This month marks the 45th anniversary of Highway To Hell, the classic sixth album by Australian rock institution AC/DC. I mention this because I have written a column about my favorite AC/DC songs, and when you write a column about your favorite songs by a venerable classic-rock act it’s nice to have an anniversary to peg it on, preferably a year ending in zero or five.
But I’ll be honest: The real reason I wrote this column is that it’s the middle of summer. And I like to listen to AC/DC in the middle of summer. Unfortunately, my job requires that I listen to lots of music that is not AC/DC. Therefore, I sought a loophole that would allow me to listen to AC/DC for professional reasons. Hence, the thing you are currently looking at.
So, here we are. You have surely heard of AC/DC. But do you know anything about them? Do you know that you should care about whether you know anything about them?
It’s time to head down the highway to hell, my friends! Here are my 30 favorite AC/DC songs.
Pre-List Disclaimer: If You Want Blood (In The Form Of Music Criticism) You Got It
This performance was filmed on April 30, 1978 at The Apollo in Glasgow, and released six months later on the live album, If You Want Blood You Got It. The show took place one month before AC/DC’s fifth (and possibly best) studio LP, Powerage, was released in the United States. Sixteen months after this gig, they put out Highway To Hell, AC/DC’s first hit in America and their last record with original lead singer Bon Scott. Less than two years after the Glasgow show, Scott stumbled into a friend’s car after a night of heavy drinking — his blood alcohol level supposedly was at .208 — and passed out. He never woke up. Not long after that, AC/DC — deservedly if also inexplicably — became the most popular hard rock band in the history of humankind.
If the point of this column is to explain what makes AC/DC great, it would be more efficient to simply instruct readers to watch the video above exactly 25 times in a row. Describing what goes down in this five-minute-and-35-second clip would be like trying to articulate the feeling of eating the best damn plate of hot wings you have ever had in your life rather than simply rolling up your sleeves and chowing down. It turns a visceral and sensual experience into an academic exercise.
Nevertheless, I am a writer and I am dedicated to my imperfect medium of choice, so here goes: The guy in the school boy outfit is Angus Young, and he is extremely good at playing a Gibson SG while duckwalking on stage like — to quote noted music critic/Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry — “flopping bacon.” The other guitarist is Malcolm Young, Angus’ brother, who stands stoically in the shadows while unleashing the universe’s most massive-sounding riffs. The rhythm section is composed of drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams, who are “doing nothing all that complicated” if you listen to music like a moron. And the singer is our Bon, who smiles at the microphone while unleashing the most charmingly malevolent squeal in rock history. He is, by all accounts, a nice chap in real life. But on stage, he is the opposite of a nice chap. He is heroic. He is villainous. He will kick the shit out of you. And then he will get you drunk. “Music is meant to be played as loudly as possible,” he once said, “really raw and punchy, and I’ll punch out anyone who doesn’t like it the way I do.” He was smiling when he said it. But he was dead serious.
Have you watched that video 25 times in a row yet? While you do that, I will continue to describe this plate of delicious wings.
30. “Big Balls” (1976)
Not to be confused with “She’s Got Balls,” from AC/DC’s debut, High Voltage. I actually considered putting “She’s Got Balls” in this slot, as I find it to be slightly superior on musical merits. But “Big Balls” gets the nod on philosophical grounds. If we are going to have a conversation about AC/DC, we must begin by contemplating enormous testicles. (Only as a metaphor — I am not trying to get arrested here.)
Listening to AC/DC prompts all sorts of questions. What is “good” art? What makes a song “smart”? Is being “good” or “smart” necessary? In their early years, AC/DC was routinely dismissed as lowest common denominator music for knuckle draggers. Critics dismissed their music as a series of hyper-macho double-entendres set to super-charged Chuck Berry riffs. But then perceptions shifted. In time, AC/DC was celebrated for making a series of hyper-macho double-entendres set to super-charged Chuck Berry riffs. Their music never changed, never evolved, never kept up with the times. If anything, they became even more retrograde as the decades passed. And yet their commercial power and critical esteem only grew.
