RIP Aerosmith?

Apparently, the rumor I first caught from a friend on Facebook has some legs. Reports are that singer Steven Tyler is leaving the band, and while the rest of the group appears to be planning to move on with another singer, I think anyone would agree that the group isn't the same without Tyler's yawp. I have to keep reminding myself that the guys in Aerosmith are about as old as my parents-when my parents were finishing their education at Boston University, a proto version of Aerosmith was playing at parties in the houses in that neighborhood. (They claim they never encountered them, but it's cooler to think otherwise.)

Aerosmith is not the most important band in the world, but they certainly have some memorable songs, and have returned from the ashes at least once before. After a number of hits in the Seventies, the band had several years of drug and drink fueled chaos, and then returned with a second wave of hits in the mid to late Eighties. The above song is from the second wave, and has always brought back painful memories for me-it's lyric hits home in a very personal way.

If it turns out they are gone, or even they are going to continue on without Tyler, they don't owe me anything, that's for sure-they have brought me gallons of joy over the years. Hopefully, they can straighten out their problems and fly right again. But if not, thanks for the memories.