1980 Hard Rock Anthem, Never a No. 1 Hit, Has One of the 'Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time'
Following lead singer Bon Scott's untimely death in 1980, Australian rock band AC/DC replaced his role within the group with Brian Johnson. The first single from their album Back in Black, and thus the first to feature Johnson, was the power anthem "You Shook Me All Night Long."
"You Shook Me All Night Long" was released on August 15th, 1980, and peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Despite not being a number one hit, the song is considered by many to be AC/DC's signature song from their catalog.
Since the song's release, the lyrics and the writing behind them have been subject to debate and controversy. Band members Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Brian Johnson are the sole songwriters credited on the track. However, many believe that at least some of the lyrics were written by Bon Scott prior to his death in February of 1980.
Two of Scott's former girlfriends claimed they saw writing by Scott that made it into "You Shook Me All Night Long." Additionally, Doug Thaler, a close friend of Scott's and AC/DC's booking agent for their American tours, said of the lyrics and their writing:
"I don't care who tells me anything different: you can bet your life that Bon Scott wrote the lyrics to 'You Shook Me All Night Long'. It's Bon Scott's lyrics all over the place."
Over the years, the song has become a signature track of AC/DC's and is almost never omitted from live performances and/or setlists. When the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, they performed the song with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.
"You Shook Me All Night Long" is extremely popular with critics and fellow musicians. Guitar World ranked the guitar solo at number 80 on their "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" list, and Rolling Stone ranked the track among their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." Rock Critic Robert Christgau even went so far as to call the song AC/DC's "only great work of art."
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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 10:20 AM.