AC DC's Highway To Hell

Name: AC DC's Highway To Hell
Brand: Findaway
Availability: InStock
Author: Joe Bonomo
ISBN: 9798882221958

Author: Joe Bonomo

Series: 33 1/3

Narrator: Heath Miller

Unabridged: 3 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks

Published: 05/13/2025

Categories: Nonfiction, Music, Composers, Musicians, History & Criticism, Rock

Synopsis

Released in 1979, AC/DC's Highway To Hell was the infamous last album recorded with singer Bon Scott, who died of alcohol poisoning in London in February of 1980. Officially chalked up to ""Death by Misadventure,"" Scott's demise has forever secured the album's reputation as a partying primer and a bible for lethal behavior, branding the album with the fun chaos of alcoholic excess and its flip side, early death. The best songs on Highway To Hell achieve Sonic Platonism, translating rock & roll's transcendent ideals in stomping, dual-guitar and eighth-note bass riffing, a Paleolithic drum bed, and insanely, recklessly odd but fun vocals.
Joe Bonomo strikes a three-chord essay on the power of adolescence, the durability of rock & roll fandom, and the transformative properties of memory. Why does Highway To Hell matter to anyone beyond non-ironic teenagers? Blending interviews, analysis, and memoir with a fan's perspective, Highway To Hell dramatizes and celebrates a timeless album that one critic said makes "disaster sound like the best fun in the world."

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alan on July 31, 2018

One of the more straightforward 33 1/3 books, Joe Bonomo’s Highway to Hell is an examination of AC/DC’s breakthrough album and, while I profess to prefer this type of book to the more fanciful in the series, the real problem is that, while Highway to Hell is an excellent album, there is really not a......more

Goodreads review by Bobby on March 16, 2018

I was certainly not expecting the book about Highway to freakin' Hell to be the best one of these 33 1/3 books I've read, but the author does a great job of reminding us of the life-changing effects of rock and roll when we were dumb-ass teenagers. Really, really excellent.......more

Goodreads review by Paul on June 25, 2012

I do love the 33 1/3 book series...a continuous, multi-volume set of small books, that you can easily fit in your pocket (smaller than a paperback novel). Portability is a big sell for me. I loved taking my 33 1/3 books with me everywhere...as it was too easy for them to rest comfortably in my pocke......more

Goodreads review by Adam on August 27, 2023

Better than the PJ one. You can feel the realistic love and criticism from the author. Thanks Lee......more

Goodreads review by Eric on February 25, 2013

Author Joe Bonomo says that AC/DC were never as dumb as they seemed. And I think he's correct. The band wrote smart songs that sounded stupid just like the Stooges, the Dolls, and the Ramones. It's nice to revisit Highway to Hell after all these years. In my opinion it's one of the greatest hard roc......more