Tag Archives: AC/DC

Music Video of the Day: Guns for Hire by AC/DC (1983, directed by Paul Becher)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

One thing that you could always count on with AC/DC is that their music videos would be direct and to the point.  While other bands tried to come up with elaborate storylines or gimmicks for their videos, AC/DC was content to just rock.

Guns For Hire was the first single and video to be released off of their 1983 album, Flick of the Switch.  While the band was touring to support the album, Guns for Hire was the song that they opened with.  It’s also a song that they apparently stopped playing after the tour ended.  Though Flick of the Switch has its fans (and has been the subject of much positive reappraisal in recent years), it was a commercial disappointment when it was first released.  It was also during the recording of Flick of the Switch that drummer Phil Rudd left the band for the first time.  Malcolm Young later described the album as being a disappointment, saying that it was “thrown together real quick.”  Personally, I think Guns for Hire is a perfectly good AC/DC song but it’s understandable why the band may not have wanted to revisited the turmoil that was going on when it was recorded.

Because Phil Rudd either left the band or was fired during the recording of Flick of the Switch (it depends on who you ask), Guns For Hire was the first AC/DC music video to feature Simon Wright on drums.  Wright stayed with the band until 1989, when he left to join Dio.  He was replaced by Chris Slade, who was subsequently replaced in 1993 by …. Phil Rudd.  Time is a flat circle.

This video was directed by Paul Becher, who directed two other videos for AC/DC and one for Prince.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Nervous Shakedown by AC/DC (1983, directed by Paul Belcher)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

One thing you can say about AC/DC: they’ve never been afraid to let the music speak for itself.  At a time when other bands were creating increasingly elaborate music videos and worrying more about how they would look on MTV than how they would sound while performing, AC/DC simply went out on stage and rocked while the cameras were rolling.  AC/DC’s videos are direct and make no excuses, much like the band itself.

This is the video for Nervous Shakedown.  Just like all of AC/DC’s other music videos, this video is about the performance and nothing else.  Nervous Shakedown is the fourth song off of AC/DC’s album, Flick of the Switch.  The song peaked at #35 on the UK charts, while reaching #20 in Ireland.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) by AC/DC (1982, directed by Derek Burbridge)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

AC/DC was always a no frills/no bullshit/hard-rocking band and the same is true of their music videos.  While other bands of the period were using elaborate videos to covers for their deficiencies as musicians, AC/DC used videos to show off what they could do on stage.  AC/DC always respected their fans enough to let the music speak for itself and that’s what they did in the video for For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Problem Child by AC↯DC (1976, directed by Russell Mulcahy)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Here’s the thing about AC/DC.

When it came to music videos, they’ve never needed to do anything fancy.  They’re not one of those bands that needs a bunch of bells and whistles to look impressive.  All they have to do is come out on stage and rock.  Their best music videos are usually very simple performance clips, like this one.

This video was filmed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia.  If it looks rough, that’s because it was supposed to be a part of a large concert film but the film’s backers ran out of money before any major post-production work could be done.  The rough look, however, works for AC/DC.  They are a band that could handle looking rough.

Russell Mulchay, of course, went on to direct multiple videos for Duran Duran, along with Highlander.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: What Do You Do For Money Honey by AC/DC (1980, directed by Eric Dionysius and Eric Mistler)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

One reason why AC/DC has remained popular for such a long time is because there’s nothing phony about them.  They play hard rock, they play it loud, and they make no apologies.  That attitude can be found in all of their songs and also all of their videos.  The video for What Do You Do For Money Honey, like most of their videos, is a simple performance clip because AC/DC doesn’t need to do anything extra to rock you.

This song is from Back In Black, their first album after the death of lead singer Bon Scott.  After Scott’s death, the band came close to disbanding but were encouraged to stay together by Scott’s parents, who insisted that Scott would not have wanted his death to be the end of AC/DC.  Brian Johnson was subsequently brought in to replace Scott and the rest is history.  In What Do You Do For Money Honey, Johnson is singing to an unseen woman who avoids having to work by sleeping with older, wealthy men.

The song may not be as well-known as Highway to Hell but it’s still AC/DC rocking out as only they can.

Enjoy!

 

Horror Song of the Day: Highway to Hell (by AC/DC)

Posted on by Arleigh

Highway to Hell

We’ve finally reached the finish line. It’s now Halloween. Enjoy the sun while it out and about because when it goes down and the sky darken and turns to black, the ghouls and monsters come out to play.

Those inclined towards enjoying the darker aspects of life will dance and play throughout the night as they continue their way down the highway to hell.

“Highway to Hell”

Living easy, livin’ free
Season ticket, on a one – way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be
Taking everything in my stride
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme
Ain’t nothing I would rather do
Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too

I’m on the highway to hell
On the Highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell

No stop signs, speedin’ limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Nobody’s gonna mess me ’round
Hey Satan! Paid my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey Mama! Look at me
I’m on my way to the promise land

I’m on the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell
Highway to hell

Dont stop me!

