“Streaming down my face”: the show that reduced Steven Tyler to tears
The Beatles changed everything. Evolving quickly, they went from a twee pop band to long-haired experimental masters in what felt like the blink of an eye. Unlike other acts, they weren’t compelled by outside forces to keep developing their sound; they did it of their own volition, and this spirit led the way for everyone else. It’s funny how, after they grew their hair out and started writing expansive numbers, many of their peers followed suit. One group who paid close attention to the arc of Fab Four was their Boston acolytes, Aerosmith, something that frontman Steven Tyler has openly discussed.
“The Beatles went from ‘She Loves You’ to ‘Help!’ within a year,” Tyler once said in wonder, “In one year. Not 10.” However, as we all know, their development did not stop there. “In two years, they were at the trippy Rubber Soul,” the vocalist continued, “‘Norwegian Wood,’ how great is that?”
When taking the above comment into account it then becomes very clear why Aerosmith always tried to incorporate new sounds into their mix. From blues to pop and psychedelia to funk, they’ve delved into many different sonic environments in their time, with their list of highlights extensive and containing diverse twists and turns. Just look at the difference between their world-famous ballad ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ and tracks such as ‘Sweet Emotion’, or a personal favourite, due to the aural quaalude of a solo section, ‘Love in an Elevator’, it’s stark. Aerosmith tried to keep things fresh for most of their career.
As The Beatles were such trailblazers, charging headfirst into areas of the creative map that had been covered in shade until they pushed into them, they had a tremendous effect on those were around to behold it. Although Aerosmith were often likened to the Fab Four’s London counterparts, The Rolling Stones, with Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry called ‘The Toxic Twins’ in reference to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards being ‘The Glimmer Twins’ due to their partnership and hellraising, they actually had more in common with The Beatles.
I’m not saying they were like The Beatles—god no—but more that, spiritually, Aerosmith had more in common with the Liverpudlian outfit than their dandy friends from the South. While the Boston hard-rockers certainly had their problems and a wealth of not-so-good material, during their various periods of creative zest, they were never afraid to take big risks and put their own spin on rock. This is a point that I think often gets overlooked due to the group’s well-publicised tailspin into excess and the other controversies that surround Tyler, which it must be said, are rightly continually discussed.
While Tyler and his bandmates have been deemed rock legends since the early 1970s, this hasn’t stopped him from getting starstruck every so often. Unsurprisingly, as with everyone and their formative influences, The Beatles still mean the most to him, so when he was enlisted to sing a medley of the band’s Abbey Road songs during Paul McCartney’s 2010 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, it was such a life-affirming moment that he “had tears streaming down my face”.
Speaking to Rolling Stone India in 2011, Tyler recalled that special moment: “It was crazy, I was 16 when I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and now I’m being asked to sing the last four songs off Abbey Road with Sir Paul fucking McCartney? During the show, I had tears streaming down my face and I was looking right at Nancy Pelosi in the crowd! The next day, there was a ceremony at the White House. I go up to the president, and he says, ‘Steven Tyler, what are you doing here?'”
It speaks to the impact of The Beatles that even decades after their arrival and various pioneering endeavours, they can still reduce their most famous fans, and ones who have not lived their lives in the limelight, to blubbering messes. It always was more than plain music.
