July 17, 2011 / Leslie

Review: Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?

Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?
by Steven Tyler
Read by: Jeremy Davidson

Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publish Date: May 2011
Format: Audio CD | 13 Hours and 1 min
Rating: 2½ of 5

I’ve been listening to Aerosmith’s music since the ’70s, way back whenToys in the Attic was first released on vinyl. While I’m familiar with their music through the years, I knew little about the band and expected this to be an informative read for the casual fan. Sadly, I had a difficult time staying interested in this book. At times it could be witty, funny and engaging, but there were too few of those times.

Steven Tyler relates his life story in a very stream of consciousness nature, almost rambling at times, skipping from topic to topic. There was way to much emphasis on drugs, sex, groupies and more drugs. I got the point the first few times he tells us that rock gods such as himself can have their pick of women and it’s easy to obtain all the drugs they desire. While he claims to love and respect women, it doesn’t show through in the tales he tells about life on the road with the band. The language used in this book was very explicit; definitely R rated. I don’t cringe at a few four letter words to add emphasis or meaning but in this case (I listened to the audio) it was excessive.

I wondered if the emphasis on sex and drugs plus the constant explicit language added or subtracted from the book. Does it make it more honest because that is who he is? Toward the end of the book Steven does explain why he included so many of the drug episodes and the colorful language by saying, “I wouldn’t be who I am without the good, the bad and the ugly”. I agree; I wouldn’t want the book to be a sanitized version but a little less of the above and a little more about the band, the songs, his family, friends and perhaps some other anecdotes would have made this a better memoir for me.

The book was narrated by Jeremy Davidson who did an excellent job of sounding like a rock and roller. Ya know, that rock star voice. I can’t describe it but I know it when I hear it. He was easy to listen to and contributed to my decision to keep listening even after I decided this was not my style of book.

While this was not the book for me, I would recommend it to Aerosmith fans and the more avid rock fans, especially those that like an in-your-face, no-holes-barred rock memoir.
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Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.