Funny to think that the nefarious title of AC/DC’s second internationally-released album comes from a 1960s children’s cartoon that guitarist Angus Young watched as a kid. The villain of Beany and Cecil had a business card that read: “Dishonest John – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. The name does, however, perfectly suit the grimy, gritty sound of the record, typified by the title track’s snarling riff and pummelling rhythm, not to mention vocalist Bon Scott’s promises of violence on behalf of those requiring dirty deeds to be done (“Concrete shoes/Cyanide/TNT…Neckties/Contracts/High voltage…Do anything you want me to.”). Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was recorded in staggered sessions at Sydney’s Albert Studios with trusted producers George Young and Harry Vanda during the band’s Lock Up Your Daughters Australian tour. As demonstrated by songs such as the furiously uptempo “Rocker”, it’s a rougher, rawer album than its predecessor, High Voltage. The international version of that album is an amalgam of the band’s first two Australian releases, High Voltage and TNT—both name-checked in Scott’s “Dirty Deeds” lyrics. The singer is at his bawdy best on the rollicking “Big Balls” (“My balls are always bouncing to the left and to the right/It’s my belief that my big balls should be held every night”) and the lascivious closing track “Squealer”. He does, however, display a more forlorn side in the weary, bluesy “Ride On”, an ode to loneliness (“It’s another lonely evening/In another lonely town”). In a similar vein to “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’N’ Roll)”, the song “Ain’t No Fun (Waiting Round to Be a Millionaire)” is about the hard road to success, while Scott allegedly wrote “Problem Child” about Angus Young. Released in Europe and Australia in late 1976, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was not initially issued by the band’s American label Atlantic, which reasoned it had no place in a world dominated by the FM radio success of artists such as Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac. Atlantic eventually relented in 1981, belatedly placing the album on American shelves following the multi-platinum success of 1980’s Back In Black.