The next album we’re looking at is 1981’s For Those About to Rock We Salute You. I can’t see a cannon without thinking of this album, which makes me smile on days out at castles (Carrickfergus is a nice one).

We’ve got eleven categories of lyrical content to choose from (and if none of these fit we’ll create new ones). Our categories so far are; sex, gambling, rocking (the importance of), love, personal power/ego, crime, loneliness parties, the human condition, rejection of social norms and alcohol.

The Songs

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) – rocking (the importance of), supporting lyrical evidence “We rock at dawn on the front line”.

Put the Finger on You – sex, supporting lyrical evidence “You can feel it on your ankle, feel it on your knee, feel it on your thigh, can you feel me?”

Let’s Get It Up – sex, although on the rare occasions I’ve put a tent up I’ve thought about this song. Supporting lyrical evidence “It’s high tide, so let’s ride, the moon is rising and so am I”.

Inject the Venom – crime, supporting lyrical evidence “Come choose your victim, Take him by surprise”.

Snowballed – the human condition, supporting lyrical evidence “Women, drink and money are going to make you pay”.

Evil Walks – sex, of the complicated kind, supporting lyrical content “You got ’em tied to your bed, with your dark, dark secrets”.

C.O.D. – sex, specifically catching a sexually transmitted disease, supporting lyrical evidence “Cream of a dream is the cause of the itch”.

Breaking the Rules – rejection of social norms, supporting lyrical evidence “Those regulation fools with their regulation rules”.

Night of the Long Knives – I’m calling this half crime, and half the human condition because it’s about not knowing who to trust. Crime supporting lyrical evidence “Oh stab him in the back once”, human condition supporting lyrical evidence “Who’s your friend and who’s your foe? Who’s your Judas? You don’t know”.

Spellbound – this is a weird one, it seems to be about someone disorientated and incapacitated. It’s the opposite of personal power/ego. I’m going to call it the human condition because I think it represents a difficult patch in someone’s life, supporting lyrical evidence “I’m a victim of a bad crash, I can do nothing right”.

Conclusion – This album is 40% sex, 25% human condition, 15% crime, 10% rocking (the importance of) and 10% rejection of social norms.

The next album we’ll look at is Flick of the Switch.