Powerage

Released

Despite its silly cover art (lead guitarist Angus Young, electric wires protruding from his sleeves, seemingly aglow with electricity), 1978’s Powerage is Bon Scott-era AC/DC’s most “mature” album. The frontman’s lyrics on “Down Payment Blues,” “Kicked in the Teeth,” “Gimme a Bullet,” and “What’s Next to the Moon” are surprisingly poetic, but they’re married to riffs as hard as any in the band’s catalog, and the rhythm section — guitarist Malcolm Young, drummer Phil Rudd, and new bassist Cliff Williams — drive everything hard, but with a suppleness sometimes absent in their earlier work. And they still know how to write a berserk, headbanging thug anthem; “Riff Raff” is a song that can make an audience literally explode, and “Sin City” is almost as hardcore.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Time’s Up cover

Time’s Up

Living Colour
Made In England cover

Made In England

Atomic Rooster
Bitchin’ cover

Bitchin’

The Donnas
No Joke! cover

No Joke!

Meat Puppets
Rust Never Sleeps cover

Rust Never Sleeps

Crazy Horse, Neil Young
Check 'Em Before You Wreck 'Em cover

Check 'Em Before You Wreck 'Em

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell
Razamanaz cover

Razamanaz

Nazareth
Up Your Alley cover

Up Your Alley

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts