Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith

Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith
by Aerosmith, Stephen Davis

Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith
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Book Summary Information

Author: Aerosmith, Stephen Davis
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-02-18
ISBN: 0060515805
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: It Books

Book Reviews of Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith

Book Review: Pretty dern good
Summary: 4 Stars

This book always sticks in my mind because I happened to have it in my work bag to read on 9/11, so when I got stuck down in DC waiting for the public transportation to open up again, I just sat on a patch of lawn, cracked open "Walk This Way" and spent some quality time with Steven, Joe and the rest of the boys. Later that day I read it in the McDonald's which was the only place we could find open to eat in, and later that week I read it on a couple of planes and sitting up late in a hotel room where I was visiting my band friends on tour. Thanks to Aerosmith and the author for giving me a fine easy and not too sleazy rock read to focus on that week, it really helped.

Getting on to the merits of the book, I enjoyed the format of having the story told by each of the band members in turn (sort of like "The Dirt" which is probably the gold standard for hard rock/ metal band bios). I prefer to get the stories in the band members' own words and their voices come across nicely. The tales of Steve and Joe's teenage band performances go on for a little too long in my opinion, but once you get over that hump, the band's early years move along at a pretty fast clip, and it's especially fun to read about the origins of the hit songs like "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion". Before long, the tales of excess begin to crowd out the tales of musicianship, and I was shocked to read about the depths to which Steve and Joe both sunk before they got help.

My favorite story was the one about how Aerosmith almost leased the plane that later crashed and killed several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Fortunately, Aerosmith had a very responsible pilot who warned that the plane didn't seem safe, so they didn't lease it. Skynyrd leased the plane instead, with tragic results.

I would have liked to see a few more pictures, particularly of the band's wives and ladies. It seems like Elyssa Jerret gets the lion's share of the attention in the book (mostly negative) just as she reportedly demanded it for the years she was with the band. I'd like to hear more of that story, but it seems out of place in a book about the band, since she was not a band member as much as she apparently tried to be front and center.

Summary of Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith

Hang on, it's a hell of a ride!

From the band that lived by the motto "Anything worth doing was worth overdoing" -- Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford, and Joey Kramer -- comes a quarter century of rock godhood: the life, the music, the truth, the hell, the lost years, and the raunchy, unsafe sex.

And, of course, the drugs.

But after crashing in a suffocating cloud of cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin, Aerosmith rose up from the ashes to become clean and sober -- and reclaim their rightful title as World Champion Rockers. Learn how they did it in a book that is pure Aerosmith unbound: where they came from, what they are now, and what they will always be -- a great American band.


From Aerosmith's heyday in the late 1970s, which they spent "gacked to the nines" (as lead singer Steven Tyler puts it), to the Aerosmith of today--clean, sober, and adored by millions--the band has a long, hard history. Walk This Way chronicles the whole story: drugs, booze, and all.

Prefaced with the now familiar rock-star "intervention," when Steven Tyler's loved ones cornered him in his manager's office in 1986, the autobiography traces Aerosmith's twisted road, from their New Hampshire roots to their success in Boston to the worldwide fame that they long craved and currently enjoy. Tyler kicks off this rock & roll exposé, briefly recounting the history of his ancestors in Italy and sharing incidents from his own Northeast childhood. The book is written in interview style, with all five band members talking candidly about the good times--and the bad. We also hear from girlfriends, wives, friends, and various hangers-on.

The story of Aerosmith and their constant ups, downs, and detours never fails to grab you and force you to read another page--if only to see what train wreck awaits around the next corner. Walk This Way is a must-read for devoted fans of Aerosmith as well as anybody who wants to live the full-on '70s rock-star life--without having to go through rehab. --Paul DeBruler

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