AC / DC

"Thunderstruck" 
The first song on the 1990 AC/DC album The Razors Edge.

The song peaked at No. 5 on U.S. the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. It was released as a single in Germany, Australia, and Japan. The song is said to be inspired by lead guitarist Angus Young's hair-raising experience when a plane he was on was struck by lightning. Another theory states that the song was conceived when the band watched a Combined Arms Livefire EXercise (CALFEX) at Ft. Hood. The band was so impressed by the M1A1 tank that they wrote a song about it. However, Angus Young stated in the liner notes of the 2003 re-release of The Razors Edge:

"It started off from a little trick I had on guitar. I played it to Mal and he said 'Oh, I've got a good rhythm idea that will sit well in the back.' We built the song up from that. We fiddled about with it for a few months before everything fell into place. Lyrically, it was really just a case of finding a good title ... We came up with this thunder thing and it seemed to have a good ring to it. AC/DC=Power. That's the basic idea."^[1]

Contrary to popular belief, Young does not play "Thunderstruck"'s main riff with one hand. Instead, he picks every note. Additionally in all AC/DC live videos, Angus can clearly be viewed picking every note. The one-handed tapping technique can only be seen in the "Thunderstruck" music video. The opening riff oscillitates between B major and e minor.

The video which accompanied the single was filmed at London's Brixton Academy on 17 August 1990. The audience members were given free T-shirts with the words 'AC/DC – I was Thunderstruck' on the front and the date on the back, and these T-shirts were worn by the entire audience throughout the filming of the video.

In 2010, this song topped Triple M's Ultimate 500 Rock Countdown in Melbourne, Australia. The top five were all AC/DC songs.^[2]

With the exception of new material from an album they are touring behind, this is one of only two songs released after Back in Black that the band still regularly performs live in concert, the other being "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)".

As of July 2010, the official music video on YouTube has more than 41 million views.