They wrote one of the 10 greatest RAWK songs ever. The pretty much invented the fist pumping, devil horned, head banging arena rock sound. The lead guitarist is the star, in his outrageous schoolboy uniform but the real backbone is the Rhythm Guitarist. Without Malcolm there is no AC/DC. Just a lead singer and a cock of the walk screecher.
I have heard about a dozen or so songs, and, like everyone who grew up in the 70s, Back in Black was your graduation present.
But aside from the big tunes, what do I really know about the Aussie boys?
Let’s find out.
AC/DC – Flick of the Switch – 1983 (buy it)
From 1976 to 1981, in just five short years, AC/DC released 7 albums. They went from Bar Band extreme Bluesbreakers to Arena filling mega-supergroup. One of the founding members died. And they released the second biggest selling album of all time. Think about that. Think about the last 5 years of your life and put that into perspective. Five years. They deserved a break.
They took one.
Then they released their first album after that hiatus.
And it sucks.
With Mutt Lange off making his fortune with Def Leppard, AC/DC decided to try to emulate his magical production in studio and the result is a crappy, garbagy mess. The problem isn’t just that they are so desperate to maintain that stadium sound, that’s bad enough, the other problem is the new guy is kind of untalented. Johnson is now JUST a screamer, whatever melody he concocted on the two records previous must have been the creation or whipping of Lange because this is just short of screech-metal. it’s just no fun. It might be if the lyrics were any good. They aren’t. And nobody seems to care. Even the pencil sketch cover art feels unimportant.
There are some high points, of course, Landslide is a nice rocker, and Brain Shake should have come way earlier in the track listing, but this is just hard on the ears and hard to take.
Grade D+
A Side: Landslide
BlindSide: Bedlam in Belgium
Downside: Deep in the Hole
