As anyone with an internet connection or a TV knows by now, Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge Steven Tyler sang the national anthem at the Patriots/Ravens AFC championship yesterday. His performance has been pretty widely panned by the media, with blogs calling it “off (Francis Scott) key,” “an emergency brake of a voice,” and “especially difficult to listen to,” among other criticisms. To our ears, while it didn’t necessarily sound Amazing (see what we did there?) it wasn’t terrible, either. In short, it was Tyler singing like Tyler. We decided to turn this space over to resident Aerosmith lover and occasional MI contributor Melissa Meyers to get her opinion. Take it away Melissa: 

I don’t watch football and I missed Steven Tyler belt out the Star Spangled banner the first time around.  But watching the clip online, it starts off a little harsh on the ears.   Of course he puts his “Demon of Screamin”  spin on it, but that’s what we expect him to do. If we wanted something bland and normal, then we would get someone else to do it.  Steven Tyler has a distinctive voice and for better or for worse we got a distinctive rendition of the song.  I don’t think it’s completely fair to overly criticize his performance when you have talentless singers on shows that have musical performances like Saturday Night Live. (Looking at you Lana Del Rey). Look, the dude that looks like a lady is getting up there in age, agreed. But fuck man, he’s still singing. When you get to be his age, you’ll be sitting on your couch drinking flat beers and watching the football game. I give him major props for continuing to rock.