The best song featured on ‘Powerage’, according to Angus Young
AC/DC’s rebellious era was marked by a general identity crisis in rock.
Their 1978 album Powerage stood out among its contemporary rockers for stoically keeping the band’s hardened rhythms in place while others were starting to verge into commercial-friendly pop rock. No song gives life to AC/DC defiance as Angus Young’s favourite track on the album: ‘Riff Raff’.
The album enriched the band’s repertoire thanks to their new bassist, Cliff Williams, whose memorable bass lines take on a life of their own. According to Young, however, the game changer was the guitar riff. When asked what his favourite AC/DC song is overall, the band’s founder replied: “If I was just thinking of the guitar, since I’m a guitar player, I’d say ‘Riff Raff.’ The guitar work was a challenge but interesting in the way the song rolled out. That’s my guitar answer.”
He explained that the riffs were written by his brother, Malcolm Young, as were all the riffs in the band’s songs he holds most dear. Although appropriately named for this purpose, ‘Riff Raff,’ goes beyond its guitar meaning: it strings together the cynicism in society’s regard towards rock.
‘Riff Raffs’ were thought to be a less-respectable lot, and rock was seen to be no better. AC/DC was particularly anti-establishment when it came to incorporating Bon Scott into its vocal team; his wild spirit was encapsulated by his raw growl. His scandals never left a want for inspiration, but the lowlife spirit that’s “good for a laugh” is believed to address the drug scandal that ended Scott’s collaboration with The Valentines.
Being caught in possession of drugs wasn’t uncommon for bands in the 60s, that is, unless you lived in Australia. The country’s notorious strictness on drugs applied to laypeople and musicians alike, and one of music’s major drug scandals Down Under involved Scott and The Valentines both. The Australian pop band had been trying to change their image, but this went too far and brought down its rising stardom.
The opening 40 seconds of ‘Riff Raff’, largely made up of Angus Young’s solo guitar, are some of the most anticipatory and tense in all of rock and roll. Once the rest of the band comes slamming in, the song explodes into a head-bashing fever of fire and energy. The song was basically written for the stage and became a staple of AC/DC’s performances for years to come.
A memorable performance was actually brought to life by Guns N’ Roses during their 2017 tour. The California rockers brought a few AC/DC tracks to the stage with them, and brought Angus Young along for the ride in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The audience was pumped as Young ripped through the riffs in normal street clothes rather than his usual schoolboy outfits.
The high-energy musical intensity juxtaposes the relatively laid-back lyrics depicting a chill guy who “Don’t ever carry a gun, I ain’t done nothin’ wrong, I’m just havin’ fun.”
If that doesn’t capture AC/DC’s unbothered, accidentally legendary spirit in the late ’70s, I don’t know what does.
