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

"If 'sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll' is what you want, it's what you'll get in these photo-laden pages. Kramer's style is honest, straightforward and pulls no punches."
-- Publishers Weekly

Cash meets The Heroin Diaries in Hit Hard: Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer's moving and inspiring story of fighting personal demons, as well as a wildly glamorous, crazy, drug-addled, behind-the-drum-set look at one of the greatest bands in rock n' roll history. From never-before-told Aerosmith war stories across their entire 40 year career to Joey's own struggles with addiction and depression, Hit Hard is only the second authorized biography of the band--following the New York Times bestseller Walk This Way--and the first autobiography from any Aerosmith band member.

“"I love this book; this is an important book, because it's not bullshit. Joey had the balls to see what underneath the hood, and to fix it. Being a rock star was easy compared to that."”

"If 'sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll' is what you want, it's what you'll get in these photo-laden pages. Kramer's style is honest, straightforward and pulls no punches." -- Publishers Weekly

-- --From the Foreword by NIKKI SIXX, author of The Heroin Diaries

Joey Kramer is the legendary drummer with the most successful band in American history--Aerosmith. Since 1970 he and his partners have sold over 150 million albums, and today their multigenerational, global audience is bigger than ever. In addition to the Grammys and the twenty-one multiplatinum albums, Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and they are the subject of several documentaries, including a film dedicated to Joey and his lasting influence, called It's About Time. Joey lives south of Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1997, amid Aerosmith's sold-out world tour and number one album release, word about Joey's troubles was reported in the press.Despite the advice he had received to play it down, Joey revealed in an interview his ongoing struggles with depression. The response from fans and people battling those same internal demons was overwhelming. Joey--who has been the drummer in Aerosmith since it was founded in 1970 and is the first member of the band to release his own book--now tells the complete story: the early days of the band, glamorous drug-addled events leading up to their eventual sobriety, battles within his family and among bandmates, and the explosive internal dynamics in Aerosmith that continue to unleash a fury of endless creativity. This is not just another rock 'n' roll memoir. In addition to the never-before-told Aerosmith war stories that abound in the book, Hit Hard unpacks the history of a rock star who was both fragile and tough, who after years of insane wildness became willing to accept help and finally kick a serious alcohol and drug addiction, only to find that the real terrors and hard work were still ahead. It's the story of an average kid from an average American suburb who went through physical and emotional trauma. It's about years of depression and the nervous breakdown at the height of the band's comeback success. Ultimately, Hit Hard is about how Joey recognized his confusion between love and abuse, awakening to the kind of self-acceptance and compassion that make relationships possible in the "real world" as a member of the biggest band in American history.

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