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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1116 - Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead-singer of Aerosmith. He is also the subject of new documentary called "Steven Tyler: Out On a Limb" available to stream on demand.

Joe RoganhostSteven Tylerguest
May 17, 20182h 4mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:002:51

    Crystal ball, knives, and Steven Tyler’s eccentric vibe

    1. JR

      ... four, three, two, one, boom.

    2. ST

      Ow!

    3. JR

      We've done a thousand what? How many podcasts? 1,116. Steven Tyler is the only man to bring a crystal ball.

    4. ST

      Mm.

    5. JR

      You're the first.

    6. ST

      Because you got to bring it with you when you come.

    7. JR

      Do you bring that everywhere?

    8. ST

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. ST

      You know, I'll, I'll bring it with me to Maui. I'll bring it w- with me to, to, uh, Europe. Yeah. For the long ones.

    11. JR

      What is the deal? What is it?

    12. ST

      It's just I'm into crystals. I just-

    13. JR

      It's pretty. Very pretty.

    14. ST

      It's got a beautiful occlusion, and when you get the light just right on it, just like me on stage at night when the light is just right.

    15. JR

      Mm.

    16. ST

      You know what I'm saying?

    17. JR

      I feel you, I feel you. Dude, you look fucking fantastic for 70.

    18. ST

      Thank you.

    19. JR

      Can I just tell you?

    20. ST

      Thank you.

    21. JR

      I found out you were 70, I was like, "Holy shit. You look really good."

    22. ST

      And here I was gonna-

    23. JR

      Your skin looks amazing.

    24. ST

      Why, thank you.

    25. JR

      It really does.

    26. ST

      Thanks. And I walk around like this and wonder why everybody's fucking taking pictures and busting my chops. Walking through the airport, I actually have a T-shirt that says, "Go fuck your selfie."

    27. JR

      Oh.

    28. ST

      'Cause you're walking with the dogs-

    29. JR

      Right.

    30. ST

      ... you're walking with a girl, you're wa-... And they come over and wanna stop and take a selfie so I'm like-

  2. 2:514:23

    Memory, “wizard” intelligence, and why Tyler lives by notes

    1. ST

      I gotta... Seriously, though, I gotta ask you. What the fuck do you eat for breakfast?

    2. JR

      Um-

    3. ST

      How did you get so fucking smart?

    4. JR

      Oh, I'm not that smart.

    5. ST

      Like, what, like-

    6. JR

      I just remember things.

    7. ST

      Okay, 'cause then-

    8. JR

      There's a difference.

    9. ST

      Well-

    10. JR

      There's a difference between being smart and just remembering a lot of shit.

    11. ST

      Okay.

    12. JR

      Yeah.

    13. ST

      You remember things?

    14. JR

      Yeah, I'm not that smart.

    15. ST

      Well, remembering things is huge.

    16. JR

      It helps. It certainly helps.

    17. ST

      Mm-hmm.

    18. JR

      Yeah, but what is smart, right? Smart is like can you solve equations, can you figure things out that other people can't figure out, do you know things other people don't know. No. I just remember shit that smart people have already figured out.

    19. ST

      But you accumulate situations-

    20. JR

      Yeah. Accumulate.

    21. ST

      You know, it's like Jimi Hendrix said-

    22. JR

      Yeah.

    23. ST

      ... you know, you experience.

    24. JR

      Yeah.

    25. ST

      Experiential. So if you remember those things over and over, you're gonna become a wizard. You're a wizard.

    26. JR

      Mm, I'm a wizard.

    27. ST

      You're so good.

    28. JR

      Thank you. That's very nice of you.

    29. ST

      You're so good. That's why I, I watched your show and I watched the beginning, right before you walked out on stage, the Triggered. And I saw two things that, that, that was, that came to my attention, was one, you were talking with your producer or whoever that said, "There's your chair, and by the way, your bottle of water is right there." We need those guys. Right?

    30. JR

      Oh, for sure.

  3. 4:236:19

    Whirlwind timeline: gigs, travel, Disney, and the Avatar obsession

    1. ST

      April 15th, lunch with the kids in Venice. My daughter lives in Venice. Hi, Chelsea.

    2. JR

      That's a long time ago.

    3. ST

      Drove to San Diego.

    4. JR

      (laughs)

    5. ST

      Yeah. Well, you know, a month.

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. ST

      'Cause I don't have good memory.

    8. JR

      Right.

    9. ST

      All right. Drove to San Diego that night after that.

    10. JR

      So you write things down, like, w-... after you did them just to solidify them in your head?

