"Highway to Hell" is a song by Australian rock band

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, but the band calls it ...

. It is the opening track of their 1979 album ''

Highway to Hell ''Highway to Hell'' is the sixth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on 27 July 1979. It was the last album featuring lead singer Bon Scott, who would die early the following year on 19 February 1980. Background By 1978 ...

''. It was initially released as a single in 1979. The song was written by

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and only remaining original member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolbo ...

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its beginn ...

and

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotlan ...

, with Angus Young credited for writing the guitar riff which became an instant classic. AC/DC had made several studio albums before and were constantly promoting them via a grueling tour schedule, referred to by Angus Young as being on a highway to

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

, hence the name.

Background

The song is in the key of A Major. The title and lyrics reflect the arduous nature of touring constantly and life on the road. The highway that inspired the title,

Canning Highway Canning Highway is an arterial road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the inner Perth suburb of Victoria Park in the north-east, to the port city of Fremantle in the south-west. The road is mostly a four-lane divided carriageway, with a g ...

, connects the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Kwinana freeway to its port

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

and was home to many of Bon Scott's favourite pubs and hotels, including the

Raffles Hotel Raffles Hotel is a British colonial-style luxury hotel in Singapore. It was established by Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies Brothers, in 1887. The hotel was named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern S ...

. "There were hundreds of

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

s going down every day," recalled Malcolm Young. "But this one, we thought, 'That's good.' It just stuck out like a dog's balls." ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' called it a "bone crunching, gut-wrenching exercise in primal guitar rock" with "simple yet effective riffing" and "ballsy vocals." The single spent 45 weeks on the

German Singles Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

, peaked at #30 in its 19th week on the chart. Bon Scott was found dead in the back of a friend's car, just over six months after the song was released.

Production

"Highway to Hell" was produced by

Mutt Lange A mutt is a mongrel (a dog of unknown ancestry). Mutt may also refer to: People * Mutt, a derogatory term for mixed-race people Nickname * Larry Black (sprinter) (1951-2006), American sprinter * Mutt Carey (1886–1948), New Orleans jazz trump ...

as part of the album by the same name, and his work is regarded as a significant factor in delivering one of the classic AC/DC albums, the emergence of the double-guitar sound, which was later perfected on ''

Back in Black ''Back in Black'' is the seventh studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC. It was released on 25 July 1980 by Albert Productions and Atlantic Records. It is the band's first album to feature lead singer Brian Johnson, following the death of ...

'', and improved backing vocals with Malcolm Young, joined by Cliff Williams for the first time.

Legacy

"Highway to Hell" won the 'Most Played Australian Work Overseas' category at the 2009 APRA Awards. In 2013, an internet campaign attempted to get it to number one in the UK Christmas singles chart. In January 2018, as part of

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to ...

's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Highway to Hell" was ranked number 40. In 2020, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' ranked the song number seven on their list of the 40 greatest AC/DC songs, and in 2021, '' Kerrang'' ranked the song number five on their list of the 20 greatest AC/DC songs.

List of accolades

*Ranked No. 258 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine's list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine '' Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 i ...

.500 Greatest Songs of All Time
Highway to Hell ''The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time] *Ranked No. 152 on the 500 Greatest classic rock, Classic Rock Songs compiled by 94.5 XKR. *Ranked No. 23 on ''

The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time ''The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time'' is a book by Martin Popoff who is the editor in chief and writer of the Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine as well as the senior editor of bravewords.com. He also wrote The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albu ...

'', a book by Martin Popoff. * *The master ringtone was certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

in June 2007 for sales in excess of 500,000.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– lead guitar *

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

Cliff Williams Clifford Williams (born 14 December 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He started his professional music career in 1967 and had previously been in the English g ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals * Phil Rudd – drums

Charts

Certifications

Live recordings

"Highway to Hell" has been performed multiple times in live concert. Including: *''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...

'': This was also released as a single. A video for the single was also released, containing a montage of footage from the '' Live at Donington'' home video. *'' Let There Be Rock: The Movie'' *''

Live at River Plate ''Live at River Plate'' is a live concert film documenting AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour. The DVD includes footage from three concerts performed in December 2009 at the Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is the ...

References

{{authority control 1979 songs 1979 singles 1992 singles AC/DC songs Albert Productions singles APRA Award winners Atco Records singles Atlantic Records singles Epic Records singles Marilyn Manson (band) songs Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange Songs written by Angus Young Songs written by Bon Scott Songs written by Malcolm Young