AC/DC Shrugs Off a Death and Rocks On

The Youngs went through several drummers and bass guitarists, finally settling on Phil Rudd in '74 and Englishman Cliff Williams three years later. Their original singer was given notice after two months when they discovered Bon Scott, a native Scotsman who was originally hired in Adelaide as the band's driver. Thirteen years Angus' senior, Scott sang with a lecherous growl that sounded like Tom Waits at 78 rpm, and he was the spitting image of the songs he sang. Onstage, he was usually dressed in nothing but faded jeans that looked like they had been poured on and tattoos that ran up and down both arms. AC/DC's first English tour in 1976 was billed as the Lock Up Your Daughters tour in honor of Bon's animal sexuality.

Angus admits being deeply affected by Scott's death, which came in the middle of rehearsals for the new album. "I was sad for Bon. I didn't even think about the band. We'd been with Bon all that time; we'd seen more of him than his family did." Malcolm adds that the thought of quitting never crossed his mind. "I thought, 'Well, fuck this, I'm not gonna sit around mopin' all fuckin' year.' So I just rang up Angus and said, 'Do you wanna come back and rehearse?' This was about two days afterward."

"And I'm sure," Angus continues, "if it had been one of us, Bon would have done the same."

Brian Johnson does not consider himself a singer. "I'm not even a screamer," he insists, despite evidence to the contrary on Back in Black. "It's just that when I go onstage, I feel it. That's all I can do." Even Angus Young concedes, "I'm a rotten guitar player if I'm standing still," although he'd like to see a few of the big-name guitarists do better. "I know Robert Fripp can't play twelve bars."

But if it is not technical prowess, then what is it about AC/DC and the barbaric sound of such albums as Powerage and the live If You Want Blood You've Got It that appeals to the average rock & roll Joe? Johnson has a theory.

"The most important thing is, the band poses no threat to the kids," he reasons, speaking into a bottle of Löwenbräu in a glitzy hotel bar shortly after the Milwaukee show. "The band poses no threat onstage and doesn't look down at them. They know it would be so easy for those roles to be reversed, for Brian Johnson to be in that audience, for Malcolm Young to be in that audience and for those kids to be in Malcolm's or my place.

"They know the band's worked for all of five years, man, taken all the shit just the same as the kids have taken all the shit, and they know the band doesn't have a snobby attitude, doesn't try to change just to be clever or get in the press with Britt Ekland."

Johnson is probably right. For all the critics' malicious barking about bad taste and lack of talent, AC/DC have gone from an Australian bar band to a major headlining concert attraction with only those fans to cheer them on. The reviewers will say what they will, but Johnson has a little taste test he would like to try on a few of them anyway.

"I'd like to lock 'em up in a cell with AC/DC music for a week," he cackles. "They'll be crying 'Let me out, let me out!' Then I'll put on a week's worth of disco music — and I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of shit they'll be hung by their own belts. With AC/DC, at least they'll come out singing the choruses."

[From Issue 329 — October 30, 1980]