Highway to Hell is the sixth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on July 27, 1979. It is the first of three albums produced by Mutt Lange, and is the last album featuring lead singer Bon Scott, who died on February 19, 1980. By 1978, AC/DC had released five albums internationally and had toured Australia and Europe extensively. In 1977, they landed in America and, with virtually no radio support, began to amass a live following. The band’s most recent album, the live If You Want Blood, had reached number 13 in the United Kingdom, and the two albums previous to that, 1977’s Let There Be Rock and 1978’s Powerage, had seen the band find their raging, blues-based hard rock sound. Although the American branch of Atlantic Records had rejected the group’s 1976 LP Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, it now believed the band was poised to strike it big in the States if only they would work with a producer who could give them a radio-friendly sound. Since their 1975 Australian debut High Voltage, all of AC/DC‘s albums had been produced by George Young and Harry Vanda.
Tracklist:
- Highway to Hell
- Girls Got Rhythm
- Walk All Over You
- Touch Too Much
- Beating Around the Bush
- Shot Down in Flames
- Get It Hot
- If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
- Love Hungry Man
- Night Prowler
AC/DC
Bon Scott: lead vocals
Angus Young: lead guitar
Malcolm Young: rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Cliff Williams: bass, backing vocals
Phil Rudd: drums
Technical personnel
Producer: Robert John “Mutt” Lange
Recording Studio: Roundhouse Recording Studios, London, England
Recording Engineer: Mark Dearnley
Mixing Studio: Basing Street Studios, London, England
Mixing Engineer: Tony Platt
Assistant Engineer: Kevin Dallimore
Art Direction: Bob Defrin
Photography: Jim Houghton
Bon Scott (July 9, 1946 – February 19, 1980)
Malcolm Young (January 6, 1953 – November 18, 2017).