Top 10: AC/DC Songs

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been able to put down the new AC/DC album, Power Up, since picking it up on Friday. Like all the other AC/DC albums before it, it rocks hard from beginning to end. After about 5 spins, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be cool to keep the AC/DC theme going?” So that’s exactly what we’re doing with this week’s Top 10. For those about to read, we salute you.

10. “Let Me Put My Love into You”

Kicking off this week’s Top 10 is a song that cracked another infamous list, Tipper Gore’s Filthy 15. It also happens to be the one song off Back in Black (1980) that hasn’t been played ad nauseum. “Let Me Put My Love Into You” boasts all the classic AC/DC trademarks: Phil Rudd’s signature drum groove, overdriven power chords, a scorching Angus Young guitar solo, and most importantly, double entendres. If only the lyric “Let me cut your cake with my knife.” was the most “offensive” thing we had to deal with today.

9. “Girls Got Rhythm”

For some reason, I don’t think the “rhythm” they’re singing about is that being laid down by Rudd. All kidding aside, it was hard not to make this list just Highway to Hell (1979) in full. The album is AC/DC at their peak, hard rocking and hookier than ever. “Girls Got Rhythm” is simple, yet effective. It’s no wonder why it became the second most popular song off the album, behind only the title track.

8. “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)”

45 years after its release, “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” has become the battle cry of every man, woman, and child who’s picked up a guitar since. Perhaps only Motörhead’s “(We Are) the Road Crew” so eloquently sums up life on the road better, but even that comes from the perspective of, surprise, the road crew. “If you think it’s easy doin’ one night stands, try playin’ in a rock ‘n’ roll band.” Amen Bon. Furthermore, bagpipes never sounded cooler.

7. “Let There Be Rock”

“In the beginning, back in 1955…” This is the gospel according to Acca Dacca. Little did they know they’d go on to be so important to the history of the very music they sing about on “Let There Be Rock”. In the years since its release, we’ve seen the rise and fall of disco, new wave, grunge, boy bands, nu metal, EDM, and just about every other hyperbolic record industry creation under the sun. Yet AC/DC still stands. As long as they do, so will rock.

6. “Hells Bells”

Call it blasphemy, but Back in Black is an album I never need to listen to in full again. It’s a shame because there’s a handful of killer songs on there. I just never understood why it became essentially the biggest album of all time, especially considering AC/DC would go on to better things with Brian Johnson at the helm, but that’s a matter of personal opinion. Back to the subject matter at hand, “Hells Bells” is the one song off this album that has been played a zillion times, but I’ll never grow tired of. Maybe it’s because of the memories that go along with it.

As a fresh faced middle school student who had yet to immerse himself in the world of Venom and Mercyful Fate, this was one of the most evil songs I ever heard. Everything about it, from the opening church bells to the lyrics to Johnson’s vocal delivery, is sinister. So you could only imagine my disappointment when the local classic rock station would play this, only to follow it up with some wimpy garbage like John Mellencamp. Gag me with a spoon!

5. “The Razors Edge”

After nearly a decade of being ignored by the American market, AC/DC exploded back on the scene with The Razors Edge (1990). On the success of “Thunderstruck” and “Moneytalks”, the album went on to sell over 5 million copies stateside. It’s perhaps the strongest album of the Johnson era, if only for the title track alone. AC/DC is a great hard rock band. “The Razors Edge” is proof they could’ve been an even greater metal band. Let that sink (the pink) in for a second.

4. “Night Prowler”

Par the course of an AC/DC album, there was always the obligatory slow, ominous track. “Night Prowler” was Highway to Hell‘s. You can really hear Bon channel his inner Alex Harvey on this one. For those of you unfamiliar with Alex Harvey, the best way I can describe him is to Bon Scott what Black Oak Arkansas’s Jim Dandy was to David Lee Roth. Like every great rock song before and after, “Night Prowler” became misinterpreted and scapegoated. For many, it will forever be synonymous with a violent string of murders. For me, it’s Bon Scott’s spine chilling last will and testament. “Shazbot! Nanu nanu!”

3. “Live Wire”

Why do I feel like a teenage Nikki Sixx was listening to this and said, “This’d make a cool song title one day.”? Coincidence? Look folks. Mötley Crüe may have put L.A. on the map, but AC/DC put an entire damn continent on the map. Honestly, who in America cared about Australia before the international release of High Voltage took the bicentennial by storm? Exactly. Also, this song kicks all sorts of ass.

2. “Riff Raff”

Powerage (1978) is the hidden gem of the Bon Scott era. For whatever reason or another, it never caught on stateside the way its predecessors and Highway to Hell did. I don’t understand why. It’s just as excellent as those albums, but I digress. “Riff Raff” is as raucous a rocker can get. Musically, it’s the soundtrack to an evening of drunken debauchery while out on the town. Lyrically, it’s a social statement that’s more relevant today than ever. There’s too many people talking “Riff Raff” (“See it on television everyday, ya hear it on the radio.”) and not enough people shutting the hell up!

1. “Touch Too Much”

What do Axl Rose and I have in common? Not much. One of us embarked on the reunion cash grab of the millennium while the other is typing this from his bedroom desk. I’m sure you can figure out who is who. However, there is one thing we share in common. During Rose’s brief 2016 stint as frontman for AC/DC, he was asked what his favorite song from the band was. This was his answer.

“Touch Too Much” combines the unparalleled energy of AC/DC’s uptempo tracks with the sly mischievousness of their slow songs. It’s also loaded with innuendos and entendres that today’s crop of rappers would kill for. Who knows? Maybe in a parallel universe, Bon Scott is wearing a gold chain. Just kidding. He’s chugging whiskey with Lemmy and Phil Lynott, raising more hell than hell itself. Once a rocker, always a rocker.