I'm sure Malcolm and Johnson were heavy drinkers in their day, but I don't think it was all that alarming as some bands are with drugs. But Angus and Malcolm weren't drug users and neither was Johnson. So many rock bands had drug issuse and while we know the great Bon Scott was a heavy drinker and it got the better of him. I agree with your evaluation of these lyrics. This verse doesn't contribute to the meaning of the overall song in a major manner. Lines #13 to #16 - these are filler lines, just to get another verse in to continue the song. Too many women with too many pills 9 - this means groupies often do drugs so they can have sex with 500 different people. Shoot to thrill, play to kill 8 - 'Shoot to thrill' means the act of ejaculation, and 'play to kill' is just a filler line to complete the chorus. I'm gonna pull it, pull it, pull the trigger 7 - similar to the that of above, this too is yet another sexual reference.

'Take you down' refers to a dominant sexual position. I'm gonna take you down 5 - this metaphorically means the act of having sex. As for 'you women,' that probably refers to groupies. As a rock n' roll band, they've been on the road quite often doing live shows.

It will become quite clear when I walk through the sexual codewords in the lyrics, i, and if you happened to have a different view please share it with me in the comments.Īll you women who want a man of the street 1 - 'man of the street' refers to bandmates of AC/DC. The song is predominantly about sex, with a few references to drugs. Lyrical meaning of 'Shoot to Thrill' could be ambiguous when you listen to it the first time, because you might be questioning the meaning of 'Shoot to thrill, I'm ready to kill?' Does that mean AC/DC wrote the song from the point of view of a shooter/killer that goes on to shoot ladies, or does the band promote such to the listeners?

Sometimes the artist(s) purposely leave these 'wholes' in the songs for the listener to fill them as they wish. 'Shoot to Thrill' is yet another classic from AC/DC's seventh studio album, Back In Black.Īs it's often the case with songs that have loosely written lyrics, the meaning of such is somewhat inconclusive.

Shoot the thrill lyrics