AC/DC-Powerage Song by Song Thread

Looking closer, that seems as good an interpretation as any. Bon said he wrote it about his divorce.

 

Killing his girlfriend.....aided and abetted by Casey Jones, Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane?

The sleeper track of the album. Great little track but sandwiched between a very well known live favourite and 3 not so well known absolute stormers to close out the album (more of which later ).

Love the lyrics, love the nifty little Angus spot in the middle, love the gang vocals kicking in for the third verse, love the strutting Dirty Deeds /TNT rhythm section.

Love it!

 

Since we were talking about Cliff, anybody know his former band Home?

 

ah, I dunno!
He does sing "alright, officer, I confess" that part....not sure. (EDIT: saw Godshifter's comment about the divorce after writing this)
Can't make heads or tails myself of the lyrics; more baffling than Riff Raff (actually, with Riff Raff, it's so extraordinary musically one doesn't spend much time thinking about the lyrics! Probably best that way with some songs...)
Yeah, "always do the same thing" - not really! Especially not when it was Bon (*sigh*)...

 

Another great track. I don't really analyze the lyrics to these AC-DC tracks too much. It's all about the "big dumb riffs". A shame they didn't play What's Next To The Moon live more often.

 

A huge pity given how spectacular it was in 2003.

 

Some catching up to do:

Gimme A Bullet: 9.3/10
Riff Raff: 9.2/10
Sin City: 8.3/10
What's Next To The Moon: 9.5/10

Pretty much agree with everyone else on these songs/versions. The only thing I can add is that I really like the original mix of "What's Next To The Moon", as it's quite different in parts. A good change of pace to listen to.

 

ITS A BIRD ITS A PLANE ITS A SUICIDE!!!!!

This is in my top 5 fav acdc songs

powerage is my fav acdc and Im late to this party

DOwn payment blues - Just love that rocking riff during the verses and stuff, BON SCOTT WAS THE MAN

Gimme a bullet is so poppy its unreal, This is what a true ACDC hit should sound like. That part where Ill MAKE BELIEVE ITS YOU, just so sing a long and so ROCKING but like GOOD ROCK

SIn CIty is so badass and that break down in the middle is so just PERFECT

ACDC trying out of weapons that they rarely break out again, how many other acdc songs break down like sin city, or as poppy as Gimme a bullet or as weirdly great as Whats next to the moon or just so ride along rocking, Gone SHOOTIN - I mean ACDC Is breaking out so many tricks on this album and many they dont use again

Plus HOLY CRAP add riff raff and and rnr damnation to this mix all i can say is

TWO FACE WOMAN WITH YOUR TWO FACE LIES
I HOPE THE TWO FACED LITTLE BICH IS SATISFIED

AWESOME ALBUM HMmm now I look at the lyrics at they arent even that

got one funnier for you

always thought Let me put my love into you said - Let me Catchatate with my knife - so much cooler then cut your cake wiht my

 

What's Next To The Moon, is another i used to always put on mix tapes. What a cool groove and dynamics. Love this song. Trippy tittle and lyrics. Bon was a great lyricist to me. Love this song. 11 out of 10 to me.

 

That is true. I believe I mentioned in another AC/DC discussion my feeling that Cliff Williams probably "dumbed down" his playing a bit- clearly the guy is more capable than yer typical "dum-dum-dum-dum..." eighth note AC/DC bassline. Now and then he gets to play something more complicated than root notes or doubling the guitar riff. That said, those eighth note bass lines are an essential ingredient to the AC/DC sound.

Clearly I am in the minority of fans who aren't crazy about "What's Next To The Moon". I usually skip it, to be honest...

 

Uh, no. Powerage is a lot more than that.

 

Bon's lyrics were so great. Just like Lemmy's words too, i think lots of people would get a shock at how fantastically both could come up with great stories.

