Reality television has been the catalyst for the so-called resurgence of many over-the-hill, past-their-prime acts in recent years. Over the last year or so, legendary Massachusetts band Aerosmith decided to channel the spirit of the Sunday night VH1 lineup and make a little noise for themselves—Vanilla Ice and Flava Flav be damned.
Instead of pimping themselves out on a single half hour of guilty pleasure, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer have taken to gossip sites and to the evening news for the dissemination of their alleged near-meltdown. When the nastiness of the feud between a rehabbing Tyler and a solo-performing Perry became public information in 2009—just before a scheduled group tour was to begin—the wrinkled rockers certainly became more relevant than their previous couple of albums had made them.
In fact, it seemed that this collective was destined for a true prime-time slot of their own, as the non-Tyler members let it be known that finding a new lead singer was on their to-do list at that point. Add to that the fact that Perry dropped his solo album and Kramer released an autobiography, which detailed his own inner feud with depression, and everything was hitting the proverbial fan.
But, as one could easily have predicted, there is a seemingly happy ending to this summer melodrama. The boys are indeed, back in the saddle (hello, reality show theme song!), and honking their bobo in sheds all across the map. Even Perry's recent motorcycle accident couldn't keep him from heading out and making sure that everyone knows that Aerosmith is still a group of guitar heroes.
