Dua Lipa, Shakira, Céline Dion: The difficult task of covering AC/DC, from worst to best

When Angus Young was asked in an interview by this newspaper about Shakira’s cover of his classic Back in Black, the guitarist and soul of AC/DC didn’t know who the Colombian star was. We’re talking about 2008, when Shakira could barely go outside due to her huge popularity. Young has always lived in this world, but in a place where only the blues are heard.

When someone offered him information about Shakira, Angus thought he knew who she was: “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard her. But I haven’t heard her version of our song. Is it good? Well, one thing’s for sure: she’s much prettier than us.”

The mastermind behind AC/DC has little interest in how other musicians reinterpret their songs—tracks that, in the right context, lend a rebellious edge to whoever sings them. One particularly striking phenomenon is hearing pop divas take on songs that are worlds away from their usual style. The latest example is Dua Lipa, who did just that during her recent Australian tour. We’ve rounded up 10 of these covers, ranked from worst to best.

10. Shakira — ‘Back In Black’

On her 2003-2004 Tour of the Mongoose, Shakira performed Back In Black. She later included the piece on a live album, Live & off the Record (2004). However, this cover is hardly worthy of an official release —or of being played at a concert with steep ticket prices. Its slow intro, meant to be a relaxed ambient effect before the powerful riff composed by Angus Young kicks in, is tedious, and the Colombian singer’s performance comes across as forced, as if she didn’t believe in it. The only thing worth highlighting is the competent execution of the guitar solos.

9. Shania Twain — ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

Shania Twain has good reason to tackle an AC/DC song: she was married for 17 years (from 1993 to 2010) to Robert John “Mutt” Lange, producer of AC/DC’s most successful albums. So for a 2004 concert album and video, the Canadian prepared You Shook Me All Night Long, from the Back In Black album, made with Lange at the controls and the best-selling rock album in history. So far, so good. And well, the first few seconds of the video are nice, with Twain shaking her hair in rock style. The disappointment comes next: a rather mellifluous country pop version where the audience claps along instead of raising their fists in the air. All the energy of the song is lost along the way and it ends up educed to something more fitting for a rodeo soundtrack.

8. Carla Bruni — ‘Highway To Hell’

In 2017, Carla Bruni released an album of covers. She ventured into Depeche Mode (Enjoy the Silence), The Clash (Jimmy Jazz), Lou Reed (Perfect Day), and Highway to Hell. Everything is surprising and unprecedented: the Young brothers’ guitar riffs are replaced by a piano and wind instruments that sound a bit limp. The style is commercial jazz background music. Bruni’s voice works, with that seductive quality that the former model possesses. But it’s not enough to go beyond a mere curiosity. Incidentally, on her 2018 tour, Bruni performed this classic in Madrid in the presence of her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the married couple of then-Spanish prime minister José María Aznar and Ana Botella. It’s hard to top that combination...

7. Anastacia — ‘Back In Black’

In 2012, U.S. star Anastacia released an album of covers featuring all-male artists: hence the album’s title, It’s a Man’s World. Among songs by Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, the Rolling Stones, Oasis, and Guns N’ Roses, it includes Back in Black by AC/DC. The cover makes the mistake of mimicking the song musically, and just when one expects the wild bellow of an impetuous Brian Johnson in 1980, Anastacia’s soft voice emerges. She puts her all into it, but it doesn’t really work.

6. Joan Jett — ‘Dirty Deeps’

If it’s already difficult to cover AC/DC, things get almost impossible if you choose a song from the era of Bon Scott, whose performances achieved a blend of swagger, power, and harmonic skill. The brave volunteer here is Joan Jett, who deserves all the respect in the world for her time in the Runaways and later as a solo artist, especially with her early albums with the Blackhearts. But we’re in the late 1980s, with MTV demanding hairspray and muffled rock for family consumption. In 1990, Jett released The Hit List, an album of covers she recorded between 1986 and 1989. It included Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which she shortened to Dirty Deeps. The first thing that catches our attention is the bassist treating the song as if he were playing for a cruise ship of tourists allergic to hard rock. Joan’s voice is delivered with a metallic (not metal) echo typical of 1980s MTV rock band recordings, and the choruses, so moody and believable in the original version, seem sung underwater here. Joan Jett has her place in rock history, but in this version, she’s stretching our credulity.