 

AC-DC is similar to seventies era Status Quo. It's about the monster boogie riffs not really the lyrics. After all Bon Scott and/or Brian Johnson are no Bob Dylan, Ray Davies or Pete Townshend.

 

Gone Shootin':

Ahhhh, the first song I ever heard on this album, from when it appeared in Beavis and Butthead Do America, and then I come to this album, and here it is.
It kicks off with a slow, head bopping groove, and that cool ass little riff with the occasional guitar strum punctuating it, with Bon coming in at :47, and he does such a great job dining this song about a girl who self destructs into oblivion when her man is always out of town. And we must mention Angus' solo at 2:28, has this groove to it, a great feel, a borderline sense of melancholy and sadness, perfect for this song. And I realize this Groove is somewhat reminiscent of James Brown, not so much in style, but in terms of locking into a tight groove and never letting go, and that is a risky game to play, but if your band is good, and I mean good, they can make it work, and this band makes it work exceptionally.
This is a Top 3 track, easy, I absolutely love it.

 

Nashville '78:

 

At VH1 Studios:

 

Gone Shootin': My least favorite song off the album. Too slow. I usually skip it if I feel like it. I like some of the extended live versions though. 8/10

 

I like Gone Shootin' It's little more bluesy and a change of pace. Another one that I would like to see played live more often.

 

What's Next To The Moon! This album just keeps delivering!

This used to be my favorite song from the record when I first bought it in the early 80s.

 

This one takes me back to hearing the band play it at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC on March 11, 2003. It was an incredible chance to see them in a smaller venue and it blew my mind to hear them break out with Gone Shootin', Rock 'n' Roll Damnation and What's Next To The Moon. Sick night and it was free too. Wow.

 

"Gone Shootin'" might be another tune with George Young on bass with the little funky flourishes that are done in places. Granted most of the bass is playing a standard rhythm but during the guitar solo it stretches out and does some melodic runs against it. Also, listen to Malcolm's excellent rhythm playing in the left channel. It's very groovy. That's one of the things that Malcolm stated was different about AC/DC than most "rock" bands. He stated that AC/DC and The Rolling Stones were both "rock 'n' roll bands" as rock bands don't swing and were stiff but both his band and The Stones had the feel and movement of true rock 'n' roll. I think "Gone Shootin'" is a perfect example of what he's talking about.


Here's his statement from a Rolling Stone article:


"There's very few rock & roll bands," Malcolm Young explained to a Dutch TV interviewer around the time of AC/DC's 2000 album Stiff Upper Lip. "There's rock bands, there's sort of metal bands, there's whatever, but there's no rock & roll bands – there's the Stones and us," he chuckled. When asked by the interviewer to explain the difference between rock bands and rock & roll bands, he replied, "Rock bands don't really swing ... a lot of rock is stiff. They don't understand the feel, the movement, you know, the jungle of it all."

 

Gone Shootin' what a groove. What a song. Moon and Shootin' are just something special. Over and over. Listened to these two. I love the VH1 special thing. And the version with the demo practice part where they just repeat the groove for a while is super cool. You can really feel it. Gone Shootin' rocks. 11 0f 10.

 

Stormer!

My joint favourite track on the album. Along with about 6 others.

Listen to that bass! Listen to that groove! I always used to include this on a comp cd whenever I was comparing new hi-fi equipment. And people in the shop always used to ask who it was. Fair enough, I'd say it's possibly the most untypical track up to this point in their career.

But it's great! Love the bass. Love the groove. Love the riff build up in one speaker (Malcolm?) then being joined in the other (Angus?). Same as Down Payment Blues in that respect. Love the solo. Especially love the Chuck Berry lines in the coda.

Who else clicked the link to the studio track above, let it play to the end, and immediately had the opening riff to the next track (it's another stormer!) in their head? Just me?

 

And what a fantastic surprise in the B&B film when it came booming out of the speakers in a small cinema!

This poster still adorns my spare room wall.



I'm 52!