“Jailbreak”: Thin Lizzy vs. AC/DC
Ranking art sucks. I do it all the time because I need things to talk about, but it’s not really fair to whoever created what I’m ranking. I guess it’s not a bad thing to have some kind of cultural consensus on some things though. We all pretty much agree that Prince was good or that the movie Moonfall is not good. I’m OK with that. Prince is better than Moonfall.
When it starts to get more into the nitty gritty of similar things made by respected creators it gets a little more murky. In 1976, two hard rock bands on different continents, traveling different trajectories, released two different songs called “Jailbreak.” Irish band Thin Lizzy were following up a couple underperforming records, and were about to be dropped by their label. They release Jailbreak, the album, to try and finally break through with a commercial American audience on the power on their singles “The Boys Are Back in Town” and “Jailbreak.”
Meanwhile AC/DC is still mostly known in Australia and just released an international compilation. They were poised to break out when their song “Jailbreak” was released on the Australian version of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. International audiences would have to wait until the 80s to hear it.
Thin Lizzy would hit their highest selling album with Jailbreak, when they abruptly had to cancel a US tour due to Phil Lynott’s debilitating hepatitis. A huge US tour coming off their best selling record might have propelled them into super star status.
AC/DC would also be hitting a high point, but one that would be just the beginning of their rise to the top of the hard rock world for the next few decades.
I don’t want to have to rank these two songs. I have listened to both of them at least 10 times a piece over the last couple days. At home, at the gym, on headphones, in the car. There is no clear winner and I may change my mind based on the time of day.
That being said, right now at 2:17 a.m. Pacific time on July 4, 2022 the better song is AC/DC’s “Jailbreak.”
Listen dude, I know the better story is the underdog Thin Lizzy taking the fleeting upper hand. Having a moment on top while going head to head with the future kingpins of the genre. Unfortunately, that is not the case (right now, currently 2:19 a.m.). Most of the time the favorites win. That’s why they’re the favorites.
I just conducted a poll on Twitter to see which song was preferred, and it was overwhelmingly in favor of Thin Lizzy’s version 80/20. I get it, it’s Thin Lizzy’s second biggest hit, on their most loved album and is a certified jam. A perfect riff, a great hook. It’s a fucking rad song, but I unfortunately have to part ways with conventional thought. All the things Thin Lizzy’s song does, AC/DC’s does better (for me personally, at 2:23 a.m.). Both songs have a great riff, but AC/DC’s edges it out with it’s nasty pre-Mutt Lange guitar tone and stomps and claps that sounds like the whole band’s in a lil gremlin-y chain gang.
Lyrics are always a contested point for both bands, but I’ve never had a problem with the blunt poetry of Thin Lizzy. “The Boys Are Back in Town” gets made fun of, but I love its simple message of being excited to see your friends (who were coming back from Viet Nam!). And “Jailbreak” has been ripped in the past because of the line, “Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in the town” (try the jail). That’s never bothered me either because who gives a shit, it sounds good. I am a fan and sometimes apologist for Phil Lynott’s earnest songs that can seem silly to some. Even still, AC/DC just happens to turn in one of their best lyrical showcases on this one. It’s a front to back prison story from the sentencing to being shot by guards. Both songs would make for gnarly 70s action movies.
I know I framed this as Thin Lizzy’s underdog fight, and if we were just going by the band, or album the track was on, it would be, and I’d give them the win. I like Thin Lizzy more than AC/DC. I listen to them more than AC/DC. They’re more varied that AC/DC. Jailbreak is an almost perfect record that’s in constant rotation in my home and car, but “Jailbreak” isn’t even a top three song on the album (Personal ranking at 2:32 a.m.? “Running Back,” “Cowboy Song,” and “Emerald”). Meanwhile AC/DC’s “Jailbreak” didn’t even make an international release of Dirty Deeds and if it had it would instantly overshadow nearly everything on that record not titled “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.”
“Jailbreak” is AC/DC’s best mishandled classic. A song that should have been a second single on one of their most popular albums. Instead it’s lucky to make the setlist on their last few tours.
Folks, this is a squeaker and I hate to even have to decide when to me it’s basically a coin flip but I just have to go with AC/DC. If you ask me again tomorrow (technically today) at a 4th of July barbecue 3 or 4 hard kombuchas in, I may tell you otherwise, but right now at 2:37 a.m., the winner is AC/DC’s “Jailbreak.”
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