Run-D.M.C. - Walk This Way

Track Name
Run-D.M.C.

Crown Royal

Walk This Way

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In 1986, the hip hop group Run-DMC covered "Walk This Way", in collaboration with Aerosmith (with its leaders Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on vocals and guitars, respectively). While working on Raising Hell, Rick Rubin pulled out Toys in the Attic. At shows, Run-DMC had freestyled over the first few seconds of the song on a loop, not knowing what the full song sounded like, or even hearing the lyrics. While Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels had no idea who Aerosmith were at that time, Rubin suggested remaking the song. Neither Simmons nor McDaniels liked the idea, though Jam Master Jay was open to it. They didn't want the record to be released as a single even after recording with Tyler and Perry, and were shocked when it was played on both urban and rock radio stations. "I never even thought 'Walk This Way' would be a single," Rubin recalled. "Not that I didn't like it, but I didn't think in those terms." DMC called it "a beautiful thing" in a trailer for Guitar Hero (this later appeared in a scene from the 2011 film The Smurfs). This version of "Walk This Way" charted higher on the Billboard Hot 100 than the original, peaking at number 4, becoming Run-DMC's biggest hit. It was also the first hip hop single to reach the top five on the Billboard charts, as well as one of the first big hip hop singles in the UK, peaking at number 8.