‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’: Everything great about AC/DC in one song
As a group, the core principles behind AC/DC were simple; they were a band out to have a laugh and create a brand of hard rock that rocked harder than any other band had done in the past. Were they successful in their mission to do this? Hell yeah, they were. One might argue that no other band has ever managed to achieve the same goals in the years since their formation to quite the same degree, and in that sense, it’s understandable why many refer to the Australian outfit as being the greatest rock band to have ever existed.
Delving a little further into their ethos, much of their identity was based on lewd and lascivious humour. When matched with their no-nonsense brand of rock, you could say that a certain element of machismo lay beneath all of their simplistic yet effectively brash riffing, and this was another integral part of their appeal. While this might seem offputting to some, the band knew when to rein in the juvenile dick jokes and poke fun at their own ridiculousness.
There’s a real sense of self-awareness about AC/DC that many other bands who tried to emulate them failed to identify. Their attempts to match their energy ended up with the jokes falling flat and appearing as nothing but parody. This is because, for all the songs that AC/DC might have written about testicles and bedding women with venereal diseases, they still had a manifesto for keeping grounded that they lived and breathed by.
‘It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)’ is the anthem that defines AC/DC and their identity as a rock group and acknowledges all of the toil and hardship that it takes to make it as one of the greatest rock groups in the world. Appearing as the opening track on their first internationally released album, High Voltage, it serves as a reminder to the listener that the band came from humble origins and rose to worldwide notoriety through nothing but hard graft.
In terms of having all the hallmarks of a classic AC/DC track, it delivers them in spades. There are riffs galore from the outset, and the volume is turned beyond the max for the entirety of the song. You know that they mean business from the opening notes of the song, and for the remainder of the track and, indeed, the album, they continue to deliver on the promise of being a true tour de force.
However, the lyrical content of the song is a little more introspective than usual, where vocalist Bon Scott delivers his distinctive howls with lines about how the band have had to deal with being ripped off, mugged and battled addiction in order to make it to the apex of their career. It’s a reminder for all of the arrogant young bands who think they have it all laid out for them that they shouldn’t take things for granted or expect luxury to fall into their lap without effort, and due to how AC/DC have managed to remain at the top, it’s clear that they’ve kept the message of the track in mind throughout their career.
There is still plenty of silliness in the song, though, and while the message delivered by Scott barely makes reference to their sexual prowess as a group, the group still know when to come through with an amusing moment. Take, for example, the explosive bagpipe solos that are peppered throughout the track – they may be a sly nod to the Scottish heritage of three of their members, with Scott and the Young brothers, Angus and Malcolm, having been born in the country, but it’s also a moment of sheer comedy to hear their abrasive tone burst into life over the top of some hard riffs.
There might be better examples of musicianship or humour from AC/DC, but ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)’ is always going to stand tall as being the song that most accurately sums up why they as a group did everything way better than their peers, and why they continue to be the benchmark that other hard rock groups look up to. It’s an anthem for rockstar life and a reminder of how it should be approached if you really want to be taken seriously doing it.
