Steven Tyler, an American rock idol for nearly 40 years, has no regrets about taking on the role of American Idol judge this season.
"If I can find some good talent, hey, it's better than sitting around playing a board game," he says. "At least people know I'm still alive."
People will know plenty more about Tyler, 63, after his salacious drug-fueled memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, hits shelves Tuesday. The tell-all colorfully exposes the raunchy and reckless history the public tends to dwell on, which is one reason he opted to join Idol.
"I jumped into Idol without knowing what the show was about," says Tyler, who got the initial overture from Kara DioGuardi. Fired from the judges panel last year, she recommended Tyler as a replacement.
"I knew I could be beneficial to a show that was tanking," says Tyler, who was among about three dozen considered for the job. "I also thought, 'This could fail miserably.' The downside was that I could lose face in the rock community. But I thought, what do they know about me anyway? They see me as this ominous rock god, and I'm not that. Believe me, I have three daughters who tell me that all the time: 'Dad, you're not wearing that tonight, are you? Put that back in Mom's closet!' "
He did lose face with his bandmates, who opposed his moonlighting (guitarist Joe Perry derided the show as one step above Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and have declined Tyler's invitation to appear on the show. A long-simmering feud with Perry is another reason Tyler accepted Idol's offer.
The upside?
"I'm not hanging out with people who don't believe in me. I get to sit next to Jennifer Lopez every night. Hello! She's a sweet, beautiful person. Loves her kids. And she's street, like me. Randy (Jackson)? Street, like me. I love being with people like that."
He shrugs off criticism that he's not dishing out enough criticism.
"It's not a show about criticism," he says. "It's a show of hope. We're not putting people down. We brought talent to be reckoned with this year. Look at the beautiful people we got out of it. I don't want to be harsh with them. I don't want to say, 'What's wrong with you? Who told you to pick that song?' Well, I can blame that on (music producer) Jimmy Iovine. The kids don't know any better. I'm angry because they won't let me back there to work with the kids myself."
He won't slam contestants but he does take issue with voters for booting Naima Adedapo, who finished in late March.
"She's a better performer than any of them," he says. "What a shame that America let her go."
Tyler, who has said his contract is more than one year, nonetheless says he's undecided about a return engagement on Idol.
"It depends," he says. "Maybe if the contract's good and I get a little more free time and they buy me that house in Maui."
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment