Published on Oct 19, 1997
Do you remember your first time?
No, no, I’m not talking about
that… do you remember the first time you heard one of your
favorite albums of all time?
For me, I think it was in 1983 or 1984 – I was at “Duke”
Williams’ house celebrating some holiday with his family and mine.
He popped AC/DC’s 1980 classic
Back In Black into his tape deck, pushed play… and changed
my life forever. (I repaid the favor last year, when I took him to
see AC/DC at the United Center.)
You can argue with me all you want about how AC/DC is a
three-chord loud boogie band, purveyors of the cock-rock style I’ve
slammed dozens of other bands for on these pages. But I still love
Back In Black, no matter how overplayed it’s gotten on rock
radio.
This album almost never happened. Following Bon Scott’s death in
February 1980 (choking to death on his own vomit after an all-night
bender), Angus Young and company seriously thought about throwing
in the towel. The band had just broken through America in a major
way with
Highway To Hell before losing their charismatic front man –
how do you replace someone like him?
The answer: you don’t find a carbon copy. Instead, they went
back to the bars and found Brian Johnson, lead singer of Geordie
(if you can find any of their albums, except for the God-awful
enhanced-after-the-fact
Keep On Rockin’, grab it!). His style was a unique
growl/scream which differed from Scott’s evilishly pleasing sneer
of a vocal.
The fans, of course, ate it up – thanks in part to some of the
strongest songwriting AC/DC ever put together and an emotional
purge in the studio. (The band, by the way, has denied all rumors
that a tape of songs from
Back In Black with Scott singing lead exists. I have to
believe them – otherwise I would have seen a bootleg of it by
now.)
The ominous tolling of a bell on the album’s opener, “Hell’s
Bells,” lets you know you’re in for a powerful ride. The building
of the guitars, the thumping of the skins by drummer Phil Rudd,
Johnson’s screams, all of it burrows into your brain. Angus Young’s
solo on this one is especially tasty – proof that the Scottish-born
guitarist (and his brother Malcolm on rhythm guitar) is a master of
his instrument who doesn’t have to play 10,000 notes a minute to be
powerful.
This song, the title track, and “You Shook Me All Night Long,”
are probably three of the most overplayed tracks of AC/DC’s career
– never mind the fact that they’re great songs. I still remember
dancing around the room with “Duke” Williams, playing hockey sticks
like guitars to “You Shook Me All Night Long.” It’s a hell of a
track that has lost none of its power in 17 years. As for “Back In
Black,” this is an example of how one guitar riff can become so
well-known. A song that later on had Washington wives running for
cover (and getting involved with labelling albums – which they had
no fucking business getting involved in), this one is
definitely a showpiece for Johnson and Angus Young, and is a great
song to listen to while driving.
But if you think that
Back In Black is only these three songs, you’re sorely
mistaken. “Shoot To Thrill” has become a live favorite over the
years, and is able to shift from balls-out to a more passive riff
back to full throttle very easily. “Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise
Pollution,” which they occasionally still whip out in concert, is
one that Tipper Gore should have been forced to listen to non-stop.
The lyrics are more powerful than Young’s guitar solo – no simple
feat.
Sure, the sexual imagery may occasionally get overblown, a la
“Let Me Put My Love Into You,” but c’mon, these guys aren’t Kiss or
Aerosmith. They’re not singing about (and doubtful they expect to
be) getting laid by ten different groupies a night. Steven Tyler
worships his cock; AC/DC seem to be making light of theirs – and
therein lies the difference. But, hey, if you’re offended by the
song, there’s something called the “forward” button on your CD
player that you may wish to check out.
The “forgotten” tracks on
Back In Black – “Given The Dog A Bone,” “Shake A Leg,” “What
Do You Do For Money Honey” – are all worth checking out as well as
the radio-chiseled hits. I for one always like “Given The Dog A
Bone,” though I’ll admit it’s not the best guitar performance on
the album.
As powerful as
Back In Black is, it did not reach number one in America for
AC/DC – that honor would come in 1982 with
For Those About To Rock We Salute You – but it did reaffirm
their power as a heavy metal band. They came back after losing
Scott and hit new plateus of success – and I somehow think that
Scott would have approved of all of it.
Back In Black is one of the albums I would definitely want
with me if I was going to be stranded on a desert island, and is
one which belongs in every decent rock library. It will be
interesting to see how this album is treated with a box set (I read
it was titled
Bonfire) due out in just under a month.