| "Walk This Way" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byAerosmith | ||||
| from the albumToys in the Attic | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released |
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| Recorded | January–February 1975 | |||
| Studio | Record Plant, New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:40 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Jack Douglas | |||
| Aerosmith singles chronology | ||||
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| Aerosmith re-release singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio video | ||||
| "Walk This Way" onYouTube | ||||
"Walk This Way" is a song by the Americanrock bandAerosmith. Written bySteven Tyler andJoe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the albumToys in the Attic (1975). It peaked at number 10 on theBillboard Hot 100 in early 1977, part of a string of successful hit singles for the band in the 1970s. In addition to being one of the songs that helped break Aerosmith into the mainstream in the 1970s, it also helped revitalize their career in the 1980s[4] when it was covered by hip hop groupRun-D.M.C. (in collaboration with Aerosmith) on their 1986 albumRaising Hell. This cover was a touchstone for the new musical subgenre ofrap rock, or the melding of rock andhip hop.[4] It became an international hit, reaching number 4 on theBillboard charts, and won both groups aSoul Train Music Award for Best Rap Single in1987 Soul Train Music Awards. Both versions are in theGrammy Hall of Fame.[5]
The song starts out with a two measure drum beat intro byJoey Kramer, followed by a guitar riff composed by Joe Perry. The song proceeds with the main riff, with Perry andBrad Whitford on guitar withTom Hamilton on bass. The song continues with rapid fire lyrics by Steven Tyler.
In December 1974, Aerosmith opened forthe Guess Who inHonolulu. During the sound check, guitaristJoe Perry was "fooling around with riffs and thinking aboutthe Meters," a group guitaristJeff Beck had turned him on to. Loving "their riffyNew Orleansfunk, especially 'Cissy Strut' and 'People Say'", he asked the drummer "to lay down something flat with a groove on the drums." The guitarriff to what would become "Walk This Way" just "came off [his] hands."[6] Needing a bridge, he:
...played another riff and went there. But I didn't want the song to have a typical, boring 1, 4, 5 chord progression. After playing the first riff in the key of C, I shifted to E before returning to C for the verse and chorus. By the end of the sound check, I had the basics of a song.[6]
When bandmate Steven Tyler heard Perry playing that riff, he "ran out and sat behind the drums and [they] jammed." Tylerscatted "nonsensical words initially to feel where the lyrics should go before adding them later."
When the group was halfway through recordingToys in the Attic in early 1975 at Record Plant in New York City, they found themselves stuck for material. They had written three or four songs for the album, having "to write the rest in the studio." They decided to give the song Perry had come up with in Hawaii a try, but it did not have lyrics or a title yet. Deciding to take a break from recording, band members and producer Jack Douglas went down toTimes Square to seeMel Brooks'Young Frankenstein. Returning to the studio, they were laughing aboutMarty Feldman tellingGene Wilder to follow him in the film, saying"walk this way" and limping.[4] Douglas suggested this as a title for their song.[6][7] But they still needed lyrics.
At the hotel that night Tyler wrote lyrics for the song, but left them in the cab on the way to the studio next morning. He says: "I must have been stoned. All the blood drained out of my face, but no one believed me. They thought I never got around to writing them." Upset, he took a cassette tape with the instrumental track the band had recorded and a portable tape player with headphones and "disappeared into the stairwell." He "grabbed a few No. 2 pencils" but forgot to take paper. He wrote the lyrics on the wall at "the Record Plant's top floor and then down a few stairs of the back stairway." After "two or three hours" he "ran downstairs for a legal pad and ran back up and copied them down."[6]
Perry thought the "lyrics were so great," saying that Tyler, being a drummer, "likes to use words as a percussion element." He says:
The words have to tell a story, but for Steven they also have to have a bouncy feel for flow. Then he searches for words that have a double entendre, which comes out of the blues tradition.
