(Paul Stenning) ACDC Two Sides To Every Glory The Complete Biography (PDF) (ZZZZZ) PDF

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY
AC/DC
AC/DC - TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

The Complete Biography
by Paul Stenning
A CHROME DREAMS PUBLICATION
First Edition 2005
Published by Chrome Dreams
PO BOX 230, New Malden , Surrey
KT3 6YY, UK
W W W. C H R O M E D R E A M S . C O . U K
ISBN 1 84240 308 7

Copyright 2005 by Paul Stenning
Editorial Director Rob Johnstone
Editor Tim Footman
Cover design Sylwia Grzeszczuk
Interior design Marek Krzysztof Niedziewicz
All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced
or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in articles or reviews where the source should be made clear. For more
information please contact the publishers.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
AC/DC
THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY
PAUL STENNING
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the research and preparation of this book the following sources have been
used, I remain indebted to all the relevant authors.
Websites
www.crabsodyinblue.com
www.daveevans.au.com
www.acdccentral.com
www.kolumbus./nononsense/
www.ac-dc.net/
http://www.bluemud.org/article/16683
http://www.superseventies.com/faq_acdc.html
www.acdc-faq.fsnet.co.uk/
www.rockdetector.com
www.buoy.com/~bonre/bonrel.html
www.hem.passagen.se/honga/database/v/valentines.html
Books
Highway To Hell: The Life And Times Of Ac/dc Legend Bon Scott, Clinton
Walker, Verse Chorus Press, U.s. 2001
Ac/dc The Worlds Heaviest Rock, Martin Huxley, Saint Martins Press 1996
Get Your Jumbo Jet Out Of My Airport (Random Notes For Ac/dc
Obsessives), Howard Johnson, Helter Skelter Publishing 1999
Ac/dc: The Denitive History, The Kerrang! Files (Various), Virgin Books
2001
Maximum Ac/dc, The Unauthorised Biography Of Ac/dc (Audio Book),
Chrome Dreams 2000
Magazines
Kerrang!, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, People, Record Collector, RIP,
Circus, Spin.
All AC/DC lyrics quoted in this book are courtesy of
E.B. Marks Corp.
J. Albert & Son Pty Ltd.
Photographs courtesy of
Redferns
LFI
Starle
Barry Plummer
Rex
Paul Stenning
Big Eddie Richmond
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 6
About The Author 7
Introduction 9
1 Career Moves
2 Gorillas Of Glam 22
3 The Chameleon 35
4 Im Alright, Jack 52
5 Caught With Your Pants Down 64
6 And the Lord Said 73
7 Power To The Max 83
8 Highway To Sell 93
9 R.I.P. - Rock In Peace 101
10 The Boys From The Black Stuff 119
11 TwentyOneGun Salute 133
12 The Wright Stuff 149
13 High Faultage 161
14 Playing With Expectations 173
15 Days Of Thunder 184
16 Vast Action Heroes 197
17 Short Changed 207
18 For Those About To Rock Again 216
19 The SG Spot 223
20 Fly On The Ball - A Brian Johnson Prole 234
21 They Salute You 242
22 Did You Know? 257
23 Discography 272
Index 312
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to the following for their encouragement and cooperation in the composition of this work: Clinton Walker, Chris
Barnes of Six Feet Under, Joel McIver, Steve Armstrong, Jeff
Cureton, Dave Evans, Paul DiAnno, Mike Browning, Tom O Dell,
Rob & all at Chrome Dreams, Mark Evans, Vincent Lovegrove,
Susan Marino, Colin Burgess, Ian Cant, Russell Clark, Richard Selby.
Special Thank you to Mac, Mum, Claire and my devoted partner Isla.
This book is dedicated to Tommy Vance (11th July 1943 6th March
2005, R.I.P.) for his inspiration and devotion to rock music.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Music author and journalist Paul Stenning specialises in listening

to and writing about rock and heavy metal. He is currently a regular
contributor to the hallowed pages of Metal Hammer, Terrorizer and
Record Collector magazines, and has previously written for countless
other publications and websites. He has also produced several
works on the art and majesty of hard rock and heavy metal. He has
interviewed numerous bands and artists from those genres including
Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Meatloaf (who also serenaded Paul into
agreeing copy approval!) Judas Priest, members of AC DC and Guns
N Roses, among a host of other top names.
His previous book The Band That Time Forgot - The Unauthorised
Biography Of Guns N Roses has sold in excess of 25,000 copies
worldwide and has recently been published as a revised edition.
Paul lives in Manchester, England, with his ance and the meanest
of furry kittens.
Introduction
Ridin down the highway, Goin to a show, Stop in all the byways,
Playin rock n roll. Gettin robbed, Gettin stoned, Gettin beat up,
Broken boned. Gettin had, Gettin took, I tell you folks, Its harder
than it looks Its a long way to the top
If you wanna rock n roll Its A Long Way To The Top (If You
Wanna Rock N Roll)
So began AC/DCs arduous introduction to playing rock n
roll. The beauty of the band in general and of Bon Scotts lyrics in
particular was their ability to translate the harshness of life onto
the page, onto wax and into bars, clubs, concert halls, arenas and
ultimately, the muddy environs of the festival circuits. Their music
has always been simple, the words to the songs even simpler. Yet,
where others have tried, and indeed many have, to copy or imitate
this effective simplicity, most have failed to come anywhere close
to the power of AC/DC.
Bon Scott was a rock n roll genius. The DC front man for
ve years moulded the band into an act which quickly lled a cleverly observed niche. They kept it remarkably straightforward at
times, but there was clearly something different about them. In fact
the nuances of their stage show, and indeed their studio work, were
many. For one they had Angus Young who dressed as a schoolboy
and dispersed enough energy during a gig to fuel a small country.
He duck walked across the stage and played like his life depended
on it. In many cases it really did. Without rock music the members
of AC/DC had little else, and certainly nothing they really wanted.
Travelling from show to show meeting women and getting high
was all part of the deal, but the real kick was the one hour show
the group was afforded on a nightly basis. Soon that hour would
progress to two, as AC/DC built a fan base which grew with every
sweat drenched performance. They came from a strange base that
combined Scotland with Australia and this, in part, lent them an
edge few other outts could match.
AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

It was an essential element of their collective personality and
it came out in their music. Their outlook was deeply British and
straightforward yet they also carried an Aussie air of arrogance and
unmatchable air. The music was to the point, direct and so were
the interviews. The photo shoots displayed the vital ingredients for
a perfect rock band; Bons maniacal grin; Anguss youthful looks
and tiny frame; brother Malcolm holding things together and the
other members who gradually came and went all playing their
part. They epitomised the genre.
The original core of AC/DC held rm through a number of
legendary recordings. Their titles now fall off the tongue as rightfully heralded rock classics. No group before or since has been able
to match the power, majesty and pure verve of High Voltage, Dirty
Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, Powerage and Highway To Hell.
Each of these records are now more than twenty years old yet
you wouldnt know it to hear them. Sure, the early production was
slightly raw and undoubtedly plain but this was a charming aspect
of AC/DC. It is a compliment that, in the 21st century, bands all
over the world try regularly to capture that garage sound. In recent times it has worked to such an extent that groups inuenced by
the AngloAussies, from The Hives to The Strokes, have achieved
great success building a modern take upon the DC blueprint.
Angus and co. would not begrudge them their chance. After
all, part of AC/DCs easily identiable sound is their basic approach
to early rock n roll and blues. They simply beefed it up and found a
street urchin to utter poetic yet hard and edgy words over the clear
cut backdrop.
Part of the groups allure was their inability to pen a bad song.
Although their critics would suggest that every track sounded alike,
this was really to AC/DCs advantage. The songs were somewhat
recognisable with the rst hit of a familiar chord and when Bon
screeched over the musical backing the recognition was complete.
There were similarities within every track as indeed there are with
all the nest groups yet, equally, enough variation to mark out
each one as an original, unique and endearing composition .
10
The beauty of AC/DC however was not to last in its most

distinctive form. Bon was not their rst singer yet he was their most
identiable. He brought the band respect and appreciation from
across the world, and along with Angus stood as a focal point in the
most successful rock group of the late seventies.
In retrospect, perhaps it was not meant to exist for longer than
a few years. Bon was to die during 1980 in questionable circumstances. It could easily have spelled the end for the group. Many,
including the remaining members themselves, thought it would, and
some would suggest it should have. For the band to still be around
twentyve years later, having not once split up is an achievement
in itself. That they came back after Bons tragic demise with an acknowledged benchmark in heavy rock, and one of the best selling
albums of all time, is testament to their determination and creativity.
Bon was the soul of AC/DC, yet so too is their current vocalist, the
man who took his place with no shortage of trepidation.
It shouldnt have been so easy, yet it seemed like destiny when
the new line up went on to achieve such extraordinary success. An
Englishman, Brian Johnson stepped into the most difcult empty
shoes in all of rock n roll. Nobody thought Bon could be replaced,
and indeed he could not. But to Brians eternal credit, he didnt try.
What he did do was become a different type of front man with his
own agenda, personality and vocal style albeit with a respectful
nod to the bands past. This humble yet powerful approach turned
AC/DCs comeback album, Back In Black, into a masterpiece. And
the fans loved him for it.
Some would argue that the group has failed to attain the same
creative heights since, but still the records are made and the records
sell. Virtually every two years since 1980 there has been new band
product. There have been highs and lows, but during the loftier moments there is still no act in the world who can touch the mighty
AC/DC. Every year they play live and almost every time the venues still arena sized are sold out. Their longevity is staggering
and their appeal enduring. Acknowledged by musicians of every
denomination, and by the media alike, AC/DC continue to surprise
and delight their fans old and new. 30 years in the business and still
going strong, AC/DC are an institution.
11

Two Sides To Every Glory is a tting mark of respect to all that
AC/DC have achieved and created. This is the entire story of the
band. It begins where no other work has dared to tread, in the slums
of Glasgow and the depths of the Youngs childhood and continues
through Bons troubled adolescence, moving onto the fateful union
that was to create the subject of this book. Complemented by interviews with those who knew the band members best, as well as with
the line up past and present, this is the ultimate DC bible and an
ideal accompaniment to the stacks of albums on your shelves baring
the lightning logo. So sit back, relax and crank the stereo with the
recording of your choice and enter their world. This is rock; this is
the sonic power surge of AC/DC.
You wanna see me do my thing
All you gotta do is plug me into high
High voltage rock n roll High Voltage
12
Chapter 1 Career Moves

As a kid, I was never one for the Cliff Richard thing with the
tennis racket. I was more interested in getting my ngers around
the guitar neck. Angus Young
In 1960, Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland, was a dirty,
dark, smoggy, industrial town. Today the same essence survives,
but back then there was a more insular grimness, which gripped the
area like fetid black tar. Glasgow was also dangerous. Street crime
was an issue, but overcrowding and poor housing were a greater
risk for those on low incomes. The city was increasingly overpopulated, and people were crammed into dank tenements.
So crowded were the living quarters that a new town called
Livingston was built to the east of the city, to accommodate the
Glasgow overspill. The local economy was in limbo and many native Glaswegians faced the stark choice of remaining in their city
and suffering poverty, or moving elsewhere to nd better living
conditions.
On the other side of the world however, Australia was still
savouring the effects of its postwar economic resurgence. The
country was hungry for foreign migration and the government was
increasingly targeting the Brits. The princely sum of 10 per head
was offered to those bold enough to sail south.
In 1963 the Young family took the bait. Margaret and William
Young took eight of their nine children to Sydney, in the New South
Wales territory of this enormous country. These included Angus,
born on the 31st of March, 1955, and brother Malcolm, two years
older.
It was, to put it mildly, a culture shock. If Glasgow was dank
and gloomy, Australia was (literally and metaphorically) the land
of sunshine, a situation exemplied by the locals adoration for the
Beach Boys. The inuence that the California quintet had on Australian culture at that time seemed to give Angus Young particular
cause for concern. He later said, When my family immigrated to
13

Australia youd see these kids that had nothing to do with the real
thing, but they all looked like they came out of Hawaii FiveO.
Standing there with these great lumps of wooden board. Id never
seen a surfboard in my life. But they had all got these bits of wood,
and they were all going, Suurrfun Yew Ess Ayyy. I went home to
my mother and said, Mum, I think were on another planet.
Jeff Cureton was a school friend of the Young brothers.
My brother and I grew up in our early years in the Burwood area
of Sydney, he recalls. We both attended Burwood Public School
and thats where we met Angus, Malcolm and their cousin Sammy
Young. Wee Sammy, as their family would call him, was in my
class. Angus was in my brothers class. We used to go around to
their house a lot, until we moved to Habereld. They lived on Burleigh Street in Burwood. I remember we loaned the boys our slot
car track for a while, and we were over there one night and Harry
Vanda and George Young (older brother to Angus and Malcolm)
were there playing with the slot car track at the rear of their house.
Angus was given a beautiful red Jaguar and the tyres had knobs,
from a radio. That was very cool, 38 or so years ago.
Cureton was a constant companion of the two young Scots.
On the weekends around June we would ride to Stratheld to an
old fruit shop that sold reworks, penny bangers, thunder bangers,
roman candles. You know all the good stuff. Anyway, we would go
to Homebush Bay, set up on a bridge there and set the bangers off.
We would light them and wait till the wick would burn just inside
the banger then we would drop it in the water like a depth charge.
We loved it and had great fun doing it, a lot of things got blown up
back then, all in fun.
According to another schoolmate, Bill Clark, Angus started
smoking at about 8 years old. He thought he might become a jockey because of his size. Both he and Malcolm were convinced early
that anyone could be pop stars. They were caught smoking out of
school but in school uniform on a train. The school uniform must
have been the impetus for Angus to wear a school uniform on stage
during his earlier shows including the cap!
14
The Headmaster used to call me up every second day or so

and say, well, Young, what have you been up to this time?
Angus Young
Bill and Malcolm were in the same class and often travelled
together on the same train to school. Our public transport at that
time did not have automatic doors, explains Clark and they would
hang outside the carriages and walk from one door to the next. Academically not strong and very disrespectful to their teachers. This
seemed to add to their aura. They lived in a small semidetached
house which I think still stands just behind the police station. Their
mother was nice, and a bit plumpish. Steve Armstrong was a good
friend of both Angus and Malcolm. I met them jointly as they pretty well did everything and went everywhere together in those days,
he says. Asheld Boys High was an allboys school that used to
be a Technical College. From memory, about 800 students attended
from years 7 to 12. Wasnt a bad school, some strict teachers. This
was back in the days when corporal punishment was allowed.
This didnt seem to deter the Young brothers, especially Angus. As Steve recalls, My earliest memories of the boys are that
Angus was a smartarse! He had an attitude where he thought he
could say and do anything and get away with it, which he did. He
was a larrikin1. On the other hand Malcolm was the quieter of the
two and held the interest of the girls, he was a bit of a pretty boy.
I got the impression Angus was always in the shadow of Malcolm,
especially where the girls were concerned. But Angus had that real
attitude and was not frightened to display it to anyone. Through the
week they would have to do their guitar lessons after school so we
didnt see them when school nished, they would go straight home.
But at the weekends they would get the bus and come down and
hang out with us, it was a pretty large group and they were just two
of the boys, it was great. In 2005, Armstrong remembers his time
with the Young brothers as if it were yesterday and he remarks, I
still get a kick out of telling people that I knew them and that my
wife Coralie used to go out with Angus before we met. He was 14
and they used to meet at Asheld Swimming Pool on weekends
sometimes and have a little kiss, so she tells me.
15

Big brother George, who had also been on the boat from Scotland, had befriended Harry Vanda (real name Johannes Jacob Hendrickus Vandenberg) upon arriving Down Under, and soon the guitarplaying pair had formed a beat combo they called The Easybeats.
The lineup also consisted of singer Little Stevie Wright, drummer
Gordon Snowy Fleet and Dick Diamond on bass guitar.
The name was chosen to roll off the tongue as naturally as
The Who or The Beatles. Indeed, the band would quickly become
the Sydney equivalent of The Beatles, expanding further aeld and
becoming known as Australias biggest pop group during the mid
60s. The link with the Fab Four was accentuated by the fact that
drummer Snowy was a Liverpool native, and before decamping for
Oz, had been a member of The Mojos, who had played on the same
circuit as The Beatles, The Searchers, Gerry and The Pacemakers
and other Merseybeat acts. The bands manager Ted Vaughan soon
met up with Ted Albert of the music publishing house J. Albert and
Son, and a subsidiary called Albert Productions was formed in order
to accommodate The Easybeats. The group then secured a deal with
EMIs Parlophone imprint, the same label The Beatles were signed
to in the UK
I got to know George had become famous with the Easybeats, remembers Steve Amstrong, but I never actually met him.
I loved the band though, loved their music. I didnt view Angus
and Malcolm any differently just because George was their older
brother, nobody did you know. But I think both George and the
boys parents were major inuences on their career because they
used to say that guitar practice was a must. They would have to do
homework rst and then it would be guitar practice, every night in
the week.
By the summer of 1965 The Easybeats were starting to peak
in Australia. They were now attaining a level of stardom previously
reserved for The Beatles, indeed the level of adoration for the band
was similar to Beatlemania, and was quickly dubbed, Easyfever.
During 1965 and early 1966 they released a string of hit singles, all
written by Young and Wright, including For My Woman (which
reached No. 5 in the Australian charts), Shes So Fine (the bands
rst No. 1), Wedding Ring (No. 6), Women (Make You Feel Al-
16
right) (No. 1), In My Book, Come And See Her (No. 1), Ill
Make You Happy (No. 1), and Sorry (No. 4). Additionally, the
WrightYoung song writing team penned Step Back which became a charttopping hit for Johnny Young (no relation) in 1966.
That same year, before returning to Britain, The Easybeats
recorded a farewell television show, The Coca Cola Special. This
became one of the most famous manifestations of Australian music television from the sixties. Tragically, after recording the show
Harry Vanda returned home to nd his wife, Pamela had committed
suicide by overdosing on sleeping tablets. Vanda was undeterred
by the tragedy and followed his plans through to travel to England
with The Easybeats. The trip was to be fruitful. With Shel Talmy,
producer for The Who and The Kinks, at the controls, the band recorded Friday On My Mind which hit No. 6 on the UK charts,
followed by an American release where it charted at No. 16. By
this stage, Harry Vanda had supplanted Stevie Wright as George
Youngs songwriting partner. The band was soon making an impact
throughout Europe, when they were offered a tour with The Rolling Stones. The shows were a success and The Stones invited The
Easybeats to America where they went down equally well. However
after a few lineup changes, the band remained in England. Though
they would score minor hits in the US charts with Good Times and
Falling Off The Edge Of The World, lack of promotion and management attention meant that The Easybeats felt they were not able
to capitalise on their initial promise. To make matters worse, they
were boycotted by some US radio stations for the mild sexual nature
of a few of their songs. The band subsequently lost momentum and
despite several more minor hits, they disbanded in 1970.
Vocalist Stevie Wright remained in the music business and
recorded two solo albums, Hard Road and Blackeyed Bruiser. He
even had a No. 1 single in Australia with the song Evie. Hard
Road featured Malcolm Young on guitars and there were rumours
that Angus also made an unaccredited appearance. Despite this success, Wright later slipped into substance addiction and spent much
of the 70s out of the limelight. However, he did manage to join a
1986 reunion tour with the Easybeats. He reentered the spotlight
in 2004 when The Wrights, a supergroup headed by Nic Cester of
17

Jet, released a cover version of The Easybeats hit Evie, produced
by Harry Vanda.
After The Easybeats split up in 1970, Vanda and George
Young (who were later referred to as the Dutch Damager and The
Gorgeous Glaswegian) returned to Sydney to work for Ted Albert
in his newly formed Albert Productions organisation. They continued to work on music together and were to work on several successful projects, most notably Flash and the Pan and The Marcus
Hook Roll Band. It was this latter project in 1973 that featured the
rst credited appearances for both Angus and Malcolm Young, after
they had appeared at the recording sessions of the album Tales of
Old Granddaddy. It was at this time that Harry Vanda and George
Young began to take a more serious interest in production and studio work.
The Easybeats success had intrigued both Malcolm and
Angus, who looked up to George and thus wanted to emulate his
achievements. It was indeed his inuence that had encouraged the
two younger brothers into beginning their guitar practice. The musical achievements of the Young brothers, including those of another
sibling, who played saxophone in a local group, had not gone down
well with Mr Young Senior however. He thought his sons should
be working regular jobs and not fumbling around with music, regardless of Georges success at playing to hundreds and thousands
around the country and beyond, he did not consider it real work. At
school the boys were supposed to keep quiet about George being in
a band, but when one headmaster found out, he taunted the youngsters and they also had to endure teasing from classmates.
Not to be deterred however, the brothers had decided they
wanted to play music for a living. George provided Malcolm with
ad hoc advice on guitar techniques, and his protg was to make
swift progress. Angus was often found emulating his older brothers,
and he too began to play the guitars around the house, until nally
his mother bought him his very own.
A friend of George had given Malcolm a Gretsch guitar, and
he has stuck with this brand ever since. Once Happy with his Gretsch, Malcolm gave the older Hofner instrument he had previously
used to Angus.
18
The two boys were heavily into the sound of Chicago blues as
they were growing up. As Angus would later say, I like a lot of the
Chicago thing, and a lot of different players. Elmore James, I very
much like that style of playing. When you hear it you think its very
simple, but its not. Its actually very clever, and he executed it so
well. And you never hear it even if you see someone and go, Oh,
theyre going to imitate it, they never pull it off. And B.B. King is
another one. Buddy Guy is a great player. And I like Johnny Winter.
Hes got a lot of power in his blues. He runs a great variety. And hes
always played like that. I regard him as a Hendrix or something. For
rock and roll I like Chuck Berrys playing. His things are a bit of
an art.
Malcolm would always tell me dont tickle the guitar, hit the bugger! Angus Young
At school Angus stood out from the pack. Other kids would
be sucked in by the top 40, or whatever was popular at the time,
whereas Angus was going backwards through time, seeking out as
much heartfelt blues as he could nd. In Australia the records would
often be on import only, but Angus would make sure he could pick
up Little Richard or Muddy Waters. He later said, When I was
young, one of the earliest records I heard was Little Richards You
Keep a Knockin I think I nearly invented rap with that record. Id
take the needle and keep putting it back on to the same spot, to the
blues bit, over and over again, because that was the best part of the
song. My mother said, You touch that needle one more time and
youre going to have a very sore st. But I couldnt help it. I just
loved that one bit. And I was never a lover of the harmony type
stuff. For some reason that seemed too... eeuuuewww... it brought
in that sweetness. When I heard the Beach Boys I thought it was an
older version of the Chipmunks.
At that time, the minimum school leaving age in Australia was
fourteen years and nine months old. Neither Angus nor Malcolm
was about to hang around any longer than was required. Initially, in
keeping with their fathers wishes, the two found jobs, though not
exactly standard employment. Angus worked as a janitor, and as a
19

printer for a soft porn magazine called Ribald. Malcolm worked as a
sewing machine maintenance mechanic in the Berlei brassiere factory. In their spare time, they followed their true vocations. Angus
had formed his own outt, which he dubbed Tantrum, while in 1971
Malcolm joined a group called Velvet Underground (no relation to
the Lou Reed version). The original singer in this band had, coincidentally, been a man called Brian Johnson.
Notes
1. Larrikin: an Australian term meaning rascal or scallywag.
20
MEMORIES
Jeff Cureton on the good old days with Malcolm and Angus:
We lost contact with Angus and Malcolm when we moved
to Haberfield. When I was 18 some friends and I drove up to
Kempsay, surfing. We met four girls up there; we stayed in
their house for a few weeks before we went to Rock Hampton. One of the girls her name was Jenny had a baseball
hat with a big A on the front, she kept talking to the other
girls about Angus this and Angus that. After a few days I
said, who is Angus? She replied in a cheeky voice, Angus
Young from AC/DC. I said, I know him; I grew up with
him. You can imagine what the girls said: Yeah, bullshit.
So I said, OK, when I get back to Sydney I will go to his
house and say hello for you. Angus and Malcolm were overseas on tour. His Auntie let me in so I could talk to Anguss
Mum, so as I walked in she said, I remember you, youre
the one that knocked off all the Easter eggs. I wont go into
that any further!
21
Chapter 2 Gorillas Of Glam

AC/DC is just a tough, driving rock and roll bandve dwarfs
that make a big racket. Angus Young
Velvet Underground was never going to be a fulltime or serious band for Malcolm Young; the peak of the bands success was
a few support slots for a singer called Ted Mulry. Frustrated, Malcolm left for pastures new. Shortly afterwards, Mulry approached
the group to act as his backing band. They accepted, ditching singer
Dave Evans.
Evans originally arrived in Australia from Carmarthen in
South Wales, aged ve, and settled in North Queensland with his
family. I remember arriving in Townsville and thinking how beautiful everything looked from magnicent Castle Hill which overlooks the city to the ocean and Magnetic Island which looks like
a stones throw from the esplanade, he recalls. It reminded me
of Carmarthen Bay, where my family and I used to visit before we
emigrated, with the castle overlooking the ocean, but of course the
weather was a bit colder. My family moved west to Charters Towers soon after and it was like going to another planet really. It was
hot, dry and brown. I was mortied. I was used to the greenness of
Wales and earlier, Townsville. It was a shock. I did however receive
a very good education there, as Charters Towers is known as the
education centre of the north due to the many schools and colleges
there.
After forming his rst band In Session, in Charters Towers
when he was seventeen, Evans moved to Sydney. I started listening to The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who when I
was in high school but there was no rock band in Charters Towers,
only a band called The Trisonics. They played at our school dances.
I joined together with three other young guys a couple of them
who I went to school with and we formed a pop/rock band called
In Session and then the locals nally had the choice of two bands;
which worked ne for both of us.
22
Evans explains why he moved to Sydney: I guess that with

the locals telling me how good I was, I suppose I believed them, and
knew that if I wanted to make a record that I had to move to where
the action was, I asked the other boys in my band to come with me
but they did not have the same condence and ambition as I did, so
I had to head to Sydney alone.
Sitting in his Bondi at one day, after his stint with Velvet
Underground had ended, Evans heard a knock at the door. It was
Angus Young. Evans obviously knew of Malcolm Young, and every
Australian and his granny knew about George. But Angus was an
unknown quantity.
He arrived with almost waistlength hair and green teeth and
he was so tiny, Evans remembers. The rst thing I thought was
Jeez, another Young brother? Christ, how many are there? Angus
asked Dave if he wanted to join his band Kentuckee. He was pleasant enough but when he played me the music he was into at the time
I found it too guitarorientated without enough vocals so I declined
his offer to join his band.
But Angus didnt have far to look for a willing musical accomplice. Malcolm was putting together a new band, and was experimenting with different instrumental lineups. After toying with
the introduction of a keyboard player, he realised he could get a
thicker sound by employing another guitarist; and who would be
better than his procient little brother Angus? The choice was easy
for Angus; it was either stay rooted in depressing dead end jobs or
go for his ultimate ambition, to play in a full time rock n roll outt.
Kentuckee was going nowhere fast and the chance to play alongside his older brother was something he grasped instantaneously,
although according to Malcolm he did harbour some doubts. He
was like, oh, I dont know mate, Malcolm recalled in 2003. He
said, I know youre all right, but those other guys Luckily it
made sense when he came down to rehearse with us.
Whether Angus had quite imagined the group in the same
way as Malcolm was another matter. In keeping with the prevailing visual images of the current popular rock acts, he foresaw long
hair and huge boots, similar to glamrock bands such as Slade and
Sweet. However, the brothers were unanimous in what they wanted
23

the new outt to sound like. They discovered likeminded musicians in drummer Colin Burgess (exMasters Apprentices), Larry
Van Kriedt and, turning up like a bad penny, Dave Evans who had
answered an advertisement for a ballsy rock singer placed in the
Sydney Morning Herald. Evans arrived to meet the band for a jamming session at an abandoned ofce complex in Newtown, Australia and met Malcolm for the rst time. (He had joined Velvet
Underground after Malcolm had left the band). According to Evans,
We all met and had a jam. It was good. We played a few Bad Company covers, Free, some Rolling Stones and it felt good. We all
shook hands and said Yes. We have a band. We didnt have a name
but we had a band.
Colin Burgess remembers, I rst got involved around 1973
before Christmas. This guy rang me up and said Malcolm Young
wants to form a band. At the time I didnt even know who Malcolm was but I knew all about George and Harry and that he was
Georges brother so we set up a rehearsal and it sounded great. At
the time it was only a threepiece but Malcolms guitar playing was
just fantastic.
Larry Van Kriedt remembers meeting the Young brothers for
the rst time, I rst met Angus and Mal in August 1969. I lived in
a migrant hostel and Angus used to go there. The rst time I saw
him he was wearing a school uniform, carrying an electric guitar
and smoking a cigarette. He was 14 or 15. I had a real Gibson guitar
and I could play it so we became friends and he introduced me to
his family. I used to go to their house every weekend for about a
year. I always brought my guitar. Angus, Mal and I would sit around
exchanging riffs on our guitars. We were all very good! I stopped
seeing them for a year or two. One night I got a knock on my door
and a friend of mine called Robbie Lord asked if I wanted to go and
jam with the boys as they heard I had bought a bass. So we jumped
in his car and went to a rehearsal studio in Newtown. I was 19 then
and had a baby boy. I used to bring him to rehearsals sometimes and
I was worried that he would get his ears damaged. Today he plays
with me in my band called Afram. I was probably only in AC/DC
for about four months. But it seemed like longer. Everyone could
see that it was going somewhere.
24
There is coniction in how the AC/DC name came about. According to some it was Malcolm and Anguss sisterinlaw Sandra
who came up with the name AC/DC to signify power and energy.
More likely, it seems the name came from the back of a vacuum
cleaner or sewing machine. (In electrical jargon the abbreviation
stands for Alternating Current/Direct Current.)
Of course, AC/DC is also a slang term for bisexuality, but
the deantly hetero rockers appear to have been completely unaware of these connotations. In their minds, AC/DC referred to the
electricity they squeezed out of their guitars and amps. Nevertheless, several gay clubs would offer to book the group assuming their
name indicated some degree of sexual exibility, a scenario that
wasnt as distressing as it might have been for the band members.
Upfront, bisexual women would come in and hold up vibrators.
They had tshirts with holes cut out in the front, and their boobs
were poking out. It was great! Malcolm later described.
Luckily for AC/DC there werent many rock acts in Sydney and even fewer consisting of musicians that had developed as
quickly as Angus and Malcolm. So it was easy to book a gig and
after a few of rehearsals the condent musicians strode onstage on
New Years Eve, 1973, in a small Sydney nightclub called Chequers, situated at 79 Goulburn Street. Dave Evans recalls: I was
very excited as it was the premier rock venue in Sydney. It was
more packed than usual, as it was New Years Eve and we went on
and really rocked the place. It was magic.
Their set was, like that of many new bands, a collection of
cover versions of their favourite musicians. In keeping with their
inuences, AC/DC played a rollicking set of Rolling Stones, Chuck
Berry and Beatles numbers1. They had even managed to perform
some original material such as the unrecorded The Old Bay Road
and Midnight Rock. Despite Malcoms dreams of glitterrock
amboyance, they all wore jeans and tshirts.
Members of the audience knew they were witnessing something with bags of potential. There was something in the way the
boys attacked their instruments, with the fervour of youth but the
ability of veterans. The band returned to Chequers less than a month
25

later, and played other gigs throughout Sydney. For these dates Larry Van Kriedt played saxophone while Malcolm took over on bass.
The lineup was tweaked several times over the next six
months as slowly Malcolm and Angus became the mainstays of the
group and experimented with an inux of new musicians. Though
it caused frequent grumbles over their inability to hold down a true
line up, it was valuable for the two guitarists as it honed their twin
playing abilities and they equally improved by playing alongside so
many talented players. These included Rob Bailey (exFlake), who
replaced Larry Van Kriedt on bass, and a succession of drummers
after Colin Burgess had been sacked following a collapse at a gig
in Chequers. Burgess remembers the night he fell out of the band.
One night I came along to do the gig and Id had a couple of drinks
beforehand but I wasnt drunk. Ive never fallen off my drum set in
my life, not before or since. What happened was I bought a drink
and left it on one side so I could go and check the setup of my
drums and I came back about half an hour later, grabbed my drink
and downed it because we were about to go onstage. Then we were
onstage and my head is going all over the place, I felt like jelly and
I did this really long drumroll around the kit and ended up rolling
on the oor.
Dave Evans adds, we carried Colin offstage and I didnt really know what had happened. Ten minutes later Malcolm walked
up to me and told me they had sacked him. When it happened I was
in shock, I liked Colin, I still do.
Malcolm said Youre so drunk you cant play, so youve
got the sack, sighs Burgess. I had to sit down for a while anyway
when I came offstage because I was still like jelly. Someone must
have spiked my drink or something...
The replacements for Burgess were Ron Carpenter and Russell Coleman and nally Peter Clack (like Bailey, exFlake). It was
Clack who held rm long enough to be the drummer for the AC/DC
incarnation which would record its rst single in June 1974. The
band cut the tracks in Albert Studios, Sydney. The two songs recorded were Can I Sit Next To You Girl and Rockin In The Parlour, both produced by Harry Vanda and George Young. Come July
the single had been pressed and released throughout Oceania, in
26
Australia on Albert Records and in New Zealand on Polydor. I was