    11. ST

      No, I just came from a whirlwind of press and-

    12. JR

      Right.

    13. ST

      Steven Tyler day and released a documentary that Casey Tebo did and all this shit happened, and we played the, the Jazz Fest in New Orleans. And that happened in the last two weeks, and I just said, uh, um, to Amy, "What h-... What have we been doing in the last... Where have we been?"

    14. JR

      Right.

    15. ST

      So I wrote it down. Drove to San Diego after Venice. Did a private show.

    16. JR

      (laughs)

    17. ST

      Flew to Orlando that night.

    18. JR

      Right.

    19. ST

      Okay? Private gig with David Foster, Katy Perry, Pia from Idol, this girl that was so sweet. Um, rehearsed with the band, uh, and during the break from the band, I was in Disney World. I rode my, I rode my roller coaster, and I went-

    20. JR

      I just got back from Disney World, and I rode your roller coaster yesterday.

    21. ST

      Okay, so you know you've made it when, right? See what I mean?

    22. JR

      Oh, the day before yesterday. Yeah.

    23. ST

      So I'm going through this list and I went, "Wait a minute. We what?" And it was just a... You know, so rode the roller coaster. Then I went over-

    24. JR

      The Rock'n'Roller Coaster.

    25. ST

      The most imp-... The Rock'n'Roller Coaster. You-

    26. JR

      It's great.

    27. ST

      Right? Two times it goes up like that.

    28. JR

      And then it goes backwards.

    29. ST

      Yeah. Zero to 60 in 2.8 seconds.

    30. JR

      That's pretty dope.

  4. 6:199:04

    Betty Ford, painkillers relapse risk, and choosing sobriety

    1. ST

      I just got... I went to, just to break here for a second, I went to Betty Ford eight years ago, 'cause I got fucked up with my foot stuff and just stuff.

    2. JR

      With your foot stuff?

    3. ST

      Uh, I had an operation on my foot, you know-

    4. JR

      Oh, and then you got pain killers?

    5. ST

      ... and I kept the meds right by the bed, you know what I'm saying?

    6. JR

      What'd you get done to your foot?

    7. ST

      Broke up with my girlfriend, so they were right there.

    8. JR

      Oh.

    9. ST

      And I thought, "Well, I took one five minutes ago, I wanna take another one." That's what kinda like-

    10. JR

      Yeah, that happens to a lot of people with those pain pills.

    11. ST

      And so I, I checked myself into Betty Ford, but, uh-

    12. JR

      Good for you.

    13. ST

      ... while I was there, they let me out a couple of times, I saw Avatar eight times.

    14. JR

      Did you get Avatar depression?

    15. ST

      Nah.

    16. JR

      Do you know what that is?

    17. ST

      No, no, I became her.

    18. JR

      Right. Which one?

    19. ST

      I became a Na'vi.

    20. JR

      Sigourney Weaver? Oh.

    21. ST

      No, not Sigourney.

    22. JR

      The Sigourney Weaver character?

    23. ST

      No the, no the other one.

    24. JR

      Right, yeah, the girl.

    25. ST

      Yeah, not, not the guy.

    26. JR

      Yeah.

    27. ST

      I became her-

    28. JR

      Right.

    29. ST

      ... and I just watched her moves and-

    30. JR

      She's pretty dope.

  5. 9:0412:09

    Muscle Shoals “vibes”: sacred rooms, tape oxide, and music as spirit

    1. ST

      Yeah, tha- and that was the next day. Uh, I went right to Rick Hall's place, who passed away like three months ago, and his son, Rodney Hall, works the place. It's called Fame Studios.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. ST

      And, and I sat in a room, he took me all over the place, and I walked in to like the demo room where you could smell the oxides off the tape.

    4. JR

      Wow.

    5. ST

      With like Percy Sledge demo. When a man loves a woman... You know, that first shit.

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. ST

      The first stuff. Uh, Wilson Pickett. And I'm sitting in the room with him, and I'm telling you, man, I started to cry. I cried... I welt up three times there.

    8. JR

      Wow.

    9. ST

      Just to be in the room. I'm standing, doing the vocals to Brown Sugar right where Little Richard sang, right where he sang. I see a picture on the wall of him standing right there. To me-

    10. JR

      And this is all in Muscle Shoals?

    11. ST

      Yeah, Muscle Shoals.

    12. JR

      Li- did you see that documentary?

    13. ST

      I did. I watched the documentary first of all.

    14. JR

      Incredible.

    15. ST

      I said, "I'm in."

    16. JR

      What is it about that place?

