EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,003 words- 0:00 – 2:51
Crystal ball, knives, and Steven Tyler’s eccentric vibe
- JRJoe Rogan
... four, three, two, one, boom.
- STSteven Tyler
Ow!
- JRJoe Rogan
We've done a thousand what? How many podcasts? 1,116. Steven Tyler is the only man to bring a crystal ball.
- STSteven Tyler
Mm.
- JRJoe Rogan
You're the first.
- STSteven Tyler
Because you got to bring it with you when you come.
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you bring that everywhere?
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
What is the deal? What is it?
- STSteven Tyler
It's just I'm into crystals. I just-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's pretty. Very pretty.
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- STSteven Tyler
You know what I'm saying?
- JRJoe Rogan
I feel you, I feel you. Dude, you look fucking fantastic for 70.
- STSteven Tyler
Thank you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Can I just tell you?
- STSteven Tyler
Thank you.
- JRJoe Rogan
I found out you were 70, I was like, "Holy shit. You look really good."
- STSteven Tyler
And here I was gonna-
- JRJoe Rogan
Your skin looks amazing.
- STSteven Tyler
Why, thank you.
- JRJoe Rogan
It really does.
- STSteven Tyler
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."
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- STSteven Tyler
'Cause you're walking with the dogs-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
... you're walking with a girl, you're wa-... And they come over and wanna stop and take a selfie so I'm like-
- 2:51 – 4:23
Memory, “wizard” intelligence, and why Tyler lives by notes
- STSteven Tyler
I gotta... Seriously, though, I gotta ask you. What the fuck do you eat for breakfast?
- JRJoe Rogan
Um-
- STSteven Tyler
How did you get so fucking smart?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, I'm not that smart.
- STSteven Tyler
Like, what, like-
- JRJoe Rogan
I just remember things.
- STSteven Tyler
Okay, 'cause then-
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a difference.
- STSteven Tyler
Well-
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a difference between being smart and just remembering a lot of shit.
- STSteven Tyler
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
You remember things?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I'm not that smart.
- STSteven Tyler
Well, remembering things is huge.
- JRJoe Rogan
It helps. It certainly helps.
- STSteven Tyler
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
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.
- STSteven Tyler
But you accumulate situations-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Accumulate.
- STSteven Tyler
You know, it's like Jimi Hendrix said-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
... you know, you experience.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
Experiential. So if you remember those things over and over, you're gonna become a wizard. You're a wizard.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm, I'm a wizard.
- STSteven Tyler
You're so good.
- JRJoe Rogan
Thank you. That's very nice of you.
- STSteven Tyler
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?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, for sure.
- 4:23 – 6:19
Whirlwind timeline: gigs, travel, Disney, and the Avatar obsession
- STSteven Tyler
April 15th, lunch with the kids in Venice. My daughter lives in Venice. Hi, Chelsea.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's a long time ago.
- STSteven Tyler
Drove to San Diego.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah. Well, you know, a month.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
'Cause I don't have good memory.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
All right. Drove to San Diego that night after that.
- JRJoe Rogan
So you write things down, like, w-... after you did them just to solidify them in your head?
- STSteven Tyler
No, I just came from a whirlwind of press and-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
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?"
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
So I wrote it down. Drove to San Diego after Venice. Did a private show.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- STSteven Tyler
Flew to Orlando that night.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
I just got back from Disney World, and I rode your roller coaster yesterday.
- STSteven Tyler
Okay, so you know you've made it when, right? See what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, the day before yesterday. Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
The Rock'n'Roller Coaster.
- STSteven Tyler
The most imp-... The Rock'n'Roller Coaster. You-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's great.
- STSteven Tyler
Right? Two times it goes up like that.
- JRJoe Rogan
And then it goes backwards.
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah. Zero to 60 in 2.8 seconds.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's pretty dope.
- 6:19 – 9:04
Betty Ford, painkillers relapse risk, and choosing sobriety
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
With your foot stuff?
- STSteven Tyler
Uh, I had an operation on my foot, you know-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, and then you got pain killers?
- STSteven Tyler
... and I kept the meds right by the bed, you know what I'm saying?
- JRJoe Rogan
What'd you get done to your foot?
- STSteven Tyler
Broke up with my girlfriend, so they were right there.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- STSteven Tyler
And I thought, "Well, I took one five minutes ago, I wanna take another one." That's what kinda like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that happens to a lot of people with those pain pills.