Here’s another question pertinent to the AC/DC project: What is sexism? Because a lot of AC/DC songs seem, at least superficially, to be pretty sexist! “Let Me Put My Love Into You,” “Givin’ The Dog A Bone,” “Beating Around The Bush,” “Emission Control,” the decidedly non-immortal “Sink The Pink” — this is a band that, on paper, makes Smell The Glove look like Kid A. But not even grandmothers are offended by AC/DC in 2024. Granted, many of our contemporary grandmothers were in college when Back In Black was released. But nobody believes this is a band coming from a negative or toxic place, no matter how much they talk about the circumference of their oversized extremities.
There are two explanations for this. The first is what we’ll call “The Howard Stern/Charles Barkley Rule,” which is that people who routinely say rude or offensive things sometimes get a pass because they have a track record of also being funny about it. (As opposed to run-of-the-mill jerks who act like run-of-the-mill jerks for no reason and zero panache.) This applies to AC/DC — co-stars of 1997’s Private Parts — but it’s not the main or most important explanation. That explanation can be witnessed in “Big Balls” when Bon Scott points out that I have big balls and he has big balls and (yes) she has big balls and (most important) we have big balls.
AC/DC gets a pass because they are inclusive. “I always liked the underdog,” Angus explained to Vulture in 2020. “We performed, and continue to perform, for the little people. And I can say that because I’m 5”2.” No matter who you are or where you come from or even whether you have literal testes, AC/DC recognizes and honors your big balls. And that is why they own all the world’s arenas.
29. “The Jack” (1976)
Sorry, there is also a third explanation for AC/DC’s “get out of jail free” card for the crime of writing a song called “Sink The Pink” — the schoolboy outfit. For a band that otherwise eschews gimmicks and all other forms of theatricality, Angus’ iconic schoolboy outfit psychologically disarms the AC/DC listener. You simply can’t be mad at a grown man in short pants, even if the singer is relating a story about contracting gonorrhea while on tour.
28. “Touch Too Much” (1979)
There’s an innocence to AC/DC that puts their strutting cock-of-the-walk machismo in a non-threatening context. It’s the sort of posturing that many young men at some point attempt to emulate, usually as compensation for crippling insecurity they can’t bear to reveal to the rest of the male herd. It only becomes toxic if you take the exaggerated posturing seriously — “acting like a man” largely entails behaving like a big, dumb idiot, which is harmless if confined to harmless pursuits, like watching sports or playing in a rock band. (As opposed to posting in internet forums or politics.) Even Bon Scott, the ultimate bad boy womanizer and serial beatdown artist on stage, was secretly a devoted boyfriend who collected comic books.
Of course, AC/DC is also popular because their records happen to be perfectly recorded and produced. That was true when they worked with George Young (Angus and Malcolm’s big brother) and Harry Vanda on the early records. And it was definitely true when they teamed up with Robert John “Mutt” Lange, the perfectionist recluse who entered the AC/DC fold with Highway To Hell and stayed on for the next two records, Back In Black and For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). Lange’s contribution to AC/DC’s music was teasing out the sugar at the heart of their gnarly and snarly anthems. “Touch Too Much” is positively spartan compared with Lange’s later work with Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, and Shania Twain, but the backing vocals on the chorus are positively gooey by AC/DC standards.
27. “Are You Ready” (1990)
My first AC/DC album was The Razors Edge, which came out when I was in the seventh grade aka the exact right age to start caring about AC/DC. It was overseen by Bruce Fairbairn, the late Canadian producer who also revived Aerosmith’s career at this time with his work on Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get A Grip. With Aerosmith, he brought outside songwriters and Alicia Silverstone into the band’s fold. But with AC/DC, the job was simpler — just get the Young brothers to write chant-worthy songs that appeal to neanderthals in football stadiums (American and/or international) deep into their cups. The defining hit from The Razors Edge, “Thunderstruck,” just might be the defining “football song for neanderthals” anthem. (We’ll talk more about that one later.) But “Are You Ready” fits the bill as well. Admittedly, “write a song that sounds like a Monday Night Football theme” might not be the most artistically invigorating prompt, but you can’t fault AC/DC for executing it perfectly.
26. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Train” (2008)
The first song on this list that references rock ‘n’ roll in the title. Next to balls, rock ‘n’ roll is AC/DC’s most important muse. The first rule of writing is that you write what you know, and AC/DC knows the ins and outs of rock ‘n’ roll more completely than any band on the planet. In “Rock ‘N’ Roll Train,” the titular subject is paired with a runaway locomotive, a mode of transportation just as anachronistic as stadium rock was in 2008. But anachronisms have never been something to fear for AC/DC. Their power derives from reveling in anachronisms. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Train” is the first track on Black Ice, an album that AC/DC insisted on selling exclusively via CDs — absolutely no MP3 downloads — at Wal-Mart stores. It subsequently moved more units that year than albums by Taylor Swift, Metallica, and Beyoncé. Some runaway trains simply refused to be derailed.
