AEROSMITH : PLEASE DON'T DO THIS

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has been really prolific on twitter lately. It's cool that he is talking a lot about his tour with The Joe Perry Project, which sees him playing small clubs. But what a bummer that he is airing his grievences with Steven Tyler in such a public way.

Some samples:

"Read on line st left band to do "brand Tyler"? That's all I know but like I've said hasn't called me in months.a bit cold forget us 4 guys"

"What about fans? The people that also love him and put him where he is.after 40 years? And I gotta read it on line? I still got major jetlag"

"Last time I phoned him he hung up on me"

This one made me feel a bit better: "Aerosmith is definetly NOT breaking up. One of the members is doing his own thing and said so in the press. That's all I know" I interpreted it as, "OK, I'm doing a solo thing, so is Steven, it's all good." And then...

"Inthe meantime aerosmith is positivly looking for a new singer to work with. You just can't take 40 years of expiriance and throwitinthebin!"

and

"Aerosmith not splitting up. Promise that's the last you'll hear from me on the subject till we gear up again."

To be clear, I'm not totally mad at Joe Perry. It seems like this is caused by Steven Tyler's erracticness. It seems like maybe he isn't in a good place in his life. And it must be hard to watch this guy who you've worked with for 40 years decide that you need to "call my manager" to speak to him. Joe isn't ready to let Aerosmith go. I admit, if I was in a band like that, I wouldn't be either. But again, Joe: would you go to see The Rolling Stones if Mick Jagger wasn't the singer? It was a mistake for Aerosmith to continue on after Joe quit in the '70s, and it would be just as bad for them to try and replace Tyler and call it Aerosmith.

It's a bummer. And, OK, there are people still losing their homes, people without health insurance, and people fighting in the desert and dying every day. This isn't the most important thing to focus on at the moment. But I am curious to see what the fan reaction will be to this. It makes me wonder: what do we actually see when we look at a rock band that we've loved for decades. How invested are we, really?