I’m on the highway to hell!
I’m on the highway to hell!
I’m on the highway to hell!
I’m on the highway to hell!

And I’m goin down..all the way!
I’m on the highway to hell..

Music Video of The Day: Highway to Hell by AC/DC (1979, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, as soon as I saw the twitter reaction to the passing of Malcolm Young, I knew that there was no way today’s music video of the day wouldn’t come from AC/DC.

As I looked through all of the AC/DC videos that were available on YouTube, the main thing that I noticed was that there was not an ounce of pretension to either the band’s music or their videos.  The majority of the videos that I saw were simply made up of footage of the band performing on stage.  There was no attempt to pretend that they were anything other than a hard-working band that played fast and loud.  How could anyone not respect that?

Highway to Hell was probably an obvious video to pick, as it seems to be the song that everyone knows.  Well, that’s okay.  Sometimes, the obvious choice is the right choice.  Since the video is pretty straight forward, here’s a little background on the song, courtesy of Songfacts:

The title is often attributed as a phrase AC/DC guitarist Angus Young used to describe touring in America. There is a much more literal explanation, however. “Highway to Hell” was the nickname for the Canning Highway in Australia. It runs from where lead singer Bon Scott lived in Fremantle and ends at a pub/bar called The Raffles, which was a big rock ‘n roll drinking hole in the ’70s. As Canning Highway gets close to the pub, it dips down into a steep decline: “No stop signs… speed limits… nobody gonna slow me down.”

So many people where killed by driving fast over that intersection at the top of the hill on the way for a good night out, that it was called the highway to hell, so when Bon was saying “I’m on the highway to hell” it meant that he was doing the nightly or weekly pilgrimage down Canning Highway to The Raffles bar to rock and drink with his mates: “Ain’t nothing I would rather do. Going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too.”

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Let There Be Rock by AC/DC (1977, dir. ???)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

How did I let it happen? I went through 421 of these posts, and it took till now to do one for a song on Jeff’s hit list.

You remember Jeff from Rock: It’s Your Decision (1982), right? He’s the kid who had decent taste in music, but was then red-pilled by reading The Big Beat: A Rock Blast by Frank Garlock, which turned him into a raving homophobic bigot with a persecution complex who treated his friends like trash and gave an insane sermon condemning rock music. During that sermon he finally named names of what songs and groups were evil. Of course AC/DC was specially mentioned with a list of some of their hits. This was one of them.

While I’m sure Jeff never saw this video, I like to pair the following images and think that he was just envious that he couldn’t pull this off as well as Scott did.

Rock: It’s Your Decision (1982, dir. John Taylor)

The video features Bon Scott as a preacher who delivers the lyrics like a sermon. We get occasional cutaways to members of the group who are choirboys, because what else would you expect members of AC/DC to be dressed like. Eventually, Scott decides to take off clerical clothing after a video effect.

Then Scott takes a flying leap that according to the Young Brothers, injured Scott.

I didn’t need Wikipedia to tell me that something went wrong. You can see that he missed the mark and fell offstage. Credit to Scott and the band for not only leaving that in, but not appearing to react to it happening.

I really like this video. If I had one complaint, it’s that it appears that Scott is screwing up his lip-syncing. You can see the difference when you watch him perform the song live. I noticed the same issue when I watched the officially posted version of Highway To Hell. I refuse to believe that Scott was this bad at lip-syncing. I think I know what happened. It’s the only explanation that I have.

The song is supposed to introduce light before sound in the pre-chorus. That is the way it was done on both the album and in the video. They fixed that in live performances, like the one below:

I have a feeling they overlayed a slightly different studio recording onto the video in order to make it sound better. You see this done on unofficially posted music videos all the time. I can see this throwing off Scott’s timing just enough that it’s noticeable. You can still see that he is reacting and making the right lip movements. They just seems to miss the mark.

This video is a perfect example of why I put AC/DC right alongside the other 1970s music-video pioneers like ABBA, Sweet, Golden Earring, Kate Bush, Hall & Oates, Funkadelic, Alice Cooper, and other musicians from that period that I haven’t covered.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Can I Sit Next To You Girl? by AC/DC (1974, dir. ???)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

Happy Australia Day!

To my knowledge, this was not only the debut single for the band, but also their first music video. You might have noticed that is not Bon Scott. AC/DC’s first lead-singer was a guy named Dave Evans. He’s a good singer and clearly a good performer, but I can see why the band let him go. Despite attempts over the years to classify the band as “hard rock”, they have maintained that they are just rock ‘n roll. I see that when I watch Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. When I watch Dave Evans, I see Marc Bolan of T-Rex or a frontman for one of the Sunset Strip bands of the 1980s. He doesn’t quite fit. Of course this is all in retrospect. Still, that is the feeling I take away from this music video.

The music video was filmed for the show The Last Picture Show because clearly that big sign above them didn’t make that clear.

Going into doing these “music video of the day” posts, I never would have imagined that Alice Cooper, ABBA, AC/DC, and Hall & Oates would be trailblazers for the modern music video.

Enjoy!