AC/DC - It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll

The Bagpipes, The Guitar, and the Grueling Grind

1. Off the top, gun to my head - the Mount Rushmore of the greatest self-aware songs about rock and roll would include So You Wanna Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, We’re an American Band, It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It), and AC/DC’s rip-snorting It's a Long Way to the Top.

   In the pantheon of rock 'n' roll mythology (and that’s an enormous pantheon), there's a special altar dedicated to the Truth of the journey. AC/DC, perennial avatars of hard rock grit, still working the Maximum-Decibel Variant of the Chuck Berry Model after all these years, immortalized this pilgrimage on, It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll). Released in 1975 as part of their album T.N.T., the song is a cautionary tale etched in the granite of guitar riffs and the honk of… wait a minute… bagpipes?

   

   Bagpipes

   It boils down the essence of AC/DC as a collective - a band perpetually perched on the precipice of wild abandon and disciplined craft. It's a Long Way to the Top is the sonic embodiment of their ethos, and nowhere is this more palpable than in the glorious cacophony of the riff-o-rama between Bon Scott's bagpipes and Angus Young's guitar. Chuck Klosterman once went to town discussing a question with which he was terminally bored: what kind of music do you like? I loathe this question as well because the more you love music, the more music you love. In his essay, Klosterman offered an alternative to that question. Instead of naming genres of music, Chuck offers his favorite moments in music across any type of sound in bullet-point format. Among his favorites, “The vocal sequence from Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone where she sings and talks to herself at the same time, which starts at about 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the song,” “The way the vocals are mic’d on the Pet Shop Boys cover of Always On My Mind, which sound as if they were recorded in an abandoned Vatican City cathedral” and this…

   The closing 1:02 of AC/DC's It's A Long Way To the Top (If You Want To Rock and Roll), when Angus Young's playing devolves into an inverted riff-o-rama in response to the bagpipes.

   -Chuck Klosterman

   It's the sound of two seemingly incongruous elements - Scott's ancestral wail and Young's electric fire—melding into an exhilarating, anarchic unity.

2. The song hits the on-ramp with the blunt force trauma of Malcolm Young's rhythm guitar, a riff that promises no quarter and demands absolute submission. Little brother Angus divebombs in and then Bon Scott, the leather-lunged bard of the working class, steps in with his gravelly voice, dispensing wisdom only a man who's seen it all could offer. His lyrics are a litany of the struggles faced by every aspiring rocker: the soul-crushing monotony of gigs where "getting stoned" is a survival tactic and the inexorable pull of the road that never ends. But it’s the crescendo, that final delirious minute, which cements this song's place in Rock 'N' Roll Valhalla. Scott's bagpipes - a nod to his Scottish heritage - return to the fray, an instrument that in lesser hands might seem absurd. Scott's swagger makes it work, transforming the bagpipes into an instrument of honest rebellion. Meanwhile, Angus Young's guitar, always teetering on the edge of chaos, weaves around the bagpipes in a frenetic dance. It’s a conversation between the past and the future, between tradition and revolution. It all seems Old School now, but in 1975 AC/DC ushered in the new with a few old-school tactics. Jack White made a career out of this approach.

   Does it make you want to boil your sneakers and make soup out of your girlfriend’s panties? If it doesn’t then it ain’t AC/DC.

   -Steven Tyler, AC/DC’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

3. This riff-o-rama is not merely a gimmick; it’s a distillation of rock’s very essence. Klosterman's praise is not misplaced —these moments capture the unbridled joy and the relentless drive that define the genre. The bagpipes and the guitar don't just coexist; they elevate each other, creating a sound that's at once primal and transcendent. It's a reminder that rock 'n' roll, for all its bravado, is rooted in a deep, almost mystical connection to the human spirit's need for expression and freedom. I cherish the raw sincerity of It's a Long Way to the Top and revel in its unapologetic celebration of the grind, the sweat, and the glory of making music that matters.

   Gettin' old, gettin' gray
   Gettin' ripped off, underpaid
   Gettin' sold, second-hand
   That's how it goes, playin' in a band

   It’s the sound of a band that's lived every word, every note. It’s the echo of countless miles traveled, countless nights spent in dingy bars, and the indomitable spirit that keeps pushing forward. It is unfiltered, unflinching, and unforgettable. In many ways, it reminds me of my journey from junior enlisted Sailor to Chief Petty Officer. I went hard in the paint, sacrificing rungs up the rank ladder for a good time and even better stories. I squandered a lot of goodwill, good whisky, and good leadership, but I paid it all back with a metric ton of interest, and I only regret some of the fun I had.

   It was a long way indeed.