Music / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Pick up the phone, I'm always home
Call me any time
(International release cover)

Just ring 36-24-36, hey!
I lead a life of crime
(Australian release cover)

Cop this

I'm hot, and when I'm not
I'm cold as ice
Get out of my way
Just Step aside
Or pay the price

What I want I take
What I don't I break
And I don't want you
With a flick of my knife
I can change your life
There's nothing you can do

— Problem Child

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is the third studio album recorded by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was released in Australia through Albert Productions on 20 September 1976, and globally through through Atlantic Records on 17 December 1976. However, it would not be released in the United States until March 1981.

It 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 High Voltage. It wasn't until the release of Highway to Hell that international copies began to circulate in America.

It would finally see release in the United States in March 1981 after the success of Back in Black—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.

Four singles were released initially: "Jailbreak", the Title Track, "Love at First Feel", and "Ride On". The first three were all hits in Australia. A reissue of the Title Track 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.

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Tracklist:

Australian release:

Side One

1. "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
2. "Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)"
3. "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'"
4. "Problem Child"

Side Two

1. "Squealer"
2. "Big Balls"
3. "R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)"
4. "Ride On"
5. "Jailbreak"

International release:

Side One

1. "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
2. "Love At First Feel"
3. "Big Balls"
4. "Rocker"
5. "Problem Child"

Side Two

1. "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'"
2. "Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)"
3. "Ride On"
4. "Squealer"

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Principal Members:

• Bon Scott – lead vocals
• Angus Young – lead guitar
• Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Mark Evans – bass guitar
• Phil Rudd – drums

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There's gonna be some tropin' at the show tonight!

• Album Title Drop: Not just the album's title in the Title Track, but also that of T.N.T. and High Voltage.
• Alliterative Title: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Big Balls".
• Alternate Album Cover: 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 Hipgnosis depicting a crowd of people with Censor Boxes over their eyes.
• Asshole Victim: 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.
• Bigger Is Better: The singer not only brags about his "Big Balls", but also...
  He's got big balls, and she's got big balls,
  But we've got the biggest balls of them all.
• "Balls" Gag: "Big Balls" is nominally about high-class dance parties, intentionally written so it sounds like it's about testicles.
• Big Rock Ending: Averted in "Problem Child". After the song ends, it cycles back to the beginning before fading out.
• A Deadly Affair: 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 the husband, the friend, or both is unclear.
• Depraved Bisexual: The POV character in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." He's a hitman who works cheap and it's implied he also sleeps with his clients, both men and women.
• Face on the Cover:
  • 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.
  • Not of the band, but of various people with their eyes blacked out with censor bars, and a dog on Hipgnosis' international release cover.
• Heavy Meta: "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'"
• Henpecked Husband: One of the hitman's clients in the title track is a man whose wife won't stop nagging him.
• List Song: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" has a bridge in which the Professional Killer lists the ways he's disposed of his targets.
  Concrete shoes… Cyanide… TNT (Done dirt cheap) Neckties… Contracts… High voltage (Done dirt cheap)
• One-Word Title: "Rocker", "Squealer", and "Jailbreak".
• Professional Killer: The main character in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap".
• Record Producer: Harry Vanda, George Young
• Rotten Rock & Roll: The Title Track is very much this, as the singer's role in life is professional revenge, whether it be through violence or sex.
• Sextra Credit: One of the contract killer's victims in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" is a high school headmaster extorting sexual favors out of students.
• Siamese Twin Songs: "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)."
• Title-Only Chorus: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", until they get to "dirty deeds, and they're done dirt cheap".
• Title Track: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
• Villain Song: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"

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