5. Judith Hill — ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

Californian Judith Hill was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime in 2009... but her famous godfather died. In 2009, Hill was chosen by Michael Jackson to duet on the song I Just Can’t Stop Loving You on his This Is It show, which was canceled before it could begin due to Jackson’s death. Hill ended up singing at the Billie Jean singer’s funeral. Since then, she has carved out a career for herself, although she hasn’t managed to fill venues outside the United States. Her first album was produced by Prince himself (which proves that Hill really likes good singers) and she participated in the American version of the talent show The Voice. Here, Hill reunites with Scary Pockets, a Los Angeles band specializing in funk. The staging is very Tiny Desk-esque, making for a tasteful version of funky soul. The addition of the choir is a success, and the rest is handled by Hill’s fantastic voice, capable of going from silky smooth to sandpapery in the same sentence. Considering Brian Johnson’s raspy voice, it’s also a good idea to hire Hill to sing backing vocals for the Australians on their new tour.

4. Céline Dion with Anastacia and Meredith Brooks — ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

Céline Dion really worked hard in 2002 in Las Vegas when she appropriated a macho lyric like You Shook Me All Night Long for the feminist movement. The Canadian singer began by playing air guitar, and then performed the Chuck Berry duck step that Angus Young practiced so much. And then: the song flipped its genre, and now it was a man (instead of a woman, as in the original) who “was a fast machine” who “kept his motor clean, the best damn man I’d ever seen.” All these sexual innuendos are appropriately accompanied by Céline’s playful gestures. More female power? The arrival of Anastacia and, above all, a superb guitar solo by Meredith Brooks. This female version of You Shook Me All Night Long looks quite good on the trio.

3. The Bellrays — ‘Highway to Hell’

If you’re walking around your city and see a poster advertising a Bellrays concert, you already have a great plan. They’re touring Spain right now. This American band has been on the road performing their dirty rock and soul in small, packed clubs since the 1990s, fronted by Lisa Kekaula, a sort of unbridled, dive-bar Tina Turner. A few years ago, the group recorded an incandescent version of Highway to Hell that’s quite faithful to the original. Kekaula brings fury and depth to one of AC/DC’s great classics, and we don’t think any fan of the Australians can fault it. To prove it, we’ve included a studio version and another recorded at El Sol in Madrid.

2. Halestorm — ‘Shoot to Thrill’

Halestorm are responsible for giving hard rock fans confidence in the genre’s continued relevance beyond the classics. Their 41-year-old vocalist is the feisty Lzzy Hale, an AC/DC devotee who, in addition to providing a voice with the virulence required by the genre, also plays the guitar brilliantly. Hale sings with a dash of bravado and power on Shoot to Thrill, from Back in Black. This is the closest thing we can imagine to what this song would have sounded like sung by the late Bon Scott.

- And the Best: 1. Dua Lipa — ‘Highway To Hell’

It took place just a couple of weeks ago, during the Australian stop on her Radical Optimism tour (which will stop in Madrid on May 11 and 12). Dua Lipa announces cheekily that she’ll be performing a cover of “a local band.” And then Angus Young’s rarely surpassed guitar riff breaks out. The Grammy-winner tackles the song at a point in the show where she stands on a small second stage, with her musicians forming a circle around her in the center. It’s an original staging. She gets into character, and the fiercest growl she can muster emerges from her throat. She plays around with a white faux fur shawl throughout the song and moves as only she knows how, but she stays within the circle, restrained, avoiding any jumps and forced rock poses. The version is quite faithful to the original, and she’s sensational. Bon Scott would be proud.

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