    17. ST

      Um-

    18. JR

      Like, ho- how did that place-

    19. ST

      Okay, here's what it is. It's the vibes. If you're into vibes-

    20. JR

      Yeah.

    21. ST

      ... if you're into living, if you're into feeling alive, you can always feel sad when your mom dies, but you gotta amp that up. You gotta feel good when bad things are going on. You gotta thank God when bad things are going on. You gotta be into crystals, love your, love your girlfriend, try to be happy, try to find the positivity in negativity. And then when you listen to music and your very favorite thing and you close your eyes, that's vibes. That's something you can't even talk about, really. It's how you feel personally. Whatever you've been through in your life, those vibes of those songs, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, I mean, The Allman Brothers-

    22. JR

      Right.

    23. ST

      ... started there.

    24. JR

      Right.

    25. ST

      So when you listen to The Allman Brothers, you, you're in the room where Gregg said to his brother, "Let's do this song." So-

    26. JR

      So do you think it is because all those talented people performed there and they, they like let it soak into the building?

    27. ST

      It's-

    28. JR

      I mean, is that what it is? 'Cause there's, there's places that do have like a magic to them. I always talk about The Comedy Store like that.

    29. ST

      Mm.

    30. JR

      The Comedy Store has a magic to it. When you're there, there's something about that place that like thi- it feels like great things have happened in that place before. You feel it in the wood, you feel it in the carpet. It's just, it's in the air. Do you feel like that was Muscle Strolls? Is it, there's... Is it because all those great artists have performed there and like almost like the room has a memory of it?

  6. 12:0925:27

    Drugs, Belushi-era stories, and why Tyler can’t safely ‘trip again’

    1. JR

      One of my favorite Henr- Hendrix songs, "Well, are you an... Are you experienced," right? "Not necessarily stoned but beautiful." Meanwhile you walk on stage and go, "Fuck me, these edibles." I walk in here and go, "Fuck me, I didn't do my nails- But you used to.

    2. ST

      ... and these edibles." No, I don't. I don't.

    3. JR

      You used to do all kinds of crazy shit.

    4. ST

      What do you mean, drugs?

    5. JR

      Drug-wise.

    6. ST

      Well, fuck yeah.

    7. JR

      Of course.

    8. ST

      Well, yeah. While-

    9. JR

      Yeah.

    10. ST

      ... while you were being born, I was walking-

    11. JR

      (laughs) .

    12. ST

      ... around New York City with John Belushi-

    13. JR

      Lehman? Oh. (knocks)

    14. ST

      ... knocking on everybody's door to get some blow. I mean, we were good p- good friends. We... It's what you did back then. I believed that, uh, in the spirit of music was... Think of it this way. Why do you think they're called booze spirits and when you listen to your favorite song you wanna fuck your wife?

    15. JR

      Hmm.

    16. ST

      I think that spirits, you know, wherever it takes you, whatever feeling it is, whatever... When I went to Muscle Shoals, I put my hand on the wood. I, I felt the room because I knew that Little Richard stood right in fucking front of me.

    17. JR

      Right.

    18. ST

      All I gotta do is close my eyes and go-

    19. JR

      Spirits.

    20. ST

      ... back in time for a second. If I, you know... I did a song, uh, with, um, uh, "Roots rock reggae, play the funky music." And it was, uh... Shit. See, I don't have a long-term memory. Who did that song? Come on, help me.

    21. JR

      Play that funky music, white boy?

    22. ST

      No.

    23. JR

      (laughs) .

    24. ST

      Roots rock reggae, um-

    25. JR

      Roots rock reggae.

    26. ST

      Who's the, who's the best reggae artist of all time?

    27. JR

      Bob Marley and Wyclef.

    28. ST

      Bob Marley. Okay, his son calls me up and goes, "You gotta do this song." I go in. They put in... They put on the two-inch tape, the oxide, the old-fashioned two-inch tape. And I'm in there ready to sing, right? And I'm... They start rolling. And I'm listening. I got, I got everything turned up and I hear Bob walk into the studio. I hear the drummer sit down at the drum set and his, his stool squeaks. And he farts. No. But it's... You can hear him pick up sticks. You hear, you hear the bass player fucking around with his bass and talking to Bob, "Man, what you fucking, what you feel... How you feeling today, man?" And I'm in the room with Bob Marley. So what is spirit if that's not it?

    29. JR

      Hmm.

