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DOES THE NOISE IN MY HEAD BOTHER YOU? A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith comes out on May 3.In conjunction with the release of the book, Tyler will release his first ever US solo single, "(It) Feels So Good" which will be available on iTunes and all DSPs on May 10.
Here are some excerpts from the book: On fame: "Once you become a rock star—something you've prayed for fervently since you were sixteen, making promises to sleazy saints and strange goddesses of the night—all bets are off. After you're famous, it's all simple and brutal; you're either loved across the board for things you did do…or sneered at for things you didn't do—or vice versa. Either way you become a dartboard for other people's fears, doubts, and insecurities, and right there in the bull's-eye are the two terrible tabloid twins: sex and drugs." On Janis Joplin: "When I saw Janis sing she blew my mind. Everybody used to think Mick was my real hero, but I'll confess now ('cause that's what a memoir is for, right?), it was Janis. The scarves on the mike, the howl…inspired and perspired by pure 180-proof Joplin. She's bone deep and still makes me weep. Cole Porter, Nat King Cole…the divine vibratos of my youth…but none finer nor more sacred than Saint Janis." On drugs: "The coke bingeing got so bad and blatant…. One of the things we always put in our riders was that the promoter had to provide in the dressing room a full-length, six-foot-long mirror. I would take the local promoter's rep into the dressing room and he'd say, 'Well, there's the six-foot mirror you requested, Steven.' And I'd say, 'I can see the mirror all right, but where the fuck's the three-foot razor blade?'" On his inner-woman: "I've been misquoted as saying I'm more female than male. Let me set the record straight—it's more half and half, and I love the fact that my feelings are akin with puella eternis (Latin for 'the eternal girl'). What better to be like than the stronger of the species?" On Joe Perry: "My whole life I'd been searching for my mutant twin—I wanted a brother. I didn't want to be in another band without a brother. I needed a soul mate…We're polar twins. We're total opposites. Joe is cool, Freon runs in his veins; I'm hot, hot-blooded Calabrese, a sulphur sun beast, shooting my mouth off. JOE'S A CREEP…I'M AN A________"The book will be available in hardcover for $27.99.