Aerosmith – “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” (1987) – 7″ Single & 12″ Maxi-Single (The Aerosmith Collection Series – Bonus Edition)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

We have a little break here from the album reviews in the Aerosmith Collection Series. As it turns out, I have 4 singles from ‘Permanent Vacation’ and we are going to go through those over the next few weeks. First up is the second single from the album “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” and this one is a two for the price of one treat as I have both a 7″ Single and a 12″ Maxi-Single of the song. Since I don’t want to completely bore you to tears with two separate posts on the same song, I decided to them both together in one giant treat.

7″ Promo Single:

First up we will tackle the 7″ Single. My version is the the Promo Copy of the song so the A-Side and B-Side are the same song. Since this is 1987, both versions are the stereo version and not one of them being a Mono like in the earlier years. The song was released as a single on September 22, 1987 and did really well for the band. It brought them back to the mainstream after years of filling up the discount rack. The song went to #12 on the Billboard Top 40 and was a regular on MTV.

The song started out as a song called “Cruisin’ for a Lady”, but thanks to help from co-write Desmond Child, we got “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”. The song is about a man that goes in to a strip club and falls for one of the dancers. They go back stage and she whips out her gun and is actually a man. The song inspiration actually came from the band seeing this blonde beauty at the far end of a bar and it turning out to be Vince Neil from Motley Crue.

However, the song did have some controversy since it was about a transvestite and a lot of people felt it was a little transphobic in its lyrics. The band says it isn’t at all and that is actually accepting of that fact. And with Desmond Child being openly gay and a co-writer along with Perry and Tyler, I would lean toward the song being more accepting.

It is an upbeat rocker with some killer guitar work by both Whitford and Perry, it has a horn section that livens the song up even more. Tyler’s killer vocals and his well designed screams and noises turns this in to a totally fun rocker that caught hold of everyone’s good time spirit no one cared that it was about a woman that was really a man. I think everyone enjoyed it for what it was. A song that celebrated having a good time no matter what or who you were.

12″ Maxi-Single:

I also have a copy of the 12″ Maxi-Single and if you know what a Maxi-Single is then you know what you are going to get. You don’t usually get the normal song, you get several different re-mixed versions of the song and usually one is a dance mix. And that is what we get with this one. We get 4 different re-mixes along with one song from the album, “Simoriah”.

Side One kicks off with “The Urban Dude Mix”. Being the “Urban” mix, you’d expect a lot of heavy beats and electronic music and you wouldn’t be disappointed then because that is what you get. And it goes on for 6:45 which is a long time considering the original version is only 4:24. They added a long instrumental piece at the front and it was over a minute before Steven comes in to sing. The second version on is the “Dude This Way Mix” and I think they call it that is there are some “Walk This Way” elements but probably from the Run DMC version. The song is actually shortened to 3:57 and doesn’t have much guitar and is all electronic and bass along with Steven’s vocals. It is labelled as “A Cappella” but there are sounds other then Tyler’s vocals.

The final track on Side one is the album version of “Simoriah” which is pure old school rock track and is a Tyler, Perry and Jim Vallance penned track. It is full of riffs and Tyler’s vocals totally soars and screams. It is nothing fancy, just solid playing and singing. I have to say that I don’t really ever remember this song after I hear it though and has a little filler status for me.

Side 2 only has two mixes on it. The first is the “Extended Rockin’ Dude Mix”. Extended of course means longer and it clocks in at 5:47. It has more real drums and guitars in it and the instrumental pieces are drawn out more. We get a lot of Steven singing “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” before we actually get to the verses. For these types of singles, you have to really enjoy the significant changes to the song to make it worth you purchasing. I don’t mind them, but for me it is more about collecting and having the different versions that is about the quality of the mixes.

The final mix is the “Rockin’ Dude Edit” which is like the one before it only shorter at 3:53. This one is more like the original version than any of the others. The long instrumental breaks are cut-out or shortened tremendously. This one will be more for the purists.

And that is it for the two singles. We still have two more singles to go and you can see below which one is up next. Thanks for hanging around.

