Steven Tyler

-->"Whether it's fine artists, musical artists, or ultra right wing bull shit artists, we all need the right to freedom of expression"

-->"Younger bands are into jerking off and we're into fucking. That's all there is to it!"

-->"Good night, everyone- and remember- in this world, if you wanna get ahead, you gotta learn to give a little!"

-->After firing Megadeath as their opening act, Steven Tyler was quoted as saying: "We would like to help you out. Which way did you come in?"

-->But "The History of Rock 'n' Roll" still stands as an important document of one of the world's most exciting and important musical idioms. "Rock 'n' roll is sexuality personified," says Aerosmith's Steven Tyler at the end of the series' final episode. "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."

-->"Confuscious says that crowded elevators smell differently to midgets!!"

-->"People used to ask me, 'What do you reckon you'll be doing when you're 40?', and I told 'em 'rocking out and kicking ass!' Now it's 'What do you reckon you'll be doing at 60?' and the answer's exactly the same. I'm always going to love Jimi Hendrix - 'Purple Haze' will still give me a hard-on when I'm hooked up to a life-support machine. Hey, even when I'm dead, they're going to have a hell of a job nailing the coffin lid down."

-->(On the beginning's of Aerosmith) "I'd been playing in bands for something like seven years at this point. And we were always trying to get ahead, trying to rehearse and sound professional. But then I go to see the Jam Band (Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton's band before Aerosmith), and it blew me away. I wasn't expecting too much. Then they got up there and did 'Rattlesnake Shake' by Fleetwood Mac. And I said to myself, 'That's it. These guys suck - they can't even tune their instruments. But they have a great groove going that's better than any fuck I've ever had.' I just knew that if I could show them a little of what I knew, with the looseness and balls that they showed up there, then we'd really have something."

-->"The thing that really stands out in my mind about Aerosmith is that we're still fucking together. Whatever we've done together and whatever we've become, is second to the fact that we're still doing this. I'm still in love with these guys. I'm not saying it didn't take a lot of work because drugs will take you and pull you apart. But it wasn't anything we shot up or put up our noses that gave us the edge - it was Joe Perry's fuck-all, being as abrasive as that motherfucker is, and Brad Whitford's ear, Tom Hamilton's well-aimed simplicity and Joey Kramer's solid bed of backbeat. Keeping this band together has been the hardest and the happiest thing we've done in our lives. It's been a long time coming. So for all the other stuff that comes from Aerosmith, the most amazing thing is that we're still playing and still having some fucking fun."

-->"You have no idea how much it costs to look this cheap."

-->"We haven't quite been able to put together the deal for the shuttle -- we want to be the lounge act. Be the first band to play weightless!"

-->"I 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."

--> -->"You 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."

-->(On the Jagger comparisons, when asked what he had to say to people who said he looked like Jagger) "I say jeans. Well what can I say? People who think I look like Jagger never met him. These little innuendos about me by people sitting thirty rows back, and all they see is that blond cat next to me as Brian Jones. And Joe as Keith Richards. And I'm supposed to be Jagger, running around. Shit. Jagger makes up for his whole group. He never stops prancing and dancing while the rest of them just stand there." Creem 9/75

-->(On Amazing) "The more I look back at my life and the things that we did, the more I think there's got to have been a plan for this band, either by a higher power or an angel of mercy. I mean, that's how I like to look at it now, because for all the shit I did, someone threw me a rope. I look back on the times I OD-ed, didn't have any money left in the bank, was let go off CBS because the band sucked, couldn't even get my shit together to change my clothes, but look at us now. When you actually look back, it's pretty damn amazing, hence the song." VOX 4/93

--> "Hey dude - this tricolor fusilli is fucking outrageous!"

--> "Even in the old days, we'd make an effort. When I'd go out to score on Eighth Avenue, I'd get my junk and a chocalate doughnut. But I'd always also pick up one of those pita-pocket health food sandwiches. You know, something really good for me."

--> (On girls) "We can look, but we'd better not touch."

--> "I'd met Mick Jagger years ago when he invited me to his house in Malibu, but back then I was too gagged to my fucking ear lobes in coke and Tuinals. I was barely in shape to knock on the door. But this time it was very beautiful. The limo pulled into his tent in the tent city, and he had a crib there for his daughter. We hugged, and I told Mick, 'You don't know what it means to be standing here with you after all these years. It's amazing, because I woke up this morning and I got my weekly report from the office, and right next to Aerosmith at Number Two in airplay R&R is the Stones album at Number One.' Of course, deep inside I'm thinking to myself, 'And watch out, because we're going to knock you right off the charts, motherfucker.' "

-->"When I let the kid out, he stays out. That's why I'm in rock n' roll."

