Songs > Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap > History


“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” is the title track from AC/DC’s 1976 album. The lyrics, based on the character Dishonest John from the cartoon Beany and Cecil, are sung from the perspective of a hitman who advertises his speciality to anyone who needs it. AC/DC’s hard rock was massively influential on the band, especially Stu. He said to Guitar World "I guess, as a classic Australian, it was seeing videos of AC/DC playing live that made me think, ‘No, actually, guitar is cool!’ The music my dad liked, I like now, but it wasn’t electric guitars with loud, primal energy. It was Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Paul Kelly. So seeing AC/DC on TV made me say, ‘Please, Dad, can I have a guitar?!’”

King Gizzard performed “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” live once on 2018-06-17 during their final night at the Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn. The song was performed with Amyl and the Sniffers and at a faster pace than the original. It was introduced as “the most fucking Australian song that we can think of” while Amyl and the Sniffers were titled “the most fucking Australian people in the whole world.” The tempo seems to be taken from Amyl’s version of the song played around the same time.
No other performances by King Gizzard are known to exist.

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