The next album we’re looking at is Stiff Upper Lip. We’ve got twelve 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, alcohol and war.

The Songs

Stiff Upper Lip – sex, supporting lyrical evidence “Now, I warn you ladies, I shoot from the hip, I was born with a stiff, stiff upper lip”.

Meltdown – sex, supporting lyrical evidence “I look at her libido, hey hey hey”.

House of Jazz – I don’t know what a house of jazz is. Most of the song seems to be about people arguing on telly, supporting lyrical evidence “Kickin’ and a fightin’ on a TV show”. I can’t tell if the house of jazz is a refuge or a place where this ridiculous type of programme is made. There’s not enough conflict for this to be categorised as war. I was going to call it the human condition because we’ve all seen this kind of telly but when I looked at Satellite Blues later on this album I decided I needed a new category called television to put this in.

Hold Me Back – personal power/ego, supporting lyrical evidence “You can’t hold me back, you get a heart attack”.

Safe in New York City – sex, supporting lyrical evidence “Come on over baby and I’ll make you obscene”.

Can’t Stand Still – personal power/ego, supporting lyrical evidence “From morning ’till midnight, you know I can’t stand still”.

Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll – rocking (the importance of), supporting lyrical evidence “I said you can’t stop rock n roll”.

Satellite Blues – this seems to be about getting a satellite telly dish and then becoming dissatisfied with it and sending it back. Supporting lyrical evidence “A picture clear for watchin’, the dish is running hot”, then “Can’t get nothing on the dial, the frickin’ thing’s gone wild” and “This thing’s nothing but a load of crap, I’m gonna send it right back”. This is in the television category.

Damned – I’m calling this social norms because it’s about things society (or mainstream sections of it) frowns upon. Supporting lyrical evidence “I’ll be damned if I drink or smoke, damned if I steal your joke”.

Come and Get It – sex, supporting lyrical evidence “I’ve got my filly wrapped in red, upon my double decker bed”. Double decker bed implies that AC/DC have bunk beds. I bet they’re so cool they don’t even use the ladder to access the top bunk, the probably just jump down. The backing vocals on this track are quite sinister.

All Screwed Up – this is about being brung low by a woman (maybe a woman who doesn’t like bunk beds?), supporting lyrical evidence “And when you can’t take no more, then she push you out that door” so I’m categorising it as love. The Ramones also have an excellent song called All Screwed Up with the same theme.

Give It Up – sex, supporting sex lyrical evidence “Sitting pretty, all ready to bite, she givin’ up a bit of cream delight”. Later in the song we hear “Well, there’s a big storm a-howlin’, around here, and there be no wine, no cinnamon and no beer”, why is cinnamon such a necessity? Was a post-coital crumble going to be made? I always add cinnamon to a crumble.

Conclusion – We’ve had a new category of television, with 17% of the album on this topic. There is 42% sex, 17% personal power/ego, 8% rocking (the importance of), 8% social norms and 8% love.

The next album we’ll look at is 2008’s Black Ice.