Sometimes inspiration falls from above, sometimes inspiration is hard earned or sometimes, in the case of AC/DC, inspiration can be fished out of a childhood toy box.
In every case, though, inspiration is an utterly mystic thing that defies understanding. There aren’t enough brain scans or tests in the world that scientists could do to try and get to the core of it, because even still, there would be big questions unanswered about how and why ideas hit when they do.
Sometimes it’s more obvious. Bob Dylan got the inspiration for ‘Desolation Row’ during a long taxi ride, so the song’s social commentary makes sense as the world passed by his window. But in other instances, it’s more confusing, even to the artists themselves. Prince never seemed to understand where ‘Purple Rain’ came from, so much so that the track genuinely appeared to concern him or stress him out, as the power of the track merely landed in his hands.
In the case of AC/DC, it falls somewhere in the middle as the inspiration makes perfect sense, but appeared to the band like an omen or a beacon of good things to come in a period where reinvigoration was needed.
It was 1990. By that point, the band was 12 albums deep and several decades in, including several lineup changes as people had come and gone. Throughout the ‘80s, things were in decline. It’s mostly just that times were changing, and so were tastes. Add to that some personal issues, like band members being busy with divorces, and all of it spells stagnation. When it came to making The Razor’s Edge, they knew they needed something to shake things up.
And they did thanks to one of the band’s most powerful songs of their entire discography. Like an army marching over a hill set to attack the music world once more, they arrive chanting “thunder”, and with ‘Thunderstruck’ in tow, they gave themselves not just a hit, but essentially a new theme tune.
It’s a reminder that inspiration can come from anywhere, as the Young brothers found themselves struck by gold in their old childhood toy box. “Lyrically, it was really just a case of finding a good title,” Angus Young recalled as the instrumental hit quickly, but the words were lacking behind. Then it hit them, “We came up with this thunder thing, based on our favourite childhood toy ThunderStreak, and it seemed to have a good ring to it.”
It wasn’t just a title lyric that hit them, though. With the inspiration from ThunderStreak becoming Thunderstruck, the track transformed into the anthemic set-opening song it is today, as it seemed to revitalise the influence behind the entire band. “AC/DC = Power. That’s the basic idea,” Young said, and with that reminder, they were back on track, creating rock songs with exactly the power levels they’d always been aiming for, launching ‘Thunderstruck’ as the lead single from that new album and letting it serve as a song that shocked them back onto course.
