Aerosmith dude looks like a lady
He says, "My funky lady, I like it, like it, like it like that." And so he doesn't run out of there, he stays. Let's write this song." So I talked them 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. So I grabbed onto that and I said, "No, that's the title of the song." And they looked at me like, "Are you kidding me?" And then Joe (Perry) stepped in and said, "I don't want to insult the gay community." I said, "Okay, I'm gay, and I'm not insulted. That's the true story of how that was born. So then they started making fun of him and started saying, "That dude looks like a lady, dude looks like a lady, dude looks like a lady." So that's how that was born. He got the idea because they had gone to a bar and had seen a girl at the end of the bar with ginormous blonde rock hair, and the girl turned around and it ended up being Vince Neil from Motley Crue. Steven (Tyler) was much more friendly, as he is, and was very generous, really, and showed me a song that they had started called "Cruisin' for the Ladies." I listened to that lyric, and I said, "You know what, that's a very boring title." And they looked at me like, "How dare you?" And then Steven volunteered, sheepishly, and said that when he first wrote the melody he was singing "Dude Looks like a Lady." It was kind of a tongue twister that sounded more like scatting. They were going along with it to please John Kalodner, but they were not that happy about it.
They had never written with an outside writer, and they were not happy to see me. Because of my success with Bon Jovi, John Kalodner - the famous John Kalodner, legendary A&R man - asked me if I would go up to Boston and meet Aerosmith.
Oo, she like it, like it, like it, like that.Desmond. So baby let me follow you down (let me take a peek dear)īaby let me follow you down (do me, do me, do me all night)īaby let me follow you down (turn the other cheek dear)īaby let me follow you down (do me, do me, do me, do me) She had the body of a Venus, Lord imagine my surprise. Sayin' love put me wise to her love in disguise Then she whipped out her gun and tried to blow me away! So in "Dude (Looks Like A Lady) ," Aerosmith, being to the hard rock band they are, mocks Motley Crue, and supposedly other glam metal artists, for their self-indulgent view of hot looks.īaby maybe you're wrong but you know it's all right “One time we saw some hookers but when we got closer we realized it was Motley Crue.” For the bands of this genre, self-image was just as important as the music itself. In the 1980s, it was commonplace for glam metal bandmates to look as good as sexy ladies, that is, they wore makeup and lipsticks before live shows. Steven Tyler wrote the song based on his encounter with the glam metal band Mötley Crüe at a local bar, presumably following a live show by both bands. Lyrical interpretation of "Dude" is what you think it's to be. The second single, "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," shows a glimpse of old-school hard rock sound of Aerosmith.
Though this wasn't Aerosmith at their best, the album was a sign of their ascend to the top. The album was poorly done, in fact I personally think it was terrible it didn't sound like the band that wrote " Back in the Saddle." It took the band two more years to find their old magic, as showcased in Permanent vacation (1987). When they eventually got back together and released the band's eight studio album, Done with Mirrors, it was a mere shadow of what they were capable of doing in the 1970s. There two were the main creative force behind much of Aerosmith's song writings. Joe Perry left the band over a dispute with lead singer Steven Tyler. Aerosmith was down on their luck in the early 1980s.