on cloud nine as I got onto the bus from Bondi to travel into the city
to the recording studio remembers Dave Evans. It was a dream
come true to be produced by Harry and George. I just did everything
I was told and didnt really open my mouth except to sing.
Though he was out of the band, Colin Burgess still had this to
say of the single he helped construct, I thought the track, Can I Sit
Next To You Girl, had great potential. Id played in bands that had
had lots of hits, and I thought, Here we go again, on another roll.
I knew they were going to be big, and they were.
As their fame spread, the band members began to ditch their
denimandtshirt garb, and donned costumes. Again, they unwittingly encouraged rumours about their sexual proclivities by camping it up. The drummer was a harlequin clown, Angus alternated
between a schoolboy and Zorro, the bassist was a motorcycle cop,
Malcolm was a pilot while Evans was a stereotypical glam pop star.
In fact, their penchant for costumes seems to pregure the band that
put gay macho subculture on the map a few years later.
That was a long time before the Village People, Evans says.
We were a heavy rock band and we just came out of left eld we
certainly turned heads. But not long after we put our rst single out,
The Skyhooks came along and they pretty much had the costume
thing down pat. We decided to get rid of the gear. The only one that
was retained was Anguss schoolboy. Anguss year of birth was
publicised as 1959 to play into the schoolboy image. This would
have made him 14 years old when the band formed in 1973. It was
Anguss sister Margaret who had suggested he wear the schoolboy
attire permanently as he had once tried the costume in a previous
group. But before he settled on the image that would identify him for
over 30 years, he could be seen in an assortment of outts, including a gorilla suit (dressed in which he would burst out of a cage),
Spiderman (with a spiders web made of rope as a backdrop), and
Superman, or rather SuperAng (with a phone booth on stage where
he could change).
Angus: In the beginning Id wear whatever I thought was appropriate, but the schoolboy suit was the one that stuck. Being in the
gorilla suit, I thought I was going to perspire to death. And I couldnt
27

see where I was going I wandered straight into the audience. The
rst thing they saw was me. It was like a cold slap in the face. And
they thought, Is it a joke? First reaction was people would sort of
giggle. And Malcolm would say to me Shut em up! You can play.
It was a good thing because they were going to remember us for the
little guy in the short pants who looks like hes having an epileptic
t. But the thing is you had to play.
Angus did not always keep his clothes on however. Quite often he would take off his jacket when the temperature inside a club
was stiing. He would habitually then pull his shorts down to moon
at the audience. All this form of theatre was indeed entertainment,
and Angus refers to it as cheap cabaret. There was a catalyst for
his newfound distraction tactic.
One time we were playing this big festival in England and
there was this woman photographer with a real Dolly Parton physique. She gets up and walks across the front stage, and of course
more than half the audience were hotblooded males; so theyre all
following her with their eyes and my brother says, You better do
something quick to get their attention back. So I mooned em. That
certainly jolted them back quick. Very popular with the law too. Oh
yes.
The antics of AC/DC and particularly Angus led to acceptance from the alwaysentertained audience but there was always
someone who didnt appreciate them. I remember at a theatre at
Long Island, a guy kept throwing drinks at me. I warned him a couple of times, and then he hit me on the side of the head with his
metal container. So I jumped in the crowd and let him have it. As
soon as I jumped off stage and saw the height of this guy, I thought
to myself, You fool. Luckily, one of our crew guys got me out of
it, because this guy was big. But I gured if all else failed I could
bite him in the kneecap.
Playing in clubs was a learning curve in itself, but dressing as
a camp schoolboy was not entirely conducive to acceptance in the
rougher establishments that AC/DC would play in their early days.
Angus: We started in clubs and clubs could be a little rough and
tumble. Many a guy dived on stage. Once, in Perth, some clowns
getting at me all night, he gets onstage and puts me in a headlock.
28
So I defend myself. Well, he got in for the shock of his life. I know I
look teeny up there, but thats the worst time to give me grief. When
I put that school suit on, I go into another thing. It takes over. Malcolm says, Its like hes possessed! It is two different people. And
this clown decides hes going to come into your planet. You know,
I decided to evict him.
Despite heckling or the odd scrap, Angus would religiously
keep his outt on, claiming he would feel naked without it. As for
being possessed as Malcolm described, this was simply down to
being so concentrated on playing guitar. The intense and sweaty act
was as much about playing the notes correctly as it was about keeping the audience amused.
The importance of image, and the dominance of the Young
brothers, began to cause bad blood within the band. Dave Evans had
long hair and planned to keep it that way. As he remembers, Malcolm told me I had to cut my hair and wear sunglasses on stage. It
wasnt the image that I wanted. I wouldnt cut my hair for anyone.
My old man told me when I was 16 Get a haircut or piss off. So I
left home.
Can I Sit Next To You Girl was to feature heavily on Australian television. A clip lmed at the Last Picture Show Theatre
in Cronulla was shown on the only national rock television show,
GTK. Dave Evans look was perfect for TV, though it might not
have necessarily suited AC/DC, even at that time.
Another problem was bad management from those becoming involved with AC/DC, according to Evans. As he remembers,
We were playing big gigs, had a single in the top ten but we didnt
have any money. We were struggling to get money together to buy
a bloody hamburger. I was enjoying the life. I expected the money
to take care of itself but the cash wasnt forthcoming. I started questioning the guys about the management and thinking the manager,
Dennis Laughlin, must be ripping us off. It got pretty heavy between me and him, I mean he had a perm and was ying around the
country to get to gigs. We were struggling around in clapped out
trucks.
Sometimes laughter would accompany those early trials and
tribulations and the band felt like a unit, even under difcult cir-
29

cumstances. Evans tells the story of the most bizarre gig AC/DC
ever played. The group had agreed to play at a Greek wedding. The
brides brother was a close friend of the band, and had lent them a
PA whenever they needed one in the past. AC/DC were to be paid
for the gig but were confused when told they would be playing in a
suburban backyard. There was to be no stage, just a lawn to stand
on.
Evans continues, We did a set a bit of Chuck Berry, a bit of
Rolling Stones the stuff we were doing then. Then we had a break.
The people were very generous and gave us plenty to eat and drink.
The father of the bride came up to me and asked us if we could play
Zorba The Greek an instrumental piece. I said Mate, were a
rock n roll band. Theres no way. Then Malcolm said, Give me
a minute. He went away and practised for a while, all from ear.
Thats how good the guy was. Then Malcolm said Tell him, yeah.
Well do it. The band went back and played following Malcolms
lead. It was an instrumental piece so I was in the clear. It sounded
good. We killed em. The people at the wedding danced and cheered
when it was over. I hope they all remember that day. The one and
only time AC/DC ever played Zorba The Greek.
It was a light moment in an otherwise frustrating time for the
up and coming AC/DC, who had been garnering a huge reputation
from Perth to Adelaide, where their single had already been a big
hit. We were travelling from Adelaide to Perth along the Nullabor
Plain. The road wasnt sealed at the time, just a rough track, remembers Evans. About three quarters of the way across we got a
at tyre. The truck didnt have a jack. So we all get out of the truck
and it starts to rain. If not for the kindness of a passing traveller, AC/
DC might still be out on the Nullabor Plains. The Good Samaritan
came along and dug the hole under the wheel singlehanded. Without waiting for the expressions of gratitude, the guy jumped back in
his car and took off. The band was saved.
The biggest problem I had with AC/DC in those early days, being
a touring unit, and not having much money, was keeping everything
together, keeping everyone happy. Theres a few dope smokers in
the band, right? Instead of giving everyone fty bucks a week, its
30
like, alright, whatever you need, well get it. Thirty bucks a week
plus a bag of dope, a bottle of Scotch. Well, Angus was a pain in the
arse, because he says, Fuck ya, I dont drink booze, or fuckin take
drugs. Id give him a bag of sh and chips, a KitKat, a packet of
Benson and Hedges and a bottle of Coke. Dennis Laughlin.
Evans was still unhappy at the relatively disorganised state
of affairs surrounding AC/DC. Instead of listening to Evans concerns and attempting to improve the situation Malcolm decided it
was time to start touting for a new vocalist. According to Evans the
band had been jamming with another singer whilst he was still in
AC/DC. By this time Michael Browning was managing the band
and it was he who had hired Ronald Belford Scott, better known as
Bon, to be the bands driver. It was not in Scotts nature to be a mere
hanger on to a touring band; he had designs on being in the group
itself. He nagged at Malcolm to allow him a chance at drumming
for the band, before he more cheekily attempted to become singer.
Bon told Malcolm, Get rid of that fucking poof you got up there,
Id fucking love to have a crack at that with you guys. As the guitarist remembered, he went back to the hotel, smoked a few joints,
goofed around on the guitar and instantly we just knew this rufan
was right.
Dave Evans: Bon joined the band and stepped right into my
shoes. There was already an established group with a hit record out
and a natural stage act. He was good. He became a caricature just
like Angus. Now I know Im not seen as the essential AC/DC singer.
To me, the core of the band is with Bon. The classic songs are the
ones Bon did. Bon Scott was the voice of AC/DC but it didnt do
him any good. There were to be no sour grapes from the groups
rst successful singer however. By the time I left AC/DC, the band
was already established and had a hit record. So I get some personal
satisfaction knowing that. Any band thats successful over 25 years
is just a great act. To me the Rolling Stones are an institution and
AC/DC, well, youd put them right up there with them. To be part of
the group at that founding stage well, Im pretty proud of that.
Says Evans: I will never forget a conversation I had with
Doug Parkinson when I was just starting out as a singer in Syd-
31

ney when I was in my early teens. Doug was a very wellknown
Australian star singer and still is. He asked me: Do you know the
reason why most bands split up? I didnt really know. He said to me
women! And left me to ponder. I found out the hard way. When
AC/DC rst started Malcolm used to encourage me to talk to the female fans before and after the gigs to make fans out of them. Well it
certainly worked a treat. We gained a strong following very quickly
and as lead singer I certainly had my pick of the bestlooking girls,
and there were plenty of them of course. Evans words regarding
others in the band are at odds with those of school friends of Angus
and Malcolm who have previously described how the brothers were
quite popular with females. And it seems unlikely this appeal would
have faded once the boys were in a group taking to a stage every
night. Nevertheless Evans description of the climax to his falling
out with the band is as follows: At rst me getting girls was a great
thing for the band, but increasingly jealousy turned into hateful resentment as even though Malcolm and Angus were huge talents and
great performers they werent popular with the opposite sex and
both did not even have girlfriends the whole time I was in the band
with them. I also felt that there was also a resentment from Angus
because of the fact that I did not join Kentuckee.
By the time of Evans departure AC/DC had progressed to
playing such notable venues as the Sydney Opera House. Evans recalls, This was the rst time that rock was to be played on the main
stage there. It was just over the top with seven or eight thousand
people outside still trying to get in. It was just unreal to be there
on the main stage of the world famous Opera House! What a rock
venue. Stevie Wright (exEasybeats) came on after us as the main
act, as he had the hit record Evie out at the time.
But the high times werent to last, for Evans at least. A fracas
with AC/DCs manager seemed to be the catalyst to end his time in
the group. There was a lot of tension already built up on this my
last tour with the band, Evans recollects. We were touring with a
hit record but we hadnt been paid for ages. We were eating sh and
chips when we could get them while performing at the top venues
in the country. We just wanted to know why. Back then we didnt
have any idea of the running costs of gigs plus accommodation plus
32
hire cars and trucks plus roadies wages. There was probably a good
reason for the lack of funds for the actual stars themselves, though
I couldnt gure that one out. I guess things were never explained
to the band and things came to a head after a night of drinking. It
became a little heated between the manager and me and a few sts
were thrown but I dont think anything connected. Anyway it was
broken up quickly but that was the incident that sealed my fate as
far as my position with AC/DC was concerned. I had just made an
important enemy.
Evanss contribution to rock mayhem was not over, however:
he went on to front Thunder Down Under, Hot Cockerel and, most
memorably, glamrock purists Rabbit.
Notes
1. The full list of cover versions the band played was: Shake, Rattle
& Roll (Big Joe Turner), Heartbreak Hotel (Elvis Presley), Baby,
Please Dont Go (Big Joe Williams, made famous by Them), No Particular Place To Go (Chuck Berry), Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley),
Thats Alright Mama (Elvis Presley), Jumping Jack Flash (Rolling Stones).
33

TAKEN FROM THE OFFICIAL RABBIT BIOGRAPHY FROM
CBS CIRCA 1976
Dave Evans makes no apologies for the unveiled aggression
of his voice, movement and song lyrics. Rock and violence
are closely connected, he says, I used to try to strangle
my aggression on stage but since Ive been in Rabbit Ive
found it impossible. When you play music like ours, youve
got to be honest enough to realise that violence is a part of
everyones personality and they want to turn it loose. Kids
in todays world especially girls are told not to. Thats
why we use shock tactics.
Dave commits his whole mind, body and energy to each performance and the result is saturation level rock. Our music
is nothing if it isnt taken to the limit, he says. If we cant
let go, how can we expect our audience? For Dave letting
go is pushing his body to the point of agony and his voice
to the extreme of forcefulness.
34
Chapter 3 The Chameleon

I have always wished them the best as, being a founding member, I
will always be a part of the band too. Dave Evans, 2005
Bon Scott rst saw AC/DC in Adelaide, South Australia, when
the band was supporting Lou Reed on his Australian tour. Vincent
Lovegrove (exsinger of The Valentines with Bon) introduced him
to AC/DC. Bon used to hang with the band when we played in Adelaide, remembers Dave Evans. He knew George Young and Harry Vanda; in the 60s, Bons old band recorded one of The Easybeats
songs, My Old Mans A Groovy Old Man, with Vince. Vince now
had a booking agency and did the bookings for AC/DC in South
Australia. He told Bon about the two younger Young brothers.
By the time he met up with AC/DC, Bon had already led a
colourful life. Born on the 7th of September, 1946, in Kirriemuir,
Scotland, he was christened Ronald but soon acquired the nickname
Bon, short for Bonnie Scotland. Like the Young family, the Scotts
emigrated to Australia; in their case they followed Bons sister who
had moved to Melbourne a year earlier. It was in Melbourne that he
started his education, at the Sunshine Primary School. His family
would later relocate to Western Australia where Bon joined North
Fremantle Primary. In 1959, aged 12 Bon started at John Curtin
High. During this period he had become a procient bagpipe player
and was an under17s pipe band drum champion for ve consecutive years. His mother Isa, who would always call him Ron, remembers: There was a pipe band nearly every week, every Saturday
night, marching through the square. Ron was mad on drums before
the pipes. He would hit biscuit tins or the breadboard.
My new schoolmates threatened to kick the shit out of me when
they heard my Scottish accent. I had one week to learn to speak like
them if I wanted to remain intact. Course, I didnt take any notice.
No one railroads me, and it made me all the more determined to
35

speak my own way. Thats how I got my name, you know. The bonny
Scot, see? Bon Scott.
Ian Cant was a school friend of Bons and says of the time:
North Fremantle in those days was a great place to grow up. Im
glad I was born there; it was a great place for Bon too. He was, to
me, a little bit of a larrikin; he had an aura that showed up from a
very early age. He had something that attracted people to him, his
easygoing air. We both attended John Curtin High School where
we had good teachers and a good environment and all the students
at that time had fun. Russell Clark, another friend of Bons, says
of Fremantle: Its an environment that really encourages people to
enjoy themselves.
In part due to his love of music, Bon was not cut out for academic work and he would thus often nd himself in trouble in
school. He was into everything, recalls Isa, a mind of his own.
He went walking by himself; I never had to do anything. He never
used to come home from school. Hed just go off with some of his
little mates and never think of coming up the hill. I used to have to
chase him, so it started young! He was mischievous, Id say, more
than anything. Not naughty; he just had a mind of his own and if he
wanted to do something, that was it.
The courts did not see Bon in quite the same way. An article in
the West Australian on March 13th 1963, reported the crime which
saw Bon sent to the Riverbank Juvenile institution for his increasing
misdemeanours:
A 16 yearold youth pleaded guilty in the Fremantle Childrens
Court yesterday to charges of having given a false name and address to the police, having escaped legal custody, having unlawful carnal knowledge and having stolen 12 gallons of petrol.
Being sentenced to time at a boys home was preferable to
facing his parents, whom Bon felt he had disappointed. Until the
age of 18, he was placed in the care of the Child Welfare Department. The mistake he had made left Bon feeling low, and he missed
out on seeing his grandparents who had travelled from Scotland to
36
visit the family. In many ways he spent the rest of his younger years
trying to atone for his early behaviour and close friends of his would
say that later in life Bon was more determined to be successful in an
attempt to make up to his parents for what had happened.
When Bon emerged from custody he had made the decision
to make a full time career of music. He had long wanted to be a professional drummer and the appeal had increased when Bon began
to dream of travelling the world and meeting as many women as he
possibly could. He felt it was a more suitable career for a person of
his character and intrigue and it certainly beat the alternatives. Since
leaving school, Bon had held a series of odd jobs: driving a tractor,
labouring on shing boats and working as an apprentice weighing
machine mechanic. He even attempted to join the Australian army
but they pronounced him socially maladjusted.
In 1965 Scott joined his rst real band in Perth, known as The
Spektors. He drummed, and although he also sang when the need
arose, he was initially convinced that his musical future would be
behind the kit. Little is known about his time with The Spektors,
but despite Bon not being in the band for very long, it appears that
it was nevertheless a good education in group politics and writing
and recording music.
Richard Selby, an Australian musician who would go on to
form The Troubadours, recollects his rst meeting with Bon. It
was at St. Patricks church where they had a Sunday rock n roll
dance. There would be bands coming, wonderful rock n roll bands
and we would be there, watching the band. That was a good part
of our growing up because there was always something happening
with music in North Fremantle. Before we actually got into bands
we were watching other bands and that encouraged us to practice
more and try and form our own group. In 1964 I joined the Troubadours and it was about the same time The Spektors were happening.
I think we played a couple of gigs together at a place called the Big
Beat Centre along with other bands like Russ Kennedy and Johnny
Young and The Strangers.
Vincent Lovegrove also remembers seeing Bon play with The
Spektors. Bon used to get up and sing maybe three or four songs a
night, he says. We often as not found we were playing the same
37

venues. I was a singer in The Dimensions, later called The Winztons, and he and I struck up a friendship. Bon and the singer would
swap places halfway through their set, and Bon would sing whilst
the singer would drum. The singers name was John Collins, a good
solid singer, but a bit straight. He was also a good drummer.
Bon was a postman in the daytime, and I was a menswear
clothing salesman. Hed drop the mail in to the menswear shop in
Fremantle. Bon lived in North Fremantle with his mum, dad and
brother. There were a lot of cabarets in Perth at the time and there
was also a lot of mining going on around the area at that time and the
miners used to work on and off they would work for six months
and take three months off and they would accumulate a lot of cash
and spend it in these clubs. The only problem was the bands they
wanted to have there were what we called top 40 cabaret bands.
There was no originality so therefore there were a lot of places that
opened up in the surf clubs along the west coast, places like the
Swanbourne Stomps.
In 1966 Bon and Vince formed The Valentines. Bon was 20
years old. They shared vocals and were backed by Ted Ward on
rhythm guitar, Bruce Abbott on bass guitar, Wyn Milson on lead
guitar, and drummer Warrick Findlay. We cooked up this idea of
combining the best of each others bands, and forming our own,
says Lovegrove. We were inuenced by Sam And Dave and other
soul music, along with the Small Faces, so we decided to form a
band with two singers. We would take turns to sing the main vocal
line, while the other would harmonise.
Though Bon was not brimming with condence in his own
vocal style he nevertheless was secure enough to put his voice to
tape. Unlike his eventual singing with AC/DC, in the 60s Scotts
voice was soft but in keeping with the pop and often psychedelic approach of The Valentines and of the music scene at the time. Within
weeks of their live debut The Valentines had made an impression on
the local concert going public, and played shows at venues such as
Canterbury Court and the Swanbourne Surf Livesaving Club (more
commonly known as the Swanbourne Stomp). We worked off each
other a lot, Lovegrove says of their duel vocal duties, because we
werent really condent enough to do it on our own. We had a pretty
38
wild stage act for the time, we used to jump on and off amps and
have re bombs going off onstage and all sorts of weird stuff. And
we red off each other, we denitely gelled and we would work
stuff out beforehand, what we would and wouldnt do.
The Troubadours Richard Selby recalls: They were both
pretty smooth but Vince was more laid back than Bon. Vince had
this star aura, Bon had an aura of mischief, this twinkle in his eye,
the look on his face that would bounce off Vince, the cool one. It
was interesting to see.
I met Bon in 1967, Russell Clark recalls. We were postmen together. He laughed all the time and really enjoyed himself but
with Bon it was like two lives. He would come to work but virtually
have the clothes on he had been working in at night, you know, and
not have his uniform on. Hed just say where hed been playing and
where he was going to play he said to us why dont you come and
see us one night when we are playing? We went to the Swanbourne
beach when he played at the Swanbourne Stomp down there. My
mates and I used to go to different stomps around the area and he
happened to be in one of them. He was a likeable chap; easy to get
on with. His personality, I would say, was better than his singing! In
the end he was more known for his singing than his personality but
I think he had both and that was one of his plus points.
Another band that resided in Adelaide at the time was The
Twilights, who were the only other group in the area to utilise two
vocalists. In both cases this led to respect for the seamless integration of the two singers styles, as well as adoration from the female
audience members. According to Bon, he had switched to vocals as
the singer would get more chicks. In the 1960s, Perth only had
one record label and its owner, Martin Clarke, took pride in knowing about all bands that operated throughout Australia. His Clarion
label knew The Valentines could be on the verge of success and so
Clarke approached them, claiming their signatures in March 1967.
Less than a year after they had formed, the group had found a label
and released their rst single. For this they chose a cover version,
Arthur Alexanders Everyday I Have To Cry, whilst on the Bside
they recorded I Cant Dance With You, a Small Faces number. In-
39

evitably, the record did very well in The Valentines locality, reaching the Top 5 in Perth alone.
The band then recorded six tracks for Ron Tudors June Productions, which were leased to the Philips label. These included
a version of Harry Vanda & George Youngs My Old Mans A
Groovy Old Man and the selfpenned Juliette. These two became
hits for The Valentines when released on an EP. The second single
was less successful, however; a Stevie Wright/George Young composition entitled She Said, released in August 1967, only just managed to scrape into the Perth charts. There was a slight improvement
in February of the following year, when the double ASide I Can
Hear The Raindrops/Why Me?, both Lovegrove/Ward compositions, reached number 30 on the Perth charts, but still failed to score
elsewhere.
Later The Valentines were rumoured to be moving label and
joining the ranks of the Sunshine company. However, the group
remained with Clarion to release their fourth and last single in
July 1968. Peculiar Hole In The Sky was another gem from the
Easybeats vaults, written by Harry Vanda and George Young and
produced by Paul Aulton. The Bside Love Makes Sweet Music
was a cover version of a song by progressive jazz rock British band
The Soft Machine. The Valentines now moved base to Melbourne
where they joined New Dream and The Zoot as forerunners in the
1960s boom of Australian psychedelic pop.
The relocation to Melbourne was inspired by a battle of the
bands competition where the winner could receive a free trip to
London. It was a nationwide competition where each state had a
winner, Lovegrove recollects, and we won Perth, and our prize
was to go to Melbourne to compete in the nationals, and that was a
big trip for us. So we decided to use that as our gauge as to whether
we should leave Perth for good. We went over and of course we
played in a big hall, there were ve thousand screaming fans and
there were another 12 or so bands on. You only got to do two songs
but you could work out a really good stage act for two songs. We
didnt win but for the four days we were there, we went to every
single club in Melbourne, and saw that it was a completely different world to where we came from. We decided there and then,
40
this is it, lets go. Six months later we left to go to Melbourne

permanently.
Lovegrove remembers one incident, which stirred up problems in the Valentines camp. When we hit Melbourne we made
a band decision that we were not going to smoke pot or take any
drugs, he explains. I can remember me and Bon went up to Sydney one time and it was the rst time I had ever had a joint, we went
and saw this band that we knew and the keyboard player invited us
back to his place to smoke some dope. We were both nervous as
shit and we went back there and smoked and were shit scared. We
just sat in the corner of the room giggling and wondering whether
we should be there and eventually we just slid our way out of the
room, you know completely paranoid before bursting out laughing.
Then we ran back to the hotel we were staying in which only had
one room for the whole band. And of course the rest of the guys
knew immediately that we had smoked and we were ostracized and
told we were going to be kicked out of the band. We laughed at that,
considering we had started the band. So we went out to a club and
got shitfaced drunk because we couldnt believe the gall of the
guys in the band thinking they could throw us out. We saw them
again the next morning. We always used to have breakfast around
the corner; we used to go there and have fresh orange juice because
after a hard night drinking its good to have a bit of orange juice.
We were on one table and the band was on another table and they
wouldnt speak to us because we were still stoned. Anyway eventually a member of the band came over and said Its ok well let it
go this time you can still be in the band.
There was to be a high prole drugs bust involving The Valentines, although it was not clear exactly which members were involved, or exactly what the forbidden substances were. This gave
the band publicity, but it was something they didnt want hanging
around their necks. As Lovegrove explained, Bon and I agreed
we were going nowhere. We were only being kept alive by publicity about pot, not by what we were doing, which was good but we
werent playing at the right places and we got lost basically. So Bon
and I decided we had the right to do it because we had formed the
band in the rst place we would leave the band and would get on
41

with other things. We announced our decision to the band and it
didnt go down all that well with them or our management at that
stage but we felt it was for the best.
The Valentines had provided a useful initiation into the music
world for Bon Scott. He had experienced life in a popular touring
group and though the songs were rarely their own and fell on the
lighter side of rock, his introduction to rock n roll was complete.
In his liner notes for Bons next project, Glenn A. Baker (an
Australian based music writer and broadcaster) remarked that he
encountered Bon Scott a number of times during the 70s and each
meeting served to increase my incredulity that a performers public image could be so at odds with his real personality. Bon really
was a sweet man. He was warm, friendly and uncommonly funny.
He did not breathe re, pluck wings off ies or eat children whole.
And while his daunting stage persona of lascivious leers and blood
curdling howls was by no means fraudulent, it was most certainly a
professional cloak that could be worn at convenient moments.
Bon went to Sydney to put together a new band, which he
did with the remnants of Levi Smiths Clefs. Fraternity was another
leap forward for Bon and his adaptable persona and voice. He grew
a beard, eventually looking something like Arthur Brown (a British
singer famed for his notorious pyromaniac stage routine) crossed
with Scottish comic Billy Connolly. This was not unusual for the
time, yet for Bon, wearing leather sandals and outlandish clothing
was slightly at odds with his core instincts, especially when compared with his later, nobullshit image. Fraternity were clearly a
more exciting visual prospect than The Valentines were ever going
to be, but musically they fell somewhat short, despite favourable reviews at the time. Their whole purpose was to attempt to be an Australian version of Bob Dylans former backing group The Band.
Fraternity then moved to South Australia after being offered
management and nancial support by businessman Hamish Henry.
GoSet magazine featured an interview with Vince Lovegrove and
Bon at this time where it was noted: Bon Scott, vocalist, recorder
and timbale player, is constantly in a dream world of his own but
hes having a ball. He says: the point is, the dollar sign is not the
ultimate. We want to try and help each other develop and live. So
42
that the thing inside of us, whether it be creative or not, is satised. Something makes us tick and its up to people to satisfy that
something. We are satisfying ourselves and others by creating an
environment.
Lovegrove remembers that he and Bon both had eclectic musical tastes, but we were also into creating a stage act, an exciting
stage act, and that was probably just as important to us as two 20/21
yearolds as our music, rightly or wrongly. It was an experimental and pioneering time in rock music in those days. Particularly in
Australia, because we were so isolated from the rest of the world.
According to Lovegrove, Bon had found his niche with Fraternity. That was what he needed; when he left us he became a showman. He was what they needed as well; he was a front man with a
good voice. They believed they were the best band in the world and
were going to conquer the world. It was also a time of many magic
mushrooms being dropped and lots of alcohol being drunk and that
became part of Fraternity as well.
The group of aspiring hippies regularly returned to their spiritual home of Sydney. Their recordings were issued on the Adelaide
independent label Sweet Peach but the reception was lukewarm.
The music could not stand up to scrutiny beyond a live environment,
where they had developed a reputation for exciting performances.
Thus the album Livestock, released in 1971, made little impression.
John Robinson wrote the wonderful Seasons of Change for the
band, but it was the version by his own group, Blackfeather, which
cracked the charts. There was a further connection for Bon however, as he appeared on the Blackfeather album, At The Mountains
Of Madness, which has since been rightly heralded as a cult classic.
Oddly enough, it wasnt his singing that featured on the album, but
his skills with the recorder.
Fraternity won the prestigious Hoadleys National Battle Of
The Sounds in 1971, although this did not help with their attempts at
releasing a hit record. But GoSet gushed at the bands stage show:
Fraternity came on and nearly rocked themselves off stage and half
the audience nearly rocked themselves onto the stage. Superb harmonica and superb vocals by that guy out of the old Valentines.
Whats his name again? Oh, you know him.
43

After becoming disillusioned with the Sweet Peach label
in late 1971 Fraternity released a number of singles on the small
Raven label before recording their second longplaying record. The
resulting Flaming Galah album was more of a rock record than its
predecessor, and left behind many of the bands fans. In an effort
to nd a more broadminded fanbase, the band and their entourage decamped to England, where the glam rock scene was at its
stackheeled peak. The group, and the hangers on (16 people in all,
plus Clutch the dog) would remain in England for 18 months, living
in a huge fourstorey house in Finchley, London. At one stage they
played alongside Status Quo in the south coast town of Bournemouth, but the denimclad boogie legends were so polished that
they blew Fraternity away.
The group decided a name change was necessary, quickly
altering their moniker to Fang. But success still evaded them and
by 1973 the members were bickering on a daily basis. By August
Fraternity/Fang would play its last ever gig at a festival in Windsor.
Some of the members, including Bon, hung around in London as the
group disintegrated, nding work in a nearby pub, behind the bar.
But by Christmas both Bon and Irene decided to return to Adelaide.
Theyd had enough of each other by this point and were quarrelling
constantly. Irene went to live with her parents, while Bon moved in
with Bruce Howe of the Mount Lofty Rangers and his wife and son.
The Rangers were something of a cult band in Australia, featuring
many of the countrys top musicians, including Robyn Archer, Jimmy Barnes (who went on to front Cold Chisel), Chris Bailey (later
leader of The Saints), Mauri Berg and Uncle John Ayers.
Howe was hopeful that Bon could patch up his differences
with Irene, but any optimism seemed to disappear after one particularly heated argument between the couple. Bon stormed out of
Irenes parents house and immediately crashed his motorcycle. The
accident left him with missing teeth (which would require him to
wear a dental plate), a permanently damaged leg and a smashed
jaw.
During the resulting layoff, Bon worked with Adelaide musician Peter Head (aka Beagley) who wrote the songs Round And
Round And Round and Carey Gully for him. Subsequently Scott
44
performed with the Rangers, but by 1974 he was working as an occasional roadie for AC/DC.
If you saw the way Bon drove, youd know why he ended up singing! We knew all along that Bon would be perfect for us. We rst
got together one afternoon and straight away we worked out two
songs. From that point, you could tell the guy had great talent.
Angus Young
It was Vince Lovegrove who initially introduced his old Valentines pal to AC/DC as he explains, Contrary to what other stories
you may hear. I was working as an agent and journalist at the time,
and managing some acts, including Cold Chisel. I knew George
Young and Harry Vanda from our Valentine days. They wrote a lot
of our songs for us. Anyway, Georges two brothers, Angus and
Malcolm, had just started this band called AC/DC who wore funny
clothes like The Valentines, but they had that riff rock thing underlying, with an early version of Malcolms rhythm chop playing. It
was actually started by other Australian acts such as Billy Thorpe
and The Aztecs, and a band called Carson, and perhaps one of Australias best ever bands, The Dingoes. But to Malcolms credit, he
really expanded the sound, and experimented with it, and forged a
new sound, which was the basis of the Australian sound that so
many bands mimicked after that...like Rose Tattoo and The Angels
and many others. Rose Tattoo would become friendly with AC/DC
and Bon Scott in particular would become close to RT leader, Angry
Anderson.
Lovegrove continues: Bon was recovering from his accident,
and he needed a place to stay and needed some money. We were
both living in Adelaide and it was just a couple of years after The
Valentines broke up and Bon had been in Fraternity. He stayed at
my home to live, and I gave him some work painting the ofce and
driving bands around. George had asked me to look after his two little brothers, Angus and Malcolm, as their manager was ripping them
off at that time. I loved AC/DC then; I could see they were going
to be worldbeaters. They were unique, nothing like them then. So
I booked them as much as I could, bringing them to Adelaide from
45

