“...As the canning highway gets close to the pub, it dips down into a steep decline: “no stop signs.....Speed limit....Nobody gonna slow me down”. So many people were killed by driving fast over that intersection at the top of the hill on the way to a good night out, that it was called the highway to hell, so when bon was saying “im on the highway to hell” it meant he was doing the nightly or weekly pilgramige down the canning highway to the raffles bar and rock and drink with his mates: “aint nothing I would rather do. Going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too. “
Well, the “hey Satan, paid my dues”, must fit in there somewhere I suppose.
But I would guess that, since there is no specific mention of the town, the bulk of rock and roll listeners hadn’t a clue. This morning I asked the bassist at our church (58, and a rock band member in his younger days), if he had heard the background story to the song. He said he hadn’t, and that it didn’t matter, saying: “I have enough exposure to things that work against my living for God. Why intentionally add thoughts that don’t help me or those around me?”
That’s a reason that I don’t listen to pulpit pimps. While they can say a lot of good things, it’s the lies that I don’t want to hear. So I don’t listen to them at all.