If You Want Blood, You Got It (1978)
1. Riff Raff
2. Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be
3. Bad Boy Boogie
4. The Jack
5. Problem Child
6. Whole Lotta Rosie
7. Rock 'n' Roll Damnation
8. High Voltage
9. Let There Be Rock
10.Rocker
As the crackle of the crowd swells and Angus Young’s guitar slices through the Glasgow air like a lightning bolt from down under, If You Want Blood You've Got It roars to life with the fury and precision of a runaway freight train. This was not a live album in the traditional sense—it was a declaration. A line drawn in sweat and feedback across the stage floor.
AC/DC weren’t there to reinterpret or embellish. They didn’t believe in stretching songs into 12-minute jazz freak-outs or smothering their sound in reverb and studio frosting. No, what you got here was the real deal: raw, blistering, blood-pumping rock and roll as it was meant to be heard—live, loud, and gloriously unvarnished.
Most of the setlist came culled from the band’s first four LPs, which at the time were barely known outside the Antipodes and select rock bunkers in Europe. So while the label might have balked at calling it a “greatest hits,” fans and critics knew better. This was the gospel according to Bon Scott and the brothers Young, and for many, it was the first true communion.
It’s worth noting how faithful the performances were. Play any studio track—then spin its twin here—and you’ll strain to hear the difference. AC/DC weren’t a band who ‘translated well’ to the stage—they lived there. Bon Scott’s vocal swagger was never more potent, Angus Young’s solos never more savage, and Phil Rudd’s drumming never more ironclad.
The Jack, sleazy and swaggering as ever, stood out for its back-and-forth with the crowd—a moment where band and audience became one, leering and laughing in equal measure. Elsewhere, Angus was given brief (but never indulgent) freedom to stretch his fingers and flex the fretboard in scorching displays of bluesy speed. But restraint was key. No song overstayed its welcome, and none felt like a mere vehicle for showmanship.
The album’s title wasn’t just a dare—it was a warning. And the cover, depicting poor Angus run through by his own axe, didn’t do much to clarify things for the uninitiated. To the casual browser of 1978, AC/DC may have looked like another group of punk upstarts crashing the party—but this was no safety-pinned flash in the pan. This was the real noise.
In hindsight, If You Want Blood You've Got It marked the end of the beginning. The pre-superstar phase of AC/DC’s career wrapped up in 10 tracks and 50 furious minutes. A snapshot of their primal power, captured forever on wax. A shot of adrenaline just before the band stepped into the stratosphere with Highway to Hell and Back in Black.
And as the final chords echo out and Bon Scott cackles his last, there’s only one thing left to say: they gave us blood. And it was glorious.
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