March 9, 1986. A Sunday in Manhattan.
Inside Magic Shop Studios, the air was thick with tension and, frankly, a lot of confusion. On one side, you had Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels—two kids from Queens who were basically the kings of the burgeoning hip-hop world. On the other side stood Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. At that point, the "Toxic Twins" were largely seen as washed-up rock stars from a bygone era, struggling with sobriety and relevance.
They weren't friends. They weren't even fans of each other.
In fact, Run and DMC didn't even know who Aerosmith was. They knew the "Toys in the Attic" beat—the famous drum break by Joey Kramer—because every DJ in New York used it to back up rappers. But the actual song? The lyrics about cheerleaders and lockers?
👉 See also: American Pie Reunion Streaming: Why the 2012 Gem Is Harder to Find Than You’d Think
DMC famously called it "hillbilly gibberish."
And yet, Run-DMC Walk This Way became the single most important collaboration in the history of modern music. It didn't just climb the charts; it literally smashed the wall between black and white music in America.
The 22-Year-Old Visionary Nobody Listened To
The real architect here wasn't a musician. It was Rick Rubin.
In 1986, Rubin was a 22-year-old NYU student with a beard and a dream of smashing genres together. He was producing Run-DMC’s third album, Raising Hell, and he felt something was missing. He wanted a "bridge" song.
Rubin knew that hip-hop was being ignored by mainstream radio. It was "street music," "noise," or "a fad." By 1986, no rap song had ever cracked the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rubin's idea was simple: Have Run-DMC cover a rock song. But not just any rock song. It had to be "Walk This Way."
💡 You might also like: Why The Fosters Season One Was Actually Groundbreaking Television
Why? Because the original 1975 version already sounded like rap. Steven Tyler’s cadence was rhythmic and percussive. The drum beat was already a hip-hop staple.
"We're Not Doing That Country Bullshit"
When Rubin first sat the trio down to listen to the full track, it went south fast. Run and DMC were horrified. They loved the beat, but they hated the song. They thought it would ruin their "hardcore" image.
They weren't alone in their skepticism. Lyor Cohen, who was their road manager at the time, hated the idea. Even the label was worried.
Rubin didn't care. He was persistent. He basically gave them a homework assignment: go home, listen to the lyrics, and learn them.
Eventually, Jam Master Jay—the group’s DJ and often the secret glue of their creative process—pushed his bandmates. He saw the potential. He told them to quit complaining and just do it.
When the Toxic Twins Met the Kings of Queens
Aerosmith wasn't doing great in 1986. Their comeback album, Done with Mirrors, had flopped. They were broke. When Rubin reached out and offered Tyler and Perry $8,000 to show up for a one-day session in New York, they said yes mostly for the cash.
The session was awkward.
✨ Don't miss: Point of Grace Members: Who stayed, who left, and why the lineup keeps changing
Steven Tyler was reportedly annoyed because Run and DMC didn't actually know the words. They were trying to rap them, but the phrasing was all wrong. It took Jam Master Jay to coach them into "switching it up" and making the lyrics their own.
The Recording Reality
- Location: Magic Shop Studios, NYC.
- Date: March 9, 1986.
- Vibe: Cold. The rappers stayed on one side of the room; the rockers stayed on the other.
- The Turning Point: Joe Perry started playing that riff. You know the one. The second that guitar hit, the energy in the room shifted.
Rubin actually had to push Joe Perry. He told Perry his first take on the solo wasn't good enough. Can you imagine a 22-year-old kid telling a rock legend his solo was "meh"? But Perry listened. He went back in and nailed the version we hear today.
The Video That Literally Broke the Wall
If the song was the spark, the music video was the gasoline.
Directed by Jon Small, the video for Run-DMC Walk This Way is a masterpiece of literalism. The two groups are in adjacent rehearsal spaces, separated by a thin wall. They keep shouting at each other to "turn that noise down."
Then, Steven Tyler uses his mic stand to punch a hole through the drywall.
That wasn't just a cool visual effect. In 1986, MTV was still being criticized for not playing enough black artists. Rock radio was almost entirely white. Rap was relegated to "urban" stations.
When that wall came down on screen, it came down in real life.
The song peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100—higher than Aerosmith's original version. It was the first rap song to ever reach the Top 5. Suddenly, kids in the suburbs who had never heard a rap record were wearing Adidas with no laces.
Why It Still Matters (The "Discover" Angle)
Most people think this was just a "fun" collaboration. It wasn't. It was a calculated risk that saved two legacies.
For Run-DMC, it made them global superstars. Raising Hell became the first multi-platinum rap album.
For Aerosmith, it was a resurrection. They went from playing clubs and small theaters back to sold-out stadiums. Their next album, Permanent Vacation, was a monster hit. Without "Walk This Way," there is no "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" or "Janie's Got a Gun."
It also gave birth to a whole new genre: Rap-Rock. You don't get Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, or the Beastie Boys' later sound without this moment.
Common Misconceptions
- They were all friends: Nope. They barely spoke during the recording.
- It was an instant hit: Actually, some rock stations in Boston (Aerosmith's hometown) originally refused to play it. Fans called in angry, telling them to "take that crap off the air." It took a few weeks for the request lines to explode.
- The whole band was there: Only Tyler and Perry showed up. The rest of Aerosmith wasn't involved in the 1986 recording.
What You Should Do Now
If you want to understand why your favorite music sounds the way it does today, you have to go back to this track.
- Watch the Music Video: Look for the subtle details, like Jam Master Jay's scratching. He’s the one who really bridged the two sounds.
- Listen to the Original 1975 Version: Compare it to the 1986 version. You’ll hear how Rick Rubin stripped the "fat" off the rock track to make it lean and percussive.
- Check out "King of Rock": If you think "Walk This Way" was their only rock experiment, listen to Run-DMC's earlier work. They were trying to tell us this was coming years before it happened.
The "Walk This Way" collaboration wasn't just a song; it was a cultural pivot point. It proved that music doesn't have to stay in its lane. Sometimes, the best things happen when you're brave enough to punch a hole through the wall.
Next Steps:
- Explore the Raising Hell album to see how Run-DMC integrated rock riffs into other tracks like "Rock Box."
- Research Rick Rubin's later work with the Beastie Boys to see how he refined the rap-rock formula.
- Re-read the lyrics to the 1986 version; they actually changed "Walk This Way" to "Walk This Way, Talk This Way" to emphasize the vocal delivery of hip-hop.