out at the audience and I'll be in the middle of a song, and I'll just stop dead. I'll look out at them, and think what is this... There's one thing that keeps me doing it though, I really love it, I believe in it.
Steven TylerOnce upon a time . . .โ โIn the beginning was . . .โ Thatโs the way it always starts off. Every story, gospel, history, chronicle, myth, legend, folktale, or old wivesโ tale blues riff begins with โWoke up this morninโ. . . .
Steven Tyler... if you take a risk, two things will happen. People will laugh at you. Or you'll be way ahead of everybody else. And if that's what you're in it for, then you gotta take that risk.
Steven TylerI just want Aerosmith to always give me a hard-on, that's all I ever ask for, for it to be the most special thing in my life. As long as I look at it through those eyes, it will always be that way.
Steven TylerAs you know, I'm androgynous. I can wear a jacket that most guys wouldn't put on. But you make it in guys' sizes, and suddenly they're wearing them. I think styles should get back to getting people to wear things that look so good that they don't care.
Steven TylerI'm not sure about the selling part, but I've always found that the things I've worn on tour have moved over to what people wear every day. Sometimes the things I wore in the beginning before I had money were things I put together.
Steven TylerI had been on the junior Olympic team in high school for trampoline; I could do twenty-six back flips in a row.
Steven Tyler