Music of the Day, 27 March 2025

the human zoo

Many people can be pushed only so far. Whether at home, at work, or on a higher level,¹ if they’re think they’re being wronged or exploited, they’ll start to push back. That can take a lot of forms, some of which can be deceptive.

I’m not deeply attuned to American culture overall and I’m on a pretty severe news diet these days, but even so, it feels like we’re entering a burgeoning period of resistance. Thinking about what’s likely ahead put a terrific song in my mind.

And now I have to admit to a gaping hole in my AC/DC knowledge: until today, I was only familiar with “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” from the band’s breakthrough album, Highway to Hell. A previous release—AC/DC’s first live album—was titled If You Want Blood; it originated in Bon Scott’s reply to a journalist asking him what attendees of the 1978 Day on the Green festival could expect from the band.

It gets more embarrassing for me. I’ve had If You Want Blood in my music library for at least a couple of decades, but I’ve never listened to it. I’d bought a lot of AC/DC’s studio albums on CD over the years, so when I want to listen to their music, those are what I default to. Looking at the album titles so many times over the years, I simply didn’t connect the live album title with the song title. In my defense, Highway to Hell is a juggernaut album, and “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” wasn’t even released as a single, so it’s somewhat understandable that I missed that.

Today looks to be another busy day for me, so I’m grateful that “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” has been almost as effective as my morning caffeine dose at energizing me. My reward for getting through it will, I hope, be exploring that live set… if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow. Here’s hoping you power through your tasks successfully too!

1. social, political, economic, cultural … although obviously, these forces overlap