Tag: Aerosmith

Aerosmith – Dude (Looks Like A Lady) (US 12″ Promo)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1987

** Burning The Ground is an inclusive website we accept all people, and support everyone’s unique self. This song’s lyrics and music video are not meant to be offensive to anyone in any way.

“Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” is a song by American rock band Aerosmith. It was released as the lead single from the band’s ninth studio album Permanent Vacation in 1987.

The track reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 41 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 22 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart and number 45 on the UK Singles Chart. It was re-released in early 1990 and peaked at number 20 in the UK. It was certified gold in the UK for sales and streams exceeding over 400,000 units.

The song was written by lead singer Steven Tyler, lead guitarist Joe Perry and songwriter Desmond Child.

The song talks about a man who is mistaken for a woman. According to Desmond Child, Steven Tyler came up with the idea after mistaking Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil for a woman with long blonde hair. Tyler’s bandmates made fun of him, joking about how the “dude looked like a lady”. In his book The Heroin Diaries, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx concurs that the song was inspired by Neil.

Despite the song’s mainstream success, “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” has been accused of being transphobic, with “its lyrics and music video’s offensive insinuations about trans women.” In 2012, Desmond Child said, “I talked Aerosmith into the whole scenario of a guy that walks into a strip joint and falls in love with the stripper on stage, goes backstage and finds out it’s a guy.” In 2019, Child confirmed that the song was about a man who “just walks into a bar and sees this gorgeous blonde up on the stage and then goes backstage after the show and then she ‘whips out a gun, tries to blow me away.'”

Vox’s Abbey White pointed out that “the song also plays on the idea that trans women intentionally deceive men or are ‘in disguise’, that they are unattractive or repulsive … and at one point mixes pronouns, going from ‘Oh she like it’ in one line to ‘Oh, he was a lady,’ in the next.”

Child has refuted all allegations of transphobia, describing the song as “accepting” because of the lyric, “Never judge a book by its cover, or who you’re going to love by your lover.”

On August 27, 2013, Fox News played this song while introducing Chelsea Manning. As well as the network’s use of masculine pronouns and Manning’s deadname, playing this song received backlash from commentators.

After Caitlyn Jenner called “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” her “theme song” in 2017, backlash ensued from fans and from LGBT activists due to the perceived transphobia.

The video for “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” features the band performing live onstage as well as random moments of characters portraying drag queens, including a cameo appearance by A&R man John Kalodner dressed up in a wedding dress at one point. This is a joke based on the fact that Kalodner always dresses in white. Joe Perry’s wife Billie also appears in the music video, pretending to play the saxophone on stage.

There are also some provocative sexual performances, both led by singer Steven Tyler as well as a presumed female who has her skirt torn off to reveal the Aerosmith “wings” tattoo on her buttocks. The video was directed by Marty Callner.

“Dude” picked up two MTV Video Music Award nominations in 1988 (the first for the band). It was nominated for Best Group Video and Best Stage Performance, but failed to gain the wins. The band made up for it eventually, winning over 10 “moon-men” and 4 Grammys in the 1990s.

SIDE A:
Dude (Looks Like A Lady) (Urban Dude Mix) 6:45
Dude (Looks Like A Lady) (Dude This Way) (A Cappella) 4:16

SIDE B:
Dude (Looks Like A Lady) (Extended Rockin’ Dude Mix) 5:46
Dude (Looks Like A Lady) (Rockin’ Dude Edit) 3:51

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1988 Dude (Looks Like A Lady) U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #14
1988 Dude (Looks Like A Lady) U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks #4
1988 Dude (Looks Like A Lady) U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/ Club Play #41

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Geffen Records – PRO-A-2882
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Pop Rock, Synth-pop

CREDITS:

NOTES:
Promotional Copy. Not For Sale.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus:  Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC:
Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning
: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans
: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!


Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.



Run-DMC – Walk This Way (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1986

“Walk This Way” is a song originally recorded by the American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album Toys in the Attic (1975) from their LP Toys in the Attic.

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. It was also one of the first big hip hop singles in the UK, peaking at number 8.

The song marked a major comeback for Aerosmith, as they had been largely out of mainstream pop culture for several years while Tyler battled addiction and Perry and Brad Whitford were out of the band. Their 1985 comeback album, Done with Mirrors, had also not met commercial expectations. Aerosmith followed “Walk This Way” with multi-platinum albums and Top 40 hits, starting with Permanent Vacation and its hit “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” in 1987.

In 2008, “Walk This Way” was ranked number 4 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop”. This version of the song is currently ranked as the 148th greatest song of all time, as well as the second best song of 1986, by Acclaimed Music.

The chorus of Run-DMC’s cover contains a pitch alternation that Aerosmith adopted in most future live performances. In collaborations, the other singer often says “talk this way” every alternate line of the chorus. This rap-style delivery may explain why the song worked so well as a hip hop song when it was covered eleven years later.

SIDE A:
Walk This Way 5:09
Featuring –  Aerosmith

SIDE B:
Walk This Way (Instrumental) 3:36
My Adidas 2:48

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

 

Year Single Chart Position
1986 Walk This Way U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #4
1986 Walk This Way U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales #13
1986 Walk This Way U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles #8
1986 Walk This Way U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play #6

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Profile Records – L13P 7117
Format:
Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: Japan
Released: 1986
Genre: Hip Hop
Style: Hip Hop

CREDITS:
Cover [Photo] – Glen E. Friedman
Producer –Rick RubinRussell Simmons
Written-By – J. PerryS. Tyler

NOTES:
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry appear courtesy of Geffen Records

Taken from the L.P./Cassette Raising Hell.

Find the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Black
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp:
Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
DAC:
Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning
: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans
: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!


Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.