AC/DC — Highway To Hell

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AC/DC - Highway To Hell cover
4.24 | 116 ratings | 5 reviews
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Album · 1979

Filed under Hard Rock
By AC/DC

Tracklist

1. Highway To Hell (3:27)
2. Girls Got Rhythm (3:23)
3. Walk All Over You (5:09)
4. Touch Too Much (4:26)
5. Beating Around The Bush (3:56)
6. Shot Down In Flames (3:22)
7. Get It Hot (2:34)
8. If You Want Blood (You've Got It) (4:36)
9. Love Hungry Man (4:16)
10. Night Prowler (6:16)

Total Time 41:29

Line-up/Musicians

- Bon Scott / lead vocals
- Angus Young / lead and rhythm guitars
- Malcolm Young / rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Cliff Williams / bass, backing vocals
- Phil Rudd / drums

About this release

Record label:
Albert/Atlantic.

Released:
27th July 1979 (international)
3rd August 1979 (US)
8th November 1979 (AUS)

Australian version used the same cover photo as the international one, but added flames and a bass guitar neck to the picture.

A remastered version was released in 2003 by Epic Records.

Thanks to Time Signature, Pekka, colt, Lynx33 for the updates

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AC/DC HIGHWAY TO HELL reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Warthur
AC/DC are one of those acts where they have been so widely imitated their schtick can seem rather generic and middle-of-the-road as a result - but they're so good you can soon see how they ended up defining their genre and redirecting the road through sheer excellence. On Highway to Hell they have absolutely perfected the cocky, sleazy swagger that so many glam metal bands would try to recapture over the coming decade, combined with an iconic hard rock sound that blasts most of their imitators out of the water. Yes, their chant-along style can begin to seem a bit formulaic, but it's an absolute corker of a formula and I defy anyone of sound body and mind to listen to the title track and not at least be tempted to yell along.

Equally, though, I find the entire album is just samey enough to become repetitive if listened to all in one go - it's a good formula they hit on, but it's also a limited one and for me not one which really holds up for a whole album so much as it's good for a song or two before I want something a bit more ambitious.
Sinkadotentree
1980 was such an amazing year for me,well it actually didn't start out all that great.I had went back to High School in September of 1979 to get my grade 13 and lets just say i spent more time partying and getting into trouble than i did on my homework.By the end of the first semester the Principal had a meeting with my mom and i stating that when the semester was over i wasn't welcomed back,that i was failing all my classes but if i behaved i could finish the courses.So when the end of January 1980 came i was looking for a job and found one quickly at our local grocery store.I did go back to that High School to visit my girlfriend in February and when the Vice Principal saw me he yelled at me and told me if i ever came back on school property the police would be called.My High School days were apparently over(haha).Fast forward to late Spring and it's the weekend and i'm in one of the many parks in our tourist town getting intimate with Mary Jane when Darlene(a girl i hung out with quite a bit during my last semester of school) yells at me from across the park.We meet up(she liked Mary Jane too)and started talking when this beautiful young thing walks by with her boyfriend holding hands.Darlene and her said hi to one another and i'm thinking she must go to the other High School because i would have remembered her.Anyway Darlene and i continue to talk and she says "You have to come over to my place and hear the new album i got". She kept going on and on about it so over we went in my car and into her bedroom where she took out of it's sleeve a vinyl copy of "Highway To Hell" and put it on the turntable.The rest my friends is history.I had never heard anything like this in my life! The vocals,the lead guitar,the energy.I fell in love and soon bought my own copy.I didn't know when i listened to that album for the first time that day that Bon Scott had died just a few months before that.By the way that was such a significant day for me.AC/DC would become my favourite band for many many years and i heard them that day for the first time.Also that girl i saw with her boyfriend? I ended up marrying her,and that same day was the first time i laid eyes on her.Coincidnece? I think not(haha). The only album i have played more than "Highway To Hell" is "Back In Black".They were my 1A and 1B for many years."Highway To Hell" is an album full of lyrics about sex with lots of humour.This sounds so incredible cranked up to 10 which was how i usually listened to it as i drove around the beaches back in the early eighties.I knew every detail about that album back then and listening to it tonight for the first time in years was a complete blast!I love every track.What a legacy for Bon Scott to leave us with."Beating Around The Bush" is all Bon and his theatrical performance.So many highlights from both Bon and Angus but then i am a fanboy.This is the easiest 5 stars i've given so far.Thanks for letting me reminisce.
Stephen
"I'm goin' down, all the way, I'm on the highway to hell, don't stop me!" and that goes the rant of the late Bon Scott when he screamed the band's signature song way back in the 1979, and apparently the devil granted his wishes when they found his body in a car breathless, tragically died by an overdosed alcohol drinking, and this is their sixth album, just for another spooky information. It's a big loss to the scene and there's been a small talk inside the camp to disband, but luckily they continued and later on, AC/DC became bigger and bigger, and as of 2008, they have sold more than 200 millions albums worldwide.

