“Night Prowler” is an absolute banger from AC/DC’s famed 1979 album Highway To Hell. Unfortunately, the song never made it to the band’s live setlists. And the reason why AC/DC never played this particular hard rock track live comes down to its association with a real-life crime.
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“Night Prowler” stirred up quite a bit of controversy for the band back in the 1980s. And that controversy didn’t really have anything to do with the song or its lyrics specifically. Rather, the band found themselves in some hot water after infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez (allegedly) said that he was a huge fan of the band. Though, it is worth noting that it isn’t clear if Ramirez was that direct about being a fan of the Australian rockers.
Ramirez, who murdered at least 14 people in California in the mid-1980s, had also been nicknamed the “Night Stalker”. Naturally, the public put two and two together, resulting in a sudden concern over AC/DC’s music influencing mass murderers.
The band was caught up in something they had nothing to do with, and they felt the waves from Ramirez’s murders begin to affect their career.
“It just sickens you, you know,” Brian Johnson once said of the experience. “It sickens you to have anything to do with that kind of thing.”
Naturally, it makes sense why AC/DC never played “Night Prowler” live due to its association with Ramirez’ damning crime.
What Was “Night Prowler” Actually About?
Some could look at the lyrics of “Night Prowler” and easily think it’s a song about delinquency and the dark goings-on in back alleys. The lyrics “’Cause no one’s going to warn you / And no one’s going to yell, Attack! / And you don’t feel the steel / Till it’s hanging out your back” are particularly damning. However, the band has asserted multiple times through the years that the song is not about murder. Rather, it’s about being a sneaky teenager.
“It’s called ‘Night Prowler’, and it’s about things you used to do when you are a kid, like sneaking into a girlfriend’s bedroom when her parents were asleep,” said Malcolm Young.
Unfortunately for AC/DC, the damage had already been done. The song is still associated with Richard Ramirez today. Even Ramirez himself had to reassert that AC/DC wasn’t what made him commit so many atrocities. Rather, he said that serial killers were “a product of their times, and these are blood-thirsty times.”
You know the Satanic Panic movement had gotten out of hand when an actual serial killer had to tell the public to calm down. And it’s a shame AC/DC never played “Night Prowler” live because of a crime they had nothing to do with.
Photo by FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images
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