Walk This Way

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry wrote Walk This Way for Aerosmith's 1975 album Toys in the Attic. While Run-D.M.C. were working on Raising Hell, Rick Rubin pulled out that album. At shows the group had been freestyling over the first few seconds of the song on a loop, without knowing the whole record. Simmons and McDaniels did not know who Aerosmith were and thought the lyrics "hillbilly gibberish," but Jam Master Jay was open to the idea. Rubin brought in Tyler and Perry to redo their parts, and Jay talked Run and DMC out of imitating Tyler's delivery. Perry also played bass, on an instrument one of the Beastie Boys fetched from home.

Run-D.M.C. did not want it released as a single and were surprised when both urban and rock radio played it. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, above the original's number 10, and at number 8 in the UK. Jon Small directed the video at the Park Theater in Union City, New Jersey, on a budget of $67,000: the two groups play in neighboring studios until Tyler breaks through the wall. Perry said the video "really did break down walls." The song won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Single in 1987, shared with Aerosmith, and Village Voice critics voted it the top single of 1986. VH1 ranked it number 4 on its 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop in 2008, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls it the "gold standard for genre-busting." It also marked a comeback for Aerosmith, and both versions are in the Grammy Hall of Fame.