TMZ is circulating an image of 63-year-old Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge Steven Tyler sporting extra-short daisy dukes while on vacation in Maui.
The Crossfade staff has thoroughly analyzed the photo, cringed over it, and there's even been some water cooler debate about how even though Tyler looks like a grandma, he still looks like a sexy grandma.
See the cut for the five phases of Steven Tyler's transformation from stallion sex symbol to naughty nana.
The '60s are over and the counterculture is going sour. Free love and hippie flower power is either turning darkly psychedelic or morphing into various expressions of Nixon-era escapist excess reflected in post-jam, proto-arena rock. At this point, Steven Tyler was figuring out he wanted to be a vocalist instead of a drummer. He also looked like the lovechild of Joan Jett and Angelina Jolie.
Fast forward a wild six years and Tyler is -- ahem -- balls deep in '70s drugs 'n' glam spandex. Maybe the sloppy, dolled-up decadence of the Me Decade (and the sleek, clunky future-swag of the '80s) was a response to the earthy, tribal '60s? Whatever accounts for the look, everyone from pre-hair metal rockers to Bowery scumbags were wearing eyeliner.
By the mid '90s, Tyler's best drug use was behind him, which doesn't explain why he was still dressing like Wavy Gravy circa 4/20.
Hey, here's a bit of a reserved look for Mr. Tyler. Reserved is relative, of course. But when you're in Aerosmith, you've got some wiggle room. Even though he's dressed like he owns a casino, Steve looks like the kind of guy you'd feel comfortable inviting to the Kid's Choice Awards.
2011
And now TMZ is tweetering unflattering shots like the one above, where Mr. Tyler looks like a chain-smoking resident of Boca Raton who somehow got lost on a sand bar. But we gotta say ... Dude has got the legs to warrant the Daisy Dukes, and his pouty lips look especially luscious when his mouth is vacuously ajar.
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