Perry always liked to wait until Tyler recorded his vocal so he "could weave around his vocal attack," but Tyler wanted Perry to record first for the same reason. After a "tug-of-war", Tyler's vocal was recorded first with Perry's guitar track overdubbed.[6]
The lyrics, which tell the story of a high school boy losing hisvirginity, are sung quite fast by Tyler, with heavy emphasis being placed on the rhyming lyrics (e.g., "so I took a bigchance at the high schooldance").
Between the elaborately detailed verses, the chorus primarily consists of a repetition of "Walk this way, talk this way".
Live in concert, Tyler often has the audience, combined with members of the band, sing "talk this way". There is also a lengthy guitar solo at the end of the song, and in concert, Tyler will often use his voice to mimic the sounds of the guitar.
Cash Box said that "Steve Tyler's vocal is aggressive, gritty and right on as he literally spits out a slew of lyrics while never losing clarity" and that "the music itself is hardboiled rock."[8]Record World said that "the pattern that sent 'Dream On' up the charts is again being established."[9] In 2022, it was included in the list "The story ofNME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs", at number 26.[10]
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[17] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[18] | Gold | 250,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[19] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[20] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
"Walk This Way" was one of two hit singles by the band to hit the Top 10 of theBillboard Hot 100 in the 1970s, the other one being a re-release of "Dream On". "Walk This Way" helpedToys in the Attic to be the bestselling Aerosmith album, and one of the most critically acclaimed. Aerosmith's version of "Walk This Way" often competes with "Sweet Emotion" and "Dream On" for the title of Aerosmith'ssignature song, being one of the band's most important, influential, and recognizable songs. The band rarely omits it from their concert setlist, still performing their classic version of the song to this day. The song has also long been a staple of rock radio, garnering regular airplay onmainstream rock,classic rock, andalbum-oriented rock radio stations. In 2009, it was named the eighth greatest hard rock song of all time byVH1.[21]
Fee Waybill,Steve Lukather,Tim Bogert andTommy Aldridge covered the song for the Aerosmith tribute albumNot the Same Old Song and Dance (Eagle Records, 1999).
Aerosmith reference lyrics from the song in "Legendary Child". The line "I took a chance at the high school dance never knowing wrong from right" references lyrics from the songs "Walk This Way" and "Adam's Apple" respectively. Both songs first appeared on the albumToys in the Attic.
Alternative rock groupThey Might Be Giants composed a track with surreal lyrics intended to sync up to the music video for the Run-DMC/Aerosmith version called "Last Wave"; a reworked version was ultimately released on their 2018 albumI Like Fun.[22][23]
In 2019, the song was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.[24]
| "Walk This Way" | ||||
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| Single byRun-DMC andAerosmith | ||||
| from the albumRaising Hell | ||||
| B-side | "Walk This Way" (instrumental) | |||
| Released | July 4, 1986 (1986-07-04) | |||
| Recorded | March 9, 1986 | |||
| Genre | ||||
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| Run-DMC singles chronology | ||||
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| Aerosmith singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Walk This Way" onYouTube | ||||
In 1986, thehip hop groupRun-DMC covered "Walk This Way", in collaboration with Aerosmith (with its leadersSteven Tyler andJoe Perry on vocals and guitars, respectively). While working onRaising Hell,Rick Rubin pulled outToys in the Attic. At shows, Run-DMC hadfreestyled over the first few seconds of the song on a loop, not knowing what the full song sounded like, or even hearing the lyrics. WhileJoseph Simmons andDarryl McDaniels had no idea who Aerosmith were at that time, Rubin suggested remaking the song. Neither Simmons nor McDaniels liked the idea, and considered the lyrics "hillbilly gibberish",[27][28] thoughJam Master Jay was open to it. Rubin brought in Tyler and Perry to re-record their parts; initially, Run and DMC intended to mimic Tyler's delivery, but were convinced by Jam Master Jay to do it in a more natural rap flow.[27] Perry also recorded the bass tracks for the song; the studio didn't have a bass at hand, so one of theBeastie Boys, who happened to hang around the studio, went home and brought in his bass for Perry to use.[29][30]
Even after recording with Tyler and Perry, Run-DMC did not want the record to be released as a single, and were shocked when it was played on both urban and rock radio stations.[31] "I never even thought 'Walk This Way' would be a single," Rubin recalled. "Not that I didn't like it, but I didn't think in those terms."[32] DMC called it "a beautiful thing" in a trailer forGuitar Hero: Aerosmith. This version of "Walk This Way" charted higher on theBillboard Hot 100 than the original, peaking at number 4, becoming Run-DMC's biggest hit. It was also the first hip hop single to reach the top five on the Billboard charts, as well as one of the first big hip hop singles in the UK, peaking at number 8.
