Like plenty of other rockers of his generation, Tyler nearly died a handful of times while under the influence, including overdoses and a serious motorcycle accident in the 1980s. More recently, after falling off the wagon in the 2000s, he literally tumbled off the stage during a 2009 show in South Dakota, suffering serious injuries that also forced him to reassess his reliance on prescription meds and enter another rehab programme. He checked himself in again in 2022.
The “devil”, as he has perceived it for the better part of 50 years, is addiction. And the idea of the “devil stealing your soul” meant succumbing to that addiction by ending up in the grave. There’s a different type of soul stealing that has often accompanied the rock star lifestyle, though, and it’s one he has seemed less inclined to re-evaluate over the years.
Sex, of course, has always been the third part of the unholy trinity that is sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. By the standards of the 2020s and the post-MeToo world, however, the sexual ‘norms’ of rock’s most hedonistic era, the 1970s, are difficult to process even with the most forgiving lens of historical context.
There might be nuanced debates within different waves of feminism as to whether rock’s “groupie” culture was an example of pure exploitation or sexual liberation, but when the issue is more centrally focused on the role of underage girls in that culture, everyone can agree on one thing: the almost entirely male contingent of rock stars taking advantage of those girls weren’t thinking about their behaviour with nuance or empathy.
Worse yet, with the pervasiveness of drug addiction among those same men, a total lack of accountability has a built-in, catch-all excuse. ‘They didn’t know what they were doing’; ‘They were never in their right minds’; ‘The devil had the controls’; ‘The girls were throwing themselves at them willingly’; ‘It was normal back then’; ‘It wasn’t their fault’. Just about anyone who listens to and enjoys classic rock has to navigate their way through this uncomfortable subtext in some way or another.
Most, it seems, including the vast majority of music journalists and historians, prefer to metaphorically cover their eyes or feign ignorance. Everybody knows the rumours and, in some cases, horrific stories about some of rock’s sacred cows, but so long as those stories aren’t litigated and remain locked into a sort of consequence-free mythology, we can carry on, separating the heroes of our past from ‘actual’ sexual criminals like R Kelly or Harvey Weinstein.
Things are gradually starting to change, though. As a result of the MeToo movement and the introduction of new laws pertaining to sex crimes and statutes of limitations, some of rock’s old myths are coming back into focus in courtrooms. Arguably the most prominent of these in 2026 has been the case against Steven Tyler, which was set to go to trial on September 28th, but has been delayed by the surprise recusal of the presiding judge.
Ignoring the legalities of the case, the article ignores a critical detail. It was already illegal for him to take her across state lines for sexual purposes (undermining claims that it was “normal” at the time). As such, he was granted formal guardianship, which is almost (but not quite) adopting her.
He became her guardian to travel and have sex with her. That’s some pretty serious proof of mens rea (guilty mind). He knew exactly what he was doing, and how wrong it was
Ted Nugent did the same thing in 1978, when he was 30 and the girl was 17.
He was so famous for things with underage girls, they spent a considerable amount of time on it during his VH1 Behind the Music episode.
Hell yeah. About time.
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Sex with a 16 year-old is rape. Sex with a girl 1 day before her 18th birthday is rape. Sex with a woman a day after her 18th birthday, and with her consent, because at 18 she is suddenly endowed with the power of consent, isn’t rape.
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Sex with a woman who had a glass of wine might be rape. If a man and woman are very drunk, and he rapes her, he might have a defense of temporary insanity.
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Consent must be explicit, continuous, and eager. Videoing the sex might clear some uncertainties of consent (or maybe not).
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In an old age home where a man and a woman, each with dementia, having sex has issues of consent and culpability. FWIW, Tyler is 78 years old: may he not suffer cognitive decline.
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If animals have rights equal to humans, particularly such species including apes and whales, then males forcing themselves on females is rape.
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When Islam’s prophet Muhammad had sex with Aisha when she was 9, that was rape. Over 1 billion people revere a rapist.
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What would you sentence Steve Tyler to? How many years in prison should Steven Tyler get for raping a 16 year-old?
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Elvis was smart to fake his own death
I choose to read this as Elvis helping others fake their deaths before he did himself.