25. “Ride On” (1976)
The schism between Bon Scott-era AC/DC and Brian Johnson-era AC/DC is eternal, though everybody who cares agrees on the proper assessments of both versions of the band. (I am deliberately leaving Axl Rose out of this conversation because addressing Axl would distract me from the task at hand and result in a column that is at least 50,000 words.) The Bon era is superior, and the Brian era is more popular (in part because the table was set by the Bon era). Every album of the Bon era is essential, whereas you only need Back In Black from the Brian era if you’re a casual listener. More devoted followers will also want For Those About To Rock and The Razors Edge, while only complete freaks will want all of them. (Related: I own every AC/DC album.)
There are various nuances that define Bon’s style vs. Brian’s style, but here’s the succinct and only slightly reductive summation: Bon Scott is Bon Scott, and Brian Johnson is a caricature of Bon Scott. I mean no disrespect. I like Brian Johnson. But he’s a cartoon version of a tough-guy singer, and Bon Scott is an actual tough-guy singer. Brian’s snarl is impressive and iconic, but it is also one-dimensional. He only has one mode (newsboy hat-wearing nymphomaniac), whereas Bon constantly revealed deeper shades to his persona.
For example: Brian Johnson could never produce a song like “Ride On.” This is Bon showing you his tender side. He’s in a lonely town. And it’s a lonely night. A woman is on his mind. He tells us he ain’t too young to worry and he ain’t too old to cry. Before the shocking image of a weeping Bon Scott can overtake us, he delivers his mission statement: “One of these days I’m gonna change my evil ways,” he says. “’Til then I’ll just keep riding on.”
Bon understood the principles of dynamics. In “Ride On,” the tenderness accentuates the toughness. You can’t stand shirtless on stage with an armadillo in your trousers without a big, fat heart beating underneath all that chest hair.
24. “Let There Be Rock” (1977)
The second song on this list that references rock ‘n’ roll in the title. It’s also an example of Bon Scott practicing rock criticism. “The white man had the schmaltz / the black man had the blues,” he says, imparting his musicological knowledge like he’s Greil Marcus addressing the Hells Angels. Twenty-four years later, Patterson Hood of Drive By Truckers repurposed this song’s title on Southern Rock Opera for his own survey of golden-era late-’70s arena rock. In the final iteration of the chorus, he sings about seeing AC/DC on the Let There Be Rock tour, which clearly is the sort of experience that can inspire a person to form their own kick-ass rock band.
23. “Night Prowler” (1979)
Along with balls and rock ‘n’ roll, AC/DC likes to put “hell” in song titles. This is never a reference to an actual Satanic underworld, but rather a state of mind that can be defined as the opposite of whatever balls and rock ‘n’ roll signify. What’s confusing is that AC/DC always seems to be heading to hell or defending hell with backhanded praise (“it ain’t a bad place to be,” etc.). This naturally has caused religious and/or conservative types to attack the band as devil-worshipping lunatics.
These attacks reached their zenith in the mid-’80s when AC/DC was accused of inspiring “Night Stalker” serial killer Richard Ramirez after an AC/DC hat was found at a murder scene. The final track from Highway To Hell, “Night Prowler,” was specifically blamed for triggering Ramirez. But “Night Prowler” is not about pulling a burglary for the sake of murder. It’s about sneaking into your girlfriend’s house and having sex with her. This is what the band’s detractors could never understand: AC/DC makes love, not war.
22. “Moneytalks” (1990)
Granted: The U.S. military has used AC/DC’s music to unnerve enemy combatants. (https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-04/17/content_324146.htm) And the Young brothers have licensed their music to the U.S. Army for recruitment ads. Which seems weird, because when the brothers have delved into light political commentary, it’s come from a vaguely leftist perspective. Like “War Machine” from Black Ice, which sort of (but not really) inserted AC/DC into the 2008 U.S. presidential election cycle. And then there’s “Moneytalks from The Razors Edge, the album where Angus and Malcolm assumed lyricist duties from Brian Johnson, who presumably was too busy driving race cars and shopping for black undershirts to bother with putting pen to paper. “Moneytalks” can be simplistically described as a takedown of a gold digger and less simplistically characterized as a critique of capitalism’s dehumanizing effects on the middle class. It’s like Naomi Klein after a case of Foster’s.
