At "Guitar Hero" Launch, Aerosmith Say They're Headed to the Studio

Aerosmith took the stage at New York's Hard Rock Café on Friday, not to play music, but to announce the launch of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the latest installment of the massively popular game and the first to be built around a single band. "It feels weird to be up here without a guitar," quipped guitarist Joe Perry, who later posed with the small plastic axe that comes with the game. Guests at the Hard Rock got a chance to try out the new edition, which includes hits like "Love in an Elevator" and "Dream On," as well as more obscure tracks like "Combination" and songs by artists Aerosmith has played with, including Run DMC and Joan Jett.

After the press conference, band members told Rolling Stone how they spent weeks performing their songs in motion-detecting suits so that the game could recreate the real experience of an Aerosmith show. "I did six, seven hours a day for two weeks," says frontman Steven Tyler, who attended the event three days after leaving a rehab facility where he was treated for addiction to sleeping pills. "I managed to pull all the moves that we do all night, with Joe and my arm around him so they could get those things that are really what Aerosmith is." The band also had to re-record several of the songs, since their labels, Geffen and Columbia, couldn't locate the master tapes. "The record companies play games — it's sad," says Tyler. "It just goes on and on. We're looking forward to the new millennium."

The band also talked about returning to the studio to work on their first album since 2004's Honkin' on Bobo. "I'm interested to get back in the studio — I feel rejuvenated," says Perry, who is recovering from a leg injury. "Some time in the late summer, early fall we'll get back in there and start putting it together." And maybe release it on a future version of Guitar Hero? "Why not? That's a great way to do it."

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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