“Rick Rubin heard something. He had to convince those guys – they were kind of tentative. But Aerosmith was up for anything”: Joe Perry on how Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. united rock and rap – and the secret role the Beastie Boys played

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith pose with an S-style electric guitar [left]; A classic BW portrait of Run DMC in 1986.

Looking back at the then-improbable collaboration between Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. on a rock/hip-hop reboot of Walk This Way, guitarist Joe Perry says, “It was a lot of fun and definitely a high point of our career.” His second point cannot be overstated.

By 1985, Aerosmith were experiencing a commercial stasis, and their ballyhooed comeback album, Done with Mirrors, stalled on the charts. The revamped version of Walk This Way blasted them back into the mainstream while also introducing Run-D.M.C. to a wider audience.