AC/DC’s Brian Johnson has recalled how he wrote the lyrics to “You Shook Me All Night Long” in a matter of hours — and how Malcolm Young immediately recognized the song’s potential. The story comes from a 2011 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, whose full 38-minute interview with the singer has just been released on YouTube.
Johnson joined AC/DC in 1980, following the death of former frontman Bon Scott, as the Australian rockers began work on the follow-up to 1979’s Highway to Hell. The resulting album, Back in Black, would become one of rock’s biggest records. Its opening track, “You Shook Me All Night Long,” was also the first song Johnson wrote with guitar-playing brothers Angus and Malcolm Young.
“The first song I had to write was ‘You Shook Me All Night Long,’” Johnson recalled. “And I remember sitting there. This is when my passion with cars comes in. The first line I wrote was, ‘She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean, she was the best damn woman…,’ and I went, ‘I’m writing it with cars again.’
“And I give it to Mal the next morning. He’s going, ‘Are you writing about cars?’ I went, ‘No, I’m trying to get the women and the car.’ And he says, ‘Ah, no worries, man. It sounds great.’ And that was it.”
Johnson said Malcolm was still raving about the song the morning after they recorded it. The guitarist wanted to hear it again, prompting Johnson to make a bold assessment of what they had created.
“We just had a little cassette player in this little house we had. And then the next morning, Mal put it on again. He said, ‘I’m gonna listen to this again, mate.’ I sat, and I just went, ‘Y’know, I think that might be the best rock and roll song I’ve ever heard in my life.’ ‘What?’ ‘I’m telling you, I think that’s the best rock and roll song.’ And Mal said, ‘You could be right, mate.’”
The song came together quickly, Johnson explained, partly because he knew the pressure was on to deliver a worthy follow-up to Highway to Hell. In a separate interview with Absolute Radio, he recalled that Angus and Malcolm already had the title in mind when they began working on the track.
“The boys had a title,” he said. “Malcolm and Angus said, ‘Listen, we’ve got this song. It’s called ‘Shook Me All Night Long.’ That’s what we want the song to be called.’ And if you listen to the chords, [the chorus] just fell into place, so I can’t claim any credit on that thing.”
Johnson also remembered feeling the need to impress his new bandmates as he tackled his first songwriting assignment.
“It was as quick as it had to be, which was that night. I guess I had to try and impress somebody,” he said. “It was just a thing that came at the time, and I still think it’s one of the greatest rock and roll riffs I’ve ever heard in my life.”
History has certainly been kind to the song. “You Shook Me All Night Long” became one of AC/DC’s signature tracks and their first single to reach the U.S. Top 40. It remains one of the band’s most popular recordings, with more than 1.8 billion streams on Spotify.
