I guess Sunday is the day I just start watching videos on YouTube. Because again and again I find myself thinking about music and then going on these long YouTube adventures and it ends up taking up half the day on a Sunday. Last week I was crazy with the Rush videos and looking for Queen videos, and this week it was AC/DC, so it seemed like a good time to revisit my “Perfect Band” series. Last time I did the Who, Beatles and Devo. It’s when I think about a band and the bulk of their work is, well, perfect. And by that I mean most of their albums are great-every track is a winner. And there might one or two “questionable” albums-not to mention the end of the career sag-but generally the work was great when they put it out and it STILL holds up today.

Imagine being Austrian. Imagine if AC/DC was from the place you lived. WHO could come to Australia and tell you ANYTHING about rock? And what visiting band could consider themselves a rock band when Australia already had AC/DC? My feeling is, especially back in the day, if you showed up in Australia prepared to anything short of burn the paint off the walls you just weren’t couldn’t to cut. Listen they’re polite people, so I’m sure they clapped for mediocre acts, but having grown up on AC/DC I just can’t imagine them being impressed by anybody who didn’t put it all out there when they played. All they needed to say was “you’re gonna tell us about rock? I don’t think so.”

A few posts back I wrote about my evolution into metal from punk rock, but it all started with me listening to Chicago rock radio stations and AC/DC was the band I kept an ear out for. And they made one of the first “rock” albums I ever bought; Highway to Hell. There was a period there in my guitar learning days, when I was around 10 or 11, when I REALLY tried to learn guitar by listening records. So I think I bought a Police album, a Blondie record, Pink Floyd’s The Wall of course. But all that stuff was variety. What I determined to do, however, was get that AC/DC sound!

The AC/DC guitar sound is so raw it actually sounds like its trying to saw its way OUT of the song. I remember going to Guitar Center and telling the guy I want THIS sound-how do I get a guitar setup to sound like this? And, yeah, they had rock stuff but in those days it was all about sounding like Chicago or Steely Dan. If you went to some music stores in those days it was like they acknowledged rock existed but certainly nobody wanted THAT much distortion for personal use! And they guy was like well, I’m sure your guitar teacher wouldn’t want that much distortion. So I couldn’t get anybody to sell me stuff on small scale. I could SEE the Marshall amps but I sure as shit couldn’t afford them, so just wanted something I could get actually afford but at least come close to the AC/DC sound.

Why were they so great? How do you explain the strange, strange landscape of music in the late 70’s through the mid 80’s. Punk was happening. A lot of the original “classic rock” bands were still big. I mean, your Fleetwood Macs and your Eagles were still selling lots of records. And newer more commercial rock bands like Cheap Trick, Styx and REO Speedwagon were getting TONS of airplay. And as I mentioned, things that you would have THOUGHT were too weird for radio like the Police, Blondie and Floyd was all out there. Ozzy was about to make his comeback. But right in the center of all that was one band. One band who said we’re not cuting any corners. We’re gonna give you short, strong, soulful, simple songs; AC/DC. And SOOOO many of their song and album titles are perfect. They’re like exactly what you would say in normal conversions.

It’s a Long Way To The Top

Dirty Deeds-Done Dirt Cheap

Back In Black

Let There Be Rock

You Shook Me All Night Long

Highway To Hell

If You Want Blood You’ve Got It

For Those About to Rock We Salute You

You see what I’m saying? All those titles become, like, standard expressions in the English language-as if they had always been there! Obviously a lot of the early word stuff came from everybody in the band, but Bon Scott. Bon Scott, like Cliff Burton, has cast this impossibly long shadow for a very long time. Brian Johnson has been with the band for TWENTY EIGHT YEARS!! Are you hearing me? But here’s the truth; both singes were good, for different reasons. So what can you say about Bon Scott? Well, aside from, no shirt could hold the man. His singing was just once in a lifetime type singing. His voice and style can not be duplicated. And FOREARM tattoos. I mean today we see people covered in goddamned tattoos, but in THOSE days the only people walking around with tattoos were trouble people-and on the forearm dude? Like goddamn Popeye! Bon had that “just walked out of prison and hour ago” look, like he was on stage for a few minutes, but on his way to his first piece of ass in 5 years.

He and Brian Johnson were both “soul” singers, who had that real feel. Most rock singers get SO caught up in how they look or with prancing around stage trying to re-live the Robert Plant’s vibe. They sing but they don’t wrap themselves around the hear of the music like the AC/DC singers. They really are in a class by themselves.

And Angus. Shit. Where do you begin? Well, he invented headbangin. NOBODY can touch that claim. Yeah, the general movement was out there, but he solidified that shit. Period. He also is in a very small pool of people who showed that uncomplicated musicianship could be powerful. If you look at Lemmy from Motorhead or Angus, you see how powerful simple, but passionate and creative, music can be. It’s the best sounding stuff. Not that they were afraid to experiment. It’s a Long Way to the Top has fucking BAGPIPES dude! Bagpipes! And they kick AASSS!! In general the production on their records was so crystal clear and just SOLID, but those pipes just blare out at you and hit you in the guy. Plus they have the best sort of “odd sounds.” Like in Dirty Deeds, they have this weird “hah hah hah” thing and in TNT they have the infamous oi oi oi. Which is probably one of the reasons the Brits had them tied to the punk scene for a while.

I love AC/DC.

Related posts:

1. Perfect Bands: The Who The Beatles and DEVO?
2. Most of My Blog Traffic is From Pure Dumb Luck
3. Youtube Made Me Realize I Was an Old Fat Metal Guy Pt.2
4. Open Letter to Horrible Metal Bands
5. Perfect Bands: AC/DC Rush Queen Pt.2