Why AC/DC Never Performed This Song Live, Even Though It Went No. 1 and Appeared in an Arnold Schwarzenegger Cult Classic

Lots of rock bands in the 1980s and 1990s lent their talents to film soundtracks. Hard rock icons AC/DC are no different. Back in 1993, the band offered their musical talents to the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero. The film is a noteworthy ode to action movie cliches, though it ended up being a bit of a box office disappointment upon its release. Last Action Hero has since gained a cult following in retrospect.

The song AC/DC contributed to the soundtrack is “Big Gun”, a hard rock heavy metal jam for the ages. You can hear the song among other great hard rockin’ tracks, including songs from Alice In Chains, Megadeth, Aerosmith, Anthrax, Def Leppard, and others.

It’s objectively a good song. And it’s an important song in AC/DC’s chart history. “Big Gun” was the band’s very first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. The song also won the award for Most Performed Australian Work Overseas at the APRA Music Awards in 1995. The song was later released on the box set Backtracks in 2009.

A killer song that hit No. 1. Surely AC/DC performed it constantly, right? Well… no.

Why Has AC/DC Never Performed “Big Gun” Live in Concert?

It’s wild that AC/DC never whipped this gem out at live concerts. Just look at the comments in the above-embedded YouTube music video for the song.

“Most underrated AC/DC song,” said one commenter.

“This is one of the best songs AC/DC have ever done,” said another fan. “It is very underrated.”

Clearly, people love this song. And yet, AC/DC has never performed it live. There is some evidence that the band performed “Big Gun” during a rehearsal in 1996, but they never performed it during an actual concert. Setlist.fm lists the song as performed just once in May 1993 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, a few weeks before the song was officially released. That listing likely refers to when the song was recorded for use in Last Action Hero.

So, why has AC/DC never performed this particular song? Honestly, the band has never confirmed an actual reason. But I think it’s pretty easy to deduce why this song fell through the cracks.

“Big Gun” wasn’t part of any album cycle for AC/DC, as it was initially just released on the soundtrack for Last Action Hero. Just as well, when “Big Gun” dropped, AC/DC had already wrapped their Razors Edge Tour and wouldn’t return to the road until the mid-1990s. And when it comes down to it, the band has a lot of hits and only so much time allotted in their setlists. “Big Gun” is just an unfortunate pun that slipped through the cracks.

Photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images