POP MUSIC : He Ain’t Singin’ the Blues : Outspokenly sober, Steven Tyler is loaded now with a lucrative new contract--and ready to answer the $30-million question: Can Aerosmith still rock?

R olling Stones clones.

Junkies .

Filthy rich.

There’s always so much to chat about with Aerosmith--whatever the decade.

Though the Boston-based hard-rock band came up with such rock standards as “Walk This Way” and “Dream On” in the mid-’70s, the group was invariably dismissed at the time as a junior-grade Rolling Stones. Exhibits A and B: pouty-lipped lead singer Steven Tyler’s onstage prancing and mannerisms reminiscent of Mick Jagger and guitarist Joe Perry’s Keith Richards-inspired gunslinger cool.

Eventually, however, the main talk about Aerosmith shifted from music to drugs, as tales of the band’s excesses grew. Tyler once said that he was so far out of it that he holed up in a lavish Boston hotel suite for days before realizing his mansion was just around the corner.

By the ‘80s, the personal problems had taken their toll and Aerosmith virtually disintegrated. Perry and guitarist Brad Whitford left the band and the future didn’t look bright for Tyler. But the original Aerosmith re-formed in 1984 and rebounded dramatically in 1987.

That year’s “Permanent Vacation” album and 1989’s “Pump” not only re-established the commercial power of the band (which also includes Tom Hamilton on bass and Joey Kramer on drums), but also led to a favorable critical re-evaluation of the quintet.

And Aerosmith got the last laugh, of sorts, in 1991 when Sony Music--the Stones’ former U.S. label--signed the group to a $30-million-plus contract. It was one of the most lucrative ever in the record business and even more impressive because the band still owed two albums to its current label, Geffen Records.

On the eve of the release of the group’s new “Get a Grip,” the first of those two Geffen albums (see review, Page 62), the flamboyant Tyler, 45, spoke about Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, drugs and being filthy rich.

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Question: What effect did the new Sony contract have on you? Did it put more pressure on you to live up to all the expectations?

Answer: No, not at all. I think I was floored when we first signed the contract . . . the fact that anybody would dump that amount of money on the band. It made you feel good that someone wanted you that bad. It was like someone saying: “We love the band, and we think you’re still on an upward curve.”

But that was the only time I sat around and thought about us being legends or big stars or anything. After that moment, I just hung it up. I wanted to start rocking again. I wanted to write the new album and get out and play it. The songs are, in effect, our marching orders. They have a lot more to do with what we’ll be doing for the next year and a half than the contract.

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Q: Were you worried at all when you got the contract that it would make you less hungry? In baseball, for instance, it’s rare that a free agent lives up to expectations after signing a big contract.

A: Yeah, but I don’t think that’s going to happen to us, because we were millionaires before and we lost it, so we have some experience to draw upon. We know the pitfalls.

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Q: Did you ever dream during the down days in the early ‘80s that you’d be back on top?

A: Sure, I never gave up. I thought that we did it once and we can do it again.

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Q: When you look back, do you think you were just kidding yourself?

A: No. I didn’t know we’d come back with such a vengeance, but I thought we’d have another shot once I could see things clearly again. On the other hand, I was scared to death to get sober because I thought I would lose my artistic (expletive) and all the rest of it. But we’ve found out that you have more to draw upon when you are sober.

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Q: What about your own influences? People always talk about the Stones. Was it a Stones record that first made you want to be in a band?

A: No, the record that got me off the most was the Who’s “Can’t Explain.” I was also a Beatles fan big time, especially after “Taxman.”

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Q: So, was it doubly frustrating to you when everyone started comparing Aerosmith to the Stones?

A: Deep down, I was a huge Stones fan. But I was afraid to admit it for years because I thought once I did everyone would just go, “See, he is just trying to mimic Jagger.” I hated that they kept saying the Jaggeresque Tyler and they were using that as a commentary on Aerosmith without looking at our own music.

I was also uncomfortable with all the comparisons of Joe Perry and Keith Richards for the same reason. So, I used to always steer (reporters’) questions away from the Stones. But now I can talk about how much I loved the Stones . . . not just “Satisfaction,” but “Between the Buttons,” all that stuff . . . on into the ‘70s and today. I like Jagger’s new album, along with new bands like the Stone Temple Pilots.

