Highway To Hell is definitely the definitive
AC/DC album in the
Bon Scott era. Everything was spot on from
Angus' guitar playing to
Bon's vocals and the songwriting and production was top notch as well.
Robert John "Mutt" Lange production hands were all over this. And there's one song in particular that always reminds me of
Def Leppard (or the other way around since
AC/DC came before.....). I'm talking about
Touch Too Much. Listen to this one and you will "get" how important production is and also, how influential a song can be on other singers, i.e.
Joe Elliot. I have to disagree with
Rolling Stones ranking of
Highway To Hell at #199. This is definitely Top 20 IMO.
It's a shame that this album is "tainted" with the whole
Richard Ramirez controversy with the song
Night Prowler. For those that have never heard about it, back in 1985, a Serial Killer was on the loose terrorizing LA and once captured, the song was linked to him as his favorite
AC/DC song as well as being the impetus for his mass killing spree. The song, even though it sounds sinister had nothing to do with anything dark and ominous.
On VH1's Behind the Music on AC/DC, the band claimed that while the song had taken on a murderous connotation by Ramírez, it is actually about a boy sneaking into his girlfriend's bedroom at night
On a lighter note, the ending of
Night Prowler always makes me laugh with
Bon's final recorded lyrics for the song and his tenure with
AC/DC. He was a fan of
Mork and Mindy and ended the song with
Mork's catchphrase 'Shazbot, Nanu Nanu!'.
Highly recommend this one to anyone. If anyone ask me what to start an
AC/DC collection with, I gladly point to this one first.
Fave Songs: All of 'em. Damn it's really hard to choose an MVP here. But at the end of the day I gotta go with
Highway To Hell, Touch Too Much, Walk All Over You and
Night Prowler as Co-MVP.
Album cover ftw!!! This is hands down the best cover for the band and I put this as #5 on my all time favorite covers. As a kid, there was a part of me that really thought that
Angus had horns.