Cash Box called it "a raucous, sure-to-please version of the Aerosmith classic."[33]
The song marked a major comeback for Aerosmith, as they had been largely out of mainstreampop culture for several years while Tyler battled substance use disorder and Perry and Brad Whitford were out of the band. Their 1985 comeback album,Done with Mirrors, had also not met commercial expectations. Aerosmith followed "Walk This Way" with multi-platinum albums andTop 40 hits, starting withPermanent Vacation and its hit "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" in 1987.
In 2008, "Walk This Way" was ranked number 4 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop".[citation needed]
The chorus of Run-DMC's cover contains a pitch alternation that Aerosmith adopted in most future live performances. In collaborations, the other singer often says "talk this way" every alternate line of the chorus. This rap-style delivery may explain why the song worked so well as a hip hop song when it was covered eleven years later.[34]
The 1986 video for "Walk This Way" symbolically places a rock band andRun-DMC in a musical duel in neighbouring studios beforeSteven Tyler literally breaks through the wall that separates them. The video segues to the bands' joint performance on stage. Guitarist Perry recalls the experience and the impact on the network: "It was fun going down there and recording with them, and when they said, 'It's gonna go on the record. Do you want to do this video of you guys playing, and then you break down a wall, and we're side by side?' We said, 'Yeah, let's do it,' that was pretty amazing. It was amazing because it really did break down walls. At the time, I don't think that there were any minority acts on MTV, except forMichael Jackson, up to that point. If there was (sic), it wasn't a lot, and I think it definitely opened some doors, and I'm really proud of that. I'd like to say we planned it and that we knew that it was going to happen, but we didn't. I'm just glad it was Aerosmith and Run-DMC that did it."[35]
The video was directed byJon Small and filmed at thePark Theater in Union City, New Jersey. Small had an office at 1775Broadway, the same building where Run-DMC's label Profile Records were based: Profile's co-owner Steve Plotnicki approached Small about directing the video, as he had directed another video by a black act that had broken through into rotation onto the then predominantlywhite, album-rock-oriented MTV,Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All". Small believed that for the video to break into heavy play on MTV, it had to feature Tyler and Perry: he developed the concept of the bands playing on either side of a wall that was subsequently breached. The video's budget was a modest $67,000.[36]
Aside from Tyler and Perry, none of the other rock musicians in the video are theAerosmith members; instead, they were played by Roger Lane, J. D. Malo, and Matt Stelutto—respectively rhythm guitarist, bassist, and drummer of the largely unknownhair metal outfitSmashed Gladys. According toVH1'sPop Up Video, Run-DMC could not afford to use the entire Aerosmith band, just Tyler and Perry. As only Tyler and Perry had traveled to record the cover, they were the only Aerosmith members to appear, even though the entire band was credited in some releases of the remake.[37]
According to journalistGeoff Edgers, Tyler and Perry were initially ambivalent about appearing in the video: when Small phoned Tyler to discuss the video concept, Tyler told him: "Just don't make fools of us... I don't want people laughing at us". Plotnicki described the atmosphere on set as "beyond chilly", whilst Smashed Gladys lead guitarist Bart Lewis was struck by the fact that interaction between the members of Aerosmith and Run-DMC was minimal. However, according to Edgers, the frosty relations did thaw as the shoot went on.[36]
The guitar that Perry is playing is a Guild X-100 Bladerunner. The Guild X100 Bladerunner was originally developed and patented by David Newell and Andrew Desrosiers of David Andrew Guitars. The patent was licensed to Guild Guitars for 17 years and entered the public domain in 2006. During initial manufacture, Newell and Desrosiers worked directly with Guild craftsman to develop the final product. The guitar used in this video was one of these early issues.
