1975 · Behind the Songs
A riff, a movie joke, and the song that taught rock and hip-hop to walk together.
The Riff
Joe Perry came up with the riff — that stuttering, siren-like guitar figure — during a soundcheck, and the band built a song around it in the studio. Steven Tyler added a lyric full of double entendres about a high school seduction, and titled it after a gag from Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (1974), in which Marty Feldman’s Igor tells Gene Wilder to “walk this way” — then limps off comically.
Recorded for Toys in the Attic with producer Jack Douglas, “Walk This Way” was released as a single in 1976 and reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Aerosmith’s first Top 10, and the song that cemented their arena-headliner status.
The Crossover
A decade later, the song changed music history again. Hip-hop pioneers Run-DMC — who had been using the Aerosmith break in their live shows — recorded a cover with Tyler and Perry themselves guesting. Released in 1986, the Run-DMC version reached No. 4 on the Hot 100, becoming the first hip-hop single to crack the Top 5.
The collaboration did two things at once: it proved rap and rock could share a stage, and it reintroduced Aerosmith to a new generation. The band, then in the depths of their drug-era decline, rode the song’s second life straight into their late-1980s comeback.
What to Listen For
Listen for the riff — one of the most imitated in rock, a masterclass in syncopation and attitude. Listen for Joey Kramer’s drums, which push the whole thing forward like a freight train. And listen for Tyler’s vocal, all leers and winks, selling a lyric that barely bothers to hide what it’s about. It’s three minutes of pure strut.
Legacy
“Walk This Way” is that rare song with two lives: a 1970s rock classic and a 1980s hip-hop landmark. It taught a generation of rock fans that rap was real music, and a generation of rap fans that guitars could hit as hard as drum machines. All from a soundcheck riff and a Mel Brooks joke.