Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Music / DirtyDeedsDoneDirtCheap

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dirty_deeds_acdc.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''Pick up the phone, I'm always home\
3Call me any time''\
4(International release cover)]]
5[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dirty_deeds_acdc_original.jpg]]
6[[caption-width-right:350:''Just ring 36-24-36, hey!\
7I lead a life of crime''\
8(Australian release cover)]]
9->''Cop this\
10I'm hot, and when I'm not\
11I'm cold as ice\
12Get out of my way\
13Just Step aside\
14Or pay the price\
15What I want I take\
16What I don't I break\
17And I don't want you\
18With a flick of my knife\
19I can change your life\
20There's nothing you can do''
21-->-- '''Problem Child'''
22
23''Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'' is the third studio album recorded by the Australian hard rock band Music/{{ACDC}}. It was released in Australia through Albert Productions on 20 September 1976, and globally through through Creator/AtlanticRecords on 17 December 1976. However, it would not be released in the United States until March 1981.
24
25It is the third LP released by the band in Australia, and the second in Europe, but it wasn't released in the United States immediately. The American A&R at Atlantic was the main roadblock, and actually threatened to drop AC/DC from their American catalog entirely despite the multi-Platinum success of ''Music/HighVoltage''. It wasn't until the release of ''Music/HighwayToHell'' that international copies began to circulate in America.
26
27It would finally see release in the United States in March 1981 after the success of ''Music/BackInBlack''--and the death of original lead singer Bon Scott. It proceeded to go six-times Platinum. Previously, it went six-times Platinum in Australia and Platinum in Germany.
28
29Four singles were released initially: "Jailbreak", the TitleTrack, "Love at First Feel", and "Ride On". The first three were all hits in Australia. A reissue of the TitleTrack in 1980 would hit #4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in the United States. When the album proper was released in America, an extra single, "Big Balls", would see circulation. "Problem Child", while not initially released as a single, would also become one of the band's most popular songs.
30-----
31!!Tracklist:
32
33'''Australian release:'''
34
35[[AC:Side One]]
36# "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
37# "Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)"
38# "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'"
39# "Problem Child"
40
41[[AC:Side Two]]
42# "Squealer"
43# "Big Balls"
44# "R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)"
45# "Ride On"
46# "Jailbreak"
47
48'''International release:'''
49
50[[AC:Side One]]
51# "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
52# "Love At First Feel"
53# "Big Balls"
54# "Rocker"
55# "Problem Child"
56
57[[AC:Side Two]]
58# "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'"
59# "Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)"
60# "Ride On"
61# "Squealer"
62-----
63!!Principal Members:
64* Bon Scott – lead vocals
65* Angus Young – lead guitar
66* Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
67* Mark Evans – bass guitar
68* Phil Rudd – drums
69-----
70!!''There's gonna be some tropin' at the show tonight!''
71* AlbumTitleDrop: Not just the album's title in the TitleTrack, but also that of ''[[Music/TNT1975 T.N.T.]]'' and ''Music/HighVoltage''.
72* AlliterativeTitle: "'''D'''irty '''D'''eeds '''D'''one '''D'''irt Cheap", "'''B'''ig '''B'''alls".
73* AlternateAlbumCover: The original Australian version's album cover was a pencil drawing of Bon Scott with the album title tattooed on his oversized bicep while Angus Young flips the viewer off in the background. The international edition, meanwhile, features a new cover by Creator/{{Hipgnosis}} depicting a crowd of people with {{Censor Box}}es over their eyes.
74* AssholeVictim: The narrator of the title track may be a remorseless hitman, but it's hard to dislike him since his victims are all varying degrees of unsympathetic.
75* BiggerIsBetter: The singer not only brags about his "Big Balls", but also...
76-->''He's got big balls, and she's got big balls,''
77-->''But we've got the biggest balls of them all.''
78* BallsGag: "Big Balls" is nominally about high-class dance parties, intentionally written so it sounds like it's about testicles.
79* BigRockEnding: Averted in "Problem Child". After the song ends, it cycles back to the beginning before fading out.
80* ADeadlyAffair: One of the hitman's clients "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" wants revenge for her husband having an affair with her best friend, but whether she wants to bump off [[DeathByWomanScorned the husband]], [[MurderTheHypotenuse the friend]], or both is unclear.
81* DepravedBisexual: The POV character in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." He's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a hitman who works cheap]] and it's implied he also sleeps with his clients, both men and women.
82* FaceOnTheCover:
83** Angus Young and Bon Scott with a big arm done in a cartoon style on the Australian release cover. The back cover features the rest of the band.
84** Not of the band, but of various people with their eyes blacked out with censor bars, and a dog on Creator/{{Hipgnosis}}' international release cover.
85* HeavyMeta: "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'"
86* HenpeckedHusband: One of the hitman's clients in the title track is a man whose wife won't stop nagging him.
87* ListSong: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" has a bridge in which the ProfessionalKiller lists the ways he's disposed of his targets.
88-->''[[CementShoes Concrete shoes]]… {{Cyanide|Pill}}… [[StuffBlowingUp TNT]] (Done dirt cheap) [[SlashedThroat Neckties]]… Contracts… {{High voltage|Death}} (Done dirt cheap)''
89* OneWordTitle: "Rocker", "Squealer", and "Jailbreak".
90* ProfessionalKiller: The main character in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap".
91* RecordProducer: Harry Vanda, George Young
92* RottenRockAndRoll: The TitleTrack is very much this, as the singer's role in life is professional revenge, whether it be through violence or sex.
93* SextraCredit: One of the contract killer's victims in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" is a high school headmaster extorting sexual favors out of students.
94* SiameseTwinSongs: "Big Balls" smashes right into "Rocker" on international releases, though the tracks don't get played together on radio. Straighter on the Australian version, it transitions right into "R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)."
95* TitleOnlyChorus: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", until they get to "dirty deeds, and they're done dirt cheap".
96* TitleTrack: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
97* VillainSong: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"

Top