The iconic AC/DC song that wouldn’t exist without Clint Eastwood
As one of the most iconic actors and filmmakers in Hollywood history, the influence of Clint Eastwood stretches much farther and wider than the confines of the silver screen.
With multiple iconic characters under his belt, Eastwood’s on-camera prowess has inspired everyone and everything from Quentin Tarantino’s filmography and Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken to Meryl Streep’s The Devil Wears Prada performance and The Matrix’s Trinity.
Behind the camera, as arguably the most accomplished actor-turned-director of all time, any thespian with designs on directing – including Denzel Washington, George Clooney, and Ben Affleck – hold Eastwood up as the benchmark they seek to emulate.
However, despite his roots being in the western genre and his musical sojourns largely restricted to an ill-judged country album and composing the scores for several of his own films, a classic AC/DC track wouldn’t exist in its current and unforgettable form if it wasn’t for the ‘Man with No Name’.
The Aussie rockers have a signature sound, and it’s not one that’s immediately evocative of the wide-open plains and sprawling vistas of the American West. Or, in this case, Spain. Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy was a breakthrough moment for Eastwood as a star, and the impact of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly even made it to Australia’s burgeoning hard rock scene.
‘Shoot to Thrill’, the second track from the group’s monolithic Back in Black album that was certified platinum twice over in the United States as a single, has been a staple of AC/DC’s live set since it was first released in 1980.
Angus Young revealed that the song’s memorable breakdown, which comes after the main solo, was inspired by the climactic gun battle in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. In the scene, Eastwood and Eli Wallach’s Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez, or ‘Rat’ to his friends, stare each other down during an intense cemetery showdown.
The guitarist and schoolwear enthusiast shared that the breakdown in ‘Shoot to Thrill’ was specifically written to mirror the composition in the film’s seminal shootout, ‘Il Triello’, crafted by the legendary Ennio Morricone.
It’s an easy thing to miss, but a difficult thing to un-hear after finding out. There’s a shared sense of buildup to both Morricone’s score and Young’s guitar, ensuring that Metallica aren’t the only veteran rockers on the block who’ve channelled the spirit of the famed composer to inspire their work.
AC/DC don’t seem like the kind of band Eastwood would enjoy listening to in his spare time when he’s made his preference for smoother, silkier, and jazzier sounds well known, but that didn’t prevent them from using one of the greatest films of an incredible career to serve as the inspiration behind one of their most famous tracks.
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