Steven Tyler’s Candid Reveals to “Rolling Stone” Magazine

Steven Tyler is on top thanks to his stint as a judge on American Idol, but apparently he chose to do the reality show to send a message to his Aerosmith band-mates.

At least that’s one of the reasons given in a revealing interview in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

Tyler spills his guts in Rolling Stone on a number of subjects including why he signed onto to Idol: “Did I take this job to show the band?” he says. “F–k, yeah. Not to show them, but that I can’t be held hostage anymore. I will be my own hostage. The band can’t throw me out.”

Still, he’s happy with his newfound popularity with the Idol audience.

“I’m really lucky right now,” Tyler tells the magazine. “I’m on top of the world: I’m Hollywood ‘s little f–kin’ sweetheart, basically.”

His conflicts with the band led to a trip to London to sing for Led Zeppelin’s music legends Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham for a new project they were considering.

“I decided, ‘Well, I know that I’m mad at those [Aerosmith] guys, but I’m not that mad,'” Tyler says. “So I called Jimmy up after I left, two weeks later, and said, ‘You’re in a classic band, and so is mine, and I just can’t do that to my guys.”

He does, however, have his first solo single prepped for release – Feels So Good.

“I can hear it coming out of people’s cars this summer,” he says.

But there are other darker admissions from Tyler – his drug use with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry for the first time in years.

“It was just like 30 years before,” Tyler says. “I whipped out mine, he whipped out his and we got high together again.”

The Rolling Stone issue featuring Steven Tyler hits stands Friday.