40 years ago today (March 3rd) and four months after its initial release, Aerosmith’s first Greatest Hits album received its gold certification from the RIAA for half a million sales. Its most recent certification, in 2007, was for 11 million sold. “Walk This Way” was the second single off Toys in the Attic, it failed to chart. Re-issued a year later, it reached number-10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1986 Run-DMC version, with Tyler and Perry guesting, became the first hip-hop recording ever to reach the Top 5, peaking at number-four. Here is how the original came about.
When Steven Tyler couldn’t make it to the studio one day during the writing sessions for Toys in the Attic, the rest of Aerosmith decided to work on the music for a new song. Bassist Tom Hamilton details what happened next.
“Joe had this kind of funky riff and we started playing it and got the basic arrangement to the song down. And then that night we went to see Young Frankenstein, and there was this part where Igor says ‘walk this way’ and they imitate exactly the way he walked. Everyone’s heard that gag a million times now, but back then it was funny. So the next day we just told Steven ‘the name of this song just has to be ‘Walk This Way’ and that’s all there is to it.’ He says, ‘You can’t tell me what the name of the song is, I haven’t written it yet.’ We said, ‘Sorry pal, ‘Walk This Way.’”
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