    30. ST

      I made them play that back again for me, 'cause I just-

  7. 25:2736:41

    Aerosmith origin story: Woodstock, Boston, Joe Perry, and capturing riffs

    1. ST

      But he didn't tell you how in his fucking sleep he would play these riffs, and I'd come down the hallway because, you know, as I see it, of course, not as they see it. But as I see it, we were up in New England and he was playing at a place, and I mowed the lawn at my f- my, my, my parents' place, and I had quit my last band and I was fucking a li-hoo za-hur. I was crying. I was in no more bands. The dream was over. He drives up in an MG, we go and he's playing that night. I swear to God this happened. And so we decided to move down to Boston, but all in an apartment because I thought, I knew why those bands didn't make it. But I knew in my heart that if I had a bro in a band, like a Mick and a Keith, like The Kinks-

    2. JR

      Yeah.

    3. ST

      ... with David, Dave and, you know, Ray, any of those bands they had, they had, you know, they had, it was two guys that were really tight.

    4. JR

      They'd feed off each other.

    5. ST

      They fed off each other. Exactly. So we moved down there. I got really tight with Joe. I hear him, he'd get, we'd get so shwacked. We'd, we would... so stoned on Boo- Boone's Farm-

    6. JR

      (laughs)

    7. ST

      ... you know, and we'd, I mean, fucking (mumbles) .

    8. JR

      (laughs)

    9. ST

      I said, "What did he say? What'd you say?" Anyway, but he would play these licks, they were so fucking... for every song you've ever heard, Sweet Emotion, every one of those licks, Walk This Way, there's 20 that got lost in the ether.

    10. JR

      Right.

    11. ST

      20 that got lost in the ether. So I went out and bought a little thing called a tape recorder back then. Remember this was '71, you know, a lot of sh- shit wasn't on, no phones, no cell phones. So I would record that shit, and so anyway, where we going with this? That's, that's what, that's where these songs came from, and stuff would come out of my head while I was... like, << Sweet emotion >> Wait, whoa fuck, get me a pa- paper and pen. I'd write that shit down. Suddenly, whoops, on the radio. See, so I used that place-

    12. JR

      What if, what if

    13. NA

      Healer.

    14. ST

      ... that you get, you go to when-

    15. JR

      Yeah.

    16. ST

      ... you eat edibles, do you ever write some of your routines when you're with edibles?

    17. JR

      Oh, for sure. Yeah, I record them.

    18. ST

      Well, there you go.

    19. JR

      Yeah. No, for sure.

    20. ST

      Well, and also, check this out, the, the best part of it is when I got sober, I started writing even, even better shit. I'd go in a room with four guys and say, "We're going in to write a hit. We're gonna stay in this fucking room until we do or until we can't stand each other's smell." And we would leave in seven hours with a fucking song. A- and a good one, and one that would live way past all of us. Check that shit out.

    21. JR

      What did it feel like when you, when you did have these dr- drunken, stoned moments when you came up with a song like Sweet Emotion or a riff or-

    22. ST

      Mm.

    23. JR

      ... and then all of a sudden you're listening to it on the radio? How, how fucking surreal is that? What is that like?

    24. ST

      I remember we used to go up to, um... first of all, most of our first stuff was recorded down in Hell's Kitchen, um, in New York at the Record Plant. You know, John Lennon had a studio upstairs and we were down in Studio A with Jack Douglas and, um... So we went from there for the '70s, and then end of the '70s, I had done every drug on the planet that I could 'cause I thought it was cool, and if I didn't, I wouldn't be cool, and those were the kind of people I hung out with. "You can't do that, dude. You ain't fucking shit, man." So, then you get early '80s, totally fubar, '84, '85, '86.

    25. JR

      What was '80s? Coke?

    26. ST

      Uh, a lot of the hard stuff.

    27. JR

      Yeah. '70s-

    28. ST

      Snorting, snorting heroin, snorting coke there.

    29. JR

      So '60s, '60s and '70s was...

    30. ST

      '60s was weed, right, drinking, getting jiggy with the f- you know, with the stuff that was happening with, uh-

  8. 36:4156:09

    Songwriting, tech, and ‘soul vs. Pro Tools’ (plus writing under pressure)

    1. ST

      And the fucking record... It was one of the first times...... musicians, when you get your shit put on, uh, Pro Tools and it gets fixed, it ain't you anymore.

    2. JR

      Right.

    3. ST

      See, I'm from the old school where if you practice and get good, you're good.

    4. JR

      Right.

    5. ST

      So, what you did at the Comedy Store the first time, you could do in your basement in front of your kids. Be just as good.

    6. JR

      So-

    7. ST

      Don't you think?

    8. JR

      Yeah. So, Pro Tools-

    9. ST

      (clears throat)

    10. JR

      ... for musicians, it's like they also-

    11. ST

      It makes you good.