Sydney, mostly at a loss for me, but as a favour to George. I would
pay them the cash directly instead of giving it to their manager.
One day Malcolm told me they were going to sack their singer, and he asked me if I knew anyone. I told him about Bon, and that
Id introduce him that night as they were playing at my venue. They
said to me that Bon was too old, that they wanted someone young.
I told Malcolm that Bon could rock them til they dropped, that he
could out rock them anytime.
Vince Lovegrove seemed to be the only person who truly knew
Bon Scott would be perfect for AC/DC. As he remembers: When I
told Bon, he told me they were too young, that they couldnt rock if
their lives depended on it. On outside appearances, to all and sundry
at the time, it did not seem like a good match. But I knew both parties and I knew they would compliment each other. I knew it would
work, even though nobody else thought so; AC/DC, Bon, anyone
else. It seemed so obvious to me. Anyway, that night, backstage, I
introduced Malcolm and Angus to Bon. It was strange because their
lead singer was there at the time, and I knew, and they knew, but he
didnt. After the show we all went back to Bruce Howes place for a
jam session (he was the bass player for Fraternity) and they rocked
on until dawn, doing Chuck Berry songs.
According to Lovegrove, the band matchmaking session
worked a treat. Next day, Bon came around to the house, packed
his bags and said he was going to Sydney to join AC/DC. He was
in the back seat of their hire car. They were in the front. We waved
goodbye, and that was that. A legend began.
The bands then manager Dennis Laughlin had been regularly
lling in for Dave Evans who at this time was calling in sick a great
deal. Nevertheless, they managed a six weeks residency at Perths
Beethoven Disco, as the unlikely support act for a wellknown
transvestite called Carlotta. By September Laughlin called Bon to
ask if he would like to join the band as fulltime singer. He didnt
have to think too long, believing even early on that AC/DC were capable of going far and insisting that they would go further with him
at the helm rather than Evans whom he called a drongo.
Bon joined the group at the end of September and appeared
with them on stage for the rst time at the Pooraka Hotel for a jam
46
session. Angus recalled: The only rehearsal we had was just sitting
around an hour before the gig pulling out every rock n roll song we
knew. When we nally got there, Bon downed about two bottles of
bourbon with dope, coke, speed and says, right, Im ready, and he
was too. He was ghting t. There was this immediate transformation and he was running around with his wifes knickers on, yelling
at the audience. It was a magic moment, he said it made him feel
young again. According to Vince Lovegrove, Bon had told him he
liked the guys in the band and thought they were going to be big,
because he was going to sing for them.
It keeps you t the alcohol, nasty women, sweat on stage, bad
food its all very good for you Bon Scott
After Dave Evans played with the band in Melbourne he was
given his marching orders.
After my split with the band I was surprised that Bon was
the new lead singer as he was a lot older than us, and he was recovering from a bad motorbike accident, and was splitting with his
wife, says Evans. He was not really together. He did not go down
well in Sydney at their rst concert there without me, as the crowd
was expecting me but they moved to Melbourne to regroup. The
gig Evans refers to was the bands rst ofcial concert with Bon
as frontman, at the Brighton Le Sands Masonic Hall in Sydney.
Though the crowd was indeed expecting Evans, it was clear to all
in attendance that AC/DC had made a good choice with a replacement vocalist. Scott did not have the looks of Evans but what he
lacked in pretty boy status he made up in pure charisma and brash
condence, a trait which dissuaded people from disagreeing with
him to his face.
Angus commented on meeting Bon: When Bon rst came
along and saw me and Malcolm he sat behind the drums and started
bashing away. We said we know a good rock n roll drummer, what
we want is a great rock n roll singer, hence the song we recorded.
This is what we wanted. For us it was great. He was a striking person. He did have the stuff legends are based on. I was in awe too,
being the youngest. I laughed my head off and he laughed when he
47

saw me. He said to Malcolm Do you want me to sing like someone? Malcolm said: No were asking for you not anybody else.
We dont want a clone, we want you and what you are. He loved
that. He loved the fact that he could get on and be himself. He said
to himself I never got what I wanted to be. Being in a pop band the
front guy would always have the image for the little girls. Bon used
to call himself the background singer, the rhythm singer. He had the
talent and nice guy looks. Some people wanted him to cover up his
tattoos and all sorts of stupid things.
Upon joining AC/DC it seemed Bon was nally where he had
truly wanted to be ever since joining his rst band front man, lead
singer, lyric writer and all in whatever style he wanted. He could
go on stage wearing jeans and a tshirt, or even womens undergarments, and the other members couldnt care less. This would never
have happened in The Valentines or Fraternity.
Ive never had a message for anyone in my entire life. Except maybe to give out my room number. Bon Scott
Chris Gilbey worked for the Albert production company and
experienced AC/DC with both Bon Scott and Dave Evans. He remembers: To be honest, the early tracks with Dave were not that
impressive to me. However it was a George and Harry play and
they were developing the band in the studio and they recorded a
bunch of tracks with Dave. I dont have much recollection of what
they recorded with Dave. Frankly it was when Bon joined the band
and started writing lyrics that sounded like grafti that I started
thinking that this was a band that was going to go somewhere. Bon
was a great guy who had a tremendous attitude and great stage presence a fantastic communicator.
During AC/DCs rst gig with Bon there were already signs
of the front mans excessive nature. We got into the dressing room
and theres a bottle of bourbon, a line of coke, some speed and a big
fat joint laid out, recalled Angus. Bon came in and guzzled the
lot! I said to Malcolm, if he can walk to the stage, let alone sing, its
gonna be something. But he got out there and this huge, hurricane
yell came out. The whole place went, what the fuck is this? Plus,
48
there was the look of him. He had all these tattoos and a tshirt with
a big drawing of his cock on it!
In November 1974 Michael Browning, manager of the Hard
Rock Caf (Melbourne), became AC/DCs full time manager. Together they all moved into a house in Melbourne where there was
apparent nightly debauchery. Nevertheless, though the band clearly
knew how to party, especially with Bon now on board, they could
also work hard and fast. Within ten days the group had recorded
their rst album, which they named High Voltage. This was undoubtedly inuenced by the AC/DC name itself and was perhaps
a discreet assertion that the name represented power and energy as
opposed to sexual preferences. It also covered the base of the music,
which was somewhat lo, straight to the point good time rock n
roll with an added kick; the verve of youth and the unmistakable
howl of Bon Scott.
George Young and Harry Vanda manned the controls behind
the production desk whilst George played bass himself on some
songs. Session musician Tony Currenti was enlisted to nish the
drum parts as Peter Clack and John Proud had only played on one
track each. The band now had a real record to stand behind and
after a tour of South Australia nished the year off in style with a
New Years Eve gig at Festival Hall in Melbourne. By their own admission they would pretty much play in front of anyone, and often
did. Every type of fan could be seen at an AC/DC show, from gays
who assumed they were named for a different reason, to typical girl
groupies and the standard male rockers this was an act that could
transcend boundaries. The High Voltage record was to set them well
on their way down the road to glory.
49

VINCENT LOVEGROVE PROFILE
Vince Lovegrove is something of a renaissance man who has

tried his hand at many things during the course of his life.
He came to the fore as a film maker in 1978, by producing
the first ever international documentary on Australian music, Australian Music To The World. In 1987 he completed
a documentary called Suzis Story, which was commissioned
by Home Box Office in New York and 20th Century Fox in
Hollywood. The subject of the film was Lovegroves wife,
who had recently died of A.I.D.S. In 1994 he made another
film about the illness, which this time focused on his son
Troy who had also passed away after contracting the disease.
Both films were to win numerous awards internationally,
and both achieved Emmy award nominations. They became
the most successful portraits of the A.I.D.S. virus ever to
be made into documentaries and are still shown around the
world.
Lovegrove retained a musical slant to his work, managing
the group Cold Chisel, which featured Bon Scotts Fraternity understudy Jimmy Barnes, at the start of their career
and he also acted as The Divinyls manager from 1982 to
1985. During this time the increasingly successful ex Valentines vocalist resided in New York for four years. Briefly
he would manage AC/DC before deciding he wanted to spend
more time with his family and resigning. By 1994 he was
still involved in management and rescued old friend Jimmy
Barnes career, achieving great success for him in the south
of France. However after 18 months he stepped down as
Barnes manager in order to forge a writing career.
Since then he has been an international correspondent for
many international magazines and newspapers, in the fields
of music, entertainment and sociology. He became entertainment editor for the world travel magazine, TNT, based in
London, and is now the magazines regular features writer
50
and columnist. He has also been writing Lovegrove Ear On

London, a regular Internet column, for a number of years.
He is based in London, a single father, a one time widower,
and two times divorcee. As previously mentioned he lost his
second wife and his son from that marriage to the tragic
A.I.D.S. virus.
I dont mean to sound blas at all, but thats life and life
is all relative, he says. You have things that have crushed
you that would mean nothing to me, and vice versa. A wife
and a son are hard to lose, but you can either go under with
them, or swim and survive. You have to do that really, because the only other choice is to give up and theres no fun
in giving up. That is not to say I am not saddened by loss, or
by those who have gone. Not at all, I am very saddened, and
it hurts and it leaves scars, but one must learn from death,
after all it is part and parcel of the process of life, and life is
for living. I have become a better person for all the sadness
and sorrow, and I appreciate each minute of life even though
it sometimes is dark and desperate. Its dark and desperate
right now, but theres always light, the sun always rises. And
theres always what the departed leave behind for you, and
thats their soul.
51
Chapter 4 Im Alright, Jack

Here is the rock that rolls, not moving too fast or too slow. This is
the rock that rolls, as soon as it hits you youll know. Stray, The
Rock
On the 25th January 1975 AC/DC played the fourth and last
Sunbury Festival, a Woodstock type affair in Melbourne. The big
name band that day was Deep Purple, but the event did not exactly
go according to plan. Purple were not originally scheduled to be
the last band to go on but they did not expect AC/DC to follow
them once they had played their set. A brawl broke out on stage
with 20,000 audience members watching, intrigued to say the least.
Virtually everyone became involved from roadies to George Young,
and the band members themselves. The upshot was that AC/DC had
to leave the festival without playing a single note.
Despite this embarrassment, they were still on a high, having recorded their rst fulllength album, High Voltage. Initially the
record was only released in Australia, (not exactly the rock n roll
capital of the world) but it began seeing success in other territories
as an import. Although, up to this point, AC/DC had not played live
outside Australia, thousands of fans across the world were picking
up on the AC/DC phenomenon. The Deep Purple incident helped to
boost their notoriety.
Alberts Productions Chris Gilbey helped the band come up
with the concept behind their rst album. I came up with the album
sleeve, he remembers. The idea was a power substation with a
dog peeing against it. As I recall, the title was mine. It just seemed
like the logical title for an album by a band called AC/DC. It also
positioned them as being a rock act rather than as an act that was
involved in crossdressing. But the really interesting thing was that
the band loved the title and went and wrote a song called High
Voltage. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the song wasnt nished
until the album was well into production and we couldnt add it to
the record. The album had started selling extremely well as a result
52
of the rst one or two singles and we had this track in the can with
the same title as the album. I decided to take the rather crazy step of
releasing High Voltage as a single when it wasnt on an LP of the
same name. If you did that these days, they would shoot you!
The seemingly irrational step paid off in the end, as Gilbey
explains. Anyway, what happened was pure magic. The single became a big hit. The album went on to become an even bigger hit
without the song High Voltage on it! And by the time we had sold a
load of albums we were ready to release the next fulllength, which
did have the song on it, but of course had a different name and that
second album was an instant hit. Amazing stuff!
His rst words when he got out of the car were, Im Bon. Then he
looked down and went, Ah, Ive put on my wifes underwear. And
that was his introduction to the band. Angus Young
Anyone who read AC/DCs lyrics was also in for entertainment. With Bon as the chief wordsmith (he would tell journalists,
I am the poet with this band), the songs were always simply constructed but memorable. Nowhere was this more evident than on
the track Bon had written about his by now exwife Irene. The title
Shes Got Balls pretty much said it all. But the song also illustrated
Bons ability to forgive and forget. Regardless of his problems with
Irene, which had eventually led to the divorce, the song was something of a respectful paean. Indeed he respected a lady more when
she had balls so to speak. Bon didnt want yes men or women
around him; as he said in Shes Got Balls, he liked spunk.
Shes got balls my lady / Likes to crawl my lady / Hands and
knees all around the oor / No one has to tell her what a fella is for,
grins Bon on the album version. It didnt do much good with the
lady it was written for however.
Irene had complained to Bon that hed never written a song
about her, Angus said later. So he wrote Shes Got Balls and she
left him! When he joined us she told him, Bon, its either them or
me. He said, Well theyre a good band Irene is probably the
only person who knew him really well. Even though they parted, he
always got along great with her.
53

The album High Voltage and its rst single, Baby Please
Dont Go, entered the Australian charts in March. In June 1975, the
band released High Voltage, the single. With their lead single in
the charts they played a show at Melbournes Festival Hall. The gig
was lmed at the suggestion of the bands management who wanted
to tout AC/DC to record companies around the world. They would
need some form of licensing abroad to spread the name further.
Another problem was the groups unstable rhythm section.
Rob Bailey and Peter Clack were red and in their place were the
returning Larry Van Kriedt on bass and new drummer Phil Rudd.
Van Kriedt lasted only a few days however, and Malcolm or George
would play the bass parts until a more permanent solution could be
found.
We saw more of Bon than his family did, especially us three. It
was always me, Bon & Malcolm. We hung out together. Go to clubs
together, get thrown out of clubs together... Angus Young
Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke Rudzevecuis, aka Phil Rudd
was born May 19, 1954 in Melbourne and had made his name with
the Colored Balls, a skinhead band formed by guitarist Lobby Lloyd
and singer Angry Anderson (who went on to form Rose Tattoo).
This band was perfect for bikers and other rabblerousers during
the early seventies. Their genre was known as yob rock, exemplied by the British legends Slade.
With Rudd in place the band felt they could truly push on as
they now had more comradeship than ever before. In March AC/DC
had an unexpected turn of fortune when the bside to their second
single Baby Please Dont Go, Love Song (Oh Jene), gained airplay in Australia and became their biggest record to date, hitting
number 10 on the national charts the following month. It was a Big
Joe Williams cover song but seemed to suit AC/DC down to the
ground. It was the rst song on the High Voltage album and no
doubt many listeners had assumed it was a Young brothers composition.
The timing was perfect to hire a permanent bass guitarist.
Mark Evans (no relation to the departed singer) was born on March
54
2nd, 1956 in Melbourne, and he rst met AC/DC when they played
a date at the Station Hotel in his native city. The accepted story has
been that Evans had been barred from the venue the night before,
after being thrown out for ghting. Despite this, he and a few mates
returned to the bar the following evening to watch AC/DC, but eagleeyed bouncers spotted them and ejected them once more. Both
Bon Scott and roadie Steve McGrath jumped in and persuaded the
hotel management to let Evans and his friends stay. The introduction was made and after Evans learned of the bands need for a bass
player he expressed his interest.
However, Evans remembers the connection with AC/DC rather differently. That story is not quite true, he winks. It was Station Hotel, in a suburb of Melbourne, where I lived. And I did meet
the guys when they were playing in that hotel. But the thing about
ghting, that was not quite right. That was our managers idea. But
I met the guys in the Station Hotel. The link between me and the
band basically was a good friend of mine, who was roadie for them
a guy called Steve McGrath and he mentioned that they needed
a guitar player. As Malcolm was playing the bass at that stage and
the band was just fourpiece. But when I got in Malcolm said that
he wanted to play guitar, so I became bassist overnight. We did one
audition, which was on the Sunday afternoon. Then we played next
Tuesday night at the same hotel again. We never used to rehearse
that much. The audition that I did was the only rehearsal. That was
about it, we started gigging around Melbourne.
Evans opening appearance was on the bands rst television
performance. The ABC network asked AC/DC to play for their
Countdown show and it was inevitable which song they would play.
Baby Please Dont Go went down well with the audience, as did
Anguss outt. He decided to be dressed as a super hero; Super Angus had made his rst television appearance. Though the backing
music was prerecorded, the vocals were live.
The producers liked the funloving image of the band cheeky
but clean and AC/DC was asked to make another appearance in
April on the same show. Yet the viewers could not have expected
what they were about to see. As Clinton Walker puts it in his biography of Bon Scott, AC/DC had stomped into the yawning gulf of
55

missing gritty rock n roll, too late, too ugly to be glam, too clever
to be metal, too soon, too dumb to be punk.
As Mark Evans suggested, the fans could see the truth: There
wasnt any bullshit involved like high heels and make up. AC/DC
were clearly a breath of fresh air in a stagnant period for serious
rock n roll. Covering tracks like the Big Joe Williams blues standard accentuated the bands inuences, but proved how music created long ago could be brought screaming into the modern era with
a ick of the volume control and an outpouring of energy.
My life changed pretty rapidly because the band was doing between six and eight shows in a week, comments Evans. In
Melbourne at that time there were a lot of hotels that staged gigs. It
wouldnt be unusual for us to do three gigs in one day. It was pretty
hectic. I had left school and I worked for a telephone company. I
was there about six months but I was going nowhere. I had to get
away from that; fortunately the band came along at the right time.
It changed my life pretty dramatically; rst I was working for the
government next thing Im playing in a dirty rock n roll band. It
was the time of my life.
Im 33. Before AC/DC Id played with lots of bands in Australia.
Youre never too old to rock & roll. Bon Scott, shortly before his
death.
As Angus later remembered, On one of the early tours of
Britain we had the vice squad on tour with us the whole time. Cause
Bon, he took to using French language you know? Well, he had colourful language anyway. I remember there was this one time in Australia, playing in these outback places where wed have to put up
money. And if we did anything wrong like me pulling my pants off
or Bon swearing or anything, wed lose the bail money. The mayor
and the councilmen would come along to the show and monitor us.
They thought it was a great thing. They invented it, not us. It was
their way of trying to stamp us out. So I remember Bon getting up
there and saying, Ive been told we cant say fuck. Okay, we
wont say fuck. Ive been told we cant say shit. Okay, we wont
56
say shit. They left out suck, but we wont say that either... You
know? Our bank books didnt grow but our popularity did.
Despite not being the prettiest chap ever to play on a stage,
Angus Young had grown to be a focal point for the female members
of an audience. They thought he was cute and cheeky enough to
be attractive, not to mention energetic. Angus was the star of the
bands live performances, but this was equally an achievement that
should be ascribed to Bon Scott. Angus stole the limelight, but Bon
was sensible (and devoid of ego) enough to allow him the spotlight
whenever he desired. Bon was the unselsh lead singer, who did
his job and only needed to get his point across; he was able to leave
aside claims for personal stardom or front man demands. This was
a group of mates; no one cared who got the kudos because they
all trusted each others contributions to the band. Perhaps this is
where Dave Evans was never going to be a permanent xture in the
lineup. According to some, even the band itself, he was more of a
stereotypical rock star. This would not have worked for AC/DC for
very long.
The groups appeal was that they looked pretty much like everyone who was in the crowd, the only real difference was that they
were on stage and could play rock n roll rather well. The audience
could identify with its icons, which some would argue is not what
people want from escapist type music. AC/DC begged to differ,
without worrying too much. The showman aspect of its performance were the antics of Angus, which amounted to little more than
duck walking across the stage and playing as if he were possessed.
It was a natural reaction to the music, and the audience could sense
it.
In the section 12 Ways To Alter Your Consciousness Without Drugs in his Book Of Lists, author Russ Kick writes: Music
whether its loud, crunching rock and roll that makes you feel like
youve taken speed, or ethereal chanting that lifts you out of your
body, music has a myriad of ways of changing your state of being.
And thats just from listening to it. Playing it can take you into a
zone where nothing exists but you and the music. This would describe Anguss state of being perfectly.
57

Come April, AC/DC was asked to return to Countdown to play
Baby Please Dont Go again. Bon didnt tell anyone his intentions,
but he arrived in an outt that would have made Heidi proud. He
burst onto the stage in blond pigtails and a schoolgirl uniform, his
cheeks streaked with rouge. The band was unaware that Bon was
going to be so committed to his performance, but found it hilarious.
Unfortunately, neither the producers of the show, nor the sedate television viewers, looked at his frolics so kindly. The incident sparked
outrage and the station was inundated with complaints. AC/DC had
truly staked their claim as rock troublemakers. They didnt seem
put out by the publicity; the notion of any publicity is good publicity seemed appropriate. Though they would not be invited back to
Countdown for a while, it wouldnt really matter.
Anything associated with the band was fair game for the media. Where so often the newspapers have to create stories to sell
numbers, the copy with Australias nest was plain and truthful,
often endorsed by a member of the group . The following appeared
in the Truth newspaper in Melbourne: POP STAR, BRUNETTE
AND A BED: THEN HER DAD TURNED UP!
Dave Dawson spoke to Bon, who told him: The girls father
had warned me once before not to sleep with her. But she is 17 and
capable of making up her own mind. I had returned from Sydney the
night before and she was there waiting there for me. We were making love when our roadie Ralph knocked on my bedroom door and
said someone wanted to see me urgently. I told him to come back
in two hours because I was busy. Eventually I went to the door and
was sprung by the girls father. I was wearing only shorts. He said
I can see youve got your ghting shorts on. He took out his false
teeth and said, come outside.
I followed him outside where he had two of his mates, in
their 30s. He said wheres my daughter? I said, She will have gone
by now. You are always bashing her up. Suddenly he started punching me in the head and body. He knocked me into a rose bush and
dragged me through it. Then his two mates came over and dragged
him away. They could see that because I was just 5 5 I didnt have
a chance. That was the worst beating I have ever had. My manager
Mike Browning took me to a dentist who couldnt stop laughing
58
when I explained how my dental plate was smashed and my teeth

were knocked out. It wasnt so funny because the dental bill will be
at least $500. The girls father has never given her any love and he
certainly showed me none. After he bashed me he said if she is not
home by night I will send another ten blokes around to bash you.
Im certainly not going out of my way to see her again.
Though this story will inevitably bring a smile to the face of
any reader, it highlights a few aspects of Bons personality most unlike the rough dirty rocker of legend. Firstly the line where Bon says
he was making love to a girl. Thousands of leery, greasy rockers
would have used more explicitly physiological terminology. This
was not merely a groupie fumble, and the account highlights a tender, loving side to Bons persona.
Secondly, in the response to the girls father Bon expressed
concern that her Dad was beating her. The fact he confronted the father with the fact was courageous in itself. It was probably the thing,
which caused him a heavier beating. And in the midst of all this,
most unlike any other rocker you could care to name Bon has no
qualms about admitting he was clearly going to lose a ght because
hes outnumbered and outsized, nor did he assert his manliness by
talking up the fact he had been in a ght and that it didnt matter
to him to have received a thumping. On the contrary, Bon stated he
would not see her again it was clearly too much trouble for the
both of them with a father like that.
It seems certain people were jealous of Bon and those who
had the opportunity, got their revenge. Here was a charismatic guy
with no cares in the world, the singer in an emerging rock band,
doing as he pleased. Fine upstanding folk would not stand for it: it
simply wasnt done to appear on television dressed as a schoolgirl,
or to fool around with their ladies. AC/DC was by now a collection
of superstars in Melbourne, and indeed throughout the country. By
the end of June, High Voltage had been certied gold in Australia.
In late August, the band would attempt to play a series of free
concerts at the Myer store in Melbourne. Somewhat navely, they
did not realise the furore this would evoke, and in the end their set
was truncated when 10,000 fans stormed the store on the rst day.
The place was virtually ripped to shreds and the plug was pulled af-
59

ter just two songs. Drummer Phil Rudd had to be replaced by Colin
Burgess for several gigs after he broke his thumb during a ght at
the Matthew Findlers Hotel in Melbourne.
Fortunately, singer and drummer had overcome their injuries
when the time came to record the next album. There was a set pattern for songwriting. Malcolm would generally come up with the
basic guitar parts and Angus would mimic them before cultivating
his own style around the groove. The tunes formed a framework
around which Bon could then craft his own lyrical magic. There is
little doubt that the songs on the album, called T.N.T., could have
been handled by Dave Evans, but what everyone was beginning to
realise was that Bon Scott had a special kind of charisma that few
could attain. Best of all, his was a natural talent; he didnt have to
try, other than perhaps to top up his condence with the aid of a few
drinks. But this was all the more remarkable; like all the best frontmen and most memorable performers Bon would play just as well
drunk as he did when sober. The glint in his eye was not the product
of alcohol; it was real.
For Bon, joining AC/DC was the pinnacle of his achievement.
His earlier days in Australian groups were all about practise. The
Valentines and Fraternity were passable bands in musical terms, but
somewhat low on character, and this would eventually lead to their
downfall. Most of their songs were cover versions. With AC/DC,
Bon had free rein to wield his pen in any way he wished. The words
would come to him as quickly as riffs would occur to the Young
brothers. The song titles were good enough to sell an album alone;
when coupled with the energetic buzz of the music and Bons ery
vocal delivery, T.N.T. was destined to become a classic album.
It was released at the end of 1975, and would soon sell more
than 100,000 copies. By this stage, AC/DC were by far the biggest
rock n roll band in Australia. It was no surprise, given the songs
they had at their disposal. The lyrics were often about real lifesituations or dreams and aspirations. Though Bon was by now singer in
a famous rock n roll band, he sang about wanting to be which was
appealed to listeners who might not be in such an exalted position.
Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll),
Rock n Roll Singer, Live Wire and Rocker were rebellious
60
anthems that had little variety in terms of themes but an abundance

of brute force. But the most notorious track, and a song that would
be included in their live set for years to come, was The Jack. The
song was originally called The Clap and its eventual title is another slang term, this time specically Australian, for a sexually
transmitted disease. The song itself refers to the many women who
visited the group when they shared a house together.
The title track also had particular resonance for AC/DC, and
for Bon Scott in particular. His words were always inextricably
linked to his personality and the listener would always assume
usually correctly that Bon was referring to himself. With T.N.T.
this was especially evident. Women to the left of me / And women
to the right / Aint got no gun / Aint got no knife / But dont you
start no ght, warns Bon, and you believe him.
The term likeable rogue certainly applied to the singer. As
others who knew him well would often say, he wasnt a nasty person. At worst, he liked his own way and might well have fought to
get it, but it was often done with an unavoidable charm you couldnt
fail to admire. Some people have star quality etched into their faces
and Bon Scott was one. It has to be remembered that as he was older
than the other members there was an extra condence he brought to
the band. He had also served his time on the sidelines observing the
others in action, and knew exactly what he could contribute to the
party. As he himself had predicted, AC/DC was going to be very big
with him singing.
Cause Im T.N.T. Im dynamite, T.N.T. and Ill win the ght, T.N.T.
Im a power load, T.N.T. watch me explode.
The charm was evident in the remake of the bands earlier hit,
Can I Sit Next To You Girl? with Bon leering like a dirty old man,
the glint in his eye almost audible. The album also included a Chuck
Berry cover, School Days, which was perfectly suited to the their
bluesy/rock style.
It was thanks to performances like these that the band began
to attract record company attention beyond Australia. After meeting
61

the group through Carol Browning (daughter of the AC/DC manager at the time Michael Browning), it was Phil Carson who offered them a worldwide deal with Atlantic Records in London. They
signed the papers, which proved to be a wise career move.
Once the people behind the Countdown TV programme realised AC/DC might provoke outrage but would doubtless enhance
viewing gures, they renewed their support for the boys and booked
them several times. On one occasion the band performed Its A
Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) on a atbed
truck driving through the streets of Melbourne. By the end of 1975
AC/DC was truly established as the biggest and most entertaining
act in the whole of Australia. At this time High Voltage was certied
triple gold.
After signing their worldwide deal with Atlantic, AC/DC made
another group decision, which was to prove exceedingly shrewd. At
the suggestion of Michael Browning the band knew in order to further its career a move abroad would be necessary. The choice was
either England or America. Given that the members were mostly
of British origin, the choice seemed logical. Though they had been
children when theyd initially relocated, Angus, Malcolm and Bon
were more comfortable with the press in Britain, and felt this was
the place to solidify AC/DCs standing in the music world. They
came to Britain to settle on April 1, 1976.
62
PEERING INTO THE ATLANTIC

The Atlantic Recording Corporation is one of the most celebrated labels in rock n roll history. Ahmet Ertegun, the
son of a Turkish diplomat, formed the company in September 1947 in New York City. The name Atlantic wasnt the
first choice for the company. Every name Ertegun initially
wanted to use had already been taken. Hearing of another
record label called Pacific Jazz he decided to name his business Atlantic.
The very first company office (which doubled as a living
room) was in the condemned Jefferson Hotel near Broadway. To help pay the fees Ertegun rented a bed to his cousin,
a poet named Sadi Koylan. The first tracks recorded for Atlantic were by The Harlemaires on November 21, 1947, with
The Rose of the Rio Grande. By the end of December sixty
five songs had been recorded for the label.
In April 1949 Atlantic had its first major hit with Stick
McGhees Drinkin Wine SpoDeeODee. By 1955 Atlantic was in a strong enough position to bid for the contract of
Elvis Presley. Ertegun offered Colonel Tom Parker $25,000
but eventually Presley went to RCA. The label continued its
success during the sixties and seventies with both popular
rock and soul acts. Everybody from Aretha Franklin to Ray
Charles, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, signed to the
established company. In later years, it would be the home of
artists as diverse as Metallica, Bjrk and Missy Elliott.
To this day Ertegun serves as chairman of Atlantic Records.
At the tenth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Dinner in 1995, it was announced that the museums main
exhibition hall would be named after him. He had already
been personally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1987.
63
Chapter 5 Caught With Your Pants Down

I have been a reforming inuence on Bon. You should have seen
the man when I rst met him. He couldnt even speak English. It was
all fuck, cunt, piss, shit. I introduced him to a new side of life. Sent
him home with a dictionary... Angus Young
He taught me to say Please fuck. And Thank you after. Bon
Scott
Before arriving in England AC/DC had recorded their third album in January 1976 in Australia. This LP, titled Dirty Deeds Done
Dirt Cheap would be released in Australia in September of the same
year. Angus came up with the line, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
from the cartoon Beany and Cecil. This animated show featured a
character called Dishonest John who carried a card that said, Dirty
Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Holidays, Sundays and Special Rates.
The rst single taken from the album was entitled Jailbreak.
On the bside was an oddity, a traditional Scottish folk song rearranged by the Young brothers called Fling Thing. It was an incredibly unusual song for the group, something they were never to repeat. Somehow they managed to turn the established campre tune
into an AC/DC styled rock n roll instrumental. Clearly they were
enjoying playing with the expectations of their fans.
AC/DC were something of an anomaly in the music scene of
1976. Punk rock was bubbling into the publics consciousness and
the band fell between several genres, none of which were punk.
Nevertheless the attitude equalled anything the Sex Pistols could
come up with. AC/DC did not have the sense of calculated outrage that kept Johnny Rotten and friends in the headlines, but their
live shows communicated a sense of passion that was, in its way,
just as startling as the contemptuous cackle of the punks. Who was
this bunch of funny looking little Aussie men with a tiny schoolboy
playing every note like his life depended on it?
64
We have no sympathy for punk bands. Angus Young

