Hit Hard

May 25, 2009
Being a rock star in the music business oftentimes is not all it's cracked up to be, as Aerosmith drummer Kramer aptly shares in his memoir. Much of the story centers on his drug and alcohol abuse, and his love/hate relationship with his father, his wife and bandmember Steven Tyler. He delves sporadically into the discovery of his own musicianship and creation of his sound, but the main theme is recovery—as an addict and again as a sober but emotionally unhealed man who suffers a nervous breakdown: “I felt like someone was peeling back my skin, ripping off scar tissue.” Having been with Aerosmith since its inception and naming the band himself, Kramer recounts climbing to the top of the musical ladder, the fall from grace and virtual disappearance of the band to the climb back up, but this is not an autobiography of the band. It's a sideman taking front and center. If “sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll' is what you want, it's what you'll get in these photo-laden pages. Although the tale is a predictable one, Kramer's style is honest, straightforward and pulls no punches.

Joey Kramer, the drummer in one of the most popular rock bands of the '70s and '80s, Aerosmith, has undoubtedly lived the rock-and-roll life. And like many who've charted these mythically self-destructive waters, he's been to the brink and back. This memoir puts it all in perspective from the point of view of the shy teenager whose love-hate relationship with his father instilled in him so much self-doubt that even years of stardom, and years of addiction, did little to overcome it. Holter Graham reads this like an insider, giving Kramer's bittersweet words a hard-boiled quality that underscores the message of his cautionary tale: Fame ain't all it's cracked up to be. J.S.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine