Let There Be Rock - Live Capital Center, Landover MD, Dec. 21, 1981

"Let There Be Rock" was co-written by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, and lyricist Bon Scott. The title track of and the third track on the band's fourth album, it was released as a single in October 1977 backed by "Problem Child." Running to a shade over 6 minutes, it was produced by Harry Vanda and George Young.

In spite of its appearing to be nothing more than a typically mindless rock anthem, this is actually quite a sophisticated track: In the beginning Back in 1955 The white man had the schmaltz The black man had the blues is an allusion to the birth of rock 'n' roll. The genre developed from boogie woogie; the first rock 'n' roll song is generally acknowledged to be "Rocket 88," to which Ike Turner was a very unlikely contributor considering the way his music was to develop, but then the two men who gave rock 'n' roll to the world in the first instance were if anything even more unlikely. There was the white man - who had performed as Yodelling Bill Haley - and the black man, a qualified beautician named Chuck Berry. Both Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" and Berry's "Maybellene" were released in 1955, and as they say, the rest is history.

An anthem for the band, AC/DC has played this song at every concert since 1978. They often play it very fast and the solo can be extended all the way to 20 minutes as Angus rises above the stage and does the "spasm."