November 19, 2017 — AC/DC is one of those bands that was always there. Always. And I’m pretty sure everyone here is more qualified to do a tribute to Malcom Young, to AC/DC, than I am, but I’m going to give it a go.
I love AC/DC’s sound. It’s simple, mostly just natural gain, or at least that’s what I hear. And I love the visual look of a Gibson SG guitar, Angus’ guitar of choice. The double guitar sound, produced by Angus’ leads and Malcolm’s rhythm riffs are undeniably their own. The band has had a storied history — an early switch in the bass player, Cliff Williams replacing Mark Evans. Months after finishing the record Highway to Hell, lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott drinking way too much — that stuff sometimes kills, and with encouragement from Bon’s parents, the band introducing Brian Johnson — seriously that guy sounds so similar to me — and going on to record the crazy successful record Back in Black. (Credit to DDL’s research skills for this blurb, thanks, Girlie, and to N for the cover photo.) Mind you, I knew Back in Black was crazy successful, but just how successful I didn’t know. It is the second highest selling album of all time, selling…. Are you ready for this? Fifty million units! On the technical front, I like gear rundowns, but people often disagree with those. The most reliable source I know of is the Marshall forum, for whatever reason, and I can’t take that place right now. Way too scary to think I might be tempted to buy any other major ticket item, and any time I read about gear, I want more. So that leaves, as far as topics go, AC/DC’s impact on me.
Personally, I think AC/DC is about the most fun a car radio can have. My first car, which I got in the summer of 1980, had every cool option in the world: a stock electric sunroof, swivel bucket seats that were very comfortable, a slap shifter (everyone needs one of those), power everything, stock aluminum mag wheels, everything except: an FM radio. Seriously, why didn’t Chevrolet put an FM radio in that car? Shortly after I bought that car, my brother came across an external tape player, used, for $10. He bought it, and as a present to me, installed it in my car. I made a tape of the music I liked in that time frame. The first song: Back in Black. Honestly, I can’t remember any other song that was on that tape. I must have played that song a million times, literally. I played it every time I drove somewhere, Back in Black, interspersed with my other tape – VHI and VHII on a Maxell long play tape, one record on each side. I played Back in Black, the song, so much, I’ll never be able to hear it again. Eventually, that tape was retired, a summer job producing enough money for my AM/FM, tape device and some really loud 6×9 speakers in the back, Kenwood I think they were. Don’t hold me to that though. Other than that one song, which I never allow to play now, any time I hear AC/DC in the car I bop around just like it’s 1980, just like I’m driving my first car.
AC/DC toured in 2015. That concert was the day before, or perhaps two days before, the Van Halen concert. My budget chose Van Halen over AC/DC, but as I was driving home from a job I had at that time, the radio played constant AC/DC, and I wondered if that was a wise choice. Apparently, the station here had played AC/DC that entirel day. I caught a lot of the AC/DC radio day as there was crazy traffic that day, waits of about 15 minutes at each light getting out of downtown. I wished I had gone to that concert, but it turns out Malcolm was already facing his health challenges. AC/DC would then lose Brian, and to me, these bands need their key members. Malcolm is a key member. For that matter as good as Axl Rose (who would replace Brian) is, I didn’t accept that change either. AC/DC is another of those bands I suppose I’ll have to accept having never seeing. Too bad.
Then there’s that other thing I think of – TV, Beavis and Butthead to be exact, the logo always and forever a cartoon character’s t-shirt. When I was early in my career, a time when I would have to work more hours than are healthy, and I longed for something joyful, I used to watch Beavis and Butthead before I went to sleep, my respite from what life was really like. I felt the AC/DC vibe in B&B. I really did, just like driving my car so many years before. It was fun. Even AC/DC must have thought so because they put B&B in an opener in that time frame.
Then there’s now. I still watch the female AC/DC tribute band with this tiny little wish that could be me up there. I don’t suppose anything more needs to be said about that.
I can’t resist posting that!
And when I look for lesson materials and amplifier demonstrations on YouTube, AC/DC is a theme in those. A good video is one where they show an amp’s capabilities without pedals and effects, or so I think. I like the gear videos that show the amp played clean, then played with gain. I can’t tell you how many videos I’ve seen where the demonstration of the gain sound shows the player knocking out some AC/DC. There’s something about that sound, something basic and raw that harkens back to the beginnings of when guitar players turned the amps all the way up and created a sound, a new sound. And there’s something basic and raw about the riffs, Malcolm’s riffs. It’s the signature of AC/DC. It just makes one have to have a Marshall amp!
But what is it? What is that label for the sound? Malcolm calls it roll, as in rock and roll. There’s rock. There’s rock and roll. No doubt AC/DC rocks, but Malcolm says it also rolls.
To me, AC/DC and Malcolm’s riffs are a roll like no other. One that inspired my early driving, my late-night sanity breaks when I worked too much, my current tastes in amps and dreams of tribute band greatness (written with a chuckle). I didn’t know it when I first recorded that little tape way back when Back in Black was new, but it turns out, AC/DC is forever.
Roll on Malcolm. And my greatest condolences to Angus. I can’t imagine losing my brother, let alone losing two.