Dude (Looks Like a Lady)

Tyler, Perry and the outside songwriter Desmond Child wrote it. According to Child, Tyler came up with the idea after mistaking Motley Crue singer Vince Neil for a woman with long blonde hair. The band already had a song called Cruisin' for the Ladies, and Child suggested the story of a man who goes backstage at a strip joint to find the dancer is a man. Perry came up with the chorus riff. In the Guardian in 2023 Child said he could not imagine anyone but Aerosmith singing it.

It reached number 14 on the Hot 100, number 4 on the Mainstream Rock chart and number 45 in the United Kingdom, where a 1990 re-release reached number 20. Marty Callner directed the video, which includes a cameo by the A&R man John Kalodner in a wedding dress. It brought the band its first two MTV Video Music Award nominations, in 1988. The song later featured in the film Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993.