![]() Run-DMC were ascendent: Their first two albums, 1984’s Run-DMC and 1985’s King of Rock, had sold well, and the trio from the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, New York, were the biggest hip-hop act on the planet. When Aerosmith and Run-DMC entered Magic Venture Studios in New York City on March 9, 1986, for their historic collaboration, the two groups were in very different places. It’s a stretch maybe to talk about President Obama being directly connected to that, but all of those other things I mentioned didn’t exist until this moment in time when hip-hop became part of our mainstream culture.” Who’s the Real “King of Rock”?Īerosmith in concert in 1974. “Is it a stretch to say those things are all connected to ‘Walk this Way’ and Run-DMC?” Edgers asked on the Sound Opinions podcast. ![]() Edgers traces the song’s success to a number of subsequent events, including the creation of Yo! MTV Raps, Public Enemy’s collaboration with the metal band Anthrax, Fox’s launch of the Black-centric sketch comedy show In Living Color, and even the election of Barack Obama. In his 2019 book Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever, author Geoff Edgers argues that the song had an even broader impact on American culture. For the first time ever, mainstream rock and pop radio were playing hip-hop, a still largely underground genre that would ultimately come to dominate American music and conquer the globe. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100-a full six places higher than Aerosmith’s 1975 original-and became the first rap song to crack the Top 10. Thanks in part to that video, Run-DMC’s “Walk This Way” (which featured Tyler and his guitar hero bandmate Joe Perry) exploded in the summer of ’86. The symbolism was as blatant as it was effective. When Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler busted through that wall with his microphone stand, putting the two groups suddenly face-to-face, it sent a powerful message about rock and hip-hop being equally valid genres that didn’t have to exist separately.
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