Mhm he loved raping young teens as well.
Jerry Lee Lewis married one.
Rumor in my hometown is he had a girlfriend who went to my high school. He’d send a limo to pick her up at school or something, but that was waaayyyy before my time. At least, that’s what my mom told me 🤷♀️
He’d send a limo to pick her up at school or something,
Sounds exactly like Jerry Seinfeld with his teenage girlfriend/rape victim.
Related: Anthony Kiedis confessed to knowingly having “sex” with a child in his autobiography (unknowingly slept with an underage kid, found out how old she actually was, and then slept with her again). I feel like if the guy who arranged Tupac’s murder could be indicted on the evidence of his memoir, ol’ Tony Paedis should too.
16 is the age of consent in 31 US states and DC. (Looked that up and boy was I wrong! I thought it was 10 states.) Since they crossed state lines I guess that complicates things, but this seems like a weak case 50-years later.
Had sex with a 16-yo around 24. She saw me and asked her cousins to introduce her. I was so naive I thought they were kinda rude to bring this person over and quickly skedaddle. 🙄 Took me many years to figure out that she just wanted a piece, that night and the next. This was 100% on her agency. No one was taken advantage of, no exploitation.
All to say that if that wasn’t unusual in the mid-90s, it was probably more usual in the 70s. Is that an excuse for Tyler? Maybe? Sounds like it was legal until he took her to CA?
But a relationship?! Ugh. No way in hell I wanted a relationship in those circumstances. OTOOH, this went on for 3-years. Does that imply her consent? Was she just too naive to escape? Was it a bad relationship for her? Was she treated poorly?
Also, 50 years later? So if Tyler was past the statute of limitations at some point, can a state roll that back? Seems a legally messy gray area. Also, that puts this up there with murder, ie, no statute of limitation.
The usual bullshit that gets trotted out in cases like this, “She was willing.”, “Why’d she wait so long to say something?” and “She’s a golddigger.”, well, it sure seems that way in this particular case.
Roast me. My body is ready. (I’d really like honest takes on this. It’s weird and interesting.)
In 2006, Rolling Stone columnist Gavin Edwards published excerpts of an interview with Tyler in which he asked the singer if he had ever been inappropriately attracted to his own daughter, the actress Liv Tyler (a pretty awful question in the first place).
“Oh, absolutely,” Tyler responded with a laugh, according to Edwards, “How can a father not be attracted to his daughter, especially when she’s a cross between the girl he married and himself? Unless he’s an ugly man, a father is always gonna be sexually attracted to his daughter on a certain level… However, the real man knows that’s just a place to never go. There’s ways to love it without making love to it; I wrote ‘Janie’s Got a Gun’ about fathers who don’t know the difference.”
This is the man you’re defending.
It’s pretty funny because he is ugly as fuck and would’ve died as a virgin if he weren’t famous. He’s just another narcissistic piece of shit
I’m not defending him. But of course this is social media so anything other than incandescent outrage is defence. I just find the whole thing odd, and an interesting legal case.
All to say that if that wasn’t unusual in the mid-90s, it was probably more usual in the 70s. Is that an excuse for Tyler? Maybe? Sounds like it was legal until he took her to CA?
The usual bullshit that gets trotted out in cases like this, “She was willing.”, “Why’d she wait so long to say something?” and “She’s a golddigger.”, well, it sure seems that way in this particular case.
You were absolutely defending Steven Tyler raping this child.
Also, that puts this up there with murder, ie, no statute of limitation.
I firmly believe there should be absolutely no statute of limitation on rape. None. Rapists shouldn’t get to avoid justice because they waited out their victims.
You are not Steven Tyler. Justifying statutory rape is disgusting. These posts always bring out the pedophiles.
Did you even read the article before you came here to defend rapists?
Tyler’s accuser, Julia Misley, was once an Aerosmith fan and groupie in the early ‘70s, but her claims don’t involve one random encounter with the singer. Instead, she had a prolonged, intense, three-year relationship with him that began when she was 16 and he was in his mid-20s. Misley’s lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, almost 50 years after the two first met, states that Steven Tyler “used his role, status, and power as a well-known musician and rock star” to exploit her when she was underage. The rock star has steadfastly denied the allegations.
