Walk This Way (1975) 10/3/20

Time for “Great Songs of the '70s” Jeopardy. Here is your clue: The title of this hit song about a boy losing his virginity was inspired by the Mel Brooks movie “Young Frankenstein.”

The question: What is “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith?

In December of 1974, Aerosmith was on tour in Hawaii, opening for The Guess Who. One afternoon, during sound check, guitarist Joe Perry was working on some riffs when inspiration struck. He asked drummer Joey Kramer to start playing a groove to match what he was playing. Steven Tyler started scatting some nonsense words, and before the sound check was over, the basics of the song had been created.

Except for two things: They hadn't written any REAL lyrics for it, nor did they have a title.

A few weeks later, they were in the studio recording their next album (“Toys in the Attic”) when they found themselves stuck for material and decided to finish the song for release. Between recording sessions, the boys went to a theater to see “Young Frankenstein, and when Marty Feldman (as Igor) told Gene Wilder (as Victor Fronkensteen) to “Walk This Way,” and they both limped away, Aerosmith had found their title.

But they still needed lyrics. No problem. Stephen Tyler went home and wrote them. But the next morning, on his way back to the studio, he accidentally left them in the cab!

While the rest of the band was waiting, he grabbed some headphones, a cassette copy of the instrumental, some paper and some pencils, went into a stairwell, and wrote a whole NEW set of lyrics, with sort of a “bouncy percussive flow” to match the music.”

In 1976, the finished song was released as a single and went to #10 on Billboard's Hot 100 as well as #7 on the Canadian Top 40.

Then, in 1986, the rap group Run-DMC teamed up with Stephen Tyler and Joe Perry to cover the song with a Hip-Hop beat...and it was a HUGE world-wide success: Top 15 in 12 countries, including #4 in the US on Billboard's Hot 100 and #6 on Canada's Top 40.

The accolades for BOTH versions were many.

Rolling Stone lists the original Aerosmith version at #46 and the Run-DMC version at #293 on their list of the “Greatest Songs of All Time.” They also have the Aerosmith version at #34 on their list of the “Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.”

VH-1 has the original version at #35 on their list of the “100 Greatest Rock Songs,” and #8 on their list of

the “Greatest HARD Rock Songs.” They ranked the Run-DMC version at #4 on their list of the “100 Greatest Hi-Hop Songs.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame counts both on their list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”

“Walk This Way:”

The question to a Great Jeopardy answer, and a “Great Song of '76 (and '86)!”

Aerosmith:

Run -DMC: