The AC/DC Song They’d Rather Pretend NEVER HAPPENED: 'Really Soft Stuff'

Summary

• Love Song was pushed by the label as a radio-friendly single, but even Angus Young barely remembers the lyrics—it flopped hard.
• The B-side, a heavy version of Baby, Please Don’t Go, accidentally rescued the band from a bad first impression.
• Since Let There Be Rock, AC/DC stuck to their blueprint: loud guitars, no compromises, and zero interest in chasing trends.

“But the answer was literally on the other side.”

Back when AC/DC hadn’t yet locked in the sound that would make them gods to some and repetitive to others, they were still fumbling through the dark. On their 1975 Australian debut, High Voltage, they included a track called “Love Song”.

The title alone should raise eyebrows. According to Angus Young, the track only exists because the label thought mellow was the way to go. “That’s what was on the radio at the time, really soft stuff,” he said, probably shaking his head in hindsight.

The song had nothing to do with what the Young brothers actually wanted to play. Their north star was always blues-drenched, R&B-tinged, guitar-led chaos, not some watered-down serenade.

But the label nudged them to release something more radio-friendly, a little more palatable for the Australian airwaves. “I don’t even remember the lyrics,” Angus admitted. “Maybe it was a parody of a love song. Bon wrote it.”

It tanked. No shock there. Dropped as the A-side of a single, “Love Song” landed with all the impact of a deflated balloon. But here’s the kicker: the B-side, a gritty take on “Baby, Please Don’t Go”, ended up catching fire on local radio.

It was loud. It was raw. It was them. And that, ironically, is what kept AC/DC from flopping straight out of the gate. The label finally saw the light: these guys weren’t made for soft ballads (via Far Out).

According to Angus, real creative freedom didn’t hit until 1977’s “Let There Be Rock”. That’s when the band fully leaned into what they always wanted to do, sharp riffs, screaming solos, and exactly zero concern for whatever was trending. “We just wanted to play guitar music that sounded good,” Angus summed it up, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Critics have spent decades calling AC/DC a one-trick pony. The band sees it differently. That so-called “one trick” is a conscious decision.

After the whole “Love Song” detour, they stopped pretending to care what the market wanted. That stubborn streak? That’s what kept them alive.

Trends came and went. Lineups changed. Formats shifted. People tried to declare rock dead every other Friday.

AC/DC just kept cranking the volume. And that early mistake, the one that tried to smooth their edges? It stayed buried in the past, right where it belongs, as a reminder of what not to do.

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