"Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" is a song by American rock band Aerosmith. It was released as the lead single from the band's ninth studio album Permanent Vacation in 1987.
The track reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 41 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 22 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart and number 45 on the UK Singles Chart. It was re-released in early 1990 and peaked at number 20 in the UK. It was certified gold in the UK for sales and streams exceeding over 400,000 units.
The song was written by lead singer Steven Tyler, lead guitarist Joe Perry and songwriter Desmond Child.
Origins
The song, which originally started out as "Cruisin' for a Lady", talks about a man with an effeminate appearance, who is mistaken for a woman. Steven Tyler states in the book Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith: "One day we met Mötley Crüe, and they're all going, 'Dude!' Dude this and Dude that, everything was Dude. 'Dude (Looks Like a Lady)' came out of that session."
According to Child, Tyler came up with the idea of the song while at a bar and mistaking Mötley Crüe's lead singer Vince Neil for a woman with long blonde hair. Tyler's bandmates made fun of him, joking about how the “dude looked like a lady.” Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, in his book, The Heroin Diaries, states that the song was inspired by Neil.
Joe Perry came up with the chorus riff, and Tyler came up with the chorus refrain. Tyler originally sang the hook as "cruisin' for the ladies", but Child lambasted the lyrical idea, stating that "I don't think Van Halen would put that on the B-side of their worst record." Child stated that the band had originally wanted to use the lyric " ‘Cruisin’ for the Ladies" instead of "Dude Looks Like a Lady" for fear that the latter would offend the gay community but Child told him that "‘I’m gay. It’s not offensive. It’s great." and convinced the band to use those lyrics.
Controversy
Despite the song's mainstream success, "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" has often been accused of being transphobic, with "its lyrics and music video’s offensive insinuations about trans women." In a 2012 interview, Child said about the song, "I talked Aerosmith 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." In 2019, Child confirmed that the song was about a man who "just walks into a bar and sees this gorgeous blonde up on the stage and then goes backstage after the show and then she 'whips out a gun, tries to blow me away.'"
Perry was concerned that the subject matter of the song would offend the gay community, but Child said, "Okay, I'm gay, and I'm not insulted. Let's write this song."
Vox's Abbey White pointed out that "the song also plays on the idea that trans women intentionally deceive men or are 'in disguise', that they are unattractive or repulsive... and at one point mixes pronouns, going from 'Oh she like it' in one line to 'Oh, he was a lady,' in the next."
Child has refuted all allegations of transphobia, describing the song as "accepting" because of the lyric "never judge a book by its cover, or who you're going to love by your lover."
On August 27, 2013, Fox News played this song while introducing Chelsea Manning. As well as the network's use of masculine pronouns and Manning's deadname, playing this song received backlash by commentators.
After Caitlyn Jenner called "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" her "theme song" in 2017, backlash ensued from fans and from LGBT activists due to the perceived transphobia.
Reception
Cash Box said that it has "humorous lyrics coupled with a driving rock beat."
Music video
The video for "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" features the band performing live onstage as well as random moments of characters portraying drag queens, including a cameo appearance by A&R man John Kalodner dressed up in a wedding dress at one point. This is a joke based on the fact that Kalodner always dresses in white. Joe Perry's wife Billie also appears in the music video, pretending to play the saxophone on stage.
There are also some provocative sexual performances, both led by singer Steven Tyler as well as a presumed female who has her skirt torn off to reveal the Aerosmith "wings" tattoo on her buttocks. The video was directed by Marty Callner.