What Is "Stormy Weather" About?

Silly AC/DC, Lightning strikes, not Thunder  

I suppose if you were close enough, you could feel some concussion from the shockwave, couldn't you?

Yes, but that doesn't make the thunder an actual tangible thing.  Thunder is nothing more than a shockwave, much like a sonic boom, created by the expansion of air around a bolt of lightning.  There's nothing there.  It's a sound.  

So, when AC/DC comes along singing about being thunderstruck, they're a little off base.  They weren't struck by thunder.  They simply heard thunder, or they were struck by the bolt of lightning.  If that were the case, it would be a much sadder song, I would imagine.  As it is, it's a jaunty little sing about going to a club in Texas and meeting some people.  There's quite frankly not much going on there.  In the theoretical "Lightningstruck," the hero is taken to the hospital with some severe burns and will likely be without hair or hearing for a little while.  It changes the tune a little bit.  

On the other hand, Garth Brooks got things a little more correct when he sang about how the thunder rolls and lightning strikes.  See, there, the actual physical thing (the bolt of lightning) is doing the striking, and thunder is doing a more abstract action.  Of course, somebody gets shot at the end of that song, so I'm not sure it's really helping my case out all that much.