Highway to Hell (song)
| Highway to Hell | |
|---|---|
| AC / DC | |
| publication | July 1979 (single), July 27, 1979 (album) |
| length | 3:28 |
| Genre (s) | Hard rock , blues rock |
| Author (s) | Bon Scott , Angus Young , Malcolm Young |
| album | Highway to Hell |
Highway to Hell is a song by the Australian rock band AC / DC . It was released in advance in July 1979 as the first single from their album of the same name . The piece reached number 30 in the German charts. In the USA , the single reached number 47 in the charts.
Music genre
Highway to Hell is a mid-tempo rock piece with a tempo of about 113 BPM . The stringed instruments are not tuned to the concert pitch, but to an a with approximately 430 Hertz.
Emergence
The main riff of Highway to Hell was written by Angus Young , Malcolm Young and Bon Scott were also involved in the songwriting , the latter wrote the lyrics. The piece relates to life on tour. Later singer Brian Johnson told Metro magazine : “It was written about being on the bus on the road where it takes forever to get from Melbourne or Sydney to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain . When the Sun's setting in the west and you're driving across it, it is like a fire ball. There is nothing to do, except have a quick one off the wrist or a game of cards, so that's where Bon came up with the lyrics. ”(“ It was written about life on the bus, when it lasts forever, from Melbourne or Sydney across the Nullarbor Plains to Perth. When the sun goes down in the west and you drive past it, it's like a ball of fire. There's nothing to do but jerk off or play cards. Bon fell the text. ”) An often-cited explanation for the title is the reference to the Canning Highway in Australia, which was mentioned at a point near Fremantle Highway to Hell . There was a particularly high number of accident victims at the end of a downhill slope at an intersection near Bon Scott's favorite pub , The Raffles .
Highway to Hell was the first AC / DC song to hit the US charts. In this way he also helped to boost album sales. The song became a live classic. In 1992 a live version of the album Live: 2 CD Collector's Edition was re-released as a single. The song was included on the live releases Live and Let There Be Rock: The Movie , among others .
reception
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song 254th in its 500 best songs of all time. Author Martin Popoff put the song at number 23 in his book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time .
In October 2016, the single was at the top of the 1970s edition in the German Most Wanted Charts , making Highway to Hell the most sold track of the month of the decade.
There are several German-language cover versions in which the title of the song is corrupted . Among the best known versions include not until on the way home it gets light from Otto Waalkes and I am the way home too bright of Rudolf Rock & the shocker .
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.charts.de: Highway to Hell
- ↑ www.billboard.com: Highway to Hell
- ^ Metro, October 15, 2009
- ^ Joe Bonomo: AC / DC's Highway to Hell , accessed July 20, 2011.
- ↑ gfk Entertainmen: Most Wanted Charts: October 2016. officialcharts.de, November 7, 2016, accessed on March 17, 2020 .