Whats a punk band? Hey, whos got beer? Bon Scott
Sweaty clubs the length and breadth of London were to host
the advance guards of the punk rock revolution. The venues were
due to become sweatier than ever, given Britain was about to experience its hottest summer since records began. In parts of the West
Country the temperature exceeded 32C for seven successive days,
a statistic without parallel anywhere in the British Isles in modern times. Many longstanding records were broken. At Mayower Park, Southampton, a reading of 35.6C still ranks as the UKs
highest June temperature. To add to the onslaught, the country was
about to be hit with a ladybird plague. None of this seemed to disturb the equilibrium of AC/DC however for one thing, they were
used to the heat. Also, playing live with the ferocity and intensity
they displayed would always raise the temperatures above bearable
levels anyway.
The bands rst live performance in the UK was in April at
the Red Cow pub in Hammersmith, West London. For their rst set
of the night there were just 10 people in attendance, but by the time
they took to the stage for the second performance, word had spread
like wildre, and the place was packed. AC/DC were to play the
venue, as well as The Nashville pub, on a regular basis thereafter.
Just as the band had arrived in London, Bon was hit with a pint
mug (supposedly by someone with a grudge) as he walked into a
pub where he had worked during Fraternitys stay in London. This
explains why Bon was wearing shades in photo sessions shortly
afterwards.
These shows were followed by other dates at small clubs
across Britain. A tour with Back Street Crawler, a band formed by
former Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, was to be just the thing the group
needed to garner a hard gigging and even harder playing reputation.
The tour was originally scheduled to take place in April but, was
postponed because of Kossoffs death the month before. In the middle of May, AC/DC took a break, only to learn they had been booked
in for a 20venue tour of the UK. This was sponsored by Sounds
65

magazine, and went under the selfexplanatory heading Lock Up
Your Daughters. When the band played their homecoming gig of
sorts, at Glasgow City Hall, the audience destroyed seats during the
performance. In keeping with AC/DCs sudden notoriety, the tour
sponsors placed Angus on the front cover of the next issue.
We never care about labels such as punk, psychedelic or whatever
else. Bon Scott
Though the crowds would not be the biggest for some shows
partly because the band only had 50 minutes in which to play,
wedged between a DJ and videos of other artists the tour was a
success. AC/DC was promoting the U.K. version of High Voltage,
which was radically different, and rather better value for money,
than the Australian original. Oddly, the track listing was closer to the
bands second longplayer: the whole of side one was actually the
same as the T.N.T. album, with Side Two including T.N.T., Can
I Sit Next To You Girl and High Voltage from the same source.
Only Little Lover and Shes Got Balls came from the Australian
High Voltage album.
This UK version of High Voltage would become the denitive article: combining the highpoints of the rst two albums made
creative and commercial sense, although it does make the bands
discography a little untidy and confusing. AC/DC now had a solid
list of songs comprising their global calling card, and forming the
basis for their incendiary live set.
The Marquee Club was a tight, cramped venue that had developed a reputation as the place for rock bands to prove their worth.
By July of 76, AC/DC had made such a name for themselves they
were given a weekly Monday residency at this London landmark.
They were in good company, as the Sohobased club had been a
key launching pad for the careers of The Rolling Stones, The Who,
and The Small Faces. Other bands that played the club in their infancy were The Yardbirds, The Sex Pistols, David Bowie, and later,
R.E.M. and U2. Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics remarked in 2002,
Youd walk in and stop in your tracks, because your feet were
stuck to the oor with beer and chewing gum. The ambience, in
66
this sense, was similar to the legendary New York venue CBGBs
intimate and grubby.
The capacity of the venue was only 700 but AC/DC would
regularly pack the punters in and more than a thousand would often
end up paying to see the new Australian sensations. Unsurprisingly,
the temperatures would raise beyond an acceptable level, but this
only added to the atmosphere. In any case, Angus would turn himself into a Niagara of sweat whether the temperature was 5 degrees
or 150, but there is no doubt that having to cope with the unexpected
arrival of more fans than the club could hold during a sweltering
summer season only helped the group.
The bands shows at the Marquee sparked interest from Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore who asked AC/DC to come on
tour through Europe with him for 19 dates. After the band accepted,
Blackmore allegedly came down to the Marquee on a night AC/DC
was playing and asked to jam with them. He was rather confused
when the guys agreed, but left him on stage alone tuning up while
they sneaked out through a back door.
Style, I didnt think we had any! I just plug in and hit the thing really hard. Thats my style... or lack of one! Angus Young
Prior to playing with Rainbow on tour AC/DC went to Germany where they played three headline shows. The locals were particularly taken with the band. But playing to vociferous audiences
in Deutschland was small fare compared to the huge arena AC/DC
was about to grace. They were invited to play the Reading Festival
in England on August 29, with the crowd that day clocking in at
around 50,000. Other names on the bill included jazzrock combo
Brand X, featuring Phil Collins; folkrockers Sutherland Brothers
& Quiver; Southern rock titans Black Oak Arkansas; and primeval
axe hero Ted Nugent, probably the closest in terms of sound and attitude to Angus and company. AC/DCs set was described in some
quarters as being disappointing, but this may simply have been
down to the size of the event. It was the Aussies biggest show to
date, and they were more at home with sweaty, intimate club dates
than with gigs in elds.
67

On tour with Rainbow, AC/DC was playing to a conventionally metal audience and found it difcult to t in with standard
boogie blues rock or heavy metal. AC/DC seemed to fall between
two stools. Again, they had trouble coping with the larger venues.
Distance from the audience was a problem for a band that relied so
much on interaction with the fans, but if attention wavered, a quip
from Bon or a quick moon from Angus was usually enough to pull
it back. The show was the most important thing and they made sure
the audience did not forget that.
In December 1976, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was released in the UK. On the British version, Rocker (from the T.N.T.
album) and the previously unreleased Love At First Feel (which
the band would release as a single in Australia in January 1977)
replaced Jailbreak and R.I.P. (Rock in Peace).
No matter how long you play rock n roll, songs might change
just as long as the balls are there, the rock balls. And thats whats
important to us. Bon Scott
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is packed with rock goodies.
The line Just ring 36 24 36 0 in the title track led to endless
grief for the blameless White family whose number that was, as
AC/DC fans delighted in making prank calls. Legal action was
threatened, but in the end the number in question was quietly put
out of service.
Perhaps the most surprising song on the record is the slow
blues number Ride On. In among the frenetic attack of the allout
crunchers like Squealer and Rocker, here we could hear Bons
serene and sensitive side sneaking through. He sang of isolation
(But Im lonely, Lord Im lonely, What am I gonna do?), his problems with women (I aint too old to cry when a woman gets me
down), and even a need for redemption (One of these days Im
gonna change my evil ways), but the need to keep on regardless.
The song is fairly straightforward with a pulsing bass line and the
odd intricate guitar lick thrown in, not to mention a bluesbased
solo, which never once outstays its welcome, but rates as a very special AC/DC recording. You can hear the subtleties in Bons voice,
68
so often invisible in other more pounding work. It was one area AC/
DC would never particularly elaborate on; although in the hands of
lesser bands, this style would mutate into the dreaded power ballad so beloved of FM radio stations in the mid1980s.
Bon would often introduce Problem Child on stage by saying it was all about Angus, although it could well have applied to
any of the other band members. With lines like What I need I like
what I dont I ght and with a ick of my knife I can change
your life the song was more violent than the bands usual material, although Anguss description of his socalled wayward past
was less colourful. I wasnt really a bad sort of kid, he mused. I
mean, I listened. If I wanted to learn something, my old man used to
say, Angus do yourself a favour. Theres a library down the road,
go in there. When Id been truant that was the rst place Id head
to. It was great. Thered be racks of the magazine Down Beat from
America, which had articles on Muddy Waters. And I liked reading
about that. So I much preferred going there because they didnt sell
it at the newsstands. It wasnt part of the curriculum of Australia.
In my music class in school I was given the triangle, a little piece
of metal, and then they took that off of me because they said, you
have no rhythm!
The irony was not lost on Angus, who by now was developing a fearsome reputation as a guitarist. Not only did he keep his
rhythms locked tight, his solos were off the scale. Though he would
follow the song itself as closely as possible, there was still a large
degree of improvisation evident, as would become obvious on stage.
No solo was ever replicated exactly twice, although it would always
retain the energy and basics of the original. Angus would claim he
didnt really work out his solos. I never had an ear for sitting and
picking out notes, he explained. I just play it. If you said to me,
Play someone elses song, and I did it, youd go, Whats he playing? I cant sit down and pick a note off a record. Mals got a good
ear for hearing things, but me, I never did. I always think its more
the feeling. If you ever got an album where they include a couple of
different takes, like an old blues album, and theyve got alternative
takes, youll hear it. The one they settle for in the end usually has a
different feeling and sounds totally different. No, I never work them
69

out before, unless theres an important part, like if its part of the
song. It just has to ow. Solos have got to have continuity.
When Im on stage the savage in me is released. Its like going
back to being a cave man. It takes me six hours to come down after
a show. Angus Young
As guitar bands were developing heavier and faster sounds,
Angus in particular began to feel that things were getting a bit over
the top. He said: I just want to add to the song. You dont want to
suddenly give a raging solo in a song where really it should be sitting in there. Sometimes it can go a bit over the top. Guys will try
and go over the top and get every lick they can get, cover ever bit of
space. We just like to go with what the track requires.
As for composition, he claimed that the process of creating a
solo was spontaneous. I mean, there are some things Ive played
and gone how did I do that? You can sit there and try to gure it
out for years and there is nothing to match it. In the early days, if
you were playing an A chord, you might play a solo in A; but then
again put in progressions or notes in there, that dont sound right.
It sounds like you are playing in the wrong key or something, and
sometimes it works.
For AC/DC, playing as a unit was the important thing. The
ve musicians performing together was the X factor that made
the band great. The idea wasnt to have any one player standing out
from the others. Angus was often the visual focus, because of his
costume and his hyperactive scurrying around the stage. But the
younger Young never once forgot that he was merely a cog in the
machine. For one thing, Angus was convinced that Malcolm was
the better guitar player. As Angus put it: Thats the easiest part,
the solos. There is no great thing in being a solo artist. The hardest
thing is to play with a lot of people together, and to do it right. I
mean, when all four guys hit the one note at once, very few people
can do that.
This underlined the AC/DC philosophy exactly. Clicking in a
group as one giant musicmaking machine was the most important
factor in creating noteworthy music. This solidarity still did not stop
70
Angus sometimes going out on a limb, especially in a live setting,

but he always tried to stay close to the source material, and not improvise his way into a completely different tune. Its just how you
hear it in your mind. You try to stick to it because a lot of people
get condemned for not doing it. If you can do it, its always good
to throw something in, but still keep that feeling in there. You dont
want the kids to come in and say, Aw, that guy is trying to play
Beethoven on top of that sound.
In October of 1976 AC/DC, went out on a headlining tour of
the UK. The vice squad followed them for their entire journey and
Angus was threatened with arrest in Glasgow and Liverpool if he
dropped his pants on stage. Needless to say, that particular part of
the show was censored. It paid off because, not only were AC/DC
allowed to travel without further hassle from the law, their live sets
were riotous enough musically to please the fans and by November
they made their rst headline appearance at the famous Hammersmith Odeon in London.
In December, the band ew back to Australia. After eight
months away, AC/DC were welcomed by their fans as heroes, but
the Australian media were reluctant to offer them credit for their
success abroad. When the boys scheduled a tour of their homeland,
titled A Giant Dose Of Rock & Roll! local authorities cancelled
several dates due to the increasingly obscene image of the group, as
portrayed by the Australian newspapers and television. According
to the government at the time, AC/DC were a bad inuence on the
youth of the day and their popularity was something to be feared.
After the tour, the group took a short break for Christmas.
They remained in Australia during the rst two months of 1977 to
record their fourth album at Albert Studios. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt
Cheap was to be rejected by the US record company. They felt it
was too raw and wouldnt sell. It took the label four years to realise
they were wrong. The album would eventually be released in the
United States on March 23, 1981.
71

TO PEEL OR NOT TO PEEL
In June 1976 AC/DC recorded a 4track session for
BBC Radio 1s John Peel Show at Maida Vale Studios in
London. Throughout the seventies, and indeed right up
until his untimely death in 2004, Peel worked ceaselessly
to promote bands through the vehicle of the UKs first
national pop music station. He helped to break several
hundred artists into the mainstream, among them David
Bowie, Joy Division and The Ramones. Equally, Peel gave
exposure to groups who had little chance of real success.
Regardless of an artists commercial potential, Peel would
simply work with music that he liked himself.
Nevertheless, he maintained an uncanny knack of spotting
talent early on. As with so many other artists, he came
across AC/DC at a vital starting point in their history and
yet he could see the promise in the young rockers. Once
DC broke both Britain and the United States they didnt
need Peels support, but his vision early in their career
should not be underestimated.
Given the quality of many of the bands that Peel invited
to play on his show, AC/DC were in esteemed company
and their appearance early on in the bands history gave
an added intrigue to their recordings for the only DJ ever
to gain such a high level of respect from both the industry
and from music fans of all persuasions. Unlike many of
the classic sessions recorded for the Peel show throughout
the years, unfortunately the AC / DC set has never been
released commercially.
72
Chapter 6 And the Lord Said

We used to think of ourselves as an Australian band, but were beginning to doubt that now; the fuckers wont even let us play here!
Angus Young (1977)
AC/DCs next album was Let There Be Rock. The lyrics to the
title track were a clever pastiche of the opening verses of the Biblical Book of Genesis. Bon sang:
Let there be light, and there was light.
Let there be sound, and there was sound.
Let there be drums, and there was drums.
Let there be guitar, and there was guitar.
Let there be rock.
Let There Be Rock, written by Young, Young and Scott,
Published by E.B. Marks Music Corp
The lyrics more than summed up the AC/DC approach, and
the music itself was punishing, threechord rock at its nest. The
album featured tracks that were to be the mainstay of the bands live
set for years to come and marked a signicant step forward in terms
of production and maturity for AC/DC. The music now took on a
life of its own. This was not merely kids having fun with updating
the Chuck Berry blueprint, it was an act that was developing a new
benchmark for modern rock n roll. Let There Be Rock contained no
ller material; this was ballsout blues and the only complaint was
that it was over all too quickly.
The nal track on the album would be AC/DCs calling card
for a long time to come.
Whole Lotta Rosie was the nest track they had yet produced. Featuring a blistering riff from Angus it was one of their
heaviest, yet catchiest, songs to date, and included lyrics only Bon
could have written.
73

Wanna tell you a story
Bout a woman I know,
When it comes to lovin
Oh she steals the show,
She aint exactly pretty
Aint exactly small,
Fortytwo, thirtynine, ftysix
You could say shes got it all.
Whole Lotta Rosie Written by Young, Young and Scott
Published by E.B. Marks Music Corp
Bon wrote the song about a huge Tasmanian woman he had
shared a wild time with in Melbourne, Angus later said. Interestingly, the band ran into her again in Hobart, Tasmania, but she
had lost a lot of weight and Bon was disappointed that she was no
longer the 423956 that he remembered. She did know the song
was about her, and took it as a compliment. The memory of Rosie
was given added status when the band played live. A huge inatable
woman would lie as the backdrop when they performed the song.
AC/DC played a number of gigs throughout Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, before returning to the UK in February 1977.
Here they embarked on a 26date tour around the country from
February 18 to March 1. The jaunt was immediately followed by
a second European tour supporting Black Sabbath. Despite the dissimilar styles of the two bands, AC/DC went down very well with
the Sabbath fans and such was the level of their own standing in the
rock world now that many fans came specically to see them. Many
believed that the support act blew the headliners off the stage most
nights.
Whether this was the catalyst is uncertain but it wasnt long
before AC/DC were kicked off the tour. There was allegedly a confrontation between Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler and Malcolm
Young but this has never been really claried. The incident was said
to have occurred whilst the two bands were in Sweden as part of
the European venture, with Butler apparently pulling a ickknife
74
on Malcolm, who responded by punching the Brummie in the face.

Whatever the reality, the members of AC/DC returned to London.
Theres been an audience waiting for an honest rock n roll band
to come along and put it on em. There are a lot of people coming
out of the woodwork to see our kind of rock. And theyre not the
same people who would go to see James Taylor or a punk band.
Bon Scott
However there was also tension within the band itself, which
came to a head with the sacking of bass player Mark Evans after
personality clashes with Angus. His last gig was in Offenbach, Germany, although some sources identify the location as Helsinki, Finland. Evans: No, we were on our way to Helsinki. And we were
planning to y to America afterwards. There was a problem with
the record company in America at that stage; they had chosen not
to release Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. The Americans knocked
us back as we were really eager going over to promote the album.
So, the US tour at that stage was cancelled. We were in Germany
with Black Sabbath. We went back in London and we had a month
off before Helsinki. Thats when the whole scenario happened when
I split from the band. I think the main reservation that the Americans had was something to do with Bon. I didnt get the full picture
because the band was Malcolms and not much info came to me. I
think that the Americans wanted to change the singer, which seems
unbelievable now.
AC/DC found a suitable replacement for Evans very quickly.
This turned out to be for the best as the man they found was to prove
a mainstay of their future lineup. It was manager Mike Browning
who had heard about Cliff Williams from a mutual acquaintance,
and immediately made contact. Williams strolled through his audition and the job was his.
The exHome and Bandit member would later say: I got a
call from a friend who told me that AC/DC was looking for a bassist and my name was on the list. They werent satised about their
current one and the boys in the group thought they would have more
luck to nd the man they wanted in England than in Australia. I had
75

an audition in Victoria, in a tiny repetition room. The rst tracks I
played with them were Live Wire, Problem Child and, if I remember right, some old family blues. The bands manager told me
after a short time I had the job. The idea was that I left London to
go to Australia, because we were meant to prepare the recording of
the next album, but the Australian immigration service wasnt really good with me. In fact, the guy who had my folder told me: I
dont know why an Englishman has the job. An Australian would
have done it ne. I answered: You fool, you could make me lose
my job! So, I had many problems, but nally Ive been able to go
to Australia where we have recorded the album.
For Angus, having small arguments were part and parcel of
being in a band, but it was growing increasingly important that AC/
DC could attain some level of stability. By this time Phil Rudd was
becoming a solid ingredient in the group and they just hoped Cliff
Williams would prove as permanent.
It was clear to me it was Malcolms band, said Richard
Grifths, the bands rst booking agent in the UK, and now CEO
for Epic Records. Bon was a great guy. But even then, I sensed, off
Michael Browning that he wasnt sure that Bon was the singer to
take the band all the way. He was sort of separate from the rest. Phil,
he was off on his own, he was actually pretty obnoxious. Angus and
Malcolm were thick, obviously. And then Mark, you knew Mark
wasnt going to last, he was just too much of a nice guy.
We squabble, but we come together in the music thing, said
Angus of his relationship with his brothers. We may have different
interpretations of what we do, but we both know at the end of the
day that its the result that counts. Well sit and battle away, but we
probably get along better playing than we would if we were simply living together. I wouldnt do that. He would kill me. Mal has
always pushed me out there in the front. He has always been supportive of what I do and my playing. He would be the rst to turn
around and say, Ah, Angus can play. He can do that.
In turn, Angus was always complimentary of his brothers
playing ability. It seemed to have been purely by default that Angus
became the face of the band because according to him, Malcolm is
the better player and would easily prove it whenever necessary. He
76
played solos on four tracks from our rst album, when the two of
us had traded off, stated the younger sibling. Mal is a good soloist. He can probably do what I do quite well. He plays lead like he
would play rhythm, and that doesnt sound like someone else. When
we used to trade licks, it was always the same way. Before AC/DC
he would try doing a lot of different solos. He is a very good performer, the heart of the band. I sit and watch him play rhythm, and I
go, Ah, Ill play that now. Ill try to copy what he is doing.
It was clear when watching AC/DC Malcolm was indeed the
heart of the band. He always kept it as basic as the song demanded;
with very little showmanship yet the performance would always
be exemplary. That he managed this so easily was testament to his
talent.
He makes it look so simple, said Angus. There are people
out there who do that, and you look at them and what they make,
that is their art. They make the hard look simple. It is like when you
saw Hendrix. He would pick up a guitar, and its like hes brushing
his teeth with it. But while hes doing that hes making music. That
is an art form. Guys like me have got to put on school suits and dive
off buildings to achieve that sort of high ranking!
The camaraderie the two could achieve was, Angus believed,
partly due to being brothers. It used to be a game, sort of. It becomes an instinct with you. And my other brother George was so
quick; you learned a lot when you were with him. Especially when
you were 14 or something. He would pick up a bass and hand you
the guitar. And youd think you were incompetent, but before you
knew it you were playing with him. He would go, G...A... and you
were away. Say you play a song ve nights in one key, but the sixth
night the singers voice aint makin it, you might have to go down
a tone or so. George was really used to that, and he got me used to
it too.
George was clearly a teacher who knew exactly what was required, and he had instilled these virtues in the guitar happy youngsters who looked up to him. As Angus continued, He was into some
crazy things too, you know. Like hed tell me the D string annoyed
him. The G too. Too sweet for Rock N Roll hed say. So off went
the G string. The last time I saw him with The Easybeats, he had
77

four strings on that guitar. He was never a fan of light strings either,
especially when those slinky strings came out. Hed say, You cant
tune em.
In July 1977 Cliff Williams made his live debut with AC/DC,
and the band organised two secret gigs at the Bondi Lifesavers
event in Sydney. They billed as The Seedies the rst night and
Dirty Deeds the following evening. After this they ew to Texas
for three shows supporting the rock act Moxy. They then played
shows in Florida with AOR titans REO Speedwagon. The rst night
the bands played to 8,000 people at the Coliseum in Jacksonville
in a coheadlining show. They also performed in front of 13,000
people at the outdoor Hollywood Sportatorium. Afterwards AC/DC
played several dates in the MidWest, alternating headline shows
and opening slots for Michael Stanley, Head East, Foreigner, Mink
DeVille and albino blues legend Johnny Winter.
It was pretty strange, said Angus of the rst time the group
experienced playing in America. I hadnt even heard of a lot of the
music here at the time. I thought it would be more rock. But when
we got here it was a disco type thing. When we rst came here we
toured around in a station wagon. We got put on with Kiss. This
was when they had all the make up and everything, the whole hype.
They had everything behind them, the media, the huge show and
stuff. And here we were, ve migrants, little microscope people.
It was tough to get into the show with that station wagon. Many a
time they wouldnt let us in the venue cause they didnt see a limo.
Wheeahs duh limo? If yaw the rock band, wheeahs yer limo?
AC/DC were so normal, they looked very much unlike the
archetypal rock stars who American security had grown accustomed
to. Here was a group who wore their hearts on their sleeves and denim on their person, completely oblivious to how they a highprole
rock act was supposed to look and behave.
What was real strange was that although the media was
pushing this really soft music, Angus added, youd get amazing
numbers of people turning out to hear the harder stuff. We were
playing big stadiums and getting a great reaction. We would be on
the bill with a whole heap of acts, like in Oakland, playing a Bill
Graham Day On The Green event. We were on at 10:30 in the
78
morning; the rst act. But at 10:30 in the morning there were about
65,000 people. And they knew what we were about when we came
on. We were only on for 35 minutes. But in 35 minutes you had to
do a lot. It was fun; it was exciting. I would do it again.
What AC/DC would also often do was blow other bands off
stage. Angus later confessed: Sometimes we could be real mercenary. Like if another band was givin us a bit of stick; the headlining
band or something, wed get on and just sort of say, Okay, well
turn up to 11 here, and lets go. Blow em away; we were good at
that too.
As the groups fame spread, some of the notorious perks of
rock n roll stardom came their way. AC/DC had their times with
the women, groupies in particular. Initially it wasnt the case, however. In those days, girls were interested in... well, not us, Angus
would say. You met more of that when you started in clubs and
pubs. Because, in that time, you got rich people coming to slum it,
and other people coming to see what the fuss is about. So those were
your times when you could meet some more of those weird and
wonderful women. The crazy people. But during those rst tours
in the states... no. No more than we would be now. Same thing.
And we were never that sort of band, anyway. Ive never saw a girl
out there that would faint over me. Maybe she would look and go,
Mmmmm, Ive never seen someone as ugly as this! Maybe Id
get some of that. But not a what would you call it? A fan sort of
thing. As he would admit that was actually to the bands benet.
In a way thats always worked for us. You dont see an audience of
young girls screaming for us. So other people say, Now thats a real
band. That I like. Its real. Because we arent the prettiest things in
the world. With AC/DC, its not like were here to steal your wife
and your girlfriend or your daughter. We may borrow them, but...
The most direct connotation with anything sexual in the
bands music was the kind of residual memory their seedy blues
could conjure up. Angus: I guess there is something a bit sexy in
the blues element of what we do. That is probably more whats associated with the old strip club routine. I think thats somewhere in
the back of peoples heads when they hear that sort of music: the
79

strip club image; you know? The smoke lled room and the girl on
stage. Well, I would like to believe that.
For AC/DCs rst concerts in New York they made a guest
appearance with The Dictators at The Palladium and opened for The
Marbles at CBGBs. On the evening they were playing with The
Dictators the group were even pencilled in for a stint at the CBGBs
venue on the same night, which was unprecedented.
The Dictators were very much an institution in New York,
having enjoyed success in the 70s with their Bloodbrothers and Dictators Go Girl Crazy! albums as well as their incendiary live shows.
However AC/DC would leave a lasting impression on the audience.
It was the rst time Angus could use his new cordless guitar, introduced to stop him from becoming tangled up in a mess of leads and
wires when pacing around the stage. Bon said of the new contraption: It was amazing to see. Angus had this Cheshire cat grin all
over his face and evil thoughts seemed to be going through his brain
as to what havoc he could wreak with this evil little invention.
Though fans were incredibly enthusiastic over an act that was
virtually still new to them, the Atlantic record company were nevertheless hard to persuade regarding AC/DCs global appeal. Let
There Be Rock had received a lukewarm reaction from the powers
that be and they were loath to give this dirty little Australian outt
more time than they deserved. However, even Atlantic recognised
AC/DCs power as a live act and it was this realisation that prompted the label to house the band in the Atlantic studios for a recorded
performance.
The boys made their way to Broadway on December 7th 1977
and performed a live set in front of about 50 people, as many as
could be crammed into the studio. The show would later form the
basis of AC/DCs rst ofcial live recording (If You Want Blood
Youve Got It). It was a small gig, reminiscent of their earliest live
shows in tiny clubs throughout Australia and England. The band
were clearly in jovial spirits, Angus in particular, running his mouth
off via his guitar, playing extended solos and generally asserting
himself as star of the show.
Bon speaks to the audience watching in the sweatbox: You
all come from New York City, is that not true? Then this ones for
80
you, Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be. He was speaking with tongue
rmly in cheek but it was also a subliminal snigger at the American
way of life, far at odds with the laidback Aussies (and one Brit)
who had invaded its shores some time ago but were still yet to reap
the same rewards they had at home. Still, it beat a regular job, as
Bon put it himself. In an interview with Sounds he revealed, It can
get to be a drag being in a different hotel room every night and not
knowing where you put your toothbrush or a clean pair of drawers.
But whats the alternative? Its even more boring being stuck in
front of a conveyor belt at some factory every day of your life for
the next 60 years, like a lot of the kids who come to see us, which
is where wed all be now if it wasnt for this life. So Id be stupid to
knock it, its great. And how can you get bored with so many different beautiful women around?
Bon was exaggerating a little by his own admission in other
interviews. Otherwise why werent the band writing about gorgeous
ladies in their lyrics instead of the less than attractive beauties they
actually depicted? Apart from Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be
Rock featured a track titled Go Down, which was all about a
groupie AC/DC had become rather familiar with. Her name was
Ruby Lips and she was commemorated in the lyrics:
Ruby, Ruby, where you been so long?
Dont stop drinking whiskey baby since you been gone.
Aint no one I know do it as good as you,
Licking on that licking stick the way you do.
Though Let There Be Rock would become a bigger success
much later, it was still good enough at the time for the people of
Britain. In November, the album reached No. 17 in the British
charts. It seemed that AC/DC had made the right decision in plying
its trade in their familiar stomping ground; the Brits loved the band
and AC/DC loved them back.
81

ALBERT RECORDS
Jacques Albert founded the music publishing empire J Albert & Son, now the oldest independent publishing house
in Australia. He migrated to Australia from Switzerland in
1884 and set up as a music publisher. When Albert senior
retired his son Alexis carried on the business and it would
be one of his three sons that would help shape the fortunes
of The Easybeats and AC/DC. Ted Albert, the middle son of
Sir Alexis, helped form the offshoot record company Albert
Productions. Ted set about signing the musical talent of
Australia in the early sixties. It was through a friend called
Mike Vaughan that Ted first met an up and coming band by
the name of The Easybeats. First impressions of the outfit
stirred Ted and he promptly snapped the band up. When that
group lost its appeal, Ted Albert brought Harry Vanda and
George Young back to Australia in 1973. The two wrote a
song called Pasadena and in 1972 John Paul Young scored
a hit with the tune. Thanks to the success of the song the two
then ran their own recording studio for Albert records. Unfortunately, Ted Albert passed away in 1990 following a fatal
heart attack.
82
Chapter 7 Power To The Max

