Staying with the recent Australian trend, we take a detour down what Lou Reed once called the Dirty Boulevard – and he’s not even Australian nor does his song’s inference equate, but that hardly matters – you get the gist.
So, let’s amp things up a bit:
Does this thing go to 11? When you need that extra push over the cliff – well, this thing goes to 11.
How can one not get jived and pumped by this dirty guitar riff from Australia’s biggest-selling music act in history? It’s almost impossible not to get pulled into it, and with luck you’ll come out the other side. If not, well – you’re in real trouble. I warned you: it’s a Highway to Hell.
In the far western suburbs of Sydney, I always kept close to the small rebel ‘westie’ groups at school who wore untucked flannelette tops wavering over their ACDC shirts. They had your back even if you were kind of an obscure outlier. They were definitely not to be confused with the settled, crisp, happily country flannelette garb that reeked of ‘contented money’. These rich come-ins lived on cheap land (well, modest for them) with newly built double-storey houses; driveways manicured by shiny white pebbles – not the sharp suburban asphalt ones which tore your legs to shreds.
Highway to Hell, released in 1979, is arguably the song that cemented AC/DC’s legend before tragedy reshaped it. (The tragedy being Bon Scott’s death in February 1980 from acute alcohol poisoning). Angus Young’s riff is elemental and Bon Scott delivers the vocal like a man who knows the road, the price, and the thrill, and wouldn’t choose any other route anyway. It’s also noted the song – quite unintentionally – became the band’s global passport. This song cracked the US and extended their touring reach. The irony was great: a song supposedly glamorising damnation became the road that led to their immortality. Scott himself joked in interviews that the “hell” wasn’t spiritual at all but the grind of touring and the cramped flights between gigs.
[Verse 1]
Livin’ easy, lovin’ free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Askin’ nothin’, leave me be
Takin’ everything in my stride
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme
Ain’t nothin’ I’d rather do
Goin’ down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too, yeah
[Chorus]
I’m on the highway to Hell
On the highway to Hell
Highway to Hell
I’m on the highway to Hell
[Verse 2]
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, mama, look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land, wow
References:
1. Highway to Hell – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Great tune. Bon Scott was a helluva frontman.
While, I’m hardly a big fan, his voice it seems was irrevocable. Also the sound is so crisp and biting.
One of the most iconic guitar riffs I can think of, even though it’s very simple.
I recall reading previously Malcolm Young very much believed into a less is more approach when it came to guitar-playing and simplifying licks – apparently, a philosophy he passed on to his younger brother Angus Young who came up with the brilliant riff.
The funny thing is when I heard “Highway to Hell” first on the radio back in Germany, I wasn’t impressed, feeling the song sounded primitive. I must have been 13 at the time and had just started to take guitar lessons.
I mean, yes, I wasn’t entirely wrong. That riff isn’t exactly complex, but that doesn’t make it bad. On the contrary, it makes it better – something I didn’t appreciate at the time.
Nowadays, “Highway to Hell” remains among my favorite AC/DC songs, along with “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” and “Back in Black.”
I pretty much like most of their songs, and it doesn’t bother me their music is repetitive. I also like both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson as lead vocalists.
Once again you are abundantly more conversant of their music than I am. Even so, I also had that lofty and shallow reflection in my youth about their music’s apparent simple riff facade. But I’ve changed my tune and recognise it like you do as something pretty phenomenal. Having said and being from places where their music is played a lot, I can only take them in small doses even still. That’s not taking away their monumental worth and influence in contemporary music especially heavy rock and metal.
One of my all time favorites!
riding high and low, all the way to hell. excellent
You just hope when you get swallowed by it, you are later spat out. Or it’s all hell to pay.
I HATED ACDC when they first came out. It took me years before I started liking them. Now I wonder why I didn’t like them LOL
It seems to be a common experience here that AC/DC didn’t quite resonate with people back in their early heyday, and that it was only over time that listeners really came around to them.
I didn’t like them at first in the 80s…but they grew on me and now I love them. I always thought of them as Chuck Berry on Steroids. I am a Bon guy the most…I like that era best but Brian Johnson is terrific asd well.
It seems like you’re not the only one as both Christian and Polly stated how it took them time to appreciate their music. I like your ‘Chuck Berry on Steroids’ description. Good one.
Angus worships Chuck Berry and he uses his riffs on 11…. and he does a great job of it. Yea I don’t know why it took me a while but it did.
I didn’t know Angus reveres Chuck Berry so much. Interesting.
Yes…he really does. That was his number one influence and knowing that now Matt…when you listen to their songs…you can hear a lot of that going on.
It’s funny – I’ve actually got Thunderstruck coming up in the next few days. Two of my favourite AC/DC songs just happen to land around the same time thanks to the alphabetical order, hehe.
I hand it to them…they never followed trends…they just did their thing over and over again…and it worked!
I see what you mean.
Although despite my not being too familiar with their discography, ‘Thunderstruck’ at least to my ears (particularly the riff) – sounds different than anything I can recall from them or from anyone else for that matter. That’s why I like it so much.
I have a trilogy of my favourites from them and that’s it – It’s a Long Way to the Top, Highway to Hell and Thunderstruck. I could listen to those songs on repeat for a good while and be quite entertained.
Oh I LOVE LOVE that riff in Thunderstruck and how it goes through out the song.
They are a fun band…no need to be deep thinkers.
Yeh, it’s crazy how good it is. Perhaps in my top 10 riffs ever TBH.