This is an autobiographical song for AC/DC describing their struggles as they try to make it big by delivering a top notch live show night after night. It was genuine: At the time, they were just getting started and playing some seedy venues with even seedier business associates. The hard work eventually paid off, and several years later the band was selling out arenas.

"It's A Long Way To The Top" really summed us up as a band," Angus Young told Rolling Stone. It was the audience that really allowed us to even get near a studio.

A study in contrast is the Boston song "Rock And Roll Band," released in 1976. That song tells the story of a similar struggle, but it was completely made up: Boston was a studio act first and foremost and had immediate success with their first album.

• According to Bon Scott's biographer Clinton Walker, this tongue-in-cheek song "has become an anthem." It was the band's best single to date reaching

  5 in the Australian charts. Heavy metal tracks are usually dominated by ego-tripping guitar solos; this song is unusual because instead of a lengthy guitar solo it features interplay between Angus Young on lead and Bon Scott on the bagpipes. Ronald Belford [Bonnie Scotland] Scott was born in Scotland - as were the Young brothers. The somewhat older Scott arrived in Australia with his family some 11 years before the Youngs emigrated; he learned recorder and drums, and was a proficient bagpipe player.

  The song runs to 5 minutes 15 seconds, which is quite long for a single.
• The band made a video to promote the single and the album. This was filmed on February 23, 1976 when they rode through the center of Melbourne on an open topped truck accompanied by three members of the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band. The most noticeable feature of the video is that the vocalist was really enjoying himself, but, Walker adds, "it's as if Bon acknowledges he's living on borrowed time, and luckily at that." It would not be such a long way to the top for AC/DC, but four years later almost to the day, it would all be over for Bon. On February 19, 1980 he was found dead on the back seat of a car in London, having literally drunk himself to death. Suggestion credit: Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2
• In 2004, one of the streets in Melbourne near where this video was filmed was renamed "ACDC Lane" in honor of the band. The street was formerly known as Corporation Lane. Suggestion credit: Joseph - Melbourne, Australia
• Jack Black and the School of Rock band play a version of this at the end of the movie School of Rock. The interplay is between the singer and all the members of the band. Suggestion credit: Andrew - Oklahoma City, OK
• Some Aussies sing the chorus as "It's a long way to the top if you want a sausage roll" or even "Chicko Roll," which is even more Aussie - that's a kind of snack down under. Suggestion credit: Nady - Adelaide, Australia
• Country singer Lucinda Williams covered this on her 2008 Little Honey album. She explained to Uncut magazine that the cover was the idea of her manager/co-producer and fiancé Tom Overby. Said Williams: "He thought the album needed an out and out rocker, and I find those hard to write. I didn't even know the song, but Tom got us to try it. I came in at the end of the day, when the band had been rehearsing it, and I was a little resistant, but I drank some wine and gave it a try. We end with it every night now, and people go nuts."
• The Australian singer John Farnham is a huge fan of this song, which gave him the idea to add bagpipes to "You're The Voice," his 1986 single that became one of the most popular songs ever released in Australia.

  Originals

  It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll]

  Adaptations

  An adaptation is a musical work, which uses elements [music or lyrics] from another musical work.

  Versions

  Info It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] AC/DC December 1, 1975 First release It's a Long Way to the Top Nantucket 1980 Long Way The Jets [AU] 1986 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] John Farnham July 25, 1988 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Femme Fatale [US] 1988 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] W.A.S.P. 1995 Unverified It's a Long Way to the Top The Meanies [AU] 1995 High Voltage Medley Tribute High Voltage 1996 Medley It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n Roll] Pat Boone January 28, 1997 Unusual cover song It's a Long Way to the Top Die Krupps 1997 It's a Long Way to the Top Lemmy & Jake E. Lee 1997 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Local H 1998 It's a Long Way to the Top Dead Moon July 5, 1999 It's a Long Way to the Top The Wiggles November 2000 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Dave Evans [AU2] 2000 Unverified It's a Long Way to the Top Iced Earth November 12, 2002 It's a Long Way to the Top Sin City March 22, 2003 Unverified It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Dropkick Murphys June 10, 2003 It's a Long Way to the Top Sandra Weckert 2003 Unverified It's a Long Way to the Top School of Rock 2003 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] John Farnham & Tom Jones May 21, 2005 It's a Long Way to the Top Livewire [CH] 2005 It's a Long Way to the Top Susanna and The Magical Orchestra August 14, 2006 High Voltage Rock 'n' Roll Eagles of Death Metal 2006 Medley It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] "Sir" Oliver Mally 2006 Long Way to the Top Dragon 2007 Live It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock and Roll] Andre Williams with The Goldstars 2007 It's a Long Way to the Top Lucinda Williams October 2008 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Want to Rock and Roll] Eddie Money May 5, 2009 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Dennis Dunaway & Dimma 2009 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Gang Bang 66 2010 Unverified It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] The Rocker 2010 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Javier Vargas, Tim Bogert, Carmine Appice featuring Paul Shortino 2011 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Scarlett Pomers, Ira Black, Matt Thorne, and Chris Slade 2011 It's a Long Way to the Top Jens Thomas, Verneri Pohjola January 27, 2012 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Kal-El December 3, 2012 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Stacie Collins May 2013 It's a Long Way to the Top Jimmy Little 2013 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Scaramanouche 2013 It's a Long Way to the Top Never the Bride April 2015 It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John June 2015 Live It's a Long Way to the Top [If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll] Steve 'n' Seagulls September 9, 2016 It's a Long Way to the Top Eric McFadden November 26, 2018 Al Cee Dee Cee Hench November 30, 2018 Medley It's a Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll The Iron Cross October 31, 2020 It's a Long Way to the Top Anti-Nowhere League July 14, 2023 It's a Long Way to the Top W.A.S.P. Unverified

  Why did Brian Johnson leave ACDC?

  He never did get that hat back." In April 2016, during the Rock or Bust World Tour, AC/DC announced the departure of Johnson, citing hearing issues. As the band explained it, Johnson risked total hearing loss if he continued.

  What does ACDC stand for?

  A.C./D.C. is an abbreviation for alternating current/direct current electricity. The brothers felt that this name symbolised the band's raw energy and the power-driven performances of their music.

  What is the highest selling AC DC album?

  Back in Black was an unprecedented commercial and critical success. It has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in music history.

  Who sang Back in Black originally?

  "Back in Black" is a song by Australian rock band AC/DC. It was released as the second US single from their seventh album of the same name in 1980 through Atlantic Records. Notable for its opening guitar riff, the song was written as a tribute to the band's former singer Bon Scott, who died suddenly in February 1980.