-->"Getting to meet people is always alot of fun. There are times when you're a little tired or just not in the mood to hang out. But what I've found is that people understand your feelings. They're cool."

-->"Its cool when I meet young guys from other bands who say how much an impact Aerosmith has had on them and how much they like me.I'll give 'em that 'C'mon you dont mean that' routine, but in my heart I know where they're coming from. If I had grown up in the '70's and was into rock n' roll, I know the kind of impact Aerosmith would have had on me. I know the kind of impact that Elvis and Jagger had on me, and while I'm not comparing myself to those guys, I can relate."

Joe Perry

On videos) "It's weird but it's part of the game now, part of the industry. Unfortunately there's a lot of other things going on that will make it a hit besides if it's a great song...I've gotten so I like to do videos. I get a charge out of it.We put the same sense of humor and "fuck you"-ness that we put into the music. They've taken on a life of their own."

(On Gems) "That was a non-hits album, which we thought was pretty cool. That is one of the Aerosmith records that I listen to."

"From the inside I didn't think anything was wrong. But from the outside everything. The focus is completely gone. If I kept a journal, I couldn't do a better job of showing exactly when we started to go south. Especially because I was too fucked up to actually keep a diary. The Beatles made their White Album; we made our black-out album."

"We'd stopped leading our band, we'd stopped giving a shit. We'd go out to play and we'd struggle to get through 'Back In The Saddle' as opposed to getting out there and moving things ahead. And all of a sudden there were all these new bands like Van Halen taking up the slack. We were just laying down sleeping and other people came in. We just blew it."

"Our story was basically that we had it all, and we pissed it all away."

"These days it's almost like a lot of kids get into bands because they want to get rich and famous, but when we started this band that wasn't really part of it. I never envisioned what I was doing as part of a career. We weren't even aware of all the stuff that came with it. We just looked at the bands that we idolized - like the Yardbirds - and we were blown away by how they could play. All we wanted to do was play like that, to be a great band like that."

(When asked if he is ever embarrassed or annoyed by Steven) "Constantly! Constantly. All of the above! But you know, that's what's great about it. There's a brother thing going on there. We've been through so much together. He forgives me for my stoicism and my hard-headedness, and I likewise do the same with his flamboyance. I mean, he only hits me with the microphone like once or twice a tour. And he regrets it when he does! But it's fun watching him, and it's just not in my nature to do that. I suppose if it was up to me, we'd wear black suits and sunglasses and just stand there and play. Oh man, he definitely gets dressed in the closet with the light off."

"You know, I definitely enjoy it, to be this close to that kind of insanity every day."

(Joe on writer's block):"I think there was a time when I used to feel that way, but...it's like I'm past caring anymore. I know that it's gonna come out as good as it's gonna come out, and I know from history that people just don't lose it, y'know what I mean?"

"I know that some of the great painters and some of the great artists didn't even start to 'peak', as you say, till they were in their fifties and sixties. And God knows, history is full of artistic people that weren't even recognized till they were dead and gone."

"I know that the gift that God gave me isn't gonna just wither up and die unless I let it die, so it's a matter of me having the faith that it's gonna come out. Whether or not the public's gonna like it is another story. But I think as long as I keep changing and sticking to what I really love - and the same goes for Steven and the other guys in the band - then people are gonna like it."

"Fuck you Steven"

"Tell 'em about the tie, Billie, the tie. You know the tie"

"Music is music you don't have to put a label on it"

"The '70's came and went already"

"What the Fuck is this?"

"[Steven and his band] were loud and obnoxious, behaving like rock stars are supposed to behave - especially when they're in a little town and nobody knows how not-so-big they are. They'd come into the Anchorage (the ice cream parlor that he worked at as a teen) and throw food and shit and I'd have to clean up after them."

"Wear the same thing you wore last tour, the blue striped thing"

"You guys are mericiless"

"Don't tell me what to do, I am having fun!"

"We have sex 2,3 times a day. In fact, we are late right now"

"This is our tour - don't fuck with our music"

"We like each other just enough"

"Is that a drug reference, I thought we gave up on the drugs"

"That's it we are leaving"

"I think I had my drink for next years Christmas about seven years ago!"('89)

"We were so f#?ked up,we couldnt even get into a studio & stay awake!"

"You've got to keep your body in good working order--otherwise,how else are you gonna be able to f#?k all night?"

"When those bass bins are cranking, it does something to you physically. We have these special sub-woofers. You dont really hear them, but it shakes you in the right places. You can call it the devil, you can call it God's gift."

"We're just entertainers. We're here to make people happy, to make them SMILE. That's what Steve does with his lyrics. God it'd be boring if it was all just boy meets girl...C'mon, we're here to have a good time!"