UP NEXT: “ANGEL” (1987) – 7″ Single – Bonus Edition

THE AEROSMITH COLLECTION SERIES:

  1. ‘Aerosmith’ (1973)
  2. ‘Get Your Wings’ (1974)
  3. ‘Toys in the Attic’ (1975)
  4. ‘Rocks’ (1976)
  5. ‘Draw the Line’ (1977)
  6. ‘Live! Bootleg’ (1978)
  7. ‘Night in the Ruts’ (1979)
  8. ‘Greatest Hits’ (1980)
  9. ‘Rock in a Hard Place’ (1982)
  10. ‘Done With Mirrors’ (1985)
  11. Run DMC – “Walk This Way” 12″ Single (1986)
  12. ‘Classics Live!’ (1986)
  13. ‘Classics Live! II’ (1987)
  14. ‘Permanent Vacation’ (1987)
  15. “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” (1987) – 7″ Single & 12″ Maxi-Single (Bonus Edition)
  16. “Angel” (1988) – 7″ Single (Bonus Edition)
  17. “Rag Doll” (1988) – 7″ Single (Bonus Edition)
  18. ‘Gems’ (1988)
  19. ‘Pump’ (1989)
  20. ‘Pandora’s Box’ (1991)
  21. ‘Get a Grip’ (1993)
  22. ‘Nine Lives’ (1997)
  23. ‘A Little South of Sanity’ (1998)
  24. ‘Just Push Play’ (2001)
  25. ‘Honkin on Bobo’ (2004)
  26. ‘Rockin’ The Joint (2005)
  27. ‘Music From Another Dimension’ (2012)
  28. ‘1971: The Road Starts Hear’ (2021)
  29. The Albums Ranked Worst To First

67 thoughts on “Aerosmith – “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” (1987) – 7″ Single & 12″ Maxi-Single (The Aerosmith Collection Series – Bonus Edition)”

  6. Desmond Child is gay ?! I didn’t know that ! He’s really talented, he worked with KISS, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and some other bands like Kissin’Dynamite (surprise !). Kinda crazy story with Vince Neil, I think that Aerosmith never met Poison, if they did it, the song would be called “Girl (looks like a lady)’.

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  10. Much Music played the hell out of that song. I certainly wasn’t complaining. The horns make the song if you ask me.

    I don’t know if we’ll hear much of it for the next decade though. Desmond would probably have to rewrite the lyrics to include the right pronouns. “And they whipped out a gun and tried to blow me away” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

    That song was perfect for Mrs. Doubtfire. The world could use more Robin Williams!

    I just finished playing Heart’s done time for my five year old girl. Hey Mikey, I think she likes it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. So cool. Glad they liked Heart. My daughter has been enjoying The Clash lately. I don’t know if will hear it much from the band as who knows when they’ll tour again. They just cancelled the European Tour I believe i read somewhere.

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  11. I hated the maxi single mixes. Still purchased a few for the collection but wasn’t a fan at all of the mixes.

    Nice additions to the Aerosmith collection.
    And I think the title change From Cruisin To Due was perfect for the time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. The Vince Neil thing cracked me up. Man, how loaded were they when they had that thought? Lol. Also, they oughta look up what a cappella means before they use it! Cool singles though I wonder if you’ll ever play these again?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. This is one of their songs I never get tired of…unlike Dream On…which is a great song but whew…there are only so many times I can hear it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh, Dream On is one i never get tired of and I could do without this one for a long time. I’ve discovered through this series that I don’t like the late 80’s sound no where near as much as the earlier stuff. i’ll take everything up to Done With Mirrors and then after that…I am fine to hear it on rare occasions.

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  14. Pingback: Aerosmith – “Angel” (1988) – 7″ Single (The Aerosmith Collection – Bonus Edition) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music

  15. I’d forgotten about those bloody ‘dance’ or ‘rock’ mixes… the dance mixes took up so many b-sides even into the age of CD singles and were about as much use as a chocolate teapot. The occasional ‘rock’ mixes were ok, I seem to recall a harder edged Taste of India cropping up on something…. will have to go rummage now

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  16. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Gems’ (1988) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  17. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Pump’ (1989) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  18. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Pandora’s Box’ (1991) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  19. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Get A Grip’ (1993) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  20. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Nine Lives’ ( 1997) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  21. Pingback: Aerosmith – “A Little South of Sanity” (1998) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  22. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Just Push Play’ (2001) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
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  26. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘ 1971: The Road Starts Hear’ (2021 RSD) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
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  28. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Aerosmith’ (1973) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  29. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Get Your Wings’ (1974) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  30. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Rocks’ (1976) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  31. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Live! Bootleg’ (1978) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
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  34. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Night in the Ruts’ (1979) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
  35. Pingback: Aerosmith – ‘Toys in the Attic’ (1975 ) – Album Review (The Aerosmith Collection Series) – 2 Loud 2 Old Music

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