Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (song)

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
Single by AC/DC
from the album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
B-side"R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)"
Released5 October 1976 (1976-10-05) (Aus)
18 February 1977 (UK)[1]
Recorded1976
StudioAlbert (Sydney)
GenreHard rock
Length4:11
LabelAlbert
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
AC/DC singles chronology
"Jailbreak"
(1976) 		"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
(1976) 		"Love at First Feel"
(1977)

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" is a hard rock song by the Australian band AC/DC. Written by group members Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott, it was recorded for the title track of their album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, released in September 1976.

It was also released as a single – first in Australia in October 1976 with "R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)" as its B-side, and then in the UK in February 1977 as a maxi-single with "Big Balls" and "The Jack" as its B-sides. Once the Dirty Deeds album was finally released in the US in 1981 the "Dirty Deeds..." single was released there (backed by "Highway To Hell"), where it reached number four on the then-new Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

The song ranked No. 24 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs[2] and in 2009 it was named the 31st best hard rock song of all time also by VH1.[3]

It features a backing vocal consisting of a heavy breathing sound, made on the downbeat during verses. It also features the title in a spoken-word style at the end of the chorus; plus a scream at the end of the song. The full-length recording (approximately 4:11) has the title of the song chanted four times starting at 3:09, but on the more common edited version (approximately 3:51) the chant is heard only twice.

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 41.
  2. ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1–4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine; last accessed 10 September 2006.
  3. ^ "spreadit.org music". Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2009.