This guy from a lm crew got hold of me and Bon and asked what
kind of show it was gonna be. Bon said, you remember when the
Christians went to the lions? Well were the Christians! Then he
asked me and I said, if they want blood, theyre gonna get it!
Angus Young
In early 1978, while recording their fth album proper, AC/DC
also taped some of their concerts. Though they had rst intended to
y to Australia for a short tour, the bands English road crew, as well
as Cliff Williams, were refused a work visa by the local authorities.
So the band stuck to the territory in which they were increasingly
comfortable. They travelled to Glasgow to play the renowned Apollo venue, and recorded the show, which was to become legendary.
The album would be called If You Want Blood Youve Got It and the
cover featured a guitar piercing a bloodied Angus. Subtlety was not
exactly AC/DCs style, but even by their standards this was a particularly nasty record sleeve.
The live album was meant to cramp the style of bootleggers
who had been increasingly active, recording virtually every AC/DC
show, and then selling the tapes and vinyl to rabid fans anxious
to hear each note of every gig they had played. While it did not
manage to slow trade down in any way, the album was at least a
serious piece of work, showcasing AC/DCs strengths as a live act.
Before the LP was released the group played throughout the United
States with many rock greats. Among their touring partners would
be Alice Cooper, Molly Hatchet, Ronnie Montrose, Aerosmith, Foreigner, Van Halen, Pat Travers, Alvin Lee, Rainbow, Savoy Brown,
Ted Nugent and Cheap Trick.
Id like to do a whole string of concerts headlining as big
as this one is today. The more people they can give us upfront the
harder we play. Bon Scott, Newsbeat 1978
If You Want Blood Youve Got It became a very good promotional tool for the bands latest studio album, Powerage. The record,
83

again produced by Vanda and Young, was arguably AC/DCs most
accomplished to date, and followed up the promise implied by Let
There Be Rock.
While it would only peak at #133 on the US Billboard charts,
by the end of their US tour, Powerage had sold a quarter of a million
copies in America. This was partly due to playing such prestigious
shows as the Day On The Green outdoor festival in San Francisco
during August. The band performed over a hundred dates throughout the States during this period. They also made an appearance on
ABCs Midnight Special (hosted by Aerosmith and Ted Nugent),
where they played Sin City, taken from Powerage.
I like the album said Angus of Powerage. I think because
it has got a good mix for me. Youve got rock tunes, but youve got
a few things in there that are different. I always thought that album
set us apart from a lot of other bands. I know a lot of people judge
success on numbers. For us, that was always a great record.
Though it was not as well received initially as it would nally
become, Anguss views on the album would ring true for most fans
eventually. It is, perhaps more than any other, the purists favourite
AC/DC record. The front cover nally brought the electrical connotation in the groups name to the fore. The sleeve pictured Angus
plugged into the mains supply, with wires sprouting from his jacket
sleeves in place of limbs. I suppose I look a bit like a Christmas
tree, joked Angus. Plenty of balls, but without the fairy on top!
The lettering of the title and the band logo were both deliberately cheap and broken. Here was nononsense rock n roll, epitomised equally by the photo on the back sleeve. Angus takes centre
stage, tie out of place, and manic grin on his face. Bon lurks next
to him with a sly fox smirk, all teeth and hair. In the background is
the familiar shape of Malcolm, thumbs in pockets, seemingly bored
with the shoot. Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams complete the package,
condent, cool and very much part of a successful rock group.
Ive got holes in my shoes, and Im way overdue, sings Bon
on the second song, Down Payment Blues. The song was a tale of
struggle as a rock n roller on welfare, lyrical evidence that AC/DC
were not exactly raking in the bucks at this stage.
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Despite featuring three of the bands subsequently most famous tracks in Riff Raff, Rock N Roll Damnation and Sin
City, Powerage was more a complete recording, short, sweet and
very much to the rock n roll point. Nowhere was this more evident
than on the pumped up blues of Riff Raff. This song, as much as
any that had preceded it, was AC/DC dened by audio proportions.
It had everything, Bons shrieking lyrics, bubbling bass holding
Rudds airtight drums together and some barnstorming blues guitar
from the Young brothers. Malcolm kept it in the pocket while Angus
went off on several tangents, not once losing sight of the tune itself.
All this burst out from a simple riff, but one only the likes of Angus
or Malcolm Young could have created.
Sin City was always destined to become a live favourite.
It had a gently shrugging groove, which could so easily be prolonged for singalongs for audiences the world over. The lyrics
were about nights out on the town, of which Bon had ample experience. Bring on the dancing girls and put the champagne on ice,
sneers the singer.
The opening track from the album, Rock N Roll Damnation,
became a surprise inclusion on many US radio play lists, and it was
this song which gave AC/DC the break they deserved in the States.
Perhaps inevitably (especially given their new found acceptability
in American circles) some critics considered AC/DC to have gone
commercial after Let There Be Rock and as a result gave Powerage
a less than positive review. After the raw noise of their earlier work,
some felt cheated by the bands stronger songwriting. But clearly
these critics were not only in the minority; they had got it entirely
wrong. AC/DC were just improving as a unit, buoyed on by a permanent, settled line up as well as hundreds of road miles covered
together. The resultant record simply showcased the hard nights and
months of roadwork while demonstrating increasing condence in
the group.
3, 2, 1, Nuclear energy is dead, the neutron bomb can kiss my...
AC/DCs newest blast to the rise, Powerage. Powerage, the ultimate
AC/DC album. An advertisement for Powerage.
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Bon told Sounds magazine: Our writing comes from life on
the road really. Whatever comes into my brain when were on the
road I jot down on a tape recorder, in order not to lose it. Usually
Im in a drunken state; when I listen back to it the next morning I
think, hey did I say that? Did I think that? But out of it you can
usually get some pretty good road stuff. Our albums and music
will never get orchestrated or ballady or that kind of mush, added
Angus. Our musical ambition is to put down the whole album like
it was done by Little Richard back in the 50s, no double tracking or
anything. We may be little but we make a lot of noise!
The tape machine Bon spoke of was something he would perpetually carry with him. During the bands tour of 1979 he lost it.
There were also other troubles for Scott, including a situation where
he had to try to convince venue staff at the Glasgow Apollo he was
actually a member of AC/DC after he had stepped out for a few
minutes to catch a breath of fresh air. I went around front and they
wouldnt let me in until I found a tshirt vendor who attested to my
identity, recalled the singer. By that time, ten minutes had gone
by, and everyone was saying, Where is that son of a bitch?
The design of the Powerage tour programme featured the
same cover art as the eventual If You Want Blood Youve Got It album. The live set reached No. 13 in the UK charts and broke into
the US Top 50 for the rst time. A maxi single, available on both
7 and 12 formats, was issued by Atlantic shortly after the LP. It
combined live renditions of Whole Lotta Rosie and Hell Aint A
Bad Place To Be.
Bon joined us pretty late in his life, but that guy had more youth
in him than people half his age. That was how he thought, and I
learned from him. Go out there and be a big kid. Angus Young
Early 1978 produced a scenario typical of Bon at the time.
As he explained, he had been frequenting an establishment with
a lady he had met. We had been drinking in the airport bar for
about ten minutes when I says, dont you think its time we caught
our plane? And she says, What do you mean our plane? Im staying here. I run back and the fuckin plane has gone. Anyway she
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takes me to this black bar and shes Mexican and I start drinkin and
playin pool. I had a good night, beatin every bastard. After about
two hours playin this bigtitted black chick and beatin her too, I
happen to look and the bar is goin Grrr. I think, Uh oh, Bon, I
give her another game and lose nine to one. Anyone else want to
beat me? I say. So I escapes with me life, only barely and I made it
to the gig in Austin.
This kind of environment was one Bon revelled in, never feeling out of his depth. As exbassist Mark Evans admitted: He was
a tough son of a bitch. If he went off shit it was fuckin scary! Not
sort of hitting people with chairs but stbeating people. He was the
best street ghter Ive ever seen, bar none.
An Atlantic Records employee found this out the hard way.
When nding himself standing next to Bon relieving himself in a
urinal at one venue on AC/DCs US tour, he asked the singer whether he was AC or DC. Accordingly Bon replied, Neither, Im the
lightning ash in the middle! BAM! Bon punched the employees
lights out. Though Bon himself would never conrm or deny this
story it seems highly plausible and was never denied in the Atlantic
camp either. Bons quick wit and bravado was certainly too much
for most people to handle. If he was approached with respect he
would return the gesture like a gentleman, but come at him with
sarcasm or hostile intentions and he would return the nastiness ten
fold.
In Philadelphia, the typically clueless record company staff
mixed up AC/DC with British rockers UFO. An employee strolled
up to UFO vocalist Phil Mogg (after his band had played their set
before AC/DCs) and said, in front of the members of AC/DC: Bon,
what a great show! Luckily said employee managed to escape with
all but his ego intact. Both Mogg and bassist Pete Way described
touring with AC/DC as being great for both acts. As Way put it, We
drew a hardcore audience who werent into hit singles bands, but
wanted the sort of hard rock music that both bands delivered.
There were problems when playing with another British outt
in America however. At one show, playing alongside Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow at the Calderone Theater in Long Island, Angus
found himself in hot water. As he later described: I had a bit of a
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punchup that night. I got the fright of my life. The guy hit me with
an orange. And he had been spitting on me and throwing things
and giving me a hard time. And Mal doesnt like me disrupting the
show. His big advice to me was, just ignore it, Ang. But that night
I just had enough. So I put the guitar down and I went for him. The
trouble was when I hit him he kept going! I mean, I was sort of staring at this guys ankles. I prayed.
Angus described AC/DCs secret of live success to Sounds,
When the kids come to see us, they want to rock thats it. To be
part of this big mass thing with the band. You watch, Ill hit a chord
on the guitar and right down there at the front there will be a hundred kids hitting it right along with you, going through the motions
like they were up there onstage with you, which I guess is where
they would be if they could. Theyre really no different to us.
The empathy between band and fans is understandable: after
all, when AC/DC started they were little more than kids themselves.
Back in Australia we were like your average kid into rock n roll
from a small town sort of background, continued Angus. We were
like the outcasts or whatever, always getting into trouble with the
cops and picked on because we had long hair and didnt dress like
them. But we made it onto the stage and the fans are still trying to
get there, or at least dreaming and fantasising about it. We havent
forgotten what it was like and we are denitely on the kids side.
The constant tourandrecord syndrome had aficted AC/DC
and its members so much that for the last few years nding a permanent dwelling was not exactly an option. None of us have had our
own places to live for the past two years, said Bon. I rented a at
for eight months but I was only there for six weeks. All weve got is
our parents homes in Australia. We live in hotels, and dont say at
the end of a gig, Im going back to the hotel. Weve got the habit
of saying, Im going home.
Angus added that the group live like the Maa. Bons always been of no xed abode and Im in the at above. If youre
really wealthy, maybe you can afford to say, Whammo, Ill have
that block of apartments there. I suppose Ill buy a place sometime,
but Ill probably end up with one of those police boxes at a city
crossroads so I can be in the thick of it. At the moment Im quite at
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home in these motels. Ill go to my parents at Christmas and after

a week Ill check into a hotel. I mean, Ive got brothers who bring
their kids round and at six in the morning theyll fucking jump on
you, yelling, Hes home! In a hotel I could complain about the
noise and change rooms.
The shows go so quick. Youre on and youre off and you have to
go back to how you are as a person. Thats the hard part, because
once you go into being the schoolboy, its pretty hard to come off it.
Its two different peopleIve been up there playing and thinking,
What are those feet doing? Im watching them to see which way
they wanna go! Thats all I ever do, follow the feet and the guitar.
Angus Young
AC/DCs live album had, to some extent, signalled the closure of a particular period of their career. This is not an uncommon
phenomenon; the live album often captures a certain era of an acts
progress, which is subsequently saved for posterity, enabling the
band to move on to the next stage.
There would be other changes before the next release. Atlantic
considered the production team of Harry Vanda and George Young
to be out of touch and too close to the group to truly take them much
further, despite the assistance they had already given. AC/DC were
ghting a losing battle trying to retain the services of their additional members and friends and eventually came around to the idea
of nding a new producer. It hardly bothered George Young, who
was perpetually busy and in his own view had only been lending a
helping hand to his siblings. Eddie Kramer (producer for The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix among many others) initially seemed
perfect to handle their kind of material, but the fantasy was quashed
when things just didnt seemed to ow properly. The guy couldnt
produce a healthy fart, Bon wrote home in a letter to exFraternity pal John Ayers. AC/DC therefore turned to a more considered
choice as Georges replacement, Robert John Mutt Lange, who
was sharing a at with Mike Browning at the time.
Along with a change in producer, the band also found a new
place to record, moving into the Roundhouse Studios in Chalk
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Farm, London. As well as this they also had a more powerful world
management taking over from Mike Browning. Peter Mensch of the
New Yorkbased Leber and Krebs organisation would now handle
AC/DCs business affairs. The whole period was one of necessary
change and it led to a new way of working for everyone involved.
This was the rst time the group had recorded outside Australia.
Previously they hadnt spent more than three weeks working on an
album, but they spent six months in the Roundhouse Studios with
Lange. The result was a lifechanging recording that would truly
underline AC/DCs new standing as the hottest prospect in rock.
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A MAN CALLED MUTT
Robert John Lange was born on November 16, 1948 in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and moved to South
Africa as a teenager. One of the most successful record producers of all time, Lange would eventually work with the
likes of Def Leppard and Bryan Adams as well as his future
wife Shania Twain.
Lange was given the nickname Mutt at a very early age
and grew up listening to country music predominantly. Mutt
started his first band in high school, where he played rhythm
guitar and sang backing vocals. He married Stevie van Kerken (aka Stevie Vann) and moved to England where, in 1970,
he formed a band called Hocus in which Stevie also sang.
Mutt began to work as a producer in 1976, when he sat at
the controls for Graham Parkers Heat Treatment album as
well as the first recording of City Boy, whom he would later
produce regularly.
Mutt Langes breakthrough came with his work on AC/DCs
Highway to Hell. He would reunite with the group a year later for Back in Black, followed in 1981 by Foreigners huge
selling opus 4, which earned him a Grammy nomination as
Producer of the Year.
That same year, he also worked on Def Leppards High n
Dry album, his first collaboration with the Brits. But it was
the 1983 hit Pyromania that made Leppard a resounding
success worldwide. Lange even cowrote some of the albums
most popular tracks including Photograph and Rock of
Ages. During this time Lange also wrote Loverboys Lovin
Every Minute of It and Huey Lewis & the News Do You
Believe in Love.
After his next huge hit, The Cars 1984 album Heartbeat
City, Lange would again join up with AC/DC on 1986s
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Who Made Who before working again with Def Leppard for
1987s Hysteria, one of the bestselling albums of all time.
He then moved into other musical areas, working with soul
singer Billy Ocean, before teaming up with Bryan Adams
for his 1991 album Waking Up the Neighbours, which included the smash hit single (Everything I Do) I Do It for
You. Lange gradually worked less as he became more successful, though a year after Adams world smash he produced Michael Boltons The One Thing album.
In the late 70s, Lange produced two albums for the band
Clover, which featured Huey Lewis on harmonica and Alex
Call on lead vocals. Call explains Langes production style:
Mutt is a real studio rat. He is Mr. Endurance in the studio. When we were making the records with him, he would
start working at 10:30, 11 in the morning and go until three
the following morning, every day. He is one of the guys that
really developed that whole multi, multi, multi track recording. We would do eight tracks of background vocals going,
Oooooh and bounce those down to one track and then do
another 8, he was doing a lot of that. A lot of the things you
hear on Def Leppard and that kind of stuff, he was developing that when he worked with us. We were the last record
he did that wasnt enormous, and thats not his fault, he did
a really good job with us. Mutt is famous for working long
hours. In the story I heard about one of the Shania Twain
sessions, he had Rob Hajakos, who is one of the famous
fiddle session men down here in Nashville. Rob was playing violin parts for like seven or eight hours and finally he
said, Can I take a break? And Mutt says, What do you
mean take a break? Rob goes, Have you ever held one of
these for eight hours under your chin? Mutt really loves to
record, he loves music and hes a real perfectionist and an
innovator. An unbelievable commercial hook writer.
92
Chapter 8 Highway To Sell

The bottom line is still very much hard rock, but weve used more
melody and backing vocals to enhance the sound. Its possible there
is a more commercial structure to the music, without going the
whole way. In the past, its just been a total scream, so I worked on
it a lot more this time. Bon Scott
The recording of AC/DCs new album would be fraught with
difculties and many hardships had to be overcome. Before they
had even begun to work with Mutt Lange, Eddie Kramer suggested
they cover the Spencer Davis Group hit Gimme Some Lovin for
guaranteed airplay, but the band refused point blank. They were
good at making a tune their own but its difcult to imagine Bon
carrying off the lyrics of the song with any real conviction. It wasnt
a surprise when Kramer was red after just three weeks work, without a new AC/DC track to show for it.
Mutt Langes policy when he took over as producer was to let
AC/DC behave exactly as they wished, simply offering his expertise
to make the songs sound the way the group wanted them. It is possible Eddie Kramer had been pushed into changing AC/DCs sound
by the record company, but Mutt was not about to be persuaded.
It wasnt long after working with AC/DC that Lange would
team up with British rockers Def Leppard. In this instance, the sole
purpose of teaming producer and band was to crack the American
market. Leppard gradually became softer and more radiofriendly,
so it was evident Lange had those capabilities and enjoyed working
with more melodic rock music. Despite AC/DCs penchant for a
great song they were certainly more raw and gutsy than Def Leppard, or indeed many of the other acts with whom Lange would work
in the future.
Mutt couldnt have softened AC/DC even if hed been inclined
to try. The Aussies were resolute that if they were to crack America
it would be on their own terms. When they came to name the album, the horror of touring the United States was uppermost in their
93

minds, and Highway To Hell seemed an appropriate response. This
tongueincheek rebellion against the mundanity of the arena conveyor belt would cause serious trouble for the band. Angus didnt
think much about appearing on the front cover sporting devil horns
and a tail, but it would give fuel to the arguments of religious fundamentalists convinced that any musician noisier than Little Jimmy
Osmond was in league with Beelzebub.
Bon even wore a chain with a pentagram on it, but despite
the fact he was laughing during the photo shoot, some assumed he
was genuinely an evil magician! Indeed, it didnt matter that Angus
was dressed in school uniform or that the rest of the group looked
decidedly normal, what many took to heart was the use of the word
hell, along with AC/DCs evil logo. It was hard to convince the
cynics that the logo was taken from an electrical device and it did
not represent any of the denitions those searching for Satanic or
sexual overtones had suggested. Someone close to the band even
countered the evangelicals claims by stating that AC/DC stood for
Altruistic Christians/Doing Charity to soften their image!
While recording the LP AC/DC had trouble with others who
were behind the controls in the studio. The engineer had all these
strange ideas of what he wanted, explained Angus. Every day
youd come in and play and hed go, I dont want to hear that shit!
One day he said he was off horse riding, showing us these photos of
his missus and his horses, and Bon said, which ones the horse? It
was that kind of relationship. So he took the weekend off, and we
wrote most of Highway to Hell. He came in and got the cassette to
hear what we had been up to, and his kid pulled all the tape out. We
were in a total panic, but Bon got a pencil and managed to get it
back together, thank God.
That one of the nest records in rock history might have been
lost in its original form was typical of the disorganised way things
in the AC/DC world would work. Theyd often have innocent intentions only for something to blow up in their faces at a later date. One
of the songs on Highway To Hell was to have that effect eventually.
Written as the last track for the album, and placed at the end, Night
Prowler was creepy in its lyrical content and quite unlike anything
Bon had written before.
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As you lie there naked like a body in a tomb,

Suspended animation, as I slip into your room
Im your Night Prowler, break down your door,
Im your Night Prowler, crawling cross your oor,
Im your Night Prowler, make a mess of you, yes I will.
Night Prowler, and I am telling this to you,
There aint nothing you can do.
Despite the spooky lyrical theme, the sinister tone is typically
undercut by Bons penchant for zany humour. As a tribute to Robin
Williams, Bon declaims Shazbot, Nanu Nanu!, the phrase Williams character Mork used to end transmissions to his home planet
in the sitcom Mork and Mindy.
It was Bons way of ending an otherwise heavy and serious
song where his vocals required greater effort than usual. Elsewhere
on the record, Bon is in more jovial lyrical form, especially on the
upbeat paean to his girl, Girls Got Rhythm. He talked of travelling the world seeing a million girls but that not one of them had
what his lady had got. The chorus culminates by clarifying exactly
what Bon meant by rhythm: The girls got the rhythm, Shes got
the backseat rhythm.
The sound of the Highway To Hell album was one of a band at
its peak in terms of both condence and execution of ideas. It was
their strongest batch of songs to date, and the production of Mutt
had wrought extra power from a group already strong on energised
guitar based rock n roll. Angus had an even clearer tone to his guitar parts and Bons raw vocal style hadnt changed, but received the
gloss it deserved.
The entire LP throbbed with a pulse that didnt falter for over
forty minutes. AC/DC had seemingly invented a new form of rock
music that would develop further during the eighties. Essentially
this was simply a clever twist of an existing genre. The bluesbased
rock littered throughout the album was basic enough, yet the style
with which it was executed turned the hard rock genre on its head.
Nowhere previously had any band combined the melodious sensibilities such as the Young brothers song writing, with a heavy,
pounding background. From 1979 onwards many acts would at-
95

tempt to reach the levels of Highway To Hell for sheer catchiness
and raw power, though arguably no one group would ever be able to
match AC/DCs prowess. Mutt had brought out the best in them, although the songs would have been strong whoever produced them.
Touch Too Much was the epitome of Bons canny lyrical
prowess and vocal histrionics with sublime back ups from the rest
of the lads. The lyrics concerned the dangers of excess, with which
AC/DC was by now more than familiar. They were becoming notorious for their wild parties and general debauchery, with girls and
excessive drinking. A live version was released as a single in the
UK.
The additional advantage with the upfront production was the
way the songs had been placed so close to each other. As one track
ended, another began, leaving the listener barely time to recover
from the rst blow to the head before being assaulted with another.
This was a production technique quite ahead of its time in rock music. In the early nineties the Slayer and Red Hot Chili Peppers producer Rick Rubin would use this technique to maximum effect and
make a reputation based on his method of working, but it was Mutt
Lange who had initiated this form of aural battery.
Even the order of songs on the album was perfect. Girls Got
Rhythm ends its swaggering beat and moves straight into the sultry
beginning of Touch Too Much. As that song nishes, it moves
into the even heavier Beating Around The Bush but the track starts
with a lingering guitar lick, giving time to reect before the beat
comes in.
Canadian writer Martin Popoff had this to say of the record:
Without a doubt, more alcohol has been consumed and subsequently returned orally to the earth to the distorted strains of this
record than any other release in history. The party album from the
party band, one of the largest expressions of electric jubilation ever
harnessed.
According to other reviews, this was the AC/DC you knew
and loved and they had not exactly changed their sound in any way.
It was indeed the same old guitars, bass and drums based on the
blues. Yet, the group had inarguably rened their sound and honed it
nally to stake a claim to be the greatest rock outt operating at the
96
time. The only track, which did not sit so well with the band members, was Love Hungry Man of which Malcolm would say, The
overall thing was a lot rougher on our original demos. In the studio
it didnt happen right. We had to settle for it. But it doesnt mean the
band have to like it or listen to it.
Though they would always stubbornly pledge allegiance
to the blues and little else, the release of Highway To Hell would
mark AC/DCs association with heavy metal, for better or worse.
The front cover had helped. Though true heavy metal (progressing
from early acts such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, through
to heavier and more deantly metal outts like Iron Maiden and
Judas Priest) was in its early stages, those seeking something over
the top and preferably blasphemous from loud guitar music just
needed to check out the diabolical overtones (however tongue in
cheek) of the cover art. The bands logo also seemed to suggest
some kinship with their contemporaries (such as, again, Maiden and
Priest). However, AC/DC never felt comfortable being lumped in
with metal acts.
As metal progressed into a genre of its own, AC/DC felt it
was false, and contrary to the spirit of rock music. They abhorred
the clothes, the bravado and what they saw as meaningless lyrics.
Heavy metal would soon move even further down this road, and
AC/DC would be tainted by their associations however unfair
with the genre.
Released on July 27, 1979, Highway To Hell quickly became
DCs rst UK Top 10 album, peaking at No. 8. It was also their rst
US Top 20 entry, reaching No. 17. In Australia, it climbed to No.
24, making it the rst AC/DC album to chart there in nearly three
years.
For the remainder of 1979 the group toured the United States
and Britain, though still not Australia. In the States, AC/DC played
a handful of headlining shows while opening other concerts for the
likes of Cheap Trick, UFO and longtime touring associate Ted Nugent. This time however, acts they had played alongside previously,
such as Foreigner and Van Halen, decided not to play with AC/DC
and turned their offer of a tour down. It is not difcult to see why,
given the band had overshadowed them on previous occasions. De-
97

spite playing regularly in America, DC were still yet to succumb
to its allure on a personal level. Im happy playing, when I go onstage, Im happy, said Angus. AmericaI dont like the TV and
things like that, the food I dont like, its all fake. And I dont like
the fact that every time you turn on the TV theres some guy running
for president.
In Britain, the group played with Def Leppard, fellow clients
of their producer, Mutt Lange. The bands were different enough not
to step on each others toes. Even though Leppard were still rough
around the edges, and had not yet found the lush harmonies they
would later employ, they still played a harmonic, radiofriendly
form of rock. They were perfect as a warmup act, but the real deal
was still AC/DC.
Playing with another British outt, AC/DC discovered a new
audience. Their biggest show in the U.K. to date was a support slot
for The Who on August 18th 1979 at Wembley Stadium. The gig was
actually part of a festival, called Who And Roar Friends, which
also included Nils Lofgren and The Stranglers. AC/DC were unlucky to experience sound problems, when the PA broke down in
the middle of their set. They persevered like the true road warriors
they now were, and managed to complete the concert, to rapturous
applause from those in attendance.
This response from the band and their ability to turn a potential banana skin into a great gig won respect from The Who, and the
legends took AC/DC out with them for further outdoor European
dates. The Aussies had by now developed the ability to play a concert regardless of the size or venue. They could cope with the unpredictability of outside arenas, but still excelled at playing indoor
venues, whether they held 20 or 2,000 people.
After a Christmas break, AC/DC headed back out on the road
with more European shows. They sold out the Pavillion de Paris
twice, lming the second show, which was later released as the
movie Let There Be Rock.
In January 1980, AC/DC made an appearance at the annual
Midem music industry convention in France, at which they were
presented with several gold and silver discs for sales in France and
Canada. They also played dates in Newcastle and Southampton to
98
make up for shows that had been cancelled on the previous British
tour. They even appeared on the UK Television show Top of the
Pops to promote their current UK single Touch Too Much. By this
time Highway To Hell had been certied gold in the United States,
with sales reaching 500,000 units.
But the group was about to be plunged into its biggest crisis to
date. On January 27, 1980, though nobody knew it at the time, Bon
Scott appeared for the last time onstage with the band.
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THE LONG SPELLBINDING ROAD
Barry Taylor was a roadie with AC/DC and he found God

while working on the bands Highway to Hell tour. He later
wrote a book about his experiences called Singing In The
Dark A Rock N Roll - Roadie Steps Into The Light. He
is currently completing his Ph.D. in Postmodern Studies
at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. Songs from
his album Love Songs for the Underdogs are featured in
Agnieszka Hollands 1999 film The Third Miracle. He also
scored the Bui brothers Green Dragon (2001). Taylor is of
the opinion that the Austin Powers movies have profound
theological meaning.
100
Chapter 9 R.I.P. Rock In Peace
He couldnt have recorded albums and stuff if hed been in the

condition they said he was in. When we were touring there may have
been six months of the year when he was as dry as a bone and if
we got one night off then he was entitled to a drink. Bon was not a
heavy drinker. Angus Young
During early February 1980, Bon worked on lyrics for AC/
DCs next album. He also attended the wedding of Angus Young,
who married his long time Dutch girlfriend Ellen. On Tuesday February 19th Bon visited DC tour manager Ian Jeffreys house where
he had dinner. At about 6:30pm the two left to attend London venue
The Music Machine (later known as The Camden Palace and currently Koko). It was a place frequented by musicians and a general
hang out for the music industry, much like the Rainbow Bar and
Grill in Los Angeles. It was somewhere Bon felt rather at home.
He had also made plans to meet up with UFOs Phil Mogg
and Peter Way, but neither of them turned up. Bon remained in the
venue after it was clear the two were not coming, and mingled with
various locals, hangers on and groupies. One of the friends he encountered was a man named Alistair Kinnear (a musician, apparently a bass player) and the two left together at around 3am.
Kinnear drove Bon home to the singers London at, but when
he tried to wake him he had no luck. Bon was looking somewhat
immovable and so Kinnear jumped back in the drivers seat and
took Bon back to his own at in East Dulwich. He hoped that by
the time the two reached his home, Bon might have woken, but that
didnt happen. Instead, Scott was seemingly in a deep sleep. Unable
to carry the boozesodden frontman out of the car and up the stairs
to his at, Kinnear decided it would be better to leave him in the
back. He covered Bon with a blanket and went up alone, leaving
him instructions how to get there when he awoke.
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This particular evening was bitterly cold and regardless of any
drink consumed, it would not have been a sensible option for anyone
to sleep out in a car in the dead of winter. This was especially true
on this occasion, as Kinnear himself passed out for almost 15 hours,
making it well into early the next evening by the time he went out
to check on Bon. By this time, when the singer still wouldnt wake,
Kinnear began to panic and realised there was something seriously
wrong. Bon was curled around the gear stick. Kinnear drove him to
Kings College Hospital in Denmark Hill, close to his Dulwich at.
Bon Scott was pronounced dead on arrival.
This sequence of events is the recognised version, it has been
repeated many times by AC/DC themselves and additionally has appeared in many previous publications. It does however leave many
questions unanswered; it is inconsistent with other details which
have emerged since and in general it simply doesnt sound completely believable. My own research has opened a lot of new doors
in the search for the real truth about that fateful night, but alas, it has
raised as many new questions as it answers old ones. What it does
achieve however, is prove incorrect some of the previous theories
which have suggested that Alistair Kinnear was in fact a pseudonym
for someone very close to Bon Scott, but who, for his own reasons,
was unprepared to reveal his true identity.
Three days after Bon Scott died the coroner recorded a verdict
of death by misadventure, with acute alcohol poisoning cited as the
cause. According to Kinnear, who appeared at the inquest, Scott
had consumed at least seven double whiskies and this had caused
him to pass out later in the evening. In the London newspaper, the
Evening Standard, John Stevens recorded Kinnears recollections.
According to Kinnear he met with Bon before visiting The Music
Machine, rather than meeting him in there. Kinnear told Stevens:
Bon was pretty drunk when I picked him up. When we got there he
was drinking four whiskies straight in a glass at a timeI just could
not move him, so I covered him with a blanket and left him a note
to tell him how to get to my at in case he woke up. I went to sleep
then and it was later in the evening (of 20th February) when I went
out to the car and I knew something was wrong immediately.
102
Angus young picked up the story when speaking to the press

a short time later. I received a panic phone call from Kinnears
landlady explaining how Bon had been rushed to Kings College
Hospital and declared dead on arrival. I immediately phoned Malcolm, cos at the time I thought maybe shes got it wrong, you know,
and just thought it was him. And Ian Jeffrey, our tour manager, said
it couldnt be him cos hed gone to bed early that night. Anyway,
the girl gave me the hospital number, but they wouldnt give me any
information until his family had been contacted.
Malcolm took it upon himself to give Isa and Chick Scott,
Bons parents, the bad news. We didnt want them to be just sitting
there, and suddenly it comes on the TV news, you know, explained
Angus. Peter Mensch, our manager, got to the hospital as soon as
he could to nd out exactly what had happened and identify him,
because everyone was in doubt at the time. At rst I didnt really
believe it, but in the morning it nally dawned on me. Its just like
losing a member of your family, thats the only way to describe it.
Maybe even a bit worse, cos we all had a lot of respect for Bon as
a person because, even though he did like to drink and have a bit of
a crazy time, he was always there when you needed him to do his
job and things. There were times you could say he lived on the edge,
but I was still pretty young. He himself was not an old guy and I
suppose in those times you think youre immortal.
It is generally accepted that Bon just had a bad reaction to
a night of heavy drinking. Angus certainly thought this version of
events was entirely plausible. As a band, its your history and you
reect back on it, and sometimes you laugh. Sometimes youre
somewhere and you remember something. What he did he could
be an adventurous type of person.
Exmanager Mike Browning said: Bon always used to say
that he was pretty sure he wouldnt live beyond 40. So I think in
some ways everybody kind of expected it to happen if he was left
to his own devices.
The former AC/DC bass player Mark Evans didnt think
Bons lifestyle was destined to lead him to an early death but he did
remember being with him a few times where he sort of had a few
drinks and passed out, due in part to him being heavily asthmatic
103

Though it was a shock when it did happen, certainly after the dust
had settled it was no surprise. Though Evans refers to Bon being
asthmatic, this seems to be a new revelation, with little or no mention of this in other accounts of the singers life.
A writer who researched Bon Scotts life and death extensively, Clinton Walker has stated a lot of people thought it was remarkable Bon lived as long as he did.
Nobody was more hurt than the AC/DC boys at the time, because
they lost a great friend and a ne singer. A lesser band would have
collapsed, but they came back and went on to make so many more
huge records. Bon was an awful hard man to replace. Jimmy
Barnes
The death of their frontman shocked AC/DC to the core. Bon
was older than the rest of them, but he was still only 33. How was
it possible he had joined the catalogue of rock stars whod checked
in before their time?
But notwithstanding this, the band decided that Bon would
have wanted AC/DC to carry on. Before his death the group had
been planning their next album together and songs were already
written. It was agreed they would have to nd a new singer and
continue where they had left off with Bon. It was my brother that
picked me up a bit from his death Angus admitted. And he said to
me, Lets get together and just continue what we were doing. We
were writing songs at the time Bon died. He said, Lets continue
doing that. It kept you going and was good therapy, I suppose.
Angus remembered the last time he saw Bon alive Me and
Malcolm were in a rehearsal studio in London. He came in and said,
Oh youll be needing a drummer, so the last time we ever played
together Bon was on drums. Bon did indeed play along to the initial songs that would eventually comprise the Back In Black album
as a drummer rather than a vocalist. Of course on the actual album
Bon is not present in any capacity, with the drums being rerecorded by Phil Rudd.
I was at home in Sydney at the time, remembers Vince Lovegrove of the day he found out about Bons death. I got a phone call
104
at about three in the morning from his exwife, Irene, a good friend
of mine at that time. She told me the news and I freaked. From then
on until dawn I was besieged by the media, asking for quotes and
all that shit. You know, was it expected? Did he deserve it? All the
stupid questions that the media asks at a time like that. I dont know
what it was like overseas, but in Australia at that time it was overwhelming. He was the rst real rock star from Oz who died, and so
nobody there could believe it, almost as if we were immune from
the tragedies of rock. Nobody could believe an Australian rock star
could die, especially under those questionable circumstances.
Anyway, I cried and cried about the loss of a mate, and all
the things you do emotionally when someone you love leaves forever...you know, anger, regret, sorrow, pain, the full tilt boogie, but
it was not a surprise. I am never surprised when someone from the
rock world dies. It really is part of the deal; it is a life on the edge,
and everyone plays it to some extent at some time, some get out,
some go under. He was troubled, I saw him in Atlanta, Georgia in
1978, and we raved and got fucked up until dawn, and he told me
then hed had enough. He said he couldnt stand the touring lifestyle
anymore but that he had to keep going because the big money hit
was just around the corner.
In many ways, Bon was not suited to be a pop star, in other
ways he was. But he longed to get out, settle down, have kids and
just write and sing music, that is for sure. No matter what anybody
else says, he wanted out, but the addiction of it all was too much, he
was hooked like were all hooked on music. Its just a matter of how
hooked, what we do about it, and under what circumstances we try
and let it and its side effects take over.
WHAT IS REAL?
Cause I aint too old to die but I sure am hard to beat. Ride On
On Wednesday, February 23, 2005, the following statement
was printed in the The Guardian newspapers corrections and clarications column, following an alleged error in a previous edition of
the newspaper a few days earlier.
105

