Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Joey Kramer have had tension over the years, and producer Jack Douglas revealed that when the band recorded “Walk This Way” for Toys in the Attic, Tyler went as far as to attempt to play drums when writing the song. Tyler allegedly threatened to cancel an Aerosmith show over the weekend for a surprising reason.
Douglas told Produce Like A Pro, “It’s become a real thing with both of them,” Douglas explains. “Steven sat down at the drums … and went, in a very shitty, sloppy way, did [imitates beat] boom gak, buh boom-boom gak… Okay. He did that. This was an idea for … the only part of the song [Joe Perry] had that he brought to pre-production [imitates main riff]. That’s the only thing he had.”
Douglas said the crappy beat Tyler played did make it into the song, but it wasn’t inspiring any of his bandmates, so Kramer returned to the drum kit and the song exploded creatively.
“[Joey Kramer] adds all the finesse and jazz to it that makes Joe Perry [play his riff differently]. So really, who is it? It’s both of them. In their heads, they can both take credit for it, but it really was the both of them creating it.”
Steven Tyler recently threatened to ‘take down’ impersonators. black911 responded on the Aeroforce forums, “The song is not written until the drummer comes up with the drum parts, bass player comes up with bass parts, rhythm guitarist coming up with guitar parts, lead guitarist comes up with a riff and the singer lyrics. Not sure why all those parts get cut down to only the singer and lead guitarist getting writing credits.”
