85. In the Beginning

85. "Let There Be Rock" by AC/DC

The version of this song you hear on the radio features Bon Scott because that's the front man that originally sang it. Brian Johnson also does a good job screeching out the lyrics in concert. But the song really isn't a showcase for either Bon or Brian. It's all about Angus's driving guitar hooks and raucous solo at the end. How raucous was it? During the recording of the song, Angus played it so loud for so long that the amplifier melted.

MELTED!

Think about that for a second or two. Do you know what that means? It means if Angus wanted to, he could make amplifier fondue!

In concert, this is the song where Angus puts all of his guitar showmanship on glorious display. He stomps and runs and duck-walks and poses and thrashes uncontrollably on a hydraulic stage that lifts him up where he can be idolized by tens of thousands of adoring fans that get blasted with a whirlwind of confetti. Of course, you wouldn't know that from watching the video below. However, it's worth a peek because it contains rare footage of Angus playing the song while wearing an angel's halo instead of his signature devil horns.



It's a hell of a rocker, but we don't hear it very often on the rock 'n' roll radio. I think the song doesn't get regular airplay because it's so long. Billy says if you want to have hit you gotta cut it down to 3:05, and this song clocks in at a little over 6 minutes. But that's just the studio version. The concert versions--of which there are hundreds online--are much, much longer epic riff-fests where Angus lets the Rock Monster loose and whips the crowd into a call-and-response frenzy.

Near the end of my stint at Boise State, I liked to listen to three of these longer versions one after the other while I was working on some mundane HTML coding task. Why three? Because that's about as long as my bladder would hold out. These are loooooooooong songs. How long? So long that they put Albuquerque to shame! Here are my three favorite performances arranged in Benjamin Button order.








You know, after watching these massive guitar solos, I think it's pretty clear who Nigel Tufnel's guitar hero is.



Want more proof? Here's the bootleg long version of Nigel's solo. Let there be rock!