In this story, it was suggested that the name Alistair Kinnear
might have been a pseudonym used by one of Scotts associates.
That was incorrect. Alistair (not Alasdair) Kinnear is the name of
Bon Scotts former friend and neighbour. We have been asked to
make it clear that Mr. Kinnear reported nding Bon Scott immediately on his discovery. Scott was then taken to Kings College
hospital in Camberwell, where he was declared dead.
The journalist responsible for the story was Richard Jinman.
After the correction I called him in an attempt to discover the source
of the information. Mr. Jinman was most helpful and told me, Its
an interesting one. After the article ran I was contacted by Alistairs
son who lives in London. He told me his father was alive and living
in Spain. I had no reason to think he wasnt telling the truth. He told
me he had a huge amount of detail about the night Bon died, but
said his father would not want to talk about it and was not in good
health. It was a shock obviously because people like Clinton Walker
have been convinced that Alistair Kinnear was a made up name, apparently he was very real.
With Mr. Jinmans assstance I managed to get in touch personally with Daniel Kinnear Alistairs son who it would appear
is indeed living in London. I told him about the planned publication
of this book and my desire to set the story straight once and for all
about that fateful night.
I asked him whether his father would speak to me about the
events that have become so muddled over the intervening years.
Daniel told me he would contact his father but repeated that his
father was not in the best of health and may wish to avoid dragging
up unpleasant memories. He did however clarify the following via
email:
1. Alistair Kinnear is a real person.
2. He was a close friend of Bon Scotts.
3. He was with him on the night he died and did indeed take him
home. When not being able to get him out of the car, he drove him
to his at in Overhill Road, South London.
4. Sadly, Alistair left him to sober up in the car and upon his return
the next morning found him dead.
106
5. Alistair immediately reported his discovery and Bon Scott was

taken to Kings College Hospital.
6. Alistair experienced considerable grief and a sense of if only
Id... which he has spent a long time coming to terms with.
Clearly Daniel Kinnear had known for a long time about his
fathers connection with Bon Scott and the night he died, and admitted that Although my father resides in Spain, I did ask my mother
of her recollections of that date (note that I am 32 and do not recall
anything). She stated that it was a traumatic time and that Bon Scott
was indeed a very heavy drinker of Scotch Whiskey. In fact, it was
noted at the inquest that his drinking had so seriously damaged his
physical wellbeing that there was a heightened probability that he
would have died shortly afterwards anyway. Being aware that many
people within the industry at that time experimented with various
other drugs, I asked my mother whether that could have been a
factor in Bon Scotts death. Her recollection of Bon Scott was that
although he may have experimented, he wasnt a habitual user, his
medication of choice being whiskey.
Although Daniel Kinnears intentions appear to be honourable
in attempting to set the story straight, and the facts he has repeated
a carbon copy of the ofcal version are of course entirely plausible, there are still many areas of ambiguity regarding these events
that require some further explanation. Many fans and journalists are
of the opinion that there has always been more to this story than has
been fully divulged. I include myself among that group.
The most common insinuation is that Alistair Kinnear never
existed, that this name was a pseudonym for someone close to the
band who was himself with Bon the night he died. It is interesting
to note here that tour manager Ian Jeffrey is named in the ofcial
version as the man who went with Bon to the music machine on the
night in question. As mentioned above Jeffrey was later to state that
It couldnt be him, hed gone to bed early that night.
Bon Scott biographer Clinton Walker claims, in his book
Highway To Hell The Life and Times Of Bon Scott, that he
107

has spoken to the very person who used the name Alistair Kinnear deceptively. This theory has, however, always appeared far
fetched. Would anyone risk using a false name not only to report a
death but also to attend an inquest and undergo a police interview
certain to lead to some personal investigation. And, lets be realistic, wouldnt the police have seen through it in ve minutes at? If
this theory had been the truth, whatever the perpetrators reasons
were for such an elaborate hoax, they would pale into insignicance compared to the likely repercussions. While its a nice story,
it does have the ring of conspiracy theory about it and this writer,
for one, never believed it to be true.
There will be those who claim that it could be just as likely
that Daniel Kinnear is a pseudonym as Alistair Kinnear. Well a quick
check on the Friends Reunited website does reveal that one Daniel
Kinnear was a student at a school close to the stated address where
Daniel claimed his father was living at the time of Scotts death,
and the other information given on the site t in with details Daniel
told me about himself, such as his line of work and qualications.
Daniels emails come from a place of work that completely checks
out and his name is in the address.
But there were questions still needing answers. How did
Alistair and Bon know each other? How close were they, and did
Alistair know the other members of AC/DC? In what sense were
they neighbours at the time Bon lived in a at in central Londons Victoria and Alistair in the South East Dulwich area a good
30 minutes drive even at 3 a.m. Hoping that Daniel was about to
approach his father on my behalf, I put these questions to him and
asked if he would forward them, or, if he knew any of the answers
himself, let me know. The questions were put politely and with no
indication of any underlying suspicion, I was therefore surprised
that I received no reply. I left it for a few weeks then emailed again
but still received no response. As deadlines were tight I emailed one
more time, telling Daniel this and making it clear that if he and his
father did not wish to make further comment, that of course would
be respected, but I asked him if he would be good enough to conrm
this either way. Again nothing came back.
108
Although I have never believed that Alistair Kinnear did not

exist, I still felt that, while we may have the truth, we dont necessarily have the whole truth, nor nothing but the truth. My remaining
questions were many.
I should make it clear at this point that I am not suggesting
Daniel Kinnear has attempted at any time to mislead either Richard
Jinman or myself, but whether Daniel is actually in contact with his
father remains questionable. At no time has he stated that he is, and
indeed he has claimed that all his knowledge of these events came
from his mother, being too young at the time to remember them personally (he would have been approximately 7 years old when Scott
died). Daniel told Richard Jinman that he had a wealth of information regarding the night Bon died, yet while claiming he was keen
to set the record straight he did not appear willing to answer even
the most pedestrian of questions, nor indeed to respond to me in any
way other than giving me the standard take on events.
The coroners report gave excessive consumption of alcohol
as the cause of death. This seems a little strange as Bon was a huge
drinker, a fact conrmed by virtually everyone who had ever known
him. So, while it is more than plausible that the excessive alcohol
alone killed him, it should also be considered whether any other
factors contributed to the tragic event. On the 19th February 1980 he
was, after all, allegedly only doing what he did virtually every other
night at this point in his life.
Other rock stars who have died under similar circumstances
Keith Moon and Jimi Hendrix come to mind were in many cases
not killed directly by their regular poisons. It is thought that Moon
overdosed on drugs which, ironically, were supposed to help him
refrain from alcohol, and Hendrix choked on vomit induced by his
excesses.
It has been suggested that Scott also was asphyxiated by vomit, but if this were the case, surely it would have been diagnosed
during the post mortem.
Certainly, suspicions have been expressed by some who knew
him, and many who didnt, that Bon was indulging in harder substances than just drink. There is evidence Bon had tried heroin, but
whether he went further than just dabbling is less certain.
109

It has previously been reported that on at least one earlier
occasion, Bon almost died of a heroin overdose. In Melbourne in
early 1975 he was mixing with the kind of people who would experiment with any type of narcotic. Much like Jim Morrison of The
Doors, Bon was also keen to try anything at least once. Vince Lovegrove talks of snorting speed with Bon when they had rst become
friends. The two would meet in breaks from work and go to a pub
to quickly sniff a line of amphetamine before going back to the
daily grind.
In his autobiography Scar Tissue, Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis reveals the perils of his own drug addiction:
I was getting more and more into shooting cocaine, drinking lots
of alcohol and taking lots of pills. I didnt see it happening, but the
wheels were falling off of me. The horribly ironic cosmic trick of
drug addiction is that drugs are a lot of fun when you rst start using
them, but by the time the consequences manifest themselves youre
no longer in a position to say, Whoa, gotta stop that. Youve lost
that ability and youve created this pattern of conditioning and reinforcement. Its never something for nothing when drugs are involved.
Clinton Walker describes the following episode in 1975, involving Bons girlfriend at the time, Judy King. King was a heroin
addict who spent all her money on smack, earned from working in
a massage parlour. Kings sister Christine was also an addict and
one night when Bon came to Judys apartment he found the two
in their usual narcotic haze. The sisters kept on at Bon to try the
heroin, suggesting he might like it. Initially he was sceptical and
had certainly never envisaged himself as some strungout junkie
like his current squeeze. But with the constant badgering from the
two women to just have a taste, Bon eventually agreed.
Bon pulled up his sleeve and let Judy tap his vein with the
syringe, shooting the smack into his body. For a short period Bon
felt the rush, the elation of the drug, but then he turned a deathly
blue/grey colour and fell into his chair. Judy suddenly became very
frightened and it was left to Christine to act quickly. She struggled
to nd a vein, but managed to inject him with amphetamine in an attempt to counteract the heroin. She then gave him mouthtomouth
110
resuscitation and massaged his heart, and he let out a whimper. Judy
called an ambulance and eventually Bon was revived.
If Walkers story is accurate it is clear Bon was no stranger to
smack. Whether this incident had been enough to put him off for life
though, is another matter. He did not feel quite the elation that some
do when dabbling in their rst x, but who is to say he didnt want
to try again at some point in the future?
The main reason that any suggestion of drug use on the night
he died has been so readily dismissed, is largely because there was
no mention of any such substance in Scotts blood at the inquest or
in the subsequent report. That said, it should be noted that back in
the early 1980s it would not always have been standard procedure
during an autopsy to undertake a toxicology report, which requires
a different process of testing than the one used to detect alcohol, and
if an excessive amount of alcohol was found in the blood stream of
a victim, it was then customary to presume that that was the cause
of death, rather than looking for other clues.
Bon said Vinnie. I really am getting tired. I love it, you know that.
Its only rock n roll and I like it. But I want to have a base. Its
just the constant pressure of touring thats fucking it. Ive been on
the road for thirteen years. Planes, hotels, groupies, booze, people,
towns. They all scrape something from you. Were doing it and well
get there, but I wish we didnt have these crushing day after day
grinds to keep up with. Rock n roll, you know thats all there is. But
I cant hack the rest of the shit that goes with it. Vince Lovegrove
The above quote was made to Bons close friend shortly before his death. There has also been odd lines from unused lyrics
published, which equally point to a mild depression or at least some
disillusionment with the life he was leading. However, while some
journalists have suggested that Bon may have been suicidal at this
point in his career, there really is no evidence to suggest that he
took his own life, and again some light would have been shed by
the coroner.
As is the case with all deaths when the reason is not immediately apparent, Bon Scotts London at was searched very shortly
111

after he was declared dead, but nothing of signicance that would
shed any light on the tragedy appears to have been found; neither
any illegal drugs nor a suicide note. Clinton Walker is also of the
opinion that someone, other than the police, ransacked Kinnears
residence. If this was indeed the case it would point to some questionable circumstances, however Walkers source for this information is not substantiated.
In the late 1970s members of AC/DC were close friends with
the British rock band UFO. It was no secret that this heavy metal
four piece were big drinkers and regular drug users. At one time,
AC/DCs manager, Peter Mench, was even heard to comment that
the British group were a bad inuence on his charges. Bons personal friendship with guitarist Paul Chapman and bassist Peter Way
was strong and there have been those who blame these two musicians for the spiralling of Scotts excessive behaviour.
Bons death affected Pete Way in particular. It hit me hard.
And its funny it took his death to wake the world to AC/DC. It was
like, something special. Punk rock almost made it but AC/DC made
it to the max. Bon launched AC/DCs career into stardom. You cant
buy a Bon Scott. When we were on tour in the US with them, every
night I watched Bon and Angus and I thought Wow! It was like a
hurricane. It was much better than UFO and we had to go and follow it.
In a Classic Rock Magazine article, commemorating the 25th
Anniversary of Bon Scotts death, Peter Way claimed that he used
to buy heroin from an Australian man who would visit the band with
Bon Scott in tow. He also states that on many occasions he jacked
up in Bons presence. When asked whether Bon had ever used the
drug in front of Way, he was vague and non committal.
In the same article he stated that he rst heard about Bons
death via a phone call from Paul Chapman at 10.30am on the 20th
February . As it has always been claimed that Alistair Kinnear discovered the body at 7.45 pm, this counterclaim does suggest some
inconsistencies. However it must be remembered that both Way and
Chapman were regular users of heroin, a drug not known for its
memory enhancement.
112
Paul Chapmans recollections of the night Bon died however

are really quite staggering when compared to the script that has
been readily accepted for so many years. While, of course, some
details may be incorrect, there would seem little point in him making up such a story in its entirety.
According to Chapman, on the evening of 19th February, he
met up with Bon Scott and an Australian called Joe King, and invited them both back to his at in Fulham, just off the Wandsworth
Bridge. King apparently had changed his name by deed poll, being
previously known as Joe Bloe. Chapman claims that King was his
guitar technician at one time and worked for UFO for around six
months, the pair having rst met at Kings Hammersmith at, where
he lived with his girlfriend Silver Smith, an old ame of Bons. Apparently a dealer in heroin also lived at the at.
Paul Chapman further states that once back at his at, Joe told
him he didnt have much smack left (indicating therefore that King
was also a user), which allegedly prompted Bon to go off and nd
some for them. After waiting hours for him to return, King decided
he had to leave himself and return to his own at. It would seem at
this time Joe was living with Bon at the Victoria at. Joe King left
the Fulham at around 7am and made his own way home, having
turned down Pauls offer to call him a cab.
If King walked the distance between the two apartments, it
would have taken him between 45 minutes and an hour, an uncomplicated journey straight down Londons fashionable Kings Road.
Paul Chapman goes on to state that at about 10.30 am the
same morning, he was awoken by the telephone. It was Joe King
who told him that Bon Scott was dead.
King had returned to the Victoria at apparently, but it is not
clear how he knew at that time in the morning that Scott had died.
Chapman states that King told him that he had contacted other members of AC/DC to tell them the news. One nal point of interest in
Chapmans account is his insistence that Bon was intending to go
to Dulwich in order to score the heroin. Whether the heroin Bon
was intending to purchase that night was solely intended for King
and Chapman, is not claried. Chapman has claimed that he never
113

once saw Bon use any drugs whatsoever, although, he drank like
a Wildman.
The two contrasting versions of events, from Alistair Kinnear and Paul Chapman, have many connections that would suggest
there is some truth in both of them. In the Kinnear version, Bon and
Alistair were intending to meet up with two members of UFO that
night at The Music Machine, but those named were Phil Mogg and
Peter Way, no mention of Paul Chapman. It was stated that Way and
Mogg didnt show. But perhaps Paul Chapman was at the venue
and Bon met up with him, and subsequently got invited back to
the Fulham at. Another parallel between the two versions is Paul
Chapmans insistence that Scott intended to go to Dulwich to score
the drugs. The only link previously made between Bon Scott and
Dulwich is via Alistair Kinnear.
But if Bon was picked up on the 19th February at around 6.30
pm and taken to The Music Machine, and there met up with Paul
Chapman, went back with him to Fulham, and later left alone to
head off to Dulwich, what happened to Alistair Kinnear during this
part of the evening?
There only seems to be two possible scenarios that could t in
somewhat at least with both stories. First, and more probable, is
that Bon had left The Music Machine with Chapman, then returned
later, met back up with Kinnear, got seriously drunk, and at closing
time the pair left together. The other possibility is that Kinnear was
with Scott, Chapman, and King, and that Bon and Alistair left the
Fulham at together, and went back to Dulwich in Kinnears car.
Chapman had made no mention of Kinnear being in the party, but
the passing of time can of course make memories less lucid.
Both of these scenarios would indicate that heroin was expected to be available in Dulwich that night. It should be noted too
that Alistair Kinnear saw t to drive a car on an evening he was out
on the town with Bon Scott. And although the drink driving penalties in the UK in 1980 werent as severe as they are today, and the
chance of being stopped by the police were not as high, anyone even
vaguely trying to keep up, would surely be in no t state after 8
hours of partying with Bon Scott, to get behind the wheel of a car.
114
Alistair may of course have been tee total. Perhaps he was

high on life itself..
In the postBon universe, the band closed ranks. Protected
by the guiding hand of hardened professionals such as Peter Mensch, the management did a ne job in avoiding the musicians being
linked with hearsay, gossip or speculation. Ever since February 17th
1980, the original members of AC/DC have retained a dignied silence with regards Bon Scotts death.
Angus, Malcolm and the others like to talk of the times they
were lucky enough to share with Bon as do the many others whom
he came into contact with. He was only in AC/DC for just over ve
years but he gave them their rock n roll wings, enabling them to y
on long after his passing.
Ive been on the road for fteen years and I have no intentions to
stop. We meet a lot of people, we drink lots of stuff and have lots of
fun. Bon Scott
Without Bon, AC/DC might never have progressed beyond
being a small club band he brought the character a front man so
desperately needs to make an act great rather than good. Geoff Barton of Classic Rock Magazine thinks: He could make a pub feel
like an arena and an arena feel like a pub. With his clever vocal phrasing, distinctive singing voice and undeniable stage presence, AC/DC became a band capable of transcending their humble
back alley roots. It was the subtle interplay between Bon and Angus
which lent the group an appeal that would see them become bigger
with every album they released.
Bon was only in AC/DC a short while but he sang on some
of their most memorable records. The likes of Highway To Hell and
High Voltage are classic rock records of the 1970s and Bon was
integral to their success. His lyrics brought the music to life and his
voice gave the songs their longevity. There are few frontmen who
can compare to him.
Rose Tattoo vocalist and fellow Australian Angry Anderson,
remembers Bon as A gypsy, a vagabond, a buccaneer. He was a
bad boy and a rock n roll outlaw. He was truly a street poet docu-
115

menting in lyric and performance all that he thought felt and cared
about life. Life from his point of view. It would appear, from the
testimonies of hundreds of friends, colleagues, fellow musicians
and even people who met him just once, that Bon Scott was a genuinely decent human being .
Bon was one of the nicest guys I ever met. I really mean that. If
he was an asshole Id tell you. Im not just saying that because the
poor guy is dead. He really was a lovely guy... It was a great loss...
Ozzy Osbourne
Angus Young said of Bon: Often he would trail off with fans
who came backstage after a show and go off with them to a party or
something. He judged people as they were and if they invited him
somewhere and he was in the right mood to go, he went. It didnt
matter to him whether they had a name or were a star, he just
went with them. We used to call him Bon the likeable. We could
be somewhere where you would never expect anyone to know him,
and someone would walk up and say, Bon Scott! and always have
a bottle of beer for him. It was uncanny.
Of course Bon Scott had a rogue mentality and he was not
the devoted family man it sometimes appeared he wished to be.
However, it seems possible that he may have turned into such had
he lived. As he had mentioned to Bruce Howe, it was starting to
concern him that he had not found the right woman to settle down
with. Perhaps, above all else, true love and family life was what Bon
really desired. The success of his career in music was a welcome
distraction from apparent upset in his personal life, but not enough
to steer him into complete contentment.
Angus Young felt positively about the upcoming album they
were due to record with Bon. Malcolm and I were really looking
forward to getting him into the studio and doing the next album
more than weve done with any album before, because after the success of the last one, it was going to be a really big challenge. That
was the sad part of it all because perhaps it could have been the best
thing hed ever done on record. That would have been the crowning
glory of his life.
116
The music media, of course, pulled their usual trick; creating

yet another rock n roll martyr. As Angus put it, When he was
alive, all people would say about him was that he was this creature
straight from the gutter; no one would take him seriously. Then after
he died, all of a sudden he was a great poet. Even he himself would
have been laughing at that
We will probably never know the true sequence of events that
caused the premature passing of one of the greatest and most charismatic rock vocalists of all time. But we have the records and we
have the memories. And that is whats really important.
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A MEETING OF MINDS
Paul DiAnno, the first permanent singer for Iron Maiden,
recalls meeting his hero. Id skived off school with a mate
like you do to go and see AC/DC. They were playing a
club in London and we just went along. They played a great
show, and we managed to meet them in the bar afterwards,
when we blagged our way in for a few underage beers. Get
this the person who bought me my first ever beer in any
pub, anywhere, was AC/DCs singer, the late, the great Bon
Scott; legendary singer, womaniser and general hellraiser.
Talk about an honour I was just overwhelmed by the guy
and his wild man reputation. Years later he came to be a
huge influence in my life, not just for his music, but the way
he approached everything, just taking it as it comes and living for the day. We both lived life to the full, and aside from
a shared appetite for pussy, drink and drugs, we also shared
the same down to earth attitude and sense of humour, which
got us through all the craziness which surrounded us.
There is a terrible coincidence relating to the day he died.
That day, myself and the guys in Maiden were making our
debut appearance on Top Of The Pops, when I became the
first singer to perform live on the show for almost a decade.
Wed refused to mime, so they bent the rules for us. So there
I am, riding high as a rock singer, and there was Bon, my
idol, lying dead in a car, a few miles away across London.
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Chapter 10 The Boys From The Black Stuff

Forget the hearse cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cats eyes
Abusin every one of them and running wild.
Cause Im back
Yes, Im back
(Well) Im back in black. Back In Black
On March 1st 1980 Bon Scott was buried in Fremantle, Australia. The funeral was a quiet affair with only close friends and family in attendance. Bons family had always admired and respected
his bandmates. Where some might have cast blame upon the group
for its hard living lifestyle, Isa Scott was smart enough to understand Bon had been heading that way of his own accord for a while.
When he visited his parents a short time before his death, they saw
at rst hand how his behaviour was out of control and this was at
a time when the other members of AC/DC were nowhere in sight.
Isa knew that there had been nothing she could do to persuade
her headstrong son to stop drinking. She had raised him to be independent; stubbornness was therefore inherent in Bons personality.
A rock n roll death was, if not inevitable, then certainly on the
cards.
Isa also understood the bands need to carry on without Bon,
rather than calling it a day. Go out there and nd a new singer,
she told them. You have to do it. Bon would have wanted it that
way. This endorsement, given so soon after his death, reassured the
Young brothers that they would be doing the right thing in carrying
on with the group. They already had a phenomenal back catalogue
to draw upon, but as Bon had hinted to his mother in early 1980,
this next album could be the one to propel AC/DC to even greater
stardom. It is unclear how much of the resultant album Bon had already written. The band has never conrmed exactly what scraps of
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paper he had left lying around, containing lyrics that would be sung
by a man with a seemingly impossible task. How do you replace
someone like Bon Scott? The names considered early on did not
seem to have the X factor AC/DC would need to continue Bons
legacy appropriately.
I didnt join a band to be a casualty. Theres a romantic myth that
you should live fast and die young, the James Dean thing. AC/DC
are here to disprove all that. Were hoping to get a pension. Angus
Young
Among the candidates were Stevie Wright (exEasybeats),
Alan Fryer (of the Australian band Future Heaven), Terry Wilson
Slesser (formerly of Back Street Crawler), Brian Johnson (previously in British hard rockers Geordie) and also Gary Holton (exHeavy
Metal Kids). When Fryer auditioned, the Youngs and their comrades
felt that he was too similar to Bon. Wright was ruled out almost by
default; AC/DC didnt want to go backwards by taking the easy option and tting in a friend from their past. Londoner Gary Holton
had the cheeky charm of a true front man and his downtoearth
demeanour would have tted in well against the buzzing backdrop
of the AC/DC musicians. In the end, however, the group felt Holton
would be too difcult to tame and could well turn out to be another
Bon, in the sense of going off at the deep end.
In retrospect, it seems that the Youngs made the right decision
in not hiring Holton. He was a great singer and entertainer, and had
further success as an actor, appearing in the highly popular British TV series Auf Wiedersehen Pet. However, his private life was
sadly marked by drug and alcohol abuse and he died at the age of
33. Holton had previously suffered a brain haemorrhage, which left
him temporarily paralysed, blind and unable to speak, but he later
recovered. He also had a nearfatal heart attack seven years before
his death, but it was announced his death was down to heroin and
alcohol ingestion.
For AC/DC, the job of nding a new vocalist wasnt easy but
they narrowed down their choice of singers to a shortlist of two:
Terry WilsonSlesser and Brian Johnson. The latter had been front
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man with Geordie, from the Northeast of England. A ercely proud

Newcastle native, Johnson, born on October 5th 1948, had enjoyed
reasonable success with his band, especially in Britain. At the time
of AC/DCs interest he was attempting to resurrect the outt, who
had split up in 1976.
Geordie had started under the name U.S.A. but the members
soon gave themselves a moniker far closer to home. I just wanted
to be in a band, Johnson would say of his time with his fellow Tynesiders. They were famous when I joined them. They were a great
rock band at the time, but they let themselves be turned and twisted
by the record company into a pop band. You know, all those big
platforms shoes, all the silly shit I had to wear. And the trousers, I
couldve put a small African village in there. It was just terrible. But
the songs, I knew I had a rock voice, and I just let go with the ow.
I really didnt have much to say in the songs. When I looked at the
lifestyles the boys had, it was just great. When I heard the stories, I
went just nuts.
Geordie released several albums, including: Hope You Like It
(1973), Dont Be Fooled By The Name (1974), and Save The World
(1976). During this time, they gained popularity throughout Europe
but gradually lost their footing as other, more glamorous looking
acts hogged the spotlight. Geordie went the opposite way; Brian in
particular sought to wear street clothes on stage. They would soon
disband but after a few years, just before the interest from AC/DC
Brian would go it alone with a new line up. He released the album
Geordie Featuring Brian Johnson, which had new adaptations of
several Geordie classics. To supplement his income Brian ran a vinyl car roong business until 1980 as Geordie werent always completely solvent and he had long had an interest in cars.
In Geordie we would get up at 5 in the morning and follow the
milkman around. We used to look in the window at Indian restaurants and wait for people to leave a half eaten meal just so we could
run in and steal it. Jesus, the things wed do. We never saw a penny
from the records. Brian Johnson
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It was an AC/DC fan that introduced the band to the talents of
Brian Johnson. The ardent devotee from Chicago, Illinois posted the
LeberKrebs management a tape of the Geordie album Hope You
Like It. The anonymous fan believed that Johnsons voice would
suit AC/DC, and Peter Mensch thought Brian was at least worth an
audition. Johnson tended to use the lower range of his voice with
Geordie, and his performing style with the two groups is very different. Indeed, although both Geordie and AC/DC were loosely labelled as rock acts they were in fact rather different.
The tape from the fan was not the rst occasion that Johnson had crossed the AC/DC radar. Geordie had once toured with
Bon Scott and Fraternity, travelling throughout Europe together in
1973. Bon was impressed with Johnsons vocals, despite the Geordie singer being on less than top form. As Brian later explained explained: We were in this horrible place up north on a horrible cold
night and I had appendicitis. He was watching with his then band,
Fraternity. I was in agony, I got carried out. Allegedly Bon also
told Angus to give Johnson the job of vocalist if anything should
ever happen to him.
Shortly before he died Bon happened to see Brian singing in
a club, performing Little Richard covers. Angus remembered, Bon
played me Little Richard and then told me the story of when he saw
Brian singing. And he says about that night, theres this guy up
there screaming at the top of his lungs and then the next thing you
know he hits the deck. Hes on the oor, rolling around and screaming. I thought it was great, and then to top it off you couldnt get
a better encore they came in and wheeled the guy off! Angus
continued: Bon had pointed Brian out, especially to me. Bon and
me were great rock n roll fans. Bon would always come in and give
me a record of Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard, something that he
bought in a record store and if I saw one, I would pick it up for him.
Late at night, if we had a little get together, we always had on those
records. He always told me the story of when he rst saw Brian on
stage.
Bon loved being in this band. He said it gave him the chance to be
himself for the rst time in his life. And sometimes, even now when
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were recording, I do a double take because I can feel something,

that Bon edge. Hopefully hes still plugging in and hearing what
were about. Angus Young
When Angus spoke about auditioning Brian, he did not mention the fans tape story, which suggests that it may be something
of a rock myth. Brians name came up right away. The guy who
was managing us at the time said, What do you wanna do? Are you
gonna continue? He suggested a list of people. At the time I said,
Maybe check out this guy Brian and see what hes doing. Maybe in
hindsight, it was Bons way of saying itll never happen to me.
I hadnt known about AC/DC long enough to have a preconception of them, Brian later said. I was up there in Northern
England and it was just six months before I auditioned for them that
I rst heard them. Malcolm Waley brought back an album, cause
hed seen them at the Newcastle May Fair and he said, You gotta
fuckin hear these! Fuck!
Brian came across AC/DC after witnessing the punk phenomenon. I fuckin dont get it. I know everybodys ranting and raving
about it but I didnt like it at all. So with the boys there was something out there that was at least decent. You could tap your foot to
it.
At that time he is talking about the midseventies and we
were giving punk a good name, Angus chipped in. Because that
was the word to describe us, a punk band. They would get the
wrong idea. We werent a punk band but they would put us on the
same bill as punk bands. They sure got a shock when they started
spitting and we spat back. We were never ones getting tagged into
a title or led under: A, B, or C. We started as a rock n roll band.
Thats what we play; thats what we do best. We never claimed to
be anything else. And then, in the 1980, they would slump us as a
heavy metal band. Even before that they had other things: power
pop. Crap!
For ten years Ive not only had the burden of carrying my wife
and family, but also having people saying all the time that Ive been
wrong . So its nice at the end of the day to turn around and say,
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well I might be a little bit late, Im not exactly an overnight sensation, but Brian Johnson
The pure rock n roll ideology of AC/DC summed Brian up
as much as it did the other members of the group. On the subject of
musical trends, his response was: You put all the names together
and it spells bullshit. Angus concurred, Its true. I mean, okay,
the word blues conjures up something denite. You know where
youre going it says. But the heavy metal thing? I immediately think
of men in armour. And then theres that split leg routine. You know
what I mean? Theres more to playing guitar that being able to do
the splits while wearing a pair of tights. The heavy metal thing offended me more then the punk thing cause I thought, Jesus what
have they conjured up now? Then just because you call an album
Highway to Hell you get all kinds of grief. And all we had done is
describe what its like to be on the road for four years, like we had
been. A lot of it was bus and car touring with no break. You crawl
off the bus at four in the morning, and some journalist is doing a
story and says, what would you call an AC/DC tour? Well it was a
highway to hell. It really was. When youre sleeping with the singers socks two inches from your nose, thats pretty close to hell.
It was a Saturday night, less than a week after Brian auditioned
with AC/DC, that Malcolm called him and told him he had the job.
In fact, Angus had made the rst call but Brian told him where to
go, as he thought it was someone winding him up. With the singer
in place, the band immediately set to work on their eighth album,
ying to the Bahamas along with Mutt Lange in order to record at
Compass Point Studios. It took them just six weeks to complete the
recording of Back In Black, an album that was dedicated to Bon
Scott. Everyone in AC/DC agreed the title was perfect. They also
wanted a completely black front cover out of respect to Bon. Unfortunately the record company would not allow it. They did not care
for sentiment or tribute; they simply decided it would be ludicrous
to have an album cover without a title or the bands name on it. But
a compromise was reached whereby the cover would be black apart
from white outlines on the lettering of the AC/DC logo and title.
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A decade later Metallica sold more than 15 million copies of their

