Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top

A large part of what I could write here has already been covered in my review of Steven Tyler's equally disgraceful book (e.g. how he seems to think drugs are a necessary requisite for being in a rock band even though such as Dream Theater prove otherwise, and how Aerosmith have frequently got away with treating fans abominably, etc.) but Kramer surpasses him in my opinion..What a self-pitying, uncalled-for whinger he came across as. He adds a load of psycho-babble into his version of events, as if he knows how pathetic it will seem, so needs to somehow justify/redeem himself.But I digress. First of all, the book has two co-authors for some reason. I neither know nor care who they are, but if I had to guess, I'd wager they were "hired hands" from some psychiatric organisation, to try and justify all the "depression" nonsense.The book is written in a strange style, with paragraphs appearing in bold type every so often. Again, the reason escaped me. (They don't seem any more pertinent than the paragraphs which flank them.) Once again, the "f" word makes hundreds of unnecessary appearances.I was hoping to get lot of background tidbits.... facts about the albums and the songs, but it was very very disappointing in that respect. For example, the whole of my favourite album "Rocks" was dismissed in one passing sentence : "In 1976 Rocks shipped platinum". Nothing else! Gee, thanks for that.Much of his moaning centres around the fact that he believes his father didn't show him the love and affection he could have. Big deal! So he lost out on that, but instead he's had a life of fame and fortune others would give their arm for! Riches beyond compare, a job doing what he loves, partners, kids, no permanent disabilities. Instead, he tries to use it to justify all the drugs and disgraceful behaviour. What do children who LOSE their father altogether do? Totally give up? I don't think so! When he was being carried to his drum kit by roadies because he was too out-of-it to walk to it (what an insult to fans!) was that "ok" because he'd had to grow up without his pa telling him he was wonderful every 5 minutes? Pah!I was incredulous about his attitude towards Steven Tyler. He appears to resent the fact that Tyler (who started his career in drumming not singing), was a better drummer than him, the designated drummer. Why shouldn't he be, though? (Shades of the Beatles here, with Lennon's famous quip that Ringo wasn't even the best drummer in their band!) He didn't like being criticised. Oh diddums. I know much has been made over the years of Kramer, Hamilton and Whitford feeling like "lesser" members of a band, but they WERE, for crying out load! Without Tyler's vocals and Tyler and Perry's compositions, Aerosmith would never have left the hangar. End of. How much did Joey Kramer contribute to the songwriting? Exactly. He tried to "big" up his role in places, harping on certain drum patterns he came up with, but at the end of the day, all he did was contribute to arrangements of songs that were already written. In one truly laughable passage (which actually made me wonder if he was still on "something"!) he had the nerve to come out with this:-"All music is actually just drum rudiments applied to other instruments". Oh I see then. Notes, chords and harmonies are irrelevant in music. Melodies be damned. All that matters is the beat, i.e. drums, because that's HIS instrument. What codswallop!I personally found his obsession with cars as disturbing as his drug habits. OK, lots of (shallow) people view expensive cars as a pinnacle or human achievement an purpose, (as opposed to just something which gets you from A to B), but he takes it to a new level. He actually admits he can only remembers events in his past by relating them to what vehicle(s) he drove at the time! For example he recalls hitting a deer on one occasion. Not only can he remember what HE was driving, but he remembers he was cruising next to a Lamborghini in the next lane! Why mention that? Who cares? I actually gloated when I read about his father refusing to accept a luxury car from him. (You see, that's at least TWO human beings who are NOT impressed by flash motors!)In fact, throughout the book I found myself wondering "Did he learn anything from that episode?" and each time came to the conclusion "Probably not!" When his house burned down, he and his then wife reacted by having a good coke snorting session. Yeah, right. Btw, I didn't pay too much to his relationships with wives, girlfriends or who did what to him. I got the impression it was probably "six of one, half a dozen of the other, and that being a fellow druggie was probably a pre-requisite to them hooking up in the first place. Either way, he's had a fantastic sex life compared to most people.Perhaps the line that best summarises the whole book is when he says he wanted someone else to tell him "why" he took drugs - in other words, absolving HIMSELF of responsibility by pathetically trying to make out it's some outside force to blame for it. I mean, who told him to always wear dingly-dangly earrings? Or to have that bizarre little "beard thing"? Exactly!When I finished the book I realised that I would continue to listen to my Aerosmith CDs thinking no more about the drums than I had before. Also, I can honestly say there wasn't one anecdote in the entire book that made me feel sorry for him. Whatever sympathetic effect the book was meant to have on me, it failed miserably!

This was bought as gift. Person was pleased with gift.

This book is definitely one to read, detailed, hard hitting and revealing. It takes you on an emotional ride, rough and smooth, definitely recommend this book. I will be revisiting this for future reads.

Brutally honest and deeply moving. Can not recommend highly enough.

Quality book if you like reading rock stars autobiography's this is a must read.and as always the amazon service is second to none.

Uncensored life sparing no details. Drug addiction and disfunction in the music business

Fairly interesting

Very good condition.