Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith
Joe Perry with David Ritz
On a fine summer day, we stroll the sun-kissed beaches of Lake Sunapee New Hampshire. We watch as water slowly laps up sandy beaches. Young, beautiful people lay on beach towels soaking up the golden sun. A boat floats carelessly by on the lake in the distance as a summer breeze carries it along. Also floating along carelessly is a parasailer desperately trying to avoid death to impress a girl.
Further down the beach, a demon screams in the darkness of a warm Lake Sunapee evening, a “Demon of Screamin’” if you will. Yet still further down the lake the guitar stylings of a teenage Joe Perry ring out loud and proud through old amplifiers. Oddly this pair barely knew each other. They recognized each other and would say “hi” but that was about the extent of it. That wouldn’t be the case for long but it would take moving to Boston Mass. for everything in their lives to change. Including their friendship.
Joe Perry’s “Rocks My Life In and Out of Aerosmith” stands in contrast to Steve Tyler's autobiography. Where Tyler’s offering is loud and raucous Perry’s book is much more subdued. We get a deeper look into the mind of Joe Perry and that is what makes this a better book. Where you might expect a jungle gym from Steven Tyler's book you get a bit of a jungle gym balanced with a trip to the library from Joe Perry's book.
We learn of Joe’s educational struggles and of his desire to play guitar. The first guitar he got was an acoustic model and we see how Joe was begging his family for an electric guitar. The usual suspects are responsible for Joe Perry taking up the guitar not the least of which was Chuck Berry.
I had no idea that Joe Perry of Aerosmith had an affair with Judy Carne. For those that don’t know, Judy Carne was an actress who rose to fame on an old tv show called “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Go check it out and look for the “Sock it to me” girl. Lots of fun.
You’d never guess the lady was as experienced with drugs as she turned out to be. And she was very important to Joe for other reasons which I won’t spoil here. You need some incentive to read this wonderful book.
Reading Perry’s description of Boston and his life there was mesmerizing. That would be an apt word to describe the book: mesmerizing. Joe and his co-author write in a way that really draws you in and you can’t wait to turn the page.
Most of the pictures are fine additions to the book. You get the feeling whoever was picking out the photos knew who Aerosmith and Joe Perry are. It’s not often I have anything good to say about the addition of pictures but these are about as good as any selection of autobiography books gets. It’s apparent the publisher took some time with the photos instead of assigning some lonely intern to the task.
“Rocks” is a must-read for all rock and roll fans. You might want to pass because it’s Aerosmith and you’re not really into that particular band out of Boston but don’t. You would be doing yourself a disservice.
David Ritz, the co-writer, did a great job of turning Perry’s musing into a coherent, readable book. Kudos to Mr. Ritz, it’s not often I mention the ghostwriter but he did a fine job here.
There was an introduction by Johnny Depp. Mr. Depp is a friend of Perry’s so it seemed appropriate but the end result was horrible. Sure, they are buddies but why couldn’t Depp have dreamt up something better? Anything would have been better. This is the worst part of the book but that’s fine, it’s not about Depp. So the book isn’t perfect.
If you were to read only one of Steve Tyler’s or Perry’s books and you were not a fan of the band you should read Joe Perry’s book. There is no question. Fans of the band must read both books of course but even if you’re not a big fan of Aerosmith you should read this.
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