Before I start, I’ll address the missing Album of the Week yesterday. Simply put I ran out of time and there won’t be one this week. I had a bit of a temporary change to my work schedule this week that will result in a nice, long weekend for me this coming weekend, but I was too dumb/lazy to plan beforehand and didn’t get my intended AotW finished. I’ll just let the absence roll and pick things up again next week.

I’ve also punted today’s planned Song of the Week to next week as it has similar inspiration in theme to the AotW so it works nice to keep the two together, despite being two very different artists. But that means I can pick whatever in the hell I want for this week.

And today I’m going with a signature track from a band I haven’t talked about much at all to date on this site. AC/DC are one of rock’s biggest and boldest acts, and today I’m going with the lead track from their 1990 Razor’s Edge record that was a bit of a comeback for the group from Down Under. I don’t actually know if you’re supposed to capitalize Down Under but I did it anyway.

Thunderstruck was both the lead single and lead track from the full-length record and was a blatantly obvious choice for both such honors. The calling card of the song is the guitar that opens the proceedings. It is something Angus Young was messing around with and he and brother Malcom decided to run with it. Over time the song took shape around the brothers’ guitar work.

And there is no mistaking what is about to happen when that riff hits. It can’t be confused with anything else, at least that I know of. The song itself is a basic but banging rock track, in keeping with AC/DC’s long legacy of crafting that exact fare. The results on Thunderstruck work on a level beyond the general niceties of rock music, this song absolutely goes to 11.

Typically I like to get at least a little into a song’s meaning. But, this is an AC/DC song, that’s pretty much what it means. No hidden philosophy or sly digs at the establishment in here, just thunder and looking for women and having a good time.

Thunderstruck did reasonably well for itself on release, charting in a host of countries. In the US it landed on the Mainstream Rock Chart at number 5 and instantly became a staple of rock radio and it still sits in heavy rotation to this day. Somehow the song did not seem to even chart on the Billboard Hot 100, no issue in and of itself but there is a curious case about AC/DC and their performance on that particular chart, but I’ll save that topic for another time. It is odd that this of all of their songs didn’t break on that chart.

The album Razor’s Edge did massive business, going 5 times platinum in the US and also selling gobs in other countries. AC/DC had been flagging a bit in the late ’80’s, the prior effort Blow Up Your Video was perhaps not a critical success or fan favorite, though it did start the band back on a good sales track. But Razor’s Edge totally demolished sales figures and put AC/DC back on top of the rock mountain, and Thunderstruck was a huge part of that success.

Thunderstruck has remained a staple of AC/DC’s venerated live set since it release 33 years ago. I don’t have sources for this claim, but several websites report that the song has been a part of every concert since release. That does sound right, I don’t know why AC/DC wouldn’t play it. It ranks toward the top of many fan and journalist polls of the best AC/DC songs and is simply beloved by a lot of the fanbase as well as rock fans in general.

There’s not much more to say here. AC/DC truly caught lightning in a bottle with Thunderstruck.