Former AEROSMITH A&R Guru Says 'Jealousy' Is Behind Band's 'American Idol' Squabbles

Former Geffen Records executive John Kalodner, who oversaw AEROSMITH's late Eighties comeback and some of their biggest albums, such as "Permanent Vacation" and "Pump", told the New York Post that the band's guitarist, Joe Perry, was "completely wrong" when he stated in a recent interview that singer Steven Tyler would never have pursued a job like being the judge in the next season of "American Idol" during the group's formative years.

Perry told The Calgary Herald on September 7 about "American Idol", "It's a reality show designed to get people to watch that station and sell advertising. It's one step above ['Teenage Mutant'] 'Ninja Turtles' . . . I'll tell you one thing, when we put this band together, this is not something that [Steven Tyler] would do."

Kalodner, who is credited with reuniting the original lineup of AEROSMITH in 1984, told the New York Post that Tyler always "sought Hollywood recognition, and now he can get that."

He added, "Joe is completely wrong. It's jealousy. He's ultra pissed off.

"Simon Cowell was a failed A&R person, a nothing, who is an incredible TV personality. Randy Jackson? The greatest studio musician, but an average A&R guy who became a terrific TV personality. I don't know what will happen because Steven gets his energy from singing in front of 20,000 people. Sitting in a TV studio with scripted sound bites? I'm not sure he'd be able to even use his own great quips. I'll be able to tell you in the first show or two if he'll be his superstar self."

Regarding Perry's claim that AEROSMITH may tour with a different vocalist while Tyler is doing his TV gig, Kalodner said, "If [Steven] makes a giant success as a TV personality he won't want to go back on the road. And there is no AEROSMITH without Steven Tyler. Period."

Perry told The Calgary Herald that he has no idea when fans might get a chance to see the band perform again. Perry said, "Technically speaking, after the gig in Vancouver (on September 16),I don't have a job with AEROSMITH. We know these are the last shows for awhile. And I really do mean awhile. I don't know when we'll be out there again, the five of us, so we'll be playing with everything we've got."

Asked about learning that Tyler had taken the "American Idol" gig, Perry said, "When we decided to do this tour . . . we basically laid out plans for the next two years. And when you're sitting there . . . and one of the band members knows full well he's signed a contract that's taking him out of the music business for up to seven months of the year — that kind of throws a wrench into things."

Tyler, seemingly the center of most of the band's problems over the course of the last year, told The Pulse of Radio that he thinks AEROSMITH is too good a band to let their differences break them apart. "You know, sometimes differences do get in the way, but when we start playing together, it just is the truth of why we were both born and put on this planet," he said. "There's a lot of things that I hate Joe for saying and he hates me for saying, and things we've done back and forth, but this band is a band and married forever. So we may have our differences, but the marriage still holds, especially when there's a stage for us to get up on and rock out on."