Desmond Child revealed the backstory of Aerosmith’s ‘Dude Looks Like A Lady,’ co-written with Steven Tyler, in a recent interview with Classic Album Review. A misunderstanding with Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil inspired the track’s lyrics.
Child recalled, “Steven says – ‘cause he’s the people-pleaser – ‘Well, when I first came up with that riff, I was singing ‘Dude Looks Like A Lady.’’ I said, ‘What?’ ‘‘Dude Looks Like A Lady,’’ and Joe [Perry] said, ‘But we don’t know what that means, and we don’t wanna insult the gay community.’ I said, ‘Okay, dude, I’m gay, not insulted. Tell me, how did you come up with ‘Dude Looks Like A Lady?’’”
“He explained that he had gone to this bar on the [Boston] shore. It was an empty bar. It was like happy hour, but nobody was there, and they were there with all their roadies and stuff and everybody drinking their non-alcoholic beverages,” he continued. “At the end of this long lonely bar was one person, this vision of loveliness, platinum-mullet-haired goddess with porcelain skin and curvy figure and bare arms and jewelry and rings and black nails.”
“They were all going, ‘Oh my God! Who’s gonna go up?’ They started drawing straws who was gonna go up and hit on her. So, then, she turned around and it’s Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe. So, Steven instantly started saying, ‘Ooh, that dude looks like a lady! Dude looks like a lady,’ and he loves the alliteration.”
Despite ending up as a hit, the track received backlash from some fans and LGBTQ+ activists for being transphobic and demeaning trans people. Child, however, saw the song as an opportunity to challenge social norms rather than insult.
“When Steven Tyler sings, ‘Never judge a book by the cover or who you’re gonna love by your lover,’ it was opening people’s minds because it was a very conservative time,” the songwriter told The Guardian last year.
He explained, “And nowadays, they’re getting people revved up that somehow trans people are coming after your children. It’s a bogeyman, like with antisemitism. They implant it in the mind. It’s not logical, but it generates hatred. And then people find the candidate that hates everything and vote for them.”
‘Dude Looks Like A Lady’ came out as the lead single of Aerosmith’s ninth studio album, ‘Permanent Vacation,’ in 1987, receiving two MTV Video Music Award nominations the following year.
The band released a music video for the song, which showed them on stage performing with drag queens.