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At theSuper Bowl XXXV halftime show in January 2001, performers*NSYNC,Britney Spears,Mary J. Blige, andNelly joinedAerosmith onstage for an encore performance of "Walk This Way" with Spears and members of *NSYNC singing different parts of the second verse, Blige adding background harmony, and Nelly performing a rap towards the end of the song.
DMC and Steve Tyler closed-out the July 2005 "Celebration of the Seas" event on Key Largo with a stage performance of "Walk This Way".
Aerosmith and Run-DMC performed "Walk This Way" at the62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020.
| "Walk This Way" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single bySugababes vs.Girls Aloud | ||||
| Released | March 12, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | December 2006 | |||
| Genre | Dance-rock | |||
| Length | 2:53 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Dallas Austin | |||
| Sugababes singles chronology | ||||
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| Girls Aloud singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Walk This Way" onYouTube | ||||
In 2007, both Britishgirl groupsGirls Aloud andSugababes recorded their mash-up cover of "Walk This Way" as the officialComic Reliefcharity single. Their version was produced by American producerDallas Austin, making it Girls Aloud's first single not to be produced byXenomania. The track charted at number one on theUK Singles Chart, giving Girls Aloud their third number 1 and Sugababes their fifth.
The music video was a comic re-enactment of the Run-D.M.C. video. "Walk This Way" was promoted through numerous live appearances and has been included on tours by both Girls Aloud and Sugababes. Contemporary music critics criticised the cover version, but supported the single due to its fundraising nature.
The idea of a Girls Aloud and Sugababes collaboration came from Comic Relief co-founder and trusteeRichard Curtis.[72] Several songs were possibilities, includingBlur's "Girls & Boys" andCandi Staton's "You Got the Love", which was Girls Aloud memberNicola Roberts' idea and favourite choice.[72] "Walk This Way" is notably the first Girls Aloud single to date not to feature production fromBrian Higgins andXenomania, who have also worked with Sugababes.[72] Girls Aloud and Sugababes launched the charity appeal on January 31.[73]Kimberley Walsh of Girls Aloud said, "It's a fantastic song and hopefully will raise tons of money for people living in really difficult situations here and in Africa."[73]
Cheryl and Amelle perform the refrain, Kimberley and Nadine sang the first verse, Keisha and Heidi sang the second verse, and Sarah, Nicola, and Amelle rap in the middle eight.
The single was released on March 12, 2007, on just one CD single format, which included a remix of the single and its music video.[74] It was also available as a digital download.
"Walk This Way" entered theUK Singles Chart at number 1 on March 18, 2007 ― for the week ending date March 24, 2007.[75][76] The following week, the single dropped to number 2; it was dethroned by another Comic Relief single, "I'm Gonna Roll (500 Miles)" byThe Proclaimers withPeter Kay andMatt Lucas.[77] In its third week on the chart, "Walk This Way" dropped twelve places out of the top ten, placing itself at number 14.[78]
The song also charted at number 8 on theBillboardEuropean Hot 100 Singles chart.[79]
The music video premiered onThe Box on February 2, 2007, and was shown onChannel 4'sPopworld the following day. The video was filmed over three days in January 2007 – Sugababes on the first,Cheryl Cole,Nicola Roberts, andKimberley Walsh on the second, andNadine Coyle andSarah Harding on the third and final day.[72] The video includes cameos fromDavina McCall,Lily Cole,Stephen Mangan,Graham Norton,Ruby Wax andNatalie Cassidy.
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Walk This Way".
UK CD single(Polydor/Island / 1724331)
UK digital copy & International Digital EP[80](Polydor/Island / 1724332)
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