Steven Tyler Fought Label Over ‘X-Rated’ Lyrics
Steven Tyler’s approach to writing during Aerosmith’s mid-’80s comeback has been revisited in a new oral history, with fresh detail on how the band’s label pushed for more radio-friendly material. The account centres on the sessions that produced 1987’s Permanent Vacation, the album that helped re-establish Aerosmith as a mainstream force after a commercial slump earlier in the decade.
In excerpts from the book Raised on Radio, People reported that Geffen Records A&R executive Mr. John Kalodner said Tyler’s lyrics “could be way too X-rated,” adding that he repeatedly urged the band to make the words more “radio accessible” while pushing them toward the commercial sound producer Mr. Bruce Fairbairn was aiming for.
Mr. Joe Perry also recalled that Aerosmith initially resisted collaborating with outside songwriters, saying the group had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” before accepting that co-writers could bring “new energy to the table.” Kalodner said the push toward accessibility led to major hits including “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” and “Angel,” and he claimed Tyler sometimes bristled at criticism, with Tyler quoted as saying he was “devastated” when Kalodner dismissed something he had “sweated over.”
The new discussion arrives as Tyler remains a focus of fan debate about Aerosmith’s future, particularly after the band insisted he is “not retired” amid ongoing questions over whether they could return in some form.
Permanent Vacation ultimately went five-times platinum, and the band’s follow-up, 1989’s Pump, went seven-times platinum as Aerosmith’s late-’80s resurgence continued. The book’s recollections underline how much of that turnaround hinged on tense negotiations over songwriting, polish and just how far Tyler could push his lyrics before the label stepped in.