- STSteven Tyler
And so I, I checked myself into Betty Ford, but, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Good for you.
- STSteven Tyler
... while I was there, they let me out a couple of times, I saw Avatar eight times.
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you get Avatar depression?
- STSteven Tyler
Nah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you know what that is?
- STSteven Tyler
No, no, I became her.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right. Which one?
- STSteven Tyler
I became a Na'vi.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sigourney Weaver? Oh.
- STSteven Tyler
No, not Sigourney.
- JRJoe Rogan
The Sigourney Weaver character?
- STSteven Tyler
No the, no the other one.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, yeah, the girl.
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah, not, not the guy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
I became her-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
... and I just watched her moves and-
- JRJoe Rogan
She's pretty dope.
- 9:04 – 12:09
Muscle Shoals “vibes”: sacred rooms, tape oxide, and music as spirit
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- STSteven Tyler
With like Percy Sledge demo. When a man loves a woman... You know, that first shit.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
And this is all in Muscle Shoals?
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah, Muscle Shoals.
- JRJoe Rogan
Li- did you see that documentary?
- STSteven Tyler
I did. I watched the documentary first of all.
- JRJoe Rogan
Incredible.
- STSteven Tyler
I said, "I'm in."
- JRJoe Rogan
What is it about that place?
- STSteven Tyler
Um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, ho- how did that place-
- STSteven Tyler
Okay, here's what it is. It's the vibes. If you're into vibes-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
... 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-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
... started there.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
So do you think it is because all those talented people performed there and they, they like let it soak into the building?
- STSteven Tyler
It's-
- JRJoe Rogan
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.
- STSteven Tyler
Mm.
- JRJoe Rogan
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?
- 12:09 – 25:27
Drugs, Belushi-era stories, and why Tyler can’t safely ‘trip again’
- JRJoe Rogan
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.
- STSteven Tyler
... and these edibles." No, I don't. I don't.
- JRJoe Rogan
You used to do all kinds of crazy shit.
- STSteven Tyler
What do you mean, drugs?
- JRJoe Rogan
Drug-wise.
- STSteven Tyler
Well, fuck yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Of course.
- STSteven Tyler
Well, yeah. While-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
... while you were being born, I was walking-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) .
- STSteven Tyler
... around New York City with John Belushi-
- JRJoe Rogan
Lehman? Oh. (knocks)
- STSteven Tyler
... 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?
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
All I gotta do is close my eyes and go-
- JRJoe Rogan
Spirits.
- STSteven Tyler
... 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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Play that funky music, white boy?
- STSteven Tyler
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) .
- STSteven Tyler
Roots rock reggae, um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Roots rock reggae.
- STSteven Tyler
Who's the, who's the best reggae artist of all time?
- JRJoe Rogan
Bob Marley and Wyclef.
- STSteven Tyler
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?
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- STSteven Tyler
I made them play that back again for me, 'cause I just-
- 25:27 – 36:41
Aerosmith origin story: Woodstock, Boston, Joe Perry, and capturing riffs
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
... 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.
- JRJoe Rogan
They'd feed off each other.
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- STSteven Tyler
... you know, and we'd, I mean, fucking (mumbles) .
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
What if, what if
- NANarrator
Healer.
- STSteven Tyler
... that you get, you go to when-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
... you eat edibles, do you ever write some of your routines when you're with edibles?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, for sure. Yeah, I record them.
- STSteven Tyler
Well, there you go.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. No, for sure.
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
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-
- STSteven Tyler
Mm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and then all of a sudden you're listening to it on the radio? How, how fucking surreal is that? What is that like?
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
What was '80s? Coke?
- STSteven Tyler
Uh, a lot of the hard stuff.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. '70s-
- STSteven Tyler
Snorting, snorting heroin, snorting coke there.
- JRJoe Rogan
So '60s, '60s and '70s was...
- STSteven Tyler
'60s was weed, right, drinking, getting jiggy with the f- you know, with the stuff that was happening with, uh-
- 36:41 – 56:09
Songwriting, tech, and ‘soul vs. Pro Tools’ (plus writing under pressure)
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
See, I'm from the old school where if you practice and get good, you're good.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
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.
