Aerosmith had fractured by the late 1970s due to their strained, dysfunctional and drug-addled relationships. Guitarists Joe Perry & Brad Whitford had left the band for unsuccessful solo projects while the remaining members struggled to gain any success with two new guitarists. They managed to reunite in 1984, but still failed to achieve major success with their 1985 album Done with Mirrors. It was the 1985 collaboration with Run DMC that reinvigorated the band's commercial standing, leading to the career resurgence in the late 1980s that reached higher success than their 1970s heyday. Their major commercial success lasted from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
Although this song is usually considered a collaboration between Run-DMC and Aerosmith, only Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were involved with the making of this song. The three other members of Aerosmith were not involved and do not appear in the video.
The music video was iconic for its collaboration between a major rap group and classic hard rock group. The Run DMC-Aerosmith collaboration was cited as a major influence on the rap-rock genre that became popular in the mid-to-late 1990s.
On September 9, 1999, Kid Rock joined Run DMC. and Aerosmith for an updated rendition of "Walk This Way" at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
In 2002, Kid Rock and Run DMC (as separate acts) opened for Aerosmith on the first leg of the Girls of Summer Tour. Each night, at the end of Aerosmith's set, Kid Rock and Run DMC would join Aerosmith for an encore collaborative performance of "Walk This Way."