Except for Steven Tyler and his Aerosmith bandmates, who, in early 1975 while waiting for a supersized delivery of cocaine, used the time wisely, sketching out a song that would spark a rap-rock revolution and open up hip-hop to the masses: ‘Walk This Way’, their collaboration with Queens rap wrecking crew Run-DMC. They were the first superstar rock band to guest on the series. Would I ever return to hip-hop? I’d love to say, ‘I knew what rap was, hell yeah.’ But that’s horseshit. MTV had even rejected the video for “Lightning Strikes” by a Joe-Perry-free Aerosmith in 1982—and that was back when MTV was desperate for content! Jam Master Jay, Run-DMC’s DJ, had been using “Walk This Way” to create beats without knowing the artist or the title. It was a real rhythmical thing. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. The song proceeds with the main riff, with Perry and Brad Whitford on guitar with Tom Hamilton on bass. Let’s celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Walk This Way” with 40 facts about this remarkably rocking achievement. Aerosmith did, because we grew up in that era. Unlike “Sweet Emotion,” however, “Walk This Way” failed to chart—at first. This time it clicked. Struck by inspiration, Jack Douglas said, “Hey, ‘Walk This Way’ might be a great title for a song.” 15. Let us know what you think of the Last.fm website. I’ve always prided myself on Aerosmith, the fact we can do ‘Dream On’ and ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. 35. One day, he encounters the cheerleader along with “her sister and her cousin,” and has a glorious sexual experience.”, 22. 5. This happened as a result of the original hip-hop DJs tearing the labels off the records they used so that rivals wouldn’t know where their sounds were coming from. It’s fuckin’ great. 27. “Walk This Way” was Aerosmith’s second single from their 1975 breakthrough LP, Toys in the Attic. “Walk This Way” is one of Aerosmith ’s signature songs. When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception. From there, lip-flapping front-dervish Steven Tyler bursts through with a motor-mouthed onslaught of too many lyrics to fit in any one song that, with mesmerizing machine gun relentlessness, he manages to make it all seem inevitable—and electrifyingly so. The 1979 song "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads deals with how technology could be exploited to take down the framework of society and enable government surveillance. To get his guitar to sound “like an electric razor” on “Walk This Way,” Perry plays “a late-’50s Stratocaster Tobacco Sunburst with a stand-alone Ampeg V4 amp on top with a Marshall 4-by-12 speaker cabinet on the bottom.” Tyler said he added a “screech” to his voice, particularly on the chorus, to match Perry’s guitar sound. 24. Before she was famous, Lady Gaga was a staff songwriter, and wrote the song "Quicksand," which Britney Spears recorded in 2008. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. “We were all waiting for a load of blow to come,” remembers the frontman. A trio of “kids,” as Perry put it, had been sitting with Rick Rubin watching the shoot. To enable Verizon Media and our partners to process your personal data select 'I agree', or select 'Manage settings' for more information and to manage your choices. The VH1 TV special 100 Greatest Rock Songs ranked “Walked This Way” at #35. 7. (Bazillion Points, 2014). While shooting the “Walk This Way” video, Joe Perry wanted to add some bass to the track, but he’d only brought a guitar. Tyler lays bare the double entendre title thusly: “The ‘walk this way’ line is the experienced girl showing the young man where to put his finger – showing him how to ‘walk.’ Inspiration came from make-out parties where this kind of thing could happen.”, 23. 39. "Walk This Way" is a song by American hard rock group Aerosmith. Among their favorites was when Marty Feldman, as hunchbacked henchmen Eye-Gor, instructs mad scientist Gene Wilder to “Walk this way,” after which Wilder imitates Feldman’s bent-over strut. “Walk This Way” famously hit the top 10 again in 1986, by way of a history-making cover by Run-DMC featuring Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. Untangling the events that led to the "Stairway To Heaven" lawsuit.