21. “Live Wire” (1976)
Bon Scott was not interested in such matters. He instead applied his poetic skills to saluting the carnal act. This song features one of his finest verses: “Ah, cooler than a body on ice / Hotter than the rolling dice / Wilder than a drunken fight / You’re going to burn tonight.”
20. “Girls Got Rhythm” (1979)
You think you know what an AC/DC song called “Girls Got Rhythm” is going to be before you hear it. For starters, it’s probably not about a skilled female percussionist. And the lack of an apostrophe between the “L” and “S” denotes a certain low-class, dullard sensibility. But then you hear the song, and all presumptions are instantly voided. Two important attributes must be enumerated. One, “Girls Got Rhythm” appears to be about the sexual habits of a long-term committed couple, which almost makes it romantic. (It’s the hard-rock sister song to Al Green’s “I’m Still In Love With You.”) Two, Bon Scott rhymes “rhythm” with “rhythm” in the chorus, which denotes a certain high-class, dullard sensibility.
19. “Problem Child” (1976)
AC/DC is often classified as a metal band, even though the Young brothers are on record as disliking metal. Meanwhile, they are never classified as a punk band, though their early years coincided with the rise of punk and they had some backers (like legendary British DJ John Peel) in that scene. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is the closest AC/DC came to making an actual punk record. Bon’s voice is extra snotty throughout, and he sings aggressively about wanton violence, disreputable sex, and unbridled juvenilia. “Problem Child” is the roughest and rowdiest example of the latter, in which Bon declares, “What I want, I take / What I don’t, I break.” It’s not Johnny Rotten singing “Don’t know what I want but I know how to get it” but it’s in the same nihilistic ballpark.
18. “Sin City” (1978)
Powerage is my favorite AC/DC album, which apparently is the highbrow “connoisseur’s choice” record in the catalog. (“A lot of music types very much like that album,” Angus told Vulture in 2020.) It was the one they made after touring America for the first time, and you can hear that influence all over the record. For one thing, it has several songs about shooting guns, which became another recurring lyrical obsession on future records. And then there’s “Sin City,” where Bon uses Las Vegas as a metaphor for the American dream. “’Rich man, poor man/ beggar man, thief / Ain’t got a hope in hell / That’s my belief.” Nevertheless, he demands that you “bring on the dancing girls and put the champagne on ice,” because our boy is playing to win.
17. “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” (1980)
The third song on this list that references rock ‘n’ roll in the title. It’s also another entry in the canon of AC/DC rock criticism, only this time it comes from Brian Johnson, the Lester Bangs to Bon’s Greil Marcus. Brian’s take on the music is more instinctual than historical — he wants you to know the music ain’t noise pollution, and that it’s not gonna die. In truth, Brian’s voice on this song is noise pollution, and I mean that in the best possible sense.
16. “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be” (1977)
A moment must be taken to pay respects to Malcolm Young, the finest rhythm guitarist in rock history not named Keith Richards or Lou Reed. He held it down while his brother bacon-flopped in the spotlight, but for years before his death in 2017 he quietly commandeered the AC/DC machine. Former bassist Mark Evans called him “the driven one … the planner, the schemer, the ‘behind the scenes guy,’ ruthless and astute.” But it’s the sound of his thunderous Gretsch Jet Firebird that remains his greatest legacy. It is one of the most distinct and overpowering sonic signatures in all of hard rock, a musical sledgehammer that is both heavy and nimble. It’s such a satisfying sound that Malcolm, like Chuck Berry, could get away with playing dozens of variations on the same riff. Like “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be,” which resembles at least 27 other AC/DC songs but somehow still sounds better than most of them. It’s a first-class iteration of The Malcolm Young Guitar Riff — kind of bluesy, super-duper simple, violently staccato, instantly catchy, and Pavlovian fodder for air-guitarists everywhere.