    12. JR

      Yeah.

    13. ST

      It can, it can take your, your vocal and fix it.

    14. JR

      Right.

    15. ST

      It can take your drums and put y- and, and, and fix it to a grid. (beatboxing)

    16. JR

      Does that bother you? Right.

    17. ST

      Nah. Heck, what are you gonna do about it?

    18. JR

      But it does make the music sound better, but-

    19. ST

      Yeah, but listen to Charlie Watts.

    20. JR

      Right, right.

    21. ST

      He drags so beautifully, and, and, and Keith Richards.

    22. JR

      Well, that was my point. Like, is it, is there... there's something missing from that, right?

    23. ST

      Well, yeah.

    24. JR

      Like, it's, the soul's gone.

    25. ST

      Yeah.

    26. JR

      'Cause now it's computerized.

    27. ST

      (laughs)

    28. JR

      And even though it's really good, it's still not the same as listening to James Brown.

    29. ST

      Just think about this. Yeah, they got a new song, each band.

    30. JR

      Right, right.

  9. 56:091:10:33

    American Idol: money, humanizing Tyler, and reality TV burnout

    1. ST

      When I took Idol, ka-ching.

    2. JR

      Started making some paper.

    3. ST

      Get that paper. Fuck.

    4. JR

      Yeah. Is that why you did it?

    5. ST

      Everybody made fun of me. And, but believe me-

    6. JR

      Did you do it just for the money?

    7. ST

      No, but, but... No, I, you know why I did it?

    8. JR

      Why?

    9. ST

      Because I thought nobody knew who I was. Everybody knows this guy. (knocks on table)

    10. JR

      Singing. Nobody knew he was a human.

    11. ST

      And everybody knows this guy. (knocks on table)

    12. JR

      Oh.

    13. ST

      And-

    14. JR

      So you wanted them to know you as a human?

    15. ST

      My mom... My mom's passed away and she said, she said, "You know, you, they need to see that side of you."

    16. JR

      You as a person? But you decided-

    17. ST

      She s-

    18. JR

      ... that American Idol was the best way to show that?

    19. ST

      I thought I, I t- was the first thing was... What else was c- uh... I had no managers back then that had the good sense to offer me anything. I got the offer from Marty Fredericson. I got the-

    20. JR

      But how, how long ago was this? How long have you-

    21. ST

      I don't know.

    22. JR

      ... you been on this for?

    23. ST

      Uh, 2000, 2000... '10 and '11, '11 to '12. I got to sit next to J.Lo and Randy Jackson, that motherfucker.

    24. JR

      Mm.

    25. ST

      What a beautiful guy. And J.Lo.

    26. JR

      J.Lo's beautiful too.

    27. ST

      (inhales deeply) You know, what us men need, I think what everyone needs, is a word called incentive, right?

    28. JR

      Is it her ass?

    29. ST

      It was her ass at the time.

    30. JR

      That is incentive.

  10. 1:10:331:17:44

    Bodies breaking down: stem cells, knee replacements, and longevity ideas

    1. JR

      I had stem cell shots put my shoulder today.

    2. ST

      Oh, come on.

    3. JR

      I'm very stiff. That's what it is, excellent.

    4. ST

      Did you really?

    5. JR

      Yeah, both shoulders.

    6. ST

      Did they take them out of here?

    7. JR

      No. There's some new process they do. I'm in, uh, serious pain right now.

    8. ST

      Oh, man.

    9. JR

      That's why I'm shaking. Like watch, I could barely pick this up.

    10. ST

      I, as you saw, I thought, "Fuck it's coffee. I'm doing it too."

    11. JR

      No, it's not the coffee.

    12. ST

      Look.

    13. JR

      No.

    14. ST

      One, two.

    15. JR

      Yeah.

    16. ST

      I know it looks-

    17. JR

      If you just got me five hours ago-

    18. ST

      Okay.

    19. JR

      ... I'd be moving like a, like-

    20. ST

      Fuck.

    21. JR

      ... perfect something, like something smooth. I'll be okay in a day.

    22. ST

      Yeah. What do I take for my feet? Uh, Gabapentin. Ga- yeah.

    23. JR

      What did you get?

    24. ST

      Gabapentin.

    25. JR

      Gabapentin?

    26. ST

      Gabapentin, it's a great drug.

    27. JR

      Oh.

    28. ST

      It's not, you don't get high from it, but it kills the pain.

    29. JR

      This is to, uh, alleviate some shoulder tears. I have some tears, some tissues.

    30. ST

      Look at the fucking size of you.

Episode duration: 2:04:38

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