Joe Perry
Posted 4/23/2008 @ 2:22:00 PM by aerosmithrock.com
Joe Perry, born in 1950, first met rock success when the guitarist teamed up with Steve Taylor. He had been playing in The Jam Band with bassist Tom Hamilton, who would later go on with him to Aerosmith. The band shared a small apartment in Boston - a hot box of rock and roll and cockroaches. On occasion, they would roll down the several hundred miles to descend upon New York City audiences like owls on voles. They were performers first and recorders second, busting out the glam makeup and the tight pants on a nearly daily basis. The band, formed in 1970, took several years to catch the attention of radio and record companies. Their single Dream On from their 1973 debut got picked up by several FM radio stations in the northeast, and pretty soon teenagers were dialing in Aerosmith requests with dull regularity. The sudden success had some significant effects on their personal habits. Perry, who wrote many of the songs that made the band successful, let some of the success get to his head. They spent substantial portions of their fortunes on a regular revolving buffet of uppers, downers, laughers and screamers. It was during this period that some of his personality conflicts with fellow mega-narcissist Tyler started to make the band's fundamental chemistry break down. Perry quit the band in 1979, but his solo efforts that came out after the breakup failed to gin up as much excitement from his audience as he was accustomed to. Without him, Aerosmith foundered too a bit. It was still popular, but began to sag in the charts. Perry eventually saw the light of jumping back on the Aerosmith train, helping to provide the musical juice of their 1986 mega-hit Walk This Way. He's stayed with the band ever since. |
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