eponymous 5th album, housed in a sleeve virtually black all over.
Chris Gilbey remembers that just after he had joined the Alberts Company in 1973 he was to represent the Red Bus catalogue,
and that included Johnsons band Geordie. The band has changed
Brian made a big difference, says Gilbey. They got tougher and
perhaps more stadium. Remembering those early days he recalls,
I helped arrange a tour for the band (Geordie) in Australia later that
year so its a small world. And I met Brian before any of AC/DCs
members had even heard of him or them, and certainly before he
had heard of them.
While AC/DC were in Nassau recording their album it seemed
simply enjoying themselves in a tropical setting wasnt an option.
On the contrary they had to guard all equipment with sixfoot long
spears, which everyone in the group had for protection. At the time
they were having problems in Nassau, remembered Angus. A few
tourists had been killed on the beach and then we got robbed. We
were all out there in these little huts... And the lady who used to
come round who looked after the place, she had a big machete. She
used to say, Listen, if anyone sticks their head through that door
and you dont know them, chop it off. The tense atmosphere of
a country in turmoil did not dampen AC/DCs enthusiasm. Despite
the sad circumstances of his arrival, Johnsons presence had revitalised the band. By his own admission he was belting his lungs
out for the chance to be in the famous group and he was clearly
enjoying every minute of it. As for going to the Bahamas in the rst
place, Angus explained, There were a lot of different reasons for
us nally deciding to work out there. Tax was one of them, and another was the actual availability of studios. We wanted somewhere
in England because the country has a great working atmosphere.
We didnt really want to go over to Europe since most of the stuff
from there tends to be disco. There was one in Sweden that Led
Zeppelin used, but that belongs to ABBA, and at that point they
themselves were using it. But we didnt want to hang around waiting, we just wanted to get on with it. The atmosphere in the Caribbean was hardly conducive to work, however. Its actually very
slow at Compass Point, continued the guitarist. I mean, the studio
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itself is very good but the lifestyle is such that you tend to spend
half the day lying around on the beach and having to work at night.
But we didnt do that. Once we start working we want to get on.
Suddenly nding himself among palm trees, sun and sand was quite
a culture shock for the new singer, coming as he did from a humble
background in chilly Newcastle upon Tyne. I didnt like it, he
mused, and the lads hated it as well. And trying to do a rock n roll
album thereplus the fact that half the songs were half written and
Im sitting there thinking, Is this gonna work out right? If it doesnt
work out right, Im gonna be the biggest scapegoat the worlds ever
known. If it didnt work out well, they could have just said, That
was a waste of time, thrown it in the bin and said, Lets try with
someone else. That was all running through my mind because I
didnt realise what I had taken on.
Brian need not have worried. As soon as the Atlantic management heard the material, all fears were alleviated. I was so relieved
at the end when the rst phone call came through from the manager
saying, Oh, great, brilliant, remembered Brian. And Atlantic
phoned up and said, Fantastic, its gonna do the business. For three
days when I came back from the Bahamas, I just sat in the chair at
home and didnt move.
Even though Bon was absent, his spirit suffuses the album. It
opens with the tolling of a huge church bell (a clear tribute), before
the band kicks into Hells Bells. Later, when this song became a
live favourite with fans, AC/DC would add a twoton bell to their
stage show. Another homage to Scott was Have A Drink On Me,
which some considered a little tasteless, considering the circumstances of Bon Scotts demise. However, it surely represented the
sort of attitude that Bon would have appreciated, an attitude shared
by his successor. When I rst joined the band, I came from Newcastle, and we are big drinkers up there explained Brian about one
of his favourite songs. And the rst thing I said to the lads was
Come on, have a drink on me. And the boys got the title from
there. Its just my philosophy, if I meet new people; it always seems
to be the best way to get to know them...Come on lads, lets have a
drink. It just breaks barriers, anywhere in the world.
126
The amazing thing about the older stuff is that when we do a song
like Let There Be Rock onstage, sometimes it seems like Bons
ghost is right up there with us. Its a very strange feeling. But were
sure that Bon would have wanted us to keep playing those numbers,
and when you see the reaction from the fans, you know that they
want us to keep playing them too. Brian Johnson
You Shook Me All Night Long was to be the rst single
lifted from the album. Johnson came up with the line She was a
fast machine, she kept her motor clean when he decided that cars
and women were very much alike they go fast, let you down, but
then make you happy again when you see a spruced up model. It
became the rst AC/DC song to make the US Top 40. When Johnson explained the meaning of the song, he compared his and Bons
songwriting styles. I think Bons songs were more like documentaries. They were very true to life. Mine were just instances of life put
together. I mean the line from You Shook Me All Night Long
knocking me out with the American thighs... I hadnt been even
in America at the time. But we were in the Bahamas and I had seen
couple of American girls, they were just so beautiful. They were
blond, bronzed, and tall... Id never seen anyone that beautiful before. So I was just using my imagination, what I would do if I could.
But Bon had done it all.
The title track of the album would become a dening moment
for AC/DC, including one of the most memorable riffs in hard rock
history. Malcolm came to me once when we were on the Highway
to Hell tour and said, Ive got this riff and its driving me nuts
recalled Angus. Its three oclock in the morning and Im trying
to sleep and hes saying, Well what do you think of this? I said,
sounds ne to me. And that was Back in Black. The band had
already thought of the title before any of the music was actually
written.
As for the lyrics, Brian would be the one given the responsibility of writing most of the words to accompany the increasingly
catchy music the Young brothers were creating. Bon had several
lyrical ideas strewn here and there but it was decided to begin again,
or so the story goes. Former AC/DC manager Ian Jeffrey claims to
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have a folder containing lyrics of 15 songs written for Back In Black
by Bon. But Angus would counter the insinuation that AC/DC used
Bons old lyrics, one of which had allegedly been Rock N Roll
Aint Noise Pollution. A lot of people like to scrape barrels and
take whatever they can when someone dies but we dont want that,
Angus insisted. It would be like using his death as a means to gain
something. If wed done things in the studio with him, we would
possibly have used them, but its probably best for him too that we
wont. Theres some stuff of his left, songs off other albums, cause
we rejected them then and it would be just scraping the barrel. And
thats possibly the worst thing that could happen.
A friend of Brians in Newcastle thought his range of singing
was too high on the album. Brian laughed later, Id taken my rst
copy of the album back home and his exact words were, Theyve
ruined you, youre singing far too high. My mate, my socalled
fucking mate! Of course he wasnt to know the album would become AC/DCs best selling and an absolute classic in the realms of
rock music. Defying any particular category and keeping it breathtakingly simple yet effective, Back In Black was a supreme return
and the most tting tribute to Bon Scott. It is easy to imagine Bon
singing most of the material on the album, even though he didnt
even get a chance to hear it, but thats not to take away from Brian
Johnsons ascendancy from his role as a bar band singer to becoming frontman of one of the biggest rock acts of all time. With Johnson in place, Back In Black would eventually seal AC/DCs place
in rock n roll folklore but like many of the best products; it took
time for everyone to come around to its charms. For some, Bon was
always going to be impossible to replace. Brian Johnson gave the
group a new sheen; he was completely different to Bon in terms of
personality and sound.
For some, he was too different to be acceptable. Phil Sutcliffe
of Sounds said: Essentially I just dont like him. I dont mean anything personal against him. Im not saying hes a nasty chap and
hes obviously tried very hard to t the bill, but I think his assessment of AC/DCs needs were wrong. Its quite a tribute to the rest
of them that Back In Black remains a genuinely excellent AC/DC
album.
128
Sutcliffe wasnt alone in his dislike for the new singer. It was
too hard for some to overcome such a huge change in personnel.
However he was among many journalists who completely underestimated the Geordie vocalist. Back In Black could not have been
a genuinely excellent album if it were not for the talents of Brian
Johnson. Yes, he screeched like a strangled cat and lent a gravel
voiced bark to even the subtlest of musical backings but he was an
awesome carrier of a hard rock tune. Even Angus coined the phrase,
He sings like a truck is driving over his foot! But Angus also
knew that Brians voice was melodic as well as loud, an advantage
he probably had over Bon.
Johnsons impossible task was to replace the irreplaceable, a
man who would always remain the archetypal AC/DC vocalist to
many fans. It was not so much the existing fans of the group who
became excited about Back In Black, but new listeners who had
heard the story of the legends and become interested in how a Newcastle singer wearing a at cap, jeans and a tight vest was going to
overcome the odds.
The catchy nature of the new material duly enticed potential listeners to AC/DCs party and the sound had been rened further still by another Mutt Lange production special. Johnson had a
stronger voice than Bon, and in many ways he turned AC/DC into a
more powerful group. It wasnt long before even the nonbelievers
were silenced as Jonna took to his second unenviable task, replacing Bon Scott on stage. On July 1st 1980, Brian Johnson made his
debut appearance in a live setting with AC/DC at Namur in Belgium.
I remember the rst night after we played, he said. Im not
an emotional person by any stretch of the imagination. But the kids
had this fortyfoot long banner right across the audience, which
read The king is dead, long live the king. And it was smashing. It
was great. And then we went to England and the kids were chanting
because they knew how I felt. They knew I was scared.
He found out just how accepting the AC/DC fans really were.
Everybodys been dead nice, he afrmed. I was expecting a few
people to maybe say something bad, but nobody hasfrom the rst
gig and youve got to remember we were doing tracks off Back
129

In Black and nobody had heard them the reaction was great. It
was nice that as the tour progressed, the album went straight up the
charts, and people started to know the songs.
DC soon lmed promotional video clips for Back In Black
which were shot in Breda, Holland. The purpose of the lms was
simply to show Johnson and the band performing together. The videos were short on visual stimulation but the music covered up for
the lack of nesse in the presentation.
From July to October the group would embark on their rst
major tour with Brian Johnson. Travelling across the United States
and Canada was a blunt initiation into the AC/DC world. Johnson
not only had to contend with working on a much larger scale than
he had been used to with Geordie, but dealing with the expectations
of fans who worried he might not live up to Bon Scott onstage. On
every one of the 64 dates Johnson proved he was the right choice
and a logical replacement. AC/DC were supported by the likes of
Streetheart, Gamma, Humble Pie, Def Leppard, Nantucket, Krokus,
Johnny Van Zant, Blackfoot and Saxon. For the last time, when
playing in Toledo, Ohio they played as support act to another band,
when they went on before ZZ Top.
I like the bell cos it makes a brilliant sound and it was tting
for the time we went through after Bons death and Back in Black
and so on. It was part of the situation at the time. Those cannons Im
not sure about. If it was a real cannon out there and we could blow
everyones brains out, then that would be great. Malcolm Young
Back In Black was released worldwide on July 31 1980. Within a couple of weeks, it was top of the UK charts and it stayed at
number 1 for two weeks. In November, it reached number 4 in the
American charts and remained in the top ten for over ve months.
In Australia, it reached number 2.
Towards the end of the year it was Europes turn to experience the newly inspired AC/DC. The group sold out every one of
24 UK tour dates; this included six shows in London with three
at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon. They then played a further
24 dates covering Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France
and Switzerland. For this tour they were supported by the increasingly popular Whitesnake, as well as Midnight Flyer vocalist Mag-
130
gie Bell. Soon AC/DC would throw a party at Londons Cockney

Pride pub in Haymarket to celebrate the mammoth achievement of
reaching the 10 million mark in albums sold worldwide. By the end
of the year, all AC/DC albums had been certied gold in France.
Back In Black was certied platinum and sales had totalled 2 million in France alone. It was a remarkable triumph for the band to
have overcome such hardship and in deance, create a rock masterpiece. They had received their fair share of ups and downs already
in their short career but bounced back to begin a new era, with Back
In Black the catalyst and Brian Johnson the master of ceremonies.
But perhaps the most lasting achievement of the album was the
way Johnson had been accepted and nurtured by AC/DC. Theyre
a great band and a great bunch of lads, Brian would state in 1982.
I know what they were going through when Bon went, wondering
about going on and all that its only natural. And they are people;
you dont just walk away and forget that sort of thing. But they
never made me feel left out.
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BACK IN BLACK FACTS
The album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Bon originally played drums on the demo tracks, Have A
Drink On Me and Let Me Put My Love Into You.
AC/DC played the song Back In Black when they were
inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by Steven
Tyler of Aerosmith (he sang the song with the band) in 2003.
It is not uncommon for the album to be given to strippers
and lap dancers when they first enrol in a club to perform.
The title track tends to be used often in strip acts.
The Hollywood movie A Knights Tale features the track
Back In Black playing over the end credits.
The Beastie Boys sampled Back In Black on their 1985
single Rock Hard. AC/DC refused the New York trio
permission to release the song on their 1999 Sounds of
Science compilation.
The Atlanta Falcons American football team used Back In
Black as their theme song for a while.
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Chapter 11 TwentyOneGun Salute

Were just a battery for hire with a guitar re
Ready and aimed at you.
Pick up your balls and load up your cannon
For a twentyonegun salute.
For those about to rock reWe salute you
It was always going to be difcult for AC/DC to follow a
landmark album such as Back In Black. They did it they only way
they knew how, by heading out on the road and then, at the end of
their massive tour (which concluded with 14 dates in France, Spain
and Belgium) going back into the studio. In every country the band
visited they converted fans to the Brian Johnson live experience. He
could never replace Bon but nobody knew that better than the Geordie fellow himself. Such was AC/DCs sensitivity regarding Bon
Scott in fact that at one stage the issue of songs to avoid performing
was addressed. Initially the musicians did not want to play songs
like The Jack with any singer other than Bon. As Brian explained,
We thought it was a bit too personal, the way Bon sang it and the
personal connotations it had for him. But then about two weeks before we left America, we started to do it and nobody seemed to mind
at all. And we did it in England and nobody seemed to mind, and
that was it. We thought, From now on theres nothing that we cant
do because the kids will accept it. Theyre just pleased that AC/DC
have kept going. Its been too easy actually.
The whole experience with the band had been easy, according
to the new singer. After time with a group like Geordie, joining an
outt as laidback as AC/DC was always going to be easy as piss,
as Brian put it. Its the easiest band Ive ever joined. In other bands
it always took time to get to know people. But in this band, it was
always just like going out to the pub and having a drink with a few
mates. All that shit about joining a band after somebody else had
passed away was just something that anybody would have had to
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deal with in that situation. Id be a real wimp if I said, Oh, I cant
take the pressure. I cant go on.
Backstage, the scene was hardly one of debauchery, as it was
in the old days of the group. Whether Johnsons inuence or Bons
unfortunate demise had calmed things down, there was no excess
or substance abuse behind closed doors as far as AC/DC was concerned in 1981. In fact, the worst possible extravagance was a spot
of gambling. As Brian Johnson explained, Youve got the old dartboard, in the bar. The great thing is when you go backstage rst of
all, and youre playing darts; those 5,000 or 20,000 kids waiting for
you dont seem like such a threat any more. Because youre worrying about getting through to the next round of the darts nalat ten
dollars a head, why thats two hundred pounds. Its good because it
makes it feel a little bit like home.
Talking of road life Johnson went on to admit: The pace does
really start to cripple you, you start not being able to go to sleep
until seven in the morning. Your whole life is just totally knocked
on the head. You snap out of it when the curtains open; you hear the
crowd starting to go crazy, you realise this is for real. And youve
got to get down to some hard work.
Its like AC/DC, theyve become successful but theyve still managed to remain honest, regular sort of guys. Theyre our sort of
group, a sort of nononsense, getdownanddoit group. Like us,
theyre down to earth. And Im gonna make sure we stay that way
Paul DiAnno (of Iron Maiden, 1981)
The tour ended in late January. When they performed at the
Brussels Forest National venue they invited Atlantic Records Phil
Carson to play on Lucille, where he took over from Cliff Williams. This would be the only time a guest musician would share a
stage with AC/DC. The band was gaining momentum, travelling to
places they had only ever dreamed of playing, such as Japan. But
the tour was to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. After a
show in Brisbane, at least one car, possibly more, was set on re by
fans. The problems followed AC/DC to Melbourne. After the gig at
the Myer Music Bowl there were 23 arrests made after a riot, which
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lasted around half an hour. The following day, once more after the
gig over 60 people were arrested. 30 suburban trains and dozens of
trees around the bowl were damaged. About 50 youths fought each
other at the Princes Bridge Station. Hospitals were packed with
people who had suffered drug overdoses, broken limbs and lacerations.
In amongst the mayhem, the members of AC/DC were developing a new version of their trusty sound. The album that would
become For Those About To RockWe Salute You was an updated
form of the original Acca Dacca blueprint. The songs were becoming more boogieorientated and even more humorous. There was
no insinuation that AC/DC was not a serious band any longer, but
they seemed to be having a looser time on record and having more
fun creating their material. Some would even cite the material they
recorded in the early 80s as throwaway, as the boys struggled to
maintain the momentum of Back In Black. It is inarguable that Back
In Black was an incredibly strong record, and one that deserved its
huge sales gures. In fact, AC/DC was in a difcult position in having to follow it. Their task was even more impossible than having
to follow Bons departure because they had already proved it could
be done, but they did it to such a degree that following the greatest
rock album in decades would be almost unattainable.
Whatever I did on Back In Black I want to keep on doing it. It sold
12 million albums and Im chuffed to bits! But with the new one, you
can never be complacent. You cant sit back and say hey the last
one worked. Its still up to the kids whether they buy it or tell you
to piss off and try again. Dont try to bullshit us. But Ive done my
best. Brian Johnson
AC/DC started recording the sessions at EMI Path Marconi studios
in Paris, but after two weeks decided to move to a rehearsal studio,
called H.I.S. just outside Paris. The backing tracks were laid down
in the Mobile One Studio. We came to Paris and went into Path
Marconi, which must be a good studio cos a lot of bands use it, but
it just wasnt right for us, explained Johnson. We went in thinking
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it was okay, but when we tried to get that live sound we wanted on
an album, it just didnt happen.
Mutt Lange had decided after a fortnight that the group was missing the point and the normally laidback proceedings had become
too much like hard work. The vocals were recorded at Family
Sound Studio later. The sessions for For Those About To RockWe
Salute You lasted until September. Just before the band nished recording the album, they parted company with manager Peter Mensch, but remained with the management rm, LeberKrebs. Mensch
would go on to even greater success as comanager of Metallica.
The previous year had seen the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in the East Midlands of England. It was
such a huge success that the format was revived in 1981. By this
time AC/DCs standing in the rock world was such that the band
was asked to headline the prestigious event. The show would attract
65,000 fans, and featured the increasingly fashionable Whitesnake
as well as Slade, Blue Oyster Cult and Blackfoot. The compere was
Tommy Vance, presenter of the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio
One. Sometimes its frightening, Angus said when being asked
about playing to a huge Donington audience, But youve got to
psyche yourself up a little bit. Being older, Malcolms the best person to give me a kick. Hell just say to me Those feet look a little
slow tonight. Usually once Ive got the uniform on Im okay. Im
on edge, nervous, but Im not in a panic. At least I dont have to put
on make up. I sport my own pimples!
The title track of the bands new album would be a dening feature
in their future live shows, giving them an opportunity to indulge in
minipyrotechnics. They would let off two cannons and reworks
as Johnson screamed Fire! In fact a cannon would be the main
focus of the album cover art, backed by the AC/DC logo. It wasnt
the most inspiring of sleeves, but then AC/DC did not need to be
too elaborate, as the album and song title explained, along with the
lyrics. Hail hail to the good times, cause rock has got the right of
way, we aint no legend, aint no cause, were just livin for today,
sings Brian. This was a humble statement, a response to the critics
and fans who suddenly dened the group as legends after Back In
Black.
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Certainly the members of AC/DC did not see themselves as legendary; they were playing rock music pure and simple. For Those
About To Rock We Salute You is therefore a relatively simple and
straightforward rock n roll opus. It is almost deliberately so, given
the hype surrounding the band at the time. Brian Johnson was now
settled into the group and could inject more of his own personality
into the lyrics and the delivery of his vocal lines, which in turn made
the album far rawer than its predecessor. Despite the unrened aura,
Mutt Langes production somehow managed to keep the record
ticking over with a metronomic efciency and a cool commercial
sheen.
Punk and all that was just an image that ripped people off. Johnny
Rotten is a wanker, and thats all there is to it. Brian Johnson
Angus said of writing basic rock music: People have said
weve hung around long enough! Some bands fade when they try to
adapt to what is current. We play rock music. Its a little too late for
us to do a ballad. Rock is what we do best. Sometimes Im asked if
I want to play music other than AC/DC. Sure, at home I play a little
blues, but after ve minutes Im like, Sod this! and Im playing
hard rock again.
The album title itself was somewhat historically based. We
had this chorus riff and we thought Well this sounds rather deadly,
Angus remembered. We were trying to nd a good title and theres
this book from years ago about Roman gladiators called For Those
About To Die We Salute You. So we thought For Those About To
Rock I mean, it sounds better than for those about to die. Actually that songs got a lot of meaning to it. Its a very inspiring song.
It makes you feel a bit powerful and I think thats what rock n roll
is all about.
The bands interest in matters historical was spilling over into
their songwriting. Brian Johnson was fascinated by military history,
and Night of the Long Knives refers to the night of June 29/30,
1934, when Hitler authorised the liquidation of upper echelon of the
SA (Sturmabteilung, also known as the Brownshirts), a paramilitary
group associated with his Nazi Party, as well as other gures who
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has incurred his displeasure. After this date, Heinrich Himmlers SS
became the dominant uniformed group in German politics. In the
song, Johnson sings: Whos your leader, whos your man? Who
will help you ll your hand? Whos your friend and whos your foe?
Whos your Judas, you dont know?
The song was something of an anomaly; elsewhere on the album, the lyrics revolved around women, sex and rock n roll. Much
closer to the standard AC/DC template was Evil Walks, about a
woman who had not endeared herself to Brian Johnson. He sings:
Black widow weavin evil notions, Dark secrets bein spun in your
web, Good men goin down in your ocean, They cant swim cause
theyre tied to your bed.
Perhaps the most impromptu moment comes in the line I
sometimes wonder where you park your broom, which Johnson
reels off as if it were unplanned, giggling manically.
As the name says, evil walks its everywhere! Angus said
of the inspiration behind the song. When we were playing it at the
beginning I said, those chords sounds dead evil. And thats how
we do it, just sitting around and nattering and jamming away. And
someone says something like evil walks and thats it.
Powerful rock n roll was exactly what AC/DC were all about.
So much so, that they were actually referred to as heavy metal in
the very rst issue of Kerrang! Magazine, which hit the shelves
in June 1981. Initially the magazine was intended to be a one
off heavy metal special produced by the music weekly Sounds. It
quickly became a monthly publication in its own right, and is now
a weekly, thriving long after its original parent publication bit the
dust.
We never thought of ourselves as a heavy metal band. Weve always regarded ourselves as a rock band. The big difference is weve
always thought we had a lot more feel for rock, we always went out
for songs, not riffs or heavy, heavy sounds. But every now and again
it does come on like a sledge hammer. Angus Young
Readers of the magazine had voted for their top 100 heavy
metal tracks of all time, and as AC/DC were clear winners for their
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Whole Lotta Rosie track, editor Geoff Barton decided to place

Angus Young on the front cover. From then on the group would
be termed heavy metal more than rock n roll. Its not difcult to
see why readers didnt see too much distinction. Loud rock n roll
was essentially the basis of heavy metal, and AC/DC t the remit of
longhaired, angry sounding, sweaty oiks who liked nothing more
than playing as loud as was possible.
This meant that the band was popular throughout the top 100
poll, scoring hits with Walk All Over You, Hells Bells, Highway To Hell, Touch Too Much, and Let There Be Rock. They
even topped the tracks that were bubbling under the hundred, having three songs in the 10. These were Back In Black, Shot Down
In Flames and Sin City. Angus for one was not initially attered
at making the magazine front cover however. As he recalls, When
I saw the rst edition of Kerrang! with my picture on the cover I
thought the magazine was a piss take. A lot of people call me Ang,
you see
It is clear that in 1981 many dened heavy metal in a markedly different manner than they would in the late 80s and the 90s.
For instance, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Free
and even The Beatles were in the top hundred chart. Metal was
simply considered to be the dirtier end of rock music, and many
would shy away from it because of its connotations (music played
by sweaty men wearing denim). It was perhaps this image that dissuaded a number of loud rock bands from embracing the label. Even
the likes of Rush, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top and Meat Loaf would have
had a strong argument against being labelled as heavy metal.
Those happy to be included in the genre, and also on the list,
included Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Diamond Head. The lines
would later be blurred by Kerrang! in a bizarre fashion, as the magazine would eventually produce issues with the likes of Prince and
Phil Collins on the front cover!
By the turn of the century Kerrang! would successfully update itself to become less of a metal and hard rock publication and
associate itself with garage, punk, hardcore, indie, and even pop
bands. AC/DC seemingly never tted into any category but they
always had their dedicated fans. If a poll were constructed in 2005
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of the top metal tunes, it would certainly feature a far broader list
of entrants but would doubtless still include Iron Maiden and Black
Sabbath. Perhaps there might not be a place for AC/DC; but if one
were to produce a list of the greatest heavy rock songs ever, the
band would ood the chart as they did in 81.
AC/DC are the best at what they do. Its as simple as that. I
wouldnt say that I like everything they have done, but in their own
way they are as classic a band as Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple...
Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath
In December 1981 AC/DC played their rst ever headline
concert at New Yorks Madison Square Garden, completing a superb two years of productivity and a nal clarication that they had
truly made it in America. Johnson was by now established as their
vocalist and had now coauthored 20 songs. Things were looking
good.
However, this was the same month in which a line from Dirty
Deeds Done Dirt Cheap came back to haunt the band (see Chapter 5). A couple from Chicago tried to sue the group for $250,000,
claiming harassment in the form of obscene phone calls. Luckily the
band was acquitted; how was Bon to know it was a real number and,
furthermore, whose number it was?
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THE MEANINGS BEHIND FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK WE

SALUTE YOU
Were never going to win any Grammy awards. Were never
gonna win any respect from the squeaky clean mob and Rolling Stone or everybody like that, because we dont give any
messages out that they think are important. Brian Johnson
Put The Finger On You Angus: Thats basically a gangster line, like they do in the movies. Were not putting the
finger on anyone in particular, its always the other way
round! The title came about after Brian had been watching an old James Cagney film one early morning. In a
scene, Cagney turns to Humphrey Bogart and says, Watch it
buster, or Im going to put the finger on you.
Inject The Venom Angus: Thats a power thing. Its
rather like the title track; it means Have it hot. Do it once,
do it hard and good or youre finished. Its a real rock and
roll line. Brian: Theres a line that says If you inject
the venom it will be your last attack, which is like a snake.
Once it bites you, its got nothing left.
Snowballed Angus: Meaning, youve been conned,
fooled again. And we figured weve been tricked enough in
our time, so we came up with that. It could be the woman
youre paying alimony to, anything.
Lets Get It Up Brian: Filth. Pure filth. Were a filthy
band!
C.O.D. Angus: Most people think of. C.O.D. as cash on
delivery or cash on demand. I was sitting around trying to
come up with a better one, and I came up with Care Of The
Devil. But were not black magic Satanists or whatever you
call it. I dont drink blood. I may wear black underwear now
and then but thats about it.
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Spellbound Brian: Its about when you get one of those
days where its like a trance. Its hard to describe really but
thats Spellbound. We set it to a man driving a car, blinded
by a bright beam. But it could be any situation. Im sure
theres some deep Americans who can tell you what were
talking about!
Angus: Thats a tricky one. Its a slower one for us but we
liked it anyhow. Its one of those moody ones. Its so simple;
its like being naughty. Like peeking through the keyhole at
somebody changing their knickers or something. Nothing
bad. Were just pranksters more than anything. Youre having fun and thats all there is.
Breaking The Rules Angus: Its like when someone says,
you cant do that. They were always saying that to me at
school. You do it anyhow.
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SOUNDS, KERRANG! AND THE NEW WAVE OF BRITISH

HEAVY METAL
Many have argued it was the Sounds Heavy Metal Special

that propelled heavy metal into the mainstream, at least in
the United Kingdom. For the first time, the metal scene was
covered in a glossy mag that was on the shelves of mainstream newsagents throughout the country. Although it was
planned as a oneoff, it spawned Kerrang! magazine, which
is now approaching 25 years of existence.
However the editor of Sounds (and original editor of Kerrang!), Geoff Barton almost missed the boat in terms of covering a specific offshoot of metal. Indeed the Heavy Metal
Special was primarily a focus on the New Wave Of British
Heavy Metal (more commonly known as NWOBHM) but as
a movement this had all but died out by 1981, the year the
magazine was produced.
The peak period for NWOBHM was 19791981. In the late
70s, disco was the dominant musical genre in Britain, but
punk rock was also at its height. Inspired perhaps by the
DIY punk ethic and the idea that you could learn how to play
your instrument as you went along, many heavy rock bands
began to form throughout Britain at this point. Buoyed by
the success of homegrown talent such as Status Quo, Thin
Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, UFO, Nazareth, Judas Priest and Black
Sabbath, many outfits began to form, mostly in the larger
cities of England. Though they were often influenced by imported bands such as Aerosmith, Kiss, Rush and indeed AC/
DC, the groups who formed in Britain were unmistakably
British in both appearance and sound.
Bands who had formed in the mid to late seventies were
given the opportunity to reach a nationwide listening audience every week when the BBC gave a slot to Tommy Vance
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and his Friday Rock Show at the tail end of 1978. The show
was a haven for rock and metal acts. Vance played current
and classic rock vinyl, but the real success of the show for
groups and listeners alike came in the form of specially recorded sessions, featuring a mixture of new and established
acts.
Due to the shows success and the burgeoning presence of
homegrown acts such as Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and
Girlschool, towards the middle of 1979 certain journalists
picked up on an exciting time for British rock music. It was
Geoff Barton who coined the phrase NWOBHM but the
movement was all but over by the time he did so.
The scene itself hit a peak and was relatively short lived;
however there are many acts that continue to play a style
most commonly linked to the NWOBHM. The term itself has
become much broader in meaning, and much British guitar
based music owes something to the genre. This is the reason many cite 7981 as the prime period for the scene, as
simply at this time there was less cynicism surrounding the
marketing of a scene and it was generally a more exciting
time for British rock.
Like many trends, the NWOBHM burned itself out, with too
many bands all vying for a piece of the action and as many
began to play the style of music for the sake of it, all but diehard devotees became jaded.
Only a small minority of bands that were identified as part
of NWOBHM made it to any level of mainstream success,
to the extent that some purists decided they were no longer
true NWOBHM. These acts included Maiden and Leppard,
as well as Saxon and Samson.
As far as AC/DC were concerned, both the punk and NWOBHM scenes were helpful to their career. In essence, the
group were certainly not part of either movement, yet their
144
sound intrinsically contained elements of both and thus appealed to fans of each genre. They were closest to NWOBHM
in many respects but the fact they were not entirely British
meant they were never likely to assume a role in the scene.
Doubtless many would like to have included AC/DC as part
of the genre yet geographical sticking points and a refusal
to bow to any trends marked them out for a different role
altogether.
There is also the assertion that, due to DCs already successful career they had inadvertently taken themselves out
of the running by the time they moved to England. In many
respects perhaps there was an element of snobbery at work,
with some fans claiming AC/DC as their own whilst being
too proud to contend they could really be part of a New Wave
Of British Heavy Metal. Effectively, the band were thriving
when they made the move whereas acts like Iron Maiden
were gradually working their way through the small bars of
East London. Indeed AC/DC were themselves performing in
tiny pubs as well, but their Australian success and adopted
nationality gave them the ability to negotiate current fads.
This in many ways is part of the reason DC managed to become a sensation in Britain on their own terms, and remain
popular in the country for years to come.
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THE MEANING OF METAL
Heavy metal is now a wellestablished term and most seem
to think they understand its connotations. The origins of the
musical movement stretch as far back as early blues.
However, a few key artists and recordings are generally
identified as pioneers of the genre. Steppenwolf s Born To
Be Wild containing the line heavy metal thunder! is often
labelled as the Rosetta Stone of metal, although the phrase
itself was probably borrowed from the writer William S. Burroughs in his 1962 novel The Soft Machine. Others see the
heavy guitar playing behind The Kinks All Day And All
Of The Night and You Really Got Me to be indicative of
the shape heavy rock music would soon take. Even the likes
of The Beatles, with Helter Skelter were considered protagonists. In fact many heavy bluesbased rock bands have
a stake in the terming of metal: The Yardbirds, Cream and
Jimi Hendrix have all, at some stage, been identified as being metal role models. There is also an argument for American acts such as Blue Cheer, The Stooges and MC5.
Most would agree that the first bands to base their careers
around what might be described as heavy metal were the
likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and of
course, Black Sabbath. However, there is little in common
between the bands, other than long hair and prominent guitar players and vocalists. Though in their own ways, Zeppelin, Heep and Purple ripped into some serious heavy rock
during their long careers none were deliberately aiming to
be heavy metal and it was an area the groups merely dabbled
in. With Black Sabbath however, the term would finally come
into its own and create a true meaning to heaviness within
rock music. The innovative guitar playing of Tony Iommi,
with immensely weighty riffs and structures, along with the
whiny, sombre singing of Ozzy Osbourne brought Sabbath
roaring out of record players throughout the U.K., and soon
146
the world. Thanks to Sabbaths originality and unexpected

commercial success there were soon large swathes of musicians eager to follow their lead, with many prompted to mimic the Iommi guitar style in particular.
While bands such as Motorhead and Venom certainly added
new slants on the heavy form of music, injecting greater
speed and harsher vocals, they followed much later than
Black Sabbath. Perhaps more importantly, Motorhead in
particular, much like AC/DC, sought to distance themselves
from metal, claiming instead to be a rock n roll band. It was
merely an offshoot of their energy and intensity that they
could claim to have influenced thousands of straight heavy
metal bands who were to follow.
Metal has inevitably spawned any number of variants over
the years. There are many similarities with hard rock and
many bands have been classified under both headings; for
example, Aerosmith, Whitesnake, UFO and Uriah Heep. In
the end, heavy metal and hard rock defy short and simple
definitions; it is probably most useful to list a selection of
bands, and to pinpoint where in the spectrum they stand, at
least as far as this book is concerned.
HEAVY METAL: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallica,
Megadeth, Pantera, Machine Head, Anthrax.
HARD ROCK: Kiss, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Poison, Motley
Crue, Skid Row.
As far as AC/DC are concerned, they probably belong in neither genre. They are simply a rock band. In fact it is difficult
to come up with a convincing argument as to why a band
that insists they are not heavy metal, and have not been influenced in any way by the bands within the genre, should be
considered part of it. To generalise, metal tends to be based
around minor chords, distortion pedals, the harsh realities
of life and most of all, aggression. While AC/DC have dab-
147

bled in all these prerequisites, it is certainly not essential
to their work as a group and, as they have all individually
stated over the years, DC is simply not part of heavy metal.
148
Chapter 12 The Wright Stuff