Importantly, the most vital evidence Misley and her lawyers had to present in court didn’t come from her own words or recollections, but from Tyler’s own best-selling memoir, published in 2011, when he was 63 years old. The book, which is written somewhat obnoxiously in the same rhymey, pun-heavy, jokester style as Tyler’s stage banter, covers the topic of his relationship with Misley without any real hint of regret, or discomfort, or self-awareness.
Instead, he, the ageing rock star, appears to take great joy in retelling the details of his time with her, including his crystal-clear memory of seeing her for the first time, dressed up in a costume backstage at a show with a number of other teens he referred to as the “Little Oral Annie Club”.
The acknowledgement of that three-year relationship, though, during which Misley was under 18 for two of the three years, doesn’t feel like a victory. Misley has also claimed that she became pregnant during that relationship, and that she was “pressured” to get an abortion. After her original accusations went public in 2022, another woman, Jeanne Bellino, came forward, claiming that Tyler assaulted her in 1975 when she was 17. That case was thrown out by the statute of limitations in New York.
I agree with you that there should be no statue of limitations on sexual assault.
Perhaps if these old rock stars, and old rappers (and others who don’t, or generally don’t, play rock) were charged, tried, and a few 10s of them spent a few years in prison, it might change behaviour in the US. Ditto United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and EU members.
There might be issues of singing about sex with children—“child” being defined as any person under 18—and we might as well include women who are drunk, on other drugs, or sleeping (I’m thinking of lyrics in a Peter Frampton song)—if one didn’t actually have sex with children.
I wonder what Steve Tyler would think if a 25 year-old man had sex with Liv when she was 16. Ditto Gene Simmons, or any other rock star who fathered a daughter.
Gay men shouldn’t be exempt either.
I’m with you, rape victims carry the trauma their entire lives, the perpetrator should be hunted until he or she dies.
Yeah, I read the article. No, it wasn’t statutory rape. 16 is legal in most states. CA is the odd one at 18. You can hate that all you want, but you can’t claim statutory rape.
So anyway, despite this being legal, any woman should be able to come forward after 50 years and claim abuse? That’s scary as fuck. I’ve had two women lie and use the system against me. Arguing with my ex-wife:
“Get out of my house.”
“It’s my house too.”
“I’ll get a restraining order.”
“Right. I’ve never hit you or even threatened you.”
“I’ll tell them you did.”
And she did. And it almost worked. An ex-gf pulled that shit after her mother assaulted me and left me bloody. So no, I’m not a fan of being able to make a claim after better than half a human lifetime.
You’re ignoring an important aspect of this, which is that having a position of influence makes a difference.
Even in states where the legal age is 16, the legal age often gets raised to 18 if the older person is in a position of some sort of influence or authority.
For example, a coach who is 20 can be guilty of statuatory rape of a 16 year old in most places, even though the sixteen year old is technically of legal age. Being a rock star definitely makes a huge difference to a 16 year old.
Indeed, the article even mentions this as the basis of her case.
Misley’s lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, almost 50 years after the two first met, states that Steven Tyler “used his role, status, and power as a well-known musician and rock star” to exploit her when she was underage
That influence is actually the whole point. He was 26 and the lead singer of a famous band.
I’ve had two women lie and use the system against me.
Considering you detailed to us all how you raped a 16 year old, I would believe those women over you any day of the week.
Children can’t consent. children can’t consent
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Sorry bro, kids can’t consent
24 years old is an adult. You were an adult.
I had sex with a 16-yo in my early 20s (yes, legally). She saw me across the street and asked her cousins introduce her. I was so naive I thought they were kinda rude to bring this person over and quickly skedaddle. 🙄 Took me many years to figure out that she just wanted a piece, that night and the next. Never saw her again. This was 100% on her agency and she fucked me. No one was taken advantage of, no one hurt.
You were old enough to know better than to take advantage of a literal child.
Rapist.
When in doubt about her age, don’t have sex.
If statute law allowed you to have sex with a 12 year-old, it still wouldn’t be right.
18 is the minimum—and even that might be too young.
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Justification of raping children will not be tolerated in this community.
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