Aerosmith: Bye Steven Tyler, Welcome Billy Idol?

Beat Crave
Billy Idol to Replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith?
Friday, January 29, 2010

Jeffrey Hyatt

At first blush, the news of Billy Idol possibly in the driver’s seat to replace Steven Tyler as frontman of Aerosmith just doesn’t ‘feel’ right. That’s not a knock on Idol, but it’d definitely be a drastic change.

Classic Rock magazine has reported Idol was due to meet with the band members but pulled out after falling sick.

Joe Perry had already revealed the band would be hosting auditions while Tyler takes a hiatus; Lenny Kravitz has been mentioned, and even kick-ass rock vocalist Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company) is part of the mix.

A source told Classic Rock, “Joe said he wanted to talk to Billy about joining Aerosmith, because the band were having problems with Steven. As far as I know Idol did not show up due to having a cold.”

Perry recently admitted the band had already spoken to a few singers about replacing Tyler.

“(There’s) a few people we’ve talked to, and we’ll see how it goes… As far as auditions go, we’ll probably just sit around and have a couple of drinks and see if we get along – because we’re already gonna know that they can sing.”

A report on KBS Radio mentions that Classic Rock magazine’s editor-in-chief Scott Rowley and writer Jerry Ewing were sitting at a table with Joe Perry and Paul Rodgers during an event last year; apparently Ewing overheard Perry saying how he long admired Rodgers as a vocalist, and mentioned the trouble with Tyler’s behavior.

Ewing:

“Perry got straight to the point and asked Rodgers whether he’d be interested in singing for Aerosmith. . . “I think (Rodgers) was quite surprised by Perry’s invitation, which came right out of the blue. He regained his composure and thanked Perry, but said he was committed to the reunion of Bad Company, so singing in Aerosmith wouldn’t be possible.”

Well… never say never. Besides, Rodgers might be a better fit for Aersomith, considering his long history with belting out sweaty, good time rock n’ roll songs. He also has the bluesy swagger to blend right in with the band on some of the older material which had much more grit and less polish then their hit-fueled run in the mid-’80s and ’90s.

But the Idol news is out of left field, in my opinion. Not a bad choice, but there could be an aesthetic problem when the band hits the stage. Idol is such a defined artist (in a good way!), from the classic MTV videos and hit songs that helped define the ’80s, that possibly stepping into the shoes of the legendary Tyler might not be a great… fit.

Then again, no one knows for sure how he sounds belting out “Walk This Way,” so for now we can hold off on trashing the whole idea.