‘What’s Next To The Moon’: How a broken string inspired AC/DC’s greatest deep cut
There is no denying it, AC/DC are masters of the riff. Just like their name, their tunes are pure electric rock ‘n’ roll energy. Their music is not known to be overly complex, and it was never supposed to be. But they are among some of the best in music history canon in terms of how they lock into the rhythm.
While most are aware that Angus Young’s minor pentatonic and blues-based lead guitar flurries helped define the band’s raw and in-your-face sound, it was his brother and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, with bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd, who kept the pocket tightly nailed down.
The creative process behind bands varies largely, depending on the people involved, how they function or sometimes the substances in the room. You never know when and how inspiration may strike, and sometimes a band’s very best songs just happen by accident. That was certainly the way it went with AC/DC’s ‘What’s Next to the Moon’. It is a deep cut from their 1978 and possibly most underrated record, Powerage.
It is not one of their albums that immediately comes to mind when you think of the band’s comprehensive discography. But it was a seminal record for the group and rock music in general. Chronologically, it’s sandwiched between Let There Be Rock and, arguably, one of their best works, Highway to Hell. Nevertheless, it drips with a bluesy swagger, unapologetically raw energy, and the rhythm section’s signature moody grooves.
Much of AC/DC’s catalogue during the Bon Scott era was irreverent, tongue-in-cheek songs to drink to. But ‘What’s Next to the Moon’ is unabashedly and uncharacteristically dark. Scott’s lyrics conjure the image of an anti-hero with no checks or balances, and the noir subject matter is more like a murder ballad than the rock anthems they became known for. The narrative implies the potential killing of a lover and then being on the hunt for a new paramour “next to the moon”.
On the technical side, during initial writing sessions for Powerage, Angus broke his high E string. Instead of restringing his guitar, he started riffing on the five intact strings. Without the highest string, he created a dark groove that would welcome the song’s verses and had more in common with Mississippi Delta blues, both in mood and meaning, than the band’s signature “rock first, blues second” trademark sound.
In a 1979 interview, Angus recalled, “We were in studio, and I had just broken a string. Instead of changing my guitar, I preferred to keep the one I had, because that day I had a hell of a sound! So I changed the string and, in order to test the arrangement, I played a few notes followed by a chord. That was exactly the intro to ‘What’s Next to the Moon’. Malcom said, ‘This would be good to start a song’. And here it was.”
Built around an angular open string arpeggio with chord accents alternating in ascending fourths and fifths and the unmistakable sound of cranked Marshall amplifiers, it’s a definitive blues rock deep cut. In the end, Angus’ use of the limitation of a broken treble string as a songwriting tool instead of a trammel led to crafting one of the band’s most unique tracks.
