| This is about a promiscuous cheerleader who
leads a schoolboy through his first sexual experience. |
| The band wasn't well known when this came out,
and it didn't chart when it was first released in September 1975. A
year later, after their album Rocks became popular, the
single was reissued and became a hit. They re-released "Dream On"
the next year. |
| The band got the idea for the title after
seeing the movie Young Frankenstein, which contains a scene
where Igor tells a visitor to "Walk This Way," meaning to follow him.
The visitor imitates Igor's walk, which the band thought was
hilarious. |
| According to the February, 2006 Q
magazine, Aerosmith were still searching for a hit when Joe Perry
came up with the stuttering riff during a soundtrack in Hawaii in
March 1975. Tyler quickly wrote the lyrics and called the song "Walk
This Way." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England) |
| When Tyler entered the studio to record this,
he realized he left the lyrics in a cab. He walked to the stairwell,
let out a primal scream, and wrote new lyrics on the wall. The
original lyrics were never recovered. |
| Joe Perry used a talkbox during the chorus.
This was the first time the device was used on a hit song. The
talkbox allows a guitarist to make strange vocal sounds by "talking"
into a vinyl tube attached to the unit, which is hooked up to the
output of the guitar amp. Perry also used a talkbox on "Sweet
Emotion." |
| This became one of the first mainstream rap
hits when it was covered by Run-DMC in 1986. Steven Tyler and Joe
Perry performed this with the rap trio, and it became Run-DMC's
first hit, going to US #4. |
| DJs often ripped the labels off their records
so no one would know what beats they were using when they performed.
Jam Master Jay got one of these records from another DJ, which
turned out to be an Aerosmith album. He was working on sampling the
opening break when producer Rick Rubin heard it and explained it was
a famous rock song. This gave Rubin the idea to have Run-DMC cover
the song. The band didn't like the idea, but Rubin grew up in the
suburbs listening to groups like Aerosmith, and knew it would be a
great way for the group to crossover to a white audience. |
| The Run-DMC video is the first that Tyler and
Perry appeared in. It was the first time many young Aerosmith fans
saw what they looked like. Aerosmith would use MTV to expand their
audience for the rest of their career, making videos for most of
their singles, starting with "Dude Looks Like A Lady" in 1988, which
won 2 MTV Video Music Awards. |
| The Run-DMC cover launched Aerosmith's
comeback. They were in drug rehab when it came out, but sobered up
and released Permanent Vacation in 1987, which gave them a
string of hits, their first since "Come Together" in 1978. |
| This was used in an early episode of The
Simpsons where the band performed this at Moe's Tavern and let
Moe sing along. Aerosmith were one of the first musical guest stars
on the show. |
| The city of Boston used this in a 1999
publicity campaign to cut back on jaywalking. They used it in
commercials encouraging people to use crosswalks. |
| N'Sync, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and
Nelly all sang on this with Aerosmith at the 2001 Super Bowl
halftime show. The lines "I met a cheerleader, was a real young
bleeder" and "You ain't seen nothin' til you're down on a muffin"
seemed a little more interesting with Britney Spears performing. |
| "Walk This Way" is the title of Aerosmith's
1999 autobiography. |
| On the "Rock and Roller Coaster" at Disney's
MGM Studios, a virtual Aerosmith gives an introduction before you
get on, Aerosmith songs play throughout the ride. When the ride
opened, this was the only song that played, which may have instilled
a deep hatred of the song among the Disney employees working the
roller coaster. This ride is highly recommended by the Songfacts
staff. |
