You Shook Me All Night Long

• Performances
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  • Phish
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History

In the summer of 1980, still reeling from the death of front man Bon Scott, AC/DC came Back in Black with another glowing example of their mastery of the cheeky double-entendre grafted onto the screaming back of bloozy rock-n-roll song writing milieu. The centerpiece of this – their all-time best selling album – was the classic rock nugget “You Shook Me All Night Long,” which unlike “Giving the Dog a Bone” pulled no lyrical punches. This song was about sex plain and simple and every thirteen-year-old boy within earshot knew it.

AC/DC, "You Shook Me All Night Long"

The first appearance of “You Shook Me All Night Long” at a Phish show came in the form of an instrumental jam to restart a fire alarm interrupted “Fluffhead” at the 4/20/89 show at “The Zoo” (Humphries House), Amherst College. Phish returned this classic rock treat to their AC/DC bag until shaking it out at free-forall soundcheck in Desenzano, Italy on 7/6/97. On cue from the somber peal of a nearby church bell, Trey initially began playing the intro to “Hells Bells” but apparently did not know the whole song. Instead the band launched into a spirited version of “You Shook Me All Night Long” this time featuring Bon Fishman on lead vocals. Though he stumbled in places and eventually had to be helped out by Trey, his rendition clearly overshadowed the James Brown style version of Hanson’s “MmmBop” which followed it.

Phish w/Kid Rock, "You Shook Me All Night Long" – 9/29/00, Las Vegas, NV

To catch a glimpse of what Phish may have been like as a rock band if they had been augmented with a spotlight-drenched lead vocalist, check out the infamous 9/29/00 Las Vegas version of this tune; on this occasion it is imbued with all the cocksure swagger and raunchiness of the original, and deftly tears the drawers off of “Rapper’s Delight” with none other than Kid Rock on guest vocals.

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