A few years before Aerosmith released its 2012 album ‘Music from Another Dimension!’ tension started to arise between the band members. The tipping point appeared to be an incident during a 2009 Guitar Hero Aerosmith Tour performance, where Steven Tyler fell off the stage.
Following the fall, Tyler had a broken shoulder and a head injury. As part of his recovery, the doctors prescribed him painkillers, which caused him to relapse, as he revealed a few months later.
He went into rehab, and during this time, the singer’s focus on work shifted. He chose to work on solo projects and joined ‘American Idol’ in 2010 without telling his bandmates.
While he went on to record and perform with Aerosmith, the frontman began his role as a jury at the show in 2011. But he left two years later and talked about his experience in a chat with The Quietus shortly after.
Answering a question about what he learned during ‘American Idol,’ Tyler said:
“What I’ve learned from that show is don’t pick it, don’t make it, infect it, it’s television! It’s a great medium; it’s a new, wild frontier. When I went on that show, I couldn’t believe how big the production was – millions of dollars go into it. And it was fun; I got to sit next to J-Lo and Brandy – but that’s not Aerosmith.”
Then, revealing the ultimatum he gave to the showrunners, which they seem to have declined, he went on:
“After the second year, I told them: ‘You better give me the money I want. Otherwise, I’ll go and do it with the guys that have been waiting for me for four years.’ I was just very lucky that we got the whole band to go to LA. Jack [Douglas] was there; we got the chance to re-record; the way it happened was magical.”
The ultimatum Steven issued to the American Idol’s showrunners seems to have acted as a catalyst. On the one hand, it reminded Tyler of his deep-rooted commitment to Aerosmith while it also propelled him to re-engage wholeheartedly with the band.
The singer made it clear in an interview with Yahoo! Music that his commitment to Aerosmith played a role in his decision to leave the TV show. Supporting that statement, he announced the release of ‘Music from Another Dimension!’ with the band in early 2012.
Aerosmith debuted the album’s first single, ‘Legendary Child,’ during the ‘American Idol’ season finale. They went on a world tour called ‘The Global Warming Tour’ to support its release the same year.