15. “If You Want Blood You Got It” (1978)
My favorite factoid about Malcolm Young is that before AC/DC he was in a psychedelic band called The Velvet Underground. Not The Velvet Underground, but rather a different group that happened to have the same name as the pioneering NYC proto-punk band. Of course, the mind naturally wanders to a highly unlikely hypothetical scenario where Malcolm does join The Velvet Underground, perhaps after John Cale leaves. Instead of Doug Yule, we get a pint-sized Australian who wants to divert his new band away from songs about heroin and S&M and toward tunes about gonads and street fighting.
Would this have worked out well? No, it would not. Thankfully, we live in world where “If You Want Blood You Got It” — another excellent iteration of The Malcolm Young Guitar Riff — exists.
14. “You Shook Me All Night Long” (1980)
Brian Johnson’s finest lyric. When it comes to one-liners about humping, you simply cannot do better than, “She told me to come / but I was really there.” But what really sells “You Shook Me All Night Long” is Phil Rudd. He is to the drums what Malcolm Young is to the guitar. He does nothing fancy, and he does it perfectly. AC/DC is among the precious few hard rock bands — particularly pre-hip-hop — that made dance music. Yes, the records are made primarily for head-banging and fist-pumping. But if you put on “You Shook Me All Night Long” in a club, people can actually shake their hips to it. And that is mostly due to Phil Rudd’s swinging caveman stomp.
13. “Shoot To Thrill” (1980)
The other important thing about Phil Rudd is that he was arrested in 2014 for — among other alleged crimes — attempting to hire a hitman. (He later rejoined the band after sorting out his legal issues.) Which means that Phil Rudd is the member of AC/DC whose personal life is most like an AC/DC song. For everybody else, “Shoot To Thrill” is merely a fictional exercise.
12. “TNT” (1976)
“Shoot To Thrill” reentered pop culture back in 2010 when it was prominently featured in one of the year’s highest grossing movies, Iron Man 2. Director Jon Favreau said he got the idea to use “Shoot To Thrill” while at an AC/DC concert with his wife and kids. And then he decided to make the entire soundtrack composed of AC/DC songs, which makes me wonder what would have happened had Favreau attended a Black Sabbath concert instead. (Seriously: How angry is Tony Iommi that he didn’t get to partake in all of that sweet MCU cash?)
“TNT” is on the Iron Man 2 soundtrack but it’s not in the movie. Which is a mistake, because that goon-squad chant at the start of the song — “Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! — is more rousing than any CGI effect.
11. “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)” (1981)
The fourth song on this list that references rock ‘n’ roll in the title. Back In Black was such a monumental success that following it up was going to be impossible. AC/DC ended up going into a creative ditch for most of the ’80s before finally staging a comeback with The Razors Edge in ’90. But in the immediate aftermath of Back In Black, they produced For Those About To Rock (We Salute You), their last effort with “Mutt” Lange. The album overall is pretty good, but they essentially — to use AC/DC-style verbiage — blew their load on the album-opening title track, which is so far away the best song on the record that I’m having trouble recalling any of the deep cuts. (I have vague memories of “Inject The Venom,” but don’t ask for any details about “Night Of The Long Knives.”)
10. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation” (1978)
The fifth song on this list that references rock ‘n’ roll in the title. My favorite Angus Young quote comes from the 2020 Vulture interview, when he talks about his lack of respect for being respectable. “We never set out for prizes or awards like that. If you asked me in my early 20s, I always thought of those people as uncool. It was an uncool world. My viewpoint was if something was on television, it was finished.”
This is the essential truth of AC/DC, the guiding philosophy that informs their artistic decisions and explains why they are so endearing. They are the most authentic “IDGAF” band in rock history. And they have consistently expressed this point of view from the beginning of their reign. You can hear it in “Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation” in the way Bon Scott snidely asks, “You say that you want respect / honey, for what?” For what, indeed.
9. “Walk All Over You” (1979)
Peak Phil Rudd greatness. I must be alone when I’m listening to this song, because the part where the drums come in at the 61-second mark makes me want to punch a stranger in the face super hard.
8. “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (1976)
A deeply weird song. In the first verse, Bon Scott offers to murder a high school student who is pressuring a classmate sexually. In the second verse, he extends his homicidal services to a woman who is being cheated on. In the third verse, he promises to kill a woman because she nags her partner too much. In the bridge, he lays out his methods, which include concrete shoes, cyanide, TNT, and electrocution — all of which seem inconvenient and inefficient.