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Q: What about Jagger? You’re one of rock’s colorful figures. Is that your natural personality or did you see the flamboyance in him and think that’s simply part of being a successful rock star?

A: Looking back, I’m not sure Jagger was all that colorful. He was certainly mysterious. What attracted me to him was that he was the baddest boy on the block and not only in terms of persona. He delivered. He could sing his ass off. He was this skinny guy with long hair, and I was this skinny guy with long hair, and I said, “You know what? I can do that too.”

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Q: What’s it like for bands today to talk about you the same way you talk about the Stones?

A: It’s a great compliment. I love it when groups like R.E.M. do an Aerosmith song. It’s a thrill--and it’s happening a lot. They never did in the past. I used to think maybe you had to wait until you were dead and then they cover your tunes.

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Q: How did you feel when Aerosmith went down in flames the first time? Did you think people would forget about the band and forever think of it as a Rolling Stones clone?

A: I do remember being laid up on my back in a hospital, full of morphine because I took my left heel off in a motorcycle accident--and suddenly seeing this new band, Van Halen, shoot up out of nowhere. I thought, “Jesus, we step out of the spotlight for two minutes and someone else has to come in there.”

That’s not to take anything away from Van Halen. They are a great band in their own right. But at the time, I did worry that we were going to lose our place if I don’t get my (expletive) together.

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Q: Are all those classic Steven Tyler stories true--about being wasted in a hotel around the corner from your house?

A: Oh yeah, sure. I would rent a limousine and go and party with some people and three days later, the guy would still be sitting out front in the car. Or how about getting on a plane to go to L.A. and getting off in Tampa?

There were times when I’d be so far out of it, I’d wake up at home in the morning, grab the phone and try to punch the numbers for room service. Sure, all that stuff’s true. People often ask, “How do you come up with some of the crazy things in the songs,” and I just tell them I did those crazy things.

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Q: Is it too dramatic to say there was a moment when the drug addiction got so bad that you literally had to choose between life and death?

A: The truth is I wasn’t conscious enough during those years to think I was in danger. Even when the rug was pulled out from under me, I still didn’t notice it was gone until some key people in my life said, “Look at you, your whole career has gone to hell.” That’s how drugs are. You don’t see it. I just thank God for those people. With their help, I did see what was happening and I changed.

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Q: How do you deal with the issue of being a role model? Do you want to caution young people against the excesses in the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle?

A: I’m not sure what you can say. People have to go through it themselves. In fact, when they hear you (preach against it), it’s a turnoff. That’s what happened to me. I remember thinking, “That’s bull----. Pot doesn’t lead to heroin.” I fought that for years, so I really can’t say anything except I’ve got a great story.

You can read in all the press about what it used to be like and what it’s like now. I mean, I thought for years I was going to lose it all, and that’s not what happened. Conversely, all the gifts I was given by my higher power or whoever, the forces . . . it was stifled by all that stuff.

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Q: But you did seem to be preaching against something in “Janie’s Got a Gun” (on the “Pump” album)--child abuse. Your idea of rock ‘n’ roll has always been escapism and fun, so did you resist recording that song? Did you worry that it would be seen as preaching--and be a turnoff to your fans?

A: The main thing you worry about is just coming up with songs at all. I don’t sit down and write stuff like certain writers do. They think about what they are going to write first and then they write it. I just get what comes in at me. It’s like I’m a musician and if I can keep my mitt on, I can catch the balls that come at me.

“Janie” was like that. It just came out, the line “Janie’s got a gun,” and I filled in the spaces. I built the ladder, rung by rung, so to speak, and when the song was finished I thought it was wonderful that I had written something that was maybe socially relevant. It was the press that made such a big deal out of it. They went, “Wow, now you guys are into social commentary.”

To me, it was not that big a change of direction to me. In fact, listen to “Uncle Salty” (on 1975’s “Toys in the Attic” album). It may not have the chorus line that grabbed you in the same way as “Janie,” but it was still about child abuse.

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Q: When fans come up to you now, do they ask you about drugs or about child abuse?

A: No, it’s more about the songs and rock ‘n’ roll and what it’s like being a star.

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Q: And what is it like?

A: It’s great now. You just take all your addictions and put that energy into your songwriting. I used to collect drugs. Now, I collect money and cars.