10 Great Collaborations That Combined Different Genres
4. Walk This Way
Cited as one of the most successful and highest-profile tracks to combine and cross genres, "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run-DMC laid the foundation for a lot of artists and songs to follow that put rap and rock music together.
Originally released by Steven Tyler and his band in 1975, it saw moderate success at the time, but a renewed interest when the rap outfit from New York covered it in 1986. Run DMC were famous for "It's Like That" and "It's Tricky", amongst a slew of other hits, but when they took on this rock track it ended up blowing up far more than either party could have thought, selling more than a million copies in the USA alone.
Despite being unlikely bedfellows, this track just works. Everything from the way the screaming vocals cut in over the classic flow of DMC to how the guitar riff and the beat merge into one completely organic sound is executed flawlessly.
Even the music video is perfectly executed - the two groups practicing in adjoining rooms, trading parts back and forward before the wall gets forced through and they finish the song together. A watershed moment in every way.