Inside the disturbing connection between AC/DC and the Night Stalker serial killer
People were terrified every time they heard the song.
In the mid-1980s, a chilling connection emerged between the iconic rock band AC/DC and Richard Ramirez, the notorious serial killer dubbed the ‘Night Stalker.’
In a decade of unprecedented violent crimes in the United States, the heinous murders that terrorized California became bizarrely entertwined with some of the most defining music of the 80s.
As rock fans with permed wolf cuts were rocking out to Highway to Hell all over the world, citizens of California were struggling to feel safe in their beds.
Richard Ramirez’s crime spree, spanning from 1984 to 1985, involved a series of brutal murders, sexual assaults, and burglaries.
He was finally caught on August 31, 1985 when a group of civilians in East Los Angeles recognized him from a newspaper photo, chased him down, and held him until police arrived.
After a series of attacks, failed carjackings, and a frantic attempt to flee, Ramirez was beaten by the crowd and arrested, bringing his reign of terror to an end – but AC/DC was only just beginning to come into the picture.
How is Richard Ramirez connected to AC/DC? Ramirez reportedly hummed AC/DC’s song ‘Night Prowler’ when he was arrested (Picture: Zuma/REX/Shutterstock)Ramirez’s method of operation – breaking into homes late at night, seemingly at random – earned him the moniker Night Stalker and sparked panic.
The original connection to AC/DC surfaced when a baseball cap bearing the band’s logo was discovered at one of the crime scenes, leading to wild speculation that the elusive murderer was a fan of the hard rock band.
Soon, these rumours took on a life of their own, and after Ramirez’s arrest people started to claim that the song Night Prowler, from the band’s 1979 album Highway to Hell, inspired the killing spree.
The band has always made it clear they were horrified by Ramirez’s affinity for them (Picture: BabiradPicture/REX/Shutterstock) Win two tickets to Polygon Live, the UK's first immersive music festivalPolygon Live is a 360 immersive music experience (Picture: Marc de Groot)
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The lyrics of the song tell the narrative of a stealthy intruder entering a victim’s bedroom at night.
Lines such as ‘What’s that noise outside your window? / What’s that shadow on the blind?’ seemed eerily similar to the circumstances in which the string of murders took place.
However, the band members consistently refuted any sinister interpretations of the song.
Malcolm Young, AC/DC’s co-founder, clarified at the time: ‘That song is not called Night Stalker. It’s called Night Prowler—and it’s about things you used to do when you are a kid, like sneaking into a girlfriend’s bedroom when her parents were asleep.’
‘The press assumed an awful lot, and the press put a lot more to the significance of the hat than the homicide investigators,’ detective Gil Carillo stated.
The frenzy of speculation only intensified when information emerged during the trial suggesting that Ramirez was a fan of the band.
Ramirez left AC/DC merch at one of his crime scenes (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)A former classmate of Ramirez’s, Ray Garcia, told the media that the killer had a particular affinity for the song Night Prowler.
Then, to make things even worse for the band, during his arrest, Ramirez reportedly hummed the tune of the song.
This association had tangible repercussions for AC/DC. The band faced canceled concerts and public outcry, with some critics suggesting that their music promoted devil worship.
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Rumours even circulated in the US that the band’s name stood for ‘Anti-Christ/Devil’s Child,’ something the members whole-heartedly denied (You can read the true meaning of the band’s name here.)
Angus Young addressed these misconceptions, stating, ‘It just sickens you, you know. It sickens you to have anything to do with that kind of thing.’
The Australian band maintained that none of their songs are intended to promote evil in any way.
In fact, as Young eventually pointed out to critics, the song concludes with the phrase ‘Shazbot! Nanu nanu!,’ a lighthearted nod to the television character Mork from Mork & Mindy thats intended to make it clear the song is not about anything macabre.
Even so, AC/DC’s association with Ramirez lives on to this day, with many fans still finding themselves getting chills of fear anytime they hear the first notes of the song Night Prowler.
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