This cover did three things. It resurrected Aeorsmith's career as people realized the band members were still alive. It knocked the crown off Michael Jackson, who was an unstoppable creative juggernaut in the previous five years, finally giving audiences something new in black music that Michael Jackson did not come up with himself.
And most importantly, it obsoleted the whole musical lineage of Motown, of which Michael Jackson was its standard, and allowed rap to take Motown's place in black music.
It could have not have done all that had it not been a cover of an existing popular song, made fresh by reinventing it in a new form, and even having Aerosmith bless its new form.
“It resurrected Aerosmith’s career as people realized the band members were still alive.”
LOL! True, very true.