AEROSMITH

The members of Aerosmith may be tired of being compared to the Rolling Stones, but the bands are superficially quite similar, and musically the Stones certainly influenced Aerosmith. Heck, the principal members even resemble one another. But Aerosmith is distinctly American, a product of 1970s rock stadium shows and burgeoning excess, whereas the Stones started out--lo, these many years ago--as a blues band. Huxley's entertaining group bio picks up the Aerosmith story after its members had already reached and for the most part conquered puberty. Readers should be thankful for this because it spares them the hyper-meaningful childhood memories and portentous events that mar many rock bios. The machinations, originality, and endurance that Aerosmith employed to reach its current fame and fortune--not to mention the deliciously decadent way it frittered most of both away during its initial success--constitute a fascinating, cautionary, and in many ways, quintessential rock story. Huxley tells it with just the right amount of detail, exposition, and humor to make this a fine pop culture bio. Mike Tribby