Highway to Hell by AC/DC

Highway to Hell, AC/DC's sixth album, came out on 27 July 1979 through Albert Productions and Atlantic, and it's the sound of the Australian hard rockers hitting with a bigger, glossier punch. Robert John "Mutt" Lange produced, the first of three albums he'd make with them, and he buffs up the riffs without sanding off a single splinter.

Angus Young and Malcolm Young lock their guitars into riffs you could lean a truck against, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd keep the rhythm as steady as a pneumatic drill, and Bon Scott sings like a man with a wicked grin and a pocketful of trouble. The title track is the anthem, a strutting, gang-chant declaration of bad intentions, and the rest of the record, from "Girls Got Rhythm" to "Shot Down in Flames", "Touch Too Much" and "Walk All Over You", is loaded with the same randy, rolling swagger. "Nightprowler" creeps along on a slow, menacing crawl.

It turned out to be Scott's last album with the band. He died on 19 February 1980, and Highway to Hell became the last word from the singer who had fronted AC/DC since 1974.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.