Rocktober '70s Song #19: "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC (1979)

Well folks, it's Halloween, which means that we must close the door on another successful Rocktober.  As always, thanks for indulging me for the last few weeks.  Next year, we'll be onto the '80s.  But in the meantime, please be sure to tune in tomorrow and all next month for Soul-Glovember, a daily look at history's most impressive Jheri curls.  First up:  Ice Cube. 

The last song in our '70s-themed Rocktober is a true hard rock classic:  AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," off of their 1979 album of the same name.  The album was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who, at the time, had produced some albums and some songs, but was not the producing legend that he became.  This album kind of established him as one of the most sought-after rock producers of the early to mid '80s, as he would go on to produce AC/DC's Back in Black and For Those About to Rock We Salute You, Def Leppard's High 'N' Dry, Pyromania, and Hysteria, Foreigner's 4, The Cars' Heartbeat City, and many others.  Of course, he would go on to produce and marry Shania Twain in the '90s, but that's neither here nor there.

Highway to Hell was perhaps a prescient album and song title, as the album was the last to feature AC/DC's original singer Bon Scott, who would tragically die in February 1980 by what was classified as "death by misadventure," which is apparently what British coroners meant for "dying by alcohol poisoning while trying to sleep it off in a Renault."  The song -- which was co-written by Scott, Angus Young, and Malcolm Young -- starts off with that now-instantly-recognizable riff from Angus, and then Phil Rudd comes in with a beat that makes you bob your head, before Scott and his charismatic singing takes over.