Produced by Mutt Lange, which later leaped even higher as a successful producer for Def Leppard and Bryan Adams, achieved his first major rock triumphant with "Highway To Hell". AC/DC scored 7 platinums in USA alone with this album and spawned legendary tracks such as "Girl's Got Rhythm", "Touch Too Much", If You Want Blood", "Shot Down In Flames", and of course the title track itself. I also like "Get It Hot" and "Love Hungry Man" and probably only "Walk All Over You" is my least-fave pick of the album.

"Highway To Hell" is an extremely enjoyable album and undoubtly an iconic release you should buy as the last legacy of Mr.Scott, and though I can accept Brian Johnson's voice, I always prefer Scott's, maybe because he seems to be less chaotic-and-distorted than Johnson. This album was quoted as one of the 500 greatest albums ever made by Rolling Stone magazine, and I can convince you that it ain't an empty boast.
Time Signature
If you want rock (you've got it)...

Genre: hard rock / heavy metal

"Highway To Hell" is one of the most important AC/DC albums. It's the last album to feature Bon Scott, who tragically died in 1980 from heavy drinking (he lived rock 'n' roll and he died rock 'n' roll), and it contains the all time rock 'n' roll classic "Highway to Hell".

It's not coincidence that "Highway to Hell" became an AC/DC anthem, as it's based on an easily accessible and infectiously catchy guitar riff, which just compels one to rock out and play airguitar while doing the duck-walk. Apart from "Highway to Hell", the album contains several strong rockers, most of which have a sense of cheekiness and lightheartedness to them, which is especially prevalent in "Girls Got Rhythm", "Walk All Over You" (wihch is a great underrated rock song), "Shot Down in Flames" (which is also based on a simple but incredibly catchy guitar riff), "If You Want Bllod (You Got It)" which is more of a straight heavy rocker, and "Love Hungry Man" which is based around a bass ostinato which, for once, extends beyond the simple pumping bass that is so typical of AC/DC. "Touch Too Much" is more reminiscent of 80s metal in many ways than 70s hard rock and while "Beating Around the Bush" is energetic hard rocker whose main riff is certain to inspire headbanging and airguitaring. The bluesy "Nightprowler" is an unusually dark song for the Bon Scott era AC/DC, but it is a nice way to conclude an otherwise energetic hard rock record.

"Highway to Hell" belongs in the hall of fame of rock - it's simply one of the best rock albums ever.

Members reviews

bassgeezer
When AC/DC made Highway To Hell it was their best album so far. Bon Scott died early the following year. I can’t help wondering what they would have done next if Bon had not died - whether they would have continued to get better. If they had called it a day after Bon’s death, Highway To Hell would have been the perfect album to end with. As it was Brian Johnson joined the band. Then they made Back In Black. I believe Back in Black just shades it as AC/DC’s best album ever. Both albums are in the masterpiece category though. Highway To Hell is full of classic AC/DC tracks.

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