The biggest bonus about being in this band is the fact that I can
get into their gigs without paying for a fucking ticket, honestly! Now
and again Ive forgotten Im singing and I just stop and watch the
band because I think theyre just fucking great! Brian Johnson
1982
In New Haven, Connecticut on the For Those About To Rock
tour, AC/DC were forced to drop the title track of their latest album
from their live set after warnings from the police. The bands road
crew, as well as tour manager Ian Jeffery were handcuffed whilst
the authorities decided whether or not to arrest the members of the
group. The apparent problem was the explosion AC/DC were due to
create at the appropriate point in the song. To make things smoother
they at rst agreed not to play the song at all. When they realised the
crowd would have been bafed at the absence of one of their most
important songs they thought of a compromise. And so Ian Jeffery
operated a Prophet Synthesizer to simulate the sound of cannons in
any venues where the ring was restricted.
Playing in America had plenty of upsides for the road crew,
and for one or two members of AC/DC, but Brian Johnson for one,
was not about to be caught with his pants down with any groupies,
whose numbers were increasing in direct proportion to the rising
popularity and success of the band.
His response to female attention was dismissive to say the
least. You never fuck them! he told Sounds, You leave them
alone. There are nasty diseases going around America. You shake
hands and thats it. Thats for the crew theyre the ones with backstage passes, not us! We have good clean fun you know a quick
game of cards and all that. Im saying nothing. Me, Im married
with two kids thing is, though, these gigs in America. The boys
were sitting around the dressing room last week and saying that
this is the rst time theyve actually heard girls scream at them. Because in England its nearly all lads. Most of the audience is fellas in
149

America as well, but since we started this tour theres been a lot of
girls. I dont know; I think its because were on the radio so much.
I dont think it can be my good looks
He may have been on the right track concerning radio audiences in America. After all, their previous touring partners Def Leppard were to break the country on the back of extended radio play,
nding more lingering females than they could count because of
their popularity on the airwaves. Perhaps Brian Johnson was right,
as its possible some came along not knowing what the band even
looked like!
I dont think any bastard knows who I am anyway, so I never have
any trouble getting mobbed off stage. And look at Brian; do you
know what some hotel cleaner said to him the other day? She asked
him if he was Neil Diamond or his twin brother. Malcolm Young
That was the nal bleedin insult! Kevin Keegan I wouldnt have
minded, but bloody Neil Diamond... Brian Johnson
Funny thing is, weve been going great on this tour, continued Brian. All the gigs have sold out, real big places too. Last time
we played Indianapolis we played to about 4,000. Tonight what is
there, 17,000? And its brand new audiences. But its funny here
tonight playing songs like Sin City, because it shows in their faces
that they dont know what the fuck it is! The only albums theyve
bought so far are Highway To Hell, Back In Black and Dirty Deeds
Dont Dirt Cheap.
In June of 1982 AC/DC played Japan for the last time, giving
the fans four dates on which to catch them. Just after this the band
left their management rm LeberKrebs. It was tour manager, Ian
Jeffrey who took over as the groups personal manager. Come September AC/DC gave their thanks to the United Kingdom with a tour
across the U.K. and Ireland, comprising 19 dates. This included four
soldout shows at the Hammersmith Odeon and two dates, also capacity, at Wembley Arena. Towards the end of the year, continuing
their friendship with French band Trust, and their special afliation
with Paris, AC/DC were present at the groups show at the Rose
150
Bonbon Club in the capital and Angus even joined them on stage
for an impromptu jam.
At the end of 1982, Kerrang! published the results of their
readers poll. AC/DC were voted Top Band, Angus was Top Guitarist, Cliff was Top Bassist, the band were voted as having produced the Best Live Gig and For Those About To Rock was the
Best Single. Brian was third top male vocalist, Phil was second
best drummer, Lets Get It Up nished sixth best single and Angus
was, bizarrely, in second place in the Male PinUp category. Never mind that Kerrang! was still basically a heavy metal magazine,
AC/DC were clearly top of the readers requirements however the
music was actually dened.
Once youre on stage you cant go back, even when things go
wrong people expect you to stay there and entertain them. When all
else fails, youve got to try tap dancing. Angus Young
At the beginning of 1983 the band took a welldeserved break.
They did not even begin to compose any new material for several
months before nally reconvening to start work on the follow up to
For Those About To RockWe Salute You. They again travelled to
the Bahamas to begin recording sessions in the Compass Point Studios in Nassau. It was at this point that the drug problems, as yet unknown to the world at large, of drummer Phil Rudd were becoming
problematic. On the Cannon And Bell World tour promoting For
Those About To Rock, Rudd had been hallucinating and claiming
that there were strangers hiding in his room waiting to attack him.
He also had become embroiled in a personal spat with Malcolm
and eventually the two traded blows, before Rudd nally received
his marching orders. After leaving AC/DC, Phil Rudd started a ying business in New Zealand while continuing to play in a private
studio. Angus commented to Kerrang! in 1990, Hes not sheep
farming sheep shagging maybe! Nah, someone told me hes ying
choppers. He put some money into a helicopter business. He passed
on a message to us through George that he was thankful that things
worked out the way they did. He would have gone the way of Bon
and I think he was grateful for his sanity.
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Regarding the exact reasons for the split with Rudd, Angus
would say with some understatement later, Well, he liked a good
time, thats for sure. Phil could have his crazy stages but the biggest change I saw in him was when Bon died. He couldnt take it
so well because, as a band, things had been that tight between us,
it was pretty thick. We had done a lot together; lived in a house together, set up all the gear together, slept with the same women at
the same time! When Bon died it hit him harder than anyone. He
really thought that I in particular wouldnt be doing it any more. So
when we carried on he thought that the early thing, the tightness,
had gone, which wasnt the case. He was going for the high life and
I think it caught up with him in the end. If he hadnt have stopped
he could have gone overboard and done something drastic either to
himself or someone else. I mean if you ever got in a car with Phil it
was close to the edge, thats the kind of person he was.
Angus always gave Rudd credit for his role in AC/DC. He
was a great drummer, said the guitarist. You couldnt get Phil to
do a drum roll and that was his charm. Hed just sit there going,
Wham! Wham! Wham! That was his style. I think hes one of the
great rock drummers.
Former Procol Harum drummer B.J. Wilson was asked to help
nish the album the band were working on but his parts were actually never used. All in all DC recorded 13 tracks for the record,
which would be called Flick Of The Switch. However the actual
release only contained ten songs; the other three were left aside, and
have not since been released in any form. For the rst time AC/DC
themselves would man the production controls, although they were
assisted by Harry Vanda and George Young.
We dont know what people are saying about us. We just like being in the womb of the road. Thats the greatest thing for us; going
from gig to gigwe dont even hear ourselves much on the radio.
Every time I turn on the radio, I hear some band like Styx, and I
quickly turn it off. Thats not rock n roll; thats show business.
Angus Young
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The result was a strong album; some even felt it was more
solid than its predecessor, and it contained several songs that would
become classics in the bands repertoire. The cover was classic AC/
DC schoolboy highjinks; a drawing of Angus about to pull down a
huge lever, presumably preparing to unleash the Rising Power of
the sturdy opening track. This House Is On Fire, Nervous Shakedown, Bedlam In Belgium were all steadfast DC numbers and
the production was just as heavy as before. It appeared the groups
decision not to use Mutt Lange for Flick Of The Switch had been
fully vindicated; what they had yearned for was a stripped down
sound.
They were aiming for the raw and spontaneous edge of their
early work with an additional few years of experience and know
how. It seemed to ooze from the speakers on every track. The album is a really good rock album, thats all it is, reckoned Brian
Johnson. We werent trying to do anything else, we just wanted another album that would burn! Its a little different this time, because
we didnt have a producer, but that turned out to be an advantage. It
was like, we had our own thoughts and there was no outside inuence to stop us. It was a struggle at times to produce ourselves but
that was half the fun of it. We found ourselves getting trapped by
producers who wanted something different from us, so this time we
thought, Bollocks to em. Well do it ourselves!
The title had been changed from its original, which was I
Want To Rock (surely too simplistic even for AC/DC) according
to Kerrang! magazine. After For Those About To Rock surely they
would have been more creative? Nevertheless, Kerrang! were not
able to avoid some kind of hoax. Indeed they again got it wrong
when in July they announced a possible replacement for Phil Rudd.
It was supposedly Roxy Music and Angelic Upstarts drummer Paul
Thompson. In fact, after answering an advert in Sounds Magazine
(the ad read Heavy Rock drummer wanted. If you dont hit hard,
dont apply) and playing with the band at an audition in Nomis Studios in London, the new sticksman was named as Simon Wright.
He was 20 years old at the time but was already an experienced musician and he could certainly hit hard. Born in Manchester,
he remained in the NorthWest of England with a band named Tora
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Tora, who released just one selfnanced single, Red Sun Setting
on the Mancunian Metal label. In 1980 Wright hooked up with AIIZ
and recorded the live Witch Of Berkeley LP for Polydor. It wasnt
long, however, before the group split, having just released one more
single, Im The One Who Loves You.
This prompted the drummer to move to London in the hope
of joining a bigger act that sought stardom and wouldnt split up
for anybody. At the end of 1982 the powerfully built Wright found
himself in the NWOBHM outt Tytan. The band had already released an EP called Blind Men And Fools, and was in the process
of recording their debut album titled Rough Justice for Kamikaze
Records when Wright took over from drummer Les Binks, formerly
of Judas Priest. In the end Wright played on three tracks on the nished record. During the summer of 1983, after nancial problems
Tytan were forced to split before they had even released their second record. It was just as Simon Wright was bemoaning his unfortunate luck when a friend of his persuaded him to answer the AC/DC
advert. By October 1983, he had made his live debut with the group
in Vancouver, Canada.
Most bands have ups and downs. With us things just stay the
same. Angus Young
Flick Of The Switch entered the US Billboard charts in September of 1983 and would eventually peak at number 15. The album reached No. 4 in the UK charts. Despite their previous good
showing in Kerrang! magazine in the readers poll, AC/DC did not
top any category in the listings for the end of that year, ending up as
fth top band. They were even labelled as the eighth biggest disappointment of the year. During the winter, AC/DC toured throughout
the United States and Canada. On August 19, 1984 they became
the rst act to return as headliners at the fourth Monsters Of Rock
festival at Castle Donington. Other groups on the bill included Van
Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Gary Moore, Y&T and Accept. After Donington, the band embarked on a series of dates in
Europe, which included more at the Monsters Of Rock series of
gigs. Even bigger things were to come in January when AC/DC
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joined in the very rst Rock In Rio in Brazil, playing two successive
nights at the festival.
People can go out and hear R.E.M. if they want deep lyrics; but
at the end of the night, they want to go home and get fucked! Thats
where AC/DC comes into it. Malcolm Young
After Rio, DC enjoyed a lengthy hiatus. It was a chance to recharge their mental and physical batteries, although Angus, for one,
seemed to get most of his exercise on stage. Ive never worried so
much about the health, he said. If I go along with the music, Im
ne. If I concentrate on that, the rest comes. I dont have to worry
about the training or running or being in good shape. No one ever
told me you had to be a weightlifter to play guitar. People like it
when youre sloppy. People like to see that more than, say, someone
who is pretty plain and worked out his dance steps. I dont even
know one. His tips for staying in good shape essentially boiled
down to avoiding eating pizza! I just try to take it easy and relax
a lot, he continued. If you dont relax, you could be going all the
time, which could damage your health. If youre feeling tired or
ill you have to think well, it could be worse. I could be in some
club doing three shows, or you could be working. The only time
Ive noticed myself getting weak is when its been an incredibly hot
building. If you are playing in a place like New York in the summer
the place is all humidity. There is no air conditioning, and the lights
are pouring up there. At the end of it you can barely walk.
Brian Johnson spoke with admiration about Anguss tenacious commitment to going on stage no matter how sick or otherwise damaged he was. The singer respectfully said he liked that
kind of thing when talking to British television show Raw Power.
Angus admitted he had often been hurt during the course of
duty on stage. Sure. Ive lost teeth. I mean I dont go out there to
hurt myself. But when youre on the road for that length of time,
youre bound to twist and ankle or something. I once had splints
on my ngers. I soon learned to play slide with them on, Hah! Ive
jumped off amps and fallen ass over tit and made a complete fool of
myself. Ive also had my pants fall off. All of a sudden my wedding
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tackle was there for all to see. You know, Ive even had my shorts
stolen a couple of times.
Soon AC/DC decided they should write more new material; it
was a quick turn around, just like the old days. Again during this period they changed their manager, appointing Crisping Dye, a former
Albert Productions executive in Europe, as their new representative.
The band travelled to Montreux, Switzerland to record at Mountain
Studio, and Angus and Malcolm Young took sole responsibility for
production duties.
Usually I start a few weeks after weve gotten off the road. Ill tell
everyone not to bother me because I dont want to know anything
about rock and roll for a while. But after about two weeks, I nd
myself drawn to the same old battered SG that Ive been playing for
years, and I start to play certain chords. Before I know it, a great
deal of a song is written. Thats when Malcolm or Brian will come
in and help me nish it off. Its really a very simple process. I guess
you could say I write most of the songs out of boredom. Angus
Young
The album was to be titled Fly On The Wall and by the time it
was released on June 28, 1985 AC/DC, it was claimed, had chalked
up worldwide album sales of an estimated 30 million units. The new
album reached No. 7 in the UK charts, but the rst single taken from
the album, Danger, only made it to No. 48. It was a strange choice
for a single, very slow, without the buzzing, bristling swing of a
regular DC track. Indeed it was almost too slow, sounding forced,
as if the group werent sure what to do next, and much of the rest of
the album appeared to bear this out. Shake Your Foundations was
evidence that AC/DC still had what it took to pen a memorable rock
song. With its pounding chorus, where Brian squeezes out the Aye,
aye, oh, shake your foundationsAye, aye, oh, shake it to the oor
lines, the song was set to be a new favourite for many fans. Sink
The Pink was another brash AC/DC sex anthem. But the choice
morsels on Fly On The Wall were more sparsely distributed than
on previous albums. First Blood and Send For The Man would
156
have been better suited as bsides or archive tracks; appearing on a

fullyedged AC/DC album they just sounded like ller material.
The record was the rawest sounding that the group had ever
released. The title track had gang vocal back ups which were typical
of the AC/DC style yet it sounded almost like a DC covers band
such was the brutal, basic sound. It was an almost audible reaction
to being accused of plying a commercial route on Back In Black and
For Those About To Rock.
The critics might not like us, as Angus said the other day, We put
out the same record every year with a different cover! But the kids
still like it and thats all were worried about. Malcolm Young
Even the strong rifng that Angus and Malcolm were known
for, which illuminated the likes of Playing With Girls, was let
down by a lacklustre mix job which saw Brians vocals relegated to
the background. Perhaps the Young brothers had too much to deal
with in just writing and playing the music, without having to oversee the sound of the album as well.
As ever the riffs managed to retain a memorable quality and
Angus gave credit to Malcolm for this. I can churn out hundreds of
riffs said Angus, But hell come up with one and once you hear
it, youll go shit. He has that classic guitar feel like in a song like
Back In Black or Fly On The Wall. A lot of people dont appreciate what rhythm guitar is.
Rock writer Martin Popoff described Fly On The Wall as a
Confused wank of a record which tries desperately to recapture
wasted youth, yet the material for the most part is cookie cutter
AC/DC, spewed forth with a strange lack of control that resembles a
hurried, held back jam, kinda hysterical, thrashing wildly about for
something to believe in. Brians awkward vocals are mixed quite far
back, possibly because hes sounding raspier and more incoherent
than ever.
It should be noted Popoff is a fan of the band and still sees t
to grant the album a score of 6 out of 10 in his Collectors Guide To
Heavy Metal book. It might be a poor album in the general scheme
of AC/DCs work, but compared to most other acts it is still a solid
157

rock album. Later, Brian Johnson would admit that it would have
been better for the group to spend longer in the studio, in order to
focus properly on the sound.
Despite this, the music trade magazine Billboard acknowledged in their June 1985 survey that AC/DC was the worlds best
selling hard rock act, with sales of between 25 and 30 million albums. But it was their back catalogue that was keeping the cash
registers ticking over.
Flick Of The Switch album had sold just under a million, but
Fly On The Wall was to fare worse for the DC boys, reaching a
disappointing 500,000 mark worldwide. Angus shrugged his shoulders at this drop in album sales. Everybody goes up and down,
he reasoned. We just try to play our music and not worry about
anything else. Back In Black is our most successful album in the
States so many of our fans base their expectations on that. But we
were around long before Back In Black. In America people tend to
associate wealth with success, whereas in other parts of the world
success has more to do with making something that satises you.
Though AC/DC would often be trapped in the pleasures of
success, surrounded by yes men at hotels and gigs, they werent
about to act like rock stars. They hadnt succumbed during the glory
days of Back In Black and stardom was less likely to go to their
heads now that sales gures were slacking off. Brian Johnson was
one of the most down to earth people you could hope to meet, despite being one of the most successful rock stars of the eighties.
After youve been in the rst limo its just a thing you know, was
his theory. Because its not yours, it doesnt belong to you, and
you know that in two months time you could be back in your little
old Ford Popular. Success is such a ckle thing and the good thing
about AC/DC is that they treat it as such.
Despite the lukewarm response to Fly On The Wall, a 28
minute video was released, including the tracks, Danger, Sink
The Pink, Stand Up, Shake Your Foundations and the title track.
Thoroughly eighties in its presentation, the entire thing dated quickly yet is still somewhat entertaining 20 years on. The band played a
set of songs in a ctional New York bar (actually the Worlds End
Bar in Alphabet City). There was a cast of characters who played
158
their parts throughout the performance. AC/DC managed to get a

dig in at the paparazzi, nicknaming one character (attempting to
take photographs for a newspaper), Super Snoop. There was also a
humorous jibe at the eighties phenomenon, the archetypal yuppie.
Dressed in suitably decadent attire, the character playing the DJ at
the venue, Decadent Dan tries hard to attach himself to a number of
women at the club (known as The Crystal Ballroom). As the characters establish themselves, and the band plays on, an animated y
begins to bother everybody in the building. Soon the place begins to
ll up and everyone, yuppies included, starts to enjoy AC/DC. The
group itself ignores any attention good or bad as they prance around
the stage like their lives depended on it.
By the time they are nished everyone in the club begins to
chant for their return, and DC oblige, launching themselves into
Shake Your Foundations. The suits go crazy and Decadent Dan
nally seems to nd success with the opposite sex. However, as AC/
DC gets louder and louder the building itself starts to crumble and
every audience member vacates the venue. The band keeps going
however, right until the end, at which point the y who has often
taken centre stage throughout the presentation zooms off into the
distance. Overall the video was an enjoyable romp through some of
the contemporary AC/DC material and made a comical advertisement for an otherwise lacklustre album.
159
AC/DC ACCORDING TO EDDIE VAN HALEN

Our Panama track was kind of AC/DC inspired. We had
just done a tour with them the year before. It was us, Motley Crue and AC/DC in 83, in Europe, and just the power
of those guys blew my mind, the constant Boom, boom,
boom. They play the same song over and over, but its a
great song. AC/DC was probably one of the most powerful
live bands Ive ever seen in my life. The energy...they were
just unstoppable. Ill never forget our first big tour. It was a
theatresized tour, 3,000seaters. We headlined a bill featuring Ronnie Montrose and Journey. We were supposed to do
60 shows, but we left early because we had an offer to do A
Day on the Green.
I think Aerosmith and Foreigner were coheadlining. We
had our own trailer, and next door to us were AC/DC, who
were also playing that day. Anyway, they went on before us,
and I was standing on the side of the stage thinking, We
have to follow these motherfuckers? They were so fuckin
powerful, but I remember feeling that we held our own. I
was really happy. It blew my mind. I didnt think anybody
could follow them.
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Chapter 13 High Faultage

If a kid thinks hes being naughty by singing Highway To Hell,
great, because all hes doing is singing or chanting or putting his
arms in the air. Its not meant to harm anyone. Its not like Im coming out with my personal views and this individual meaning to life.
If you do that youre in the same game as those religious fanatics
who hop on any cause just to get themselves a bit of publicity.
Brian Johnson
In September 1985 AC/DC signed with yet another new manager, this time Stewart Young and Part Rock Management. However, the most tenacious minders in the history of rock would have
been unable to divert the controversy that was erupting around the
band at the time.
Since the election of Ronald Reagan to the US presidency in
1980, conservative Christian groups had become increasingly loud,
proud and powerful. They were constantly targeting the louder,
hairier breed of rock act for condemnation, and AC/DC were in their
sights. For a start, it was the considered opinion of many people in
these organisations that AC/DC stood for either Anti Christ/Devils
Children, Away (from) Christ (the) Devil Comes or Anti Christ/
Devils Crusade. For anyone who understood anything about the
group, renowned for their commitment to do little else but rock,
the insinuation seemed ludicrous.
AC/DC had chosen a name that could conjure up a number of
connotations, but in their case it referred to nothing more controversial than electrical power, (unlike the American heavy metal band
W.A.S.P. who had deliberately abbreviated its name as a shortening of We Are Sexual Perverts). This didnt hold much water in the
American Bible belt however.
Even before wed been to America theyd started protesting
about us, said Angus. I wondered who these guys with the full
robes on were at our gigs. We pulled up at one gig and this guy
tapped the window. I rolled it down and he said, Take these. They
161

were all these pamphlets about this Satanic crap. I went, Sounds
like a good show, mate.
All they want to do is get a little bit of attention, argued
Brian Johnson, regarding the religious extremists who handed out
leaets at the groups shows. In Detroit recently we had a leaet
which said The Bible says the word of the devil is evil, and so is
rock and roll. The Bible says rock n roll is evil? I dont remember
the Bible mentioning rock and roll!
Angus continued, There are a lot of people who genuinely
believe in it and thats all right; thats up to them. But I dont really
like people coming bothering me. I had one idiot trying to blast
away my ear hole and he started with, Do you believe in God?
And I said, Ive no interest in it so leave me alone. Their main beef
is songs like Highway To Hell. But they are just titles. Its only a
song.
Brian: Those fucking Godbotherers mention the devil more
than we do. I mean theyre trying to scare people. At least ours is
all in good fun. When Im singing it and the lads are playing it, you
know that its just rock and roll, a way to put it across. Youve got
to go right over the fucking top. Like everything big gear, big
lights, big fucking sound, thats how it is. No need to tread carefully.
The big idea with us isnt Satanic messages its to get one line to
rhyme with the fucking next!
The attention of fundamentalist busybodies was annoying, but
things were about to get really serious. Serial killer Richard Ramirez (real name Ricardo Leyva) aka The Night Stalker claimed
that AC/DCs track Night Prowler had driven him to carry out his
crimes. When detectives found an AC/DC baseball hat in Ramirez
house, it was time for the media witchhunt to kick off. Highway To
Hell (the album upon which Night Prowler appeared) had already
aroused the wrath of family campaigners for such lyrics such as
Hey Satan, look at meIm on my way to the Promised Land.
25 yearold Texan Ramirez had committed his spate of killings
in the Los Angeles area, creating an atmosphere of terror throughout
the city, before the police nally captured him. When he was arrested, Ramirez was wearing an AC/DC shirt and an acquaintance
conrmed to the police that they were one of his favourite bands.
162
Police believed that the lyrics of Night Prowler were conducive

with the ways Ramirez carried out his crimes, which included murder, rape, mutilation, and robbery. Upon his arrest, Ramirez, was
charged with 14 murders and 31 other crimes. A 15th murder in San
Francisco also hung over his head, with another potential trial in Orange County for rape and attempted murder. Along with Ramirezs
fascination with AC/DC, he was obsessed by Satanism and was a
regular user of both cocaine and PCP. His belief was that the Devil
would protect him as long as he carried out his evil deeds.
Its hard to believe that rock songs and marijuana alone would
turn a misdirected youth into one of the most heinous serial rapists and murderers in modern history. Anthony Bruno, True Crime
Writer
In a People magazine article of September 1985 a frightening
misinterpretation of heavy rock music was published. The critique
illuminated the dangers of the genre. Rock n roll is turning too
often to sex, Satanism, drugs and violence for its major themes and
corrupting the values and views of unwary young people. The lyrics
of the last few years of the 1980s have continued on a downward
slope. Rachel Matthews, an artist and repertoire representative for
Capitol Records, recruits new groups for her company. Her comments regarding a newly signed band reveal what she, as one individual representing the music industry, is looking for in a band: I
was just going, Oh shit! Ive never heard anything like this! Ive
heard plenty of metal and speed metal, but it was just so intense and
out of control, just like this caged psychosis going on. I loved it, because you could actually understand the lyrics. And even if theyre
morbid and gruesome, its really cool that you could understand
what theyre saying. It just makes it twice as evil. I like that.
The piece then went on to identify dangerous new forms of
rock such as Trash (sic) Metal. It pointed out the primary focus of
this kind of music, played by groups such as Megadeth and Anthrax
was violence and death. Apart from the basic error that the genre
is more generally known as thrash metal, the author also neglected
to mention that the two named acts were more apt to compose lyrics
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about the environment and politics. If that meant the same thing as
violence and death, it was hardly the fault of the bands.
The breathless expose continued: The third type is known
as black metal and is overtly satanic. The lyrics encourage such
activities as incest, necrophilia, rape, torture, and human sacrice.
Black metal is represented by groups like Venom and Slayer. King
Diamond is perhaps the most Satanic of all black metal groups. He
openly professes Satan and incorporates a large amount of satanic
activity into his performances.
While this kind of material was clearly written to sell magazines at a time when concern regarding links between metal and
Satanism was at its frenzied height, it was not only inaccurate, but
also failed to mention exactly how AC/DC could be involved in
similar Devil worship. Other than the title of Highway To Hell itself,
and Anguss devil horns nothing you wouldnt encounter in your
average Shakespeare production evidence of the bands Satanic
message was a little thin. However, this did not stop campaigns by
religious and family groups, and attempts to ban the group from
playing in certain towns. There was also a concerted campaign for
all AC/DC records to be banned and removed from sale.
There were gatherings of concerned parents in some towns,
and heavy metal albums were burned and broken in deance. AC/
DCs Highway To Hell was among the records consigned to the
ames: others included Iron Maidens Number Of The Beast and
several albums by Black Sabbath.
We were a scandal in Australia. They love scandal there. Mums
tugging their kids away from us on the street. Ooh look, them!
Malcolm Young
Author and crime expert Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D, is far
more sensible about the factors behind Ramirez and the time of the
Satanic phenomena in America. To understand Richard Ramirez
and his passion for the devil, we need to examine more than just his
life; we must also look at the times she says. Ramirez committed
his murder spree in 1985, in the midst of the Satanic panics that
swept the country throughout the decade. Anxiety over Satanists
164
and evil conspiracies mounted on a cultural scale, and narratives

told by people in therapy about ritual abuse by secret satanic rings
showed many common elements, and no evidence. Whole masses
of people developed similar physical symptoms that were primarily emotional in origin, and the idea of ritual abuse was heavily
promoted by journalists, therapists, physicians, drug companies,
and whoever else might nd some stake in them. Serial killers, too,
adopted satanic robes. During that decade, Robert Berdella killed
six men in Missouri for Satanic purposes, Antone Costa killed four
women in Cape Cod in rituals, Thomas Creech admitted to 47 Satanic sacrices, and Larry Eyler buried four of his 23 victims under
a barn marked with an inverted pentagram. A teenager who wanted
to follow the devil murdered his parents in their beds.
Also during the 1980s, a former associate of John Wayne
Gacy named Robin Gecht inspired a group of three other men known
as the Ripper Crew in killing an estimated eighteen women. They
would murder a victim, sever her left breast with a thin wire, clean
it out to use for sexual gratication, and then cut it into pieces to
consume. Ostensibly, they were worshipping Satan, and eating the
esh was a form of demonic communion. The Night Stalker had the
same devilish persuasion. He would creep up in the night, dressed
in black, and enter homes surreptitiously. Sometimes he removed
the eyes of his victims, as if for a ritual. He bludgeoned two elderly
sisters and left Satanic symbols on the thigh of the one who died in
the form of a pentagram. He also drew pentagrams on the walls in
lipstick. When he was arrested, Ramirez reportedly said he was a
minion of Satan sent to commit the Dark Ones dirty work.
During his trial, Ramirez ashed the devil sign (made with
his index and little nger as if to imitate horns), in common with
many metal bands eager to stir up a little quasiSatanic controversy.
Katherine Ramsland states that he Took his cue from the song,
Night Prowler, noting how the person who made others afraid was
the one in control.
As Ramsland notes, other killers, such as John Wayne Gacy,
were also to nd a link with metal bands and artists. The likes of
Acid Bath would use Gacys creepy artwork of clowns and children to adorn their records; Marilyn Manson and his bandmates
165

took the surnames of killers, including Gacy and Ramirez. It seems
that heavy metal will always be seen as having links to the dark
side, although the 80s also saw the arrival on the scene of a number
of Christian heavy rock bands. These socalled white metal acts
were to prove that metal was all about the music and that bands
could therefore sing about Jesus as well as Satan; the result would
be the same. This was borne out in the success of bands like Stryper,
whose members would throw Bibles to the audience.
1985 saw the birth of an organisation intended to give parents
help in assessing whether their children should be buying particular
records. Everything from Prince to Sheena Easton was prime for
censorship but the main reason the PMRC (Parents Musical Resource Center) formed was to stem the popularity of heavy metal.
Their prime objective was to prevent the records being released
at all but when this seemed unachievable they sought to sticker
records with potentially offensive content; thus the parental advisory sticker was born.
One metal act to come under particularly heavy criticism and
censorship was American outt W.A.S.P. Their rst single, Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) had been withdrawn from sale in 1984
and in the UK a cover of Kerrang! magazine, featuring the band
drenched in blood, was withdrawn from many newsagents. Front
man Blackie Lawless remembers, The story goes that Tipper Gore
was walking down the hallway in her house and her twelve year old
sons got Fuck Like A Beast blasting out on his stereo and shes
thinking Were not having that! Tipper was the wife of Senator
Al Gore, later to become Vice President of the United States, and
she was therefore in a strong position to make her presence felt.
Just as AC/DC did, Lawless and W.A.S.P. dealt with the situation via humour, We were laughing our asses off at everything,
recalls Blackie. There were people coming at us with ery torches
like Frankensteins monster on top of the hill. Much the same as
AC/DC, Lawless band came in for a rough time that seemed as if it
wouldnt ever stop. As the singer remembers, There was a four or
veyear period there where it was really bad. I had death threats
and there were bomb scares and I got shot at three times. What the
PMRC did not seem to realise was the majority of potential buyers
166
for heavy metal were going to be more interested if they thought a

record was going to annoy their parents or was