AC/DC — “Riff Raff”: The Powerage Deep Cut Guitar Heroes Swear By

1978 · Behind the Songs

It was never a single and never a hit — but ask Eddie Van Halen or Keith Richards about their favorite AC/DC album, and this is where the conversation starts.

“Riff Raff” was never a single. It never charted, never got a video, and casual fans might not know it by name. But among the faithful it is one of the crown jewels of Powerage, the 1978 album that musicians love more than any other AC/DC record. The title is old slang for rowdy, disreputable people — which is to say, it is a song about AC/DC’s audience, and about AC/DC themselves.

An album built in eight weeks

Powerage, released May 5, 1978 in the UK and May 25 in the US, was a record of firsts: the first AC/DC album to feature bassist Cliff Williams, who had replaced the fired Mark Evans the previous May; the first with no title track; and the first released worldwide with a single, uniform cover. The sessions ran about eight weeks in early 1978 at Albert Studios in Sydney, and “Riff Raff” may date back even further — to July 1977, when the band first rehearsed with Williams. It was also the last Bon Scott-era studio album produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, the team behind every AC/DC record to that point; Atlantic Records, wanting a more commercial sound, would soon steer the band toward a new producer.

The label’s nerves were showing even before release. Atlantic’s American executives complained the album had no radio-friendly single, so with UK pressings already rolling, the band went back in and cut “Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation” — complete with handclaps, maracas, and no traditional guitar solo — to give the label its hit. “Riff Raff” is the opposite of that compromise: five-plus minutes of uncut band, all riff and swagger.

The guitarists’ favorite

Powerage never tore up the charts — it peaked at No. 133 on the Billboard pop albums chart before eventually going platinum in the US — but it conquered the people who play guitar for a living. Eddie Van Halen and Keith Richards both named it their favorite AC/DC record; Slash and Joe Perry cite it as a favorite and a major influence; Malcolm Young himself called it the band’s best; and drummer Phil Rudd named it his favorite of the Bon Scott era. “Riff Raff” sits at the heart of that reputation: not the single the label wanted, but the deep cut the players kept.