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"Shoot to Thrill" is a song by hard rock band AC/DC. It is the second track on the 1980 album Back in Black. 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. Although the studio version was never released as a single, the song is a fan favorite and a staple on classic rock radio stations.
When explaining his lyrical inspiration for the song, lead singer and then-songwriter Brian Johnson recalled reading a British article about a neighborhood pusher who made daily rounds (almost like a milkman) throughout the London suburbs, selling narcotics to bored, lonely and depressed housewives. These substance-effected homemakers would then peruse the local clubs and bars, seeking out torrid, extra-marital relationships. The term "shoot to thrill" most likely refers to certain solutions such as diazepam (valium), which is often administered via injection to treat anxiety and depression.
Lead guitarist Angus Young has recently commented that the song's "breakdown", 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 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. In this seminal scene, gun-fighters Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach stare one another down in the center 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. Both compositions feature a slow quiet build-up, increasing in tension to a thunderous, cataclysmic finale.
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