- JRJoe Rogan
So-
- STSteven Tyler
Don't you think?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. So, Pro Tools-
- STSteven Tyler
(clears throat)
- JRJoe Rogan
... for musicians, it's like they also-
- STSteven Tyler
It makes you good.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
It can, it can take your, your vocal and fix it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- STSteven Tyler
It can take your drums and put y- and, and, and fix it to a grid. (beatboxing)
- JRJoe Rogan
Does that bother you? Right.
- STSteven Tyler
Nah. Heck, what are you gonna do about it?
- JRJoe Rogan
But it does make the music sound better, but-
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah, but listen to Charlie Watts.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right.
- STSteven Tyler
He drags so beautifully, and, and, and Keith Richards.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, that was my point. Like, is it, is there... there's something missing from that, right?
- STSteven Tyler
Well, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, it's, the soul's gone.
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause now it's computerized.
- STSteven Tyler
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
And even though it's really good, it's still not the same as listening to James Brown.
- STSteven Tyler
Just think about this. Yeah, they got a new song, each band.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right.
- 56:09 – 1:10:33
American Idol: money, humanizing Tyler, and reality TV burnout
- STSteven Tyler
When I took Idol, ka-ching.
- JRJoe Rogan
Started making some paper.
- STSteven Tyler
Get that paper. Fuck.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Is that why you did it?
- STSteven Tyler
Everybody made fun of me. And, but believe me-
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you do it just for the money?
- STSteven Tyler
No, but, but... No, I, you know why I did it?
- JRJoe Rogan
Why?
- STSteven Tyler
Because I thought nobody knew who I was. Everybody knows this guy. (knocks on table)
- JRJoe Rogan
Singing. Nobody knew he was a human.
- STSteven Tyler
And everybody knows this guy. (knocks on table)
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- STSteven Tyler
And-
- JRJoe Rogan
So you wanted them to know you as a human?
- STSteven Tyler
My mom... My mom's passed away and she said, she said, "You know, you, they need to see that side of you."
- JRJoe Rogan
You as a person? But you decided-
- STSteven Tyler
She s-
- JRJoe Rogan
... that American Idol was the best way to show that?
- STSteven Tyler
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-
- JRJoe Rogan
But how, how long ago was this? How long have you-
- STSteven Tyler
I don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
... you been on this for?
- STSteven Tyler
Uh, 2000, 2000... '10 and '11, '11 to '12. I got to sit next to J.Lo and Randy Jackson, that motherfucker.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- STSteven Tyler
What a beautiful guy. And J.Lo.
- JRJoe Rogan
J.Lo's beautiful too.
- STSteven Tyler
(inhales deeply) You know, what us men need, I think what everyone needs, is a word called incentive, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Is it her ass?
- STSteven Tyler
It was her ass at the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
That is incentive.
- 1:10:33 – 1:17:44
Bodies breaking down: stem cells, knee replacements, and longevity ideas
- JRJoe Rogan
I had stem cell shots put my shoulder today.
- STSteven Tyler
Oh, come on.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm very stiff. That's what it is, excellent.
- STSteven Tyler
Did you really?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, both shoulders.
- STSteven Tyler
Did they take them out of here?
- JRJoe Rogan
No. There's some new process they do. I'm in, uh, serious pain right now.
- STSteven Tyler
Oh, man.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's why I'm shaking. Like watch, I could barely pick this up.
- STSteven Tyler
I, as you saw, I thought, "Fuck it's coffee. I'm doing it too."
- JRJoe Rogan
No, it's not the coffee.
- STSteven Tyler
Look.
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- STSteven Tyler
One, two.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- STSteven Tyler
I know it looks-
- JRJoe Rogan
If you just got me five hours ago-
- STSteven Tyler
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
... I'd be moving like a, like-
- STSteven Tyler
Fuck.
- JRJoe Rogan
... perfect something, like something smooth. I'll be okay in a day.
- STSteven Tyler
Yeah. What do I take for my feet? Uh, Gabapentin. Ga- yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
What did you get?
- STSteven Tyler
Gabapentin.
- JRJoe Rogan
Gabapentin?
- STSteven Tyler
Gabapentin, it's a great drug.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- STSteven Tyler
It's not, you don't get high from it, but it kills the pain.
- JRJoe Rogan
This is to, uh, alleviate some shoulder tears. I have some tears, some tissues.
- STSteven Tyler
Look at the fucking size of you.
Episode duration: 2:04:38
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