The Australian-born classic rock band AC/DC just has a sound. As a musical act, that’s really the hardest thing to do. To be one of those bands that, when one of your songs comes on, people just know who it is and who you are. The group with its screeching vocals and buzzy guitars is recognizable and that means money in the bank.
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For decades, the group has been powering stages and enlivening audiences. But along the way, they’ve written songs that will last forever. Here below, we wanted to dive into a trio of those tunes. Indeed, these are three eternal AC/DC songs.
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“Back in Black” from Back in Black (1980)
Released in 1980 on the album of the same name, this song features the band’s signature catchy hard guitar rock sound, gravely shrieking voice and catchy chorus. It also featured a new vocalist at the time in Brian Johnson. Written as a tribute for the band’s previous singer Bon Scott, who died suddenly earlier the same year, the song simply wails. On it, Johnson sings between big riffs,
Back in the back
Of a Cadillac
Number one with a bullet, I’m a power pack
Yes, I’m in a bang
With a gang
They’ve got to catch me if they want me to hang
‘Cause I’m back on the track
And I’m beatin’ the flack
Nobody’s gonna get me on another rap
So look at me now
I’m just makin’ my play
Don’t try to push your luck, just get out of my way
“Highway to Hell” from Highway to Hell (1979)
From the band’s 1979 album of the same name, this song takes the band’s signature sounds and superimposes them onto a song about the dark side of rock. Big drum beats meet big rock riffs meet lighting vocals and on the song, Bon Scott sings like a power plant,
I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell
No stop signs
Speed limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Like a wheel
Gonna spin it
Nobody’s gonna mess me around
Hey satan
Payin’ my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey mumma
Look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land
“You Shook Me All Night Long” from Back in Black (1980)
This song, which also comes from the 1980 LP Back in Black, is maybe the group’s most commercial hit, the most mainstream offering. A straight-ahead classic rock song about good times, sexual joy and a chorus that gets a whole room singing together. On the track, Johnson sounds like electrified gravel, offering,
She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman that I ever seen
She had the sightless eyes, telling me no lies
Knocking me out with those American thighs
Taking more than her share, had me fighting for air
She told me to come, but I was already there
‘Cause the walls start shaking, the Earth was quaking
My mind was aching and we were making it
And you shook me all night long
Yeah, you shook me all night long
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