"Shoot to Thrill" is a song by Australian

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

. It is the second track on the 1980 album ''

Back in Black ''Back in Black'' is the seventh studio album by Australian rock band AC/DC, released on 25 July 1980, by Albert Productions and Atlantic Records. It was the band's first album to feature Brian Johnson as lead singer, following the death of the ...

''. This song is also the second track of '' AC/DC Live'' and ''AC/DC Live: 2 CD Collector's Edition'', and is included on the ''Iron Man 2'' soundtrack.

Music video

On 26 January 2010, a new music video for "Shoot to Thrill" was released with exclusive footage from the film ''

Iron Man 2 ''Iron Man 2'' is a 2010 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the sequel to ''Iron Man'' (2008) and the third film in the Marvel Cinem ...

''. The live concert footage used in the video was filmed in December 2009 at a concert in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

at the Estadio Monumental, from which the ''

Live at River Plate ''Live at River Plate'' is a live concert film documenting AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour. The DVD includes footage from three concerts performed in December 2009 at the Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is the ...

'' DVD was filmed.

Live recordings

Several different live recordings of "Shoot to Thrill" have been released officially. One version, recorded from the '' Razors Edge World Tour'', was released on the 1992 ''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

'' album. Another version, recorded from the 1991 Donington show, was released on the deluxe edition of the 2009 box set '' Backtracks''. Another performance, recorded at River Plate Stadium in

in December 2009, was released as a limited edition 7-inch single ( backed with a live performance of "War Machine" from the aforementioned show) for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

2011, promoting the live DVD ''

,'' which was released in May 2011.

Meaning

When explaining his lyrical inspiration for the song, lead singer and then-songwriter Brian Johnson recalled reading a British article about a neighbourhood pusher who made daily rounds (almost like a milkman) throughout the London suburbs, selling narcotics to bored, lonely and depressed housewives. These substance-affected homemakers would then peruse the local clubs and bars, seeking out torrid, extra-marital relationships. Lead guitarist Angus Young has commented that the song's "break-down", which occurs soon after the main solo (a muted and repeating three chord sequence of A Major triad, G Major triad, and a D

power chord A power chord , also called a fifth chord, is a colloquial name for a chord on guitar, especially on electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly pla ...

leading up to a bombastic outro-solo), was inspired by the trio gun-battle climax from Sergio Leone's classic, Italian western ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, literally "''The good, the ugly, the bad''") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

''. In this seminal scene, gun-fighters Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach stare one another down in the centre of a Civil-War cemetery for minutes-on-end to an eventual shoot-out. Young said this sequence in the song was designed to mirror the actual soundtrack selection "Il Triello" by composer

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

. Both compositions feature a slow quiet build-up, increasing in tension to a thunderous, cataclysmic finale.

Personnel

AC/DC *

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

– lead vocals *

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-u ...

– lead guitar *

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC ...

– rhythm guitar *

Cliff Williams Clifford Williams (born 14 December 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He started his professional music career in 1967 and had previously been in the English g ...

– bass guitar * Phil Rudd – drums Production *

Robert John "Mutt" Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( ; born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer. He is known for his work in rock music as well as co-writing and producing various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album ''Come On Over'', whic ...

– producer * Tony Platt –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Benji Armbrister – engineer * Jack Newber – engineer * Brad Samuelsohn – mixing *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering

Charts

Certifications

Cover versions

The song has also been recorded by

Halestorm Halestorm is an American Rock music, rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith. Siblings Lzzy and Arejay founded the band in ...

on their EP '' Reanimate 2.0: The Covers.''

Uses in media

This song has been used in several film and television programs including: *Two commercials for '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' **Live-action commercial with

Jonah Hill Jonah Hill (born Jonah Hill Feldstein; December 20, 1983) is an American actor. List of awards and nominations received by Jonah Hill, The accolades he has received include nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, BAFTA ...

and Sam Worthington. **In-game footage commercial *Promotion for the film '' XXX: State of the Union''. *TV promotion for the

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

movie '' Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby''. *The song appeared in the film adaption of ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' *In the intro of TV Argentine program, '' Caiga Quien Caiga'' *It appears in the first ''

'' trailer and during the opening scenes of the movie. It is later reprised in 2012's '' The Avengers'' as a signature theme for Iron Man, playing when he joins

Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

in the fight against

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The latter film's soundtrack was originally set to contain a cover of the song performed by Canadian rock band Theory of a Deadman, but it was removed for unknown reasons. *In the intro of the Brazilian version of the TV program, '' CQC, Custe o Que Custar'' *The live version was one of the two AC/DC theme songs to

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

's 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania event. The other was "War Machine" from ''Black Ice''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoot To Thrill 1980 songs 2011 singles AC/DC songs Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange Songs about drugs Songs based on actual events Songs written by Angus Young Songs written by Malcolm Young Songs written by Brian Johnson Live singles Columbia Records singles Music videos shot in Argentina