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” is structured like an infomercial for manslaughter. The problem is that, on paper, Bon Scott does not seem like a very good hitman. (For starters, giving out your phone number in a song suggests that you are bad at evading the authorities.) But “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” does not exist on paper. It lurks inside your stereo speakers, and in that context, Bon Scott is absolutely credible as a low-rent assassin for hire. After all, I imagine these guys looking more like an intensely charismatic dirtbag than, say, Glen Powell.
7. “Whole Lotta Rosie” (1977)
I promised myself before I wrote this column that I would focus only on album tracks, and not include anything from the If You Want Blood live LP. Because without that self-imposed restriction, I would have put every single song from If You Want Blood on this list. It’s been difficult to hold back, but when it comes to “Whole Lotta Rosie” it feels all but impossible. The live version of this song is unbelievable. Pretty much any live version of “Whole Lotta Rosie” is unbelievable. This one might be the most unbelievable.
Have you noticed that I haven’t talked yet about the lyrics? That’s because I’m trying to figure out a way to discuss the subject matter of “Whole Lotta Rosie” in a manner that will not make me the main character on social media for 24-to-48 hours after this column publishes. And I’m having trouble coming up with the right combination of words that will accomplish this daunting feat. Again, my words for conveying what is great about AC/DC falls short. I’ll just paraphrase Bon Scott: When it comes to lovin’, “Whole Lotta Rosie” steals the show.
6. “Riff Raff” (1978)
The If You Want Blood version of this song is even more ferocious than “Whole Lotta Rosie”! Seriously, go take a 53-minute break from reading this and listen to that album at full volume on headphones. Then take a 15-minute cold shower and come back to your screen. I’ll be waiting.
5. “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)” (1976)
The sixth (and final) song on this list that references rock ‘n’ roll in the title. “It’s A Long Way To The Top” gained new notoriety in the early aughts after it was featured in School Of Rock, a film about children learning how to rock from a wild-eyed alcoholic musician in his 30s. Bon Scott was also a wild-eyed alcoholic musician in his 30s when this song was recorded. He knew about all the pitfalls of life on the road — you get robbed, you get beat up, you get had, you get took, and it’s all harder than it looks. But what amazes me (along with those righteous bagpipes) is that Bon had not yet seen the top of rock ‘n’ roll. He was calling his shot on the very first song on the very first AC/DC record, an act of chutzpah only matched by Oasis putting “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” at the start of Definitely Maybe. If doing that is harder than it looks, it’s only because Bon made it look easy.
4. “Thunderstruck” (1990)
Angus’ epic wheedle-wheedle-wheedling throughout is the one instance in AC/DC’s discography where he’s trying to show you how incredible he is at playing guitar. If Beethoven had been born in 1955, he would have written that guitar part. But Beethoven wasn’t born in 1955, and he didn’t write “Thunderstruck.” Sorry that didn’t work out for you, Beethoven.
3. “Hells Bells” (1980)
At what point does a list of great AC/DC songs turn into a list of the most bad-ass jock jams? Nobody in AC/DC seems especially fit or gifted at playing sports, and yet their finest music perfectly suits the field of high-stakes professional competitions. When I hear “Hells Bells,” my mind immediately thinks that I’m watching an NFL game in late November between two AFC North teams that are tied with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. This is even more incredible when you consider Angus and Malcolm Young put together are still smaller than T.J. Watt.
2. “Highway To Hell” (1979)
The top two AC/DC songs on this list are chalk, because that is the way it must be. It just matters what order you put them in. “Highway To Hell” is Bon’s best lyric and his greatest vocal performance. You know how old actors looked like they were 40 when they were 25, because they had already been to war and they started smoking cigarettes at age 9 and life was just generally tougher back then? Bon Scott is like that, but for rock singers. He looked and sounded like he had seen some shit. And “Highway To Hell” is him showing that in the most natural and not-try hard manner imaginable.
1 “Back In Black” (1980)
The most representative song in the catalog. It’s from the Brian era, but it’s about the Bon era, so it feels like a bridge. It also has the best AC/DC guitar riff and the best AC/DC chorus. I don’t know that I can express how incredibly satisfying that chorus is. Come on, sing it with me, in the highest pitch scream you can muster:
‘Cause I’m back
Yes, I’m back
Well, I’m back
Yes, I’m back
Well, I’m back, back
Well, I’m back in black
Yes, I’m back in black
If you know, you know. Hey, are you going to eat that last wing? I’m still starving.