"What I like about Aerosmith, and what we always try to do, is to keep the balance of fun. There's enough shit going on--you don't need to come to our shows and have your face rubbed in it too."

(about Lightning Strikes..) "It's one of my favorite Aerosmith songs. I was pissed off that I didn't get to play on it, so I make up for it every night when we play it live!"

(more about Lightning Strikes..) "It's one of my favorite songs to play live--but just to show where I was at, I wouldn't listen to it at the time, 'cause in my mind it was shit."

"Rhythm and sex go together and that's where I come from as far as the music goes. Rag Doll and Love In An Elevator are such sexual songs that you put them on & the strippers go NUTS!"

"If you take your last album & try to copy it, then thats sure to hell the way to stagnation. And that makes me bored...and if I'm bored then the music is boring and so are the band!"

"Steven and I stood on the stage at the Boston Garden after the Stones had just played there and the stage was still up. We had been playing cards, maybe a high-school dance, to 400 or 500, maybe a thousand. We just stood on the stage and thought, 'Well,man,maybe someday.' In 4 years that was OUR stage."

"I think we're just a garage band that got lucky. It's the enthusiasm from the audience that keeps it going."

"The kids in the audience still get together and do whatever the f#?k they want. From the crowds we've played for, from the very beginning until now, they all get off when we're singing 'Come Together'--'One thing I can tell you is you got to be free.' The kids go nuts when you say that. It's a tribal thing. Rock-n-Roll is about freedom. Even if the kids arent there just to hear the band, it's a meeting place. The lights go down, they get anonymous, some of them go a little nuts, but it's okay."

"I don't need to speak...I play the guitar!"

"I never envisioned what I was doing as part of a career."

"My sense of humor gets out of hand sometimes, which really bugs the hell out of Steven. He'd like me yo play straight-ahead rhythms, but I like to make a lot of noise and shit."

Tom Hamilton

(When asked what the band feels they have left to prove) "I don't know if it's anything to put in words. I guess we just feel like we have a potential that we haven't reached yet musically. Because you keep doing it, and you keep learning new things, and you go, 'Wow, I want to do that on the next record!' That's all I can really thing of. I think when you see some of these bands get into their second decade, and they get fat and pudgy and bored, and they keep playing the same songs, it's not because they ever ran out of ideas, it's because they're doing other things in their lives that are killing their creativity. If the creative thing was there for your first couple of albums, it's always there - always there. You can always go play around in that playground." --Tom Hamilton

(On record companies) "When a band has been successful for their first few albums, then (the record company says) let's not let the band get in the way of making the next one good!"--Tom Hamilton

"I think what we wanted to do, without ever really saying it, was to be the American equivalent of all the great British bands like Cream, the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. They were all so classy and powerful sounding. We couldn't think of an American band like that. We wanted to be the first one."--Tom Hamilton

"Steven's got a lot more time to be obsessed with sex now that he's not fucked up" -- Tom Hamilton

"I think I deserve to ask MTV a question. Do I have any roast Beef in my teeth I just ate." --Tom Hamilton

"(Talking about cover of GAG)... Ayone who is clearly thinking knows we didn't go out and tourture some cow. We used a general anesthetic followed by a few hours in the recovery room. IT'S FAKE!!! The cow doesn't have anything stuck through it's udder!" -- Tom Hamilton

"Steven and Joe had an argument the first night about Joe playing too loud, and so began an Aerosmith tradition." --Tom Hamilton

(on opening for the Mahvishnu Orchestra) "John McLaughlin and the band would meditate before they started playing, and as you might imagine, we weren't into meditating. We'd already found our own way to meditate, chemiacally." --Tom Hamilton

"I remember when Joe left, he gave an interview that really hurt me. He said, 'Aerosmith is not ready for the Eighties.' That hurt. It hurt because he was right. I though about that on New Year's Eve, when we were playing this great gig at home in Boston. It was my birthday, and I was thinking that Aerosmith is a band ready for the Nineties. We have a future now. For a while we didn't have one. It's one hell of a nice thing to have." --Hamilton

Joey Kramer

"We never wanted to be a bar band. We were always a concert band." --Joey Kramer

"If we've handled everything up until now, we can do anything." --Joey Kramer

"Steve's really funny. Like, he's got three or four grand tied up in a stereo system with four-track recorders in his living room and he sleeps on the floor on a pillow. He doesn't have a bed!" --Joey Kramer (He later bought Steven a bed as a gift)

Brad Whitford

(on the writing of Krawhitham) "Steven and Joe just weren't around, they were locked away in their rooms consuming whatever they were consuming. We were still functioning. We still got up in the morning. So Tom, Joey, and I had a lot of time together." Brad Whitford

"Things were getting more like Sid and Nancy than Spinal Tap. It wasn't funny anymore." --Brad Whitford