This is about Mark Brandon Reid, also known as "Chopper." He was sent to jail for murdering a gang leader and he got sentenced to 16 years. Three years into his sentence Chopper became disillusioned with jail life and hated working for the "screws." His friend and crime partner Jimmy Loughnan planned an escape, but because of Jimmy's fear of tight spaces, they were caught and given solitary for two weeks. Bon Scott read about this in a newspaper and started writing lyrics for a song. Everyone in AC/DC loved the idea of a criminal-themed song, and they finished it in about a week.
AC/DC made a reasonably high-end performance video for this song, complete with the boys playing on a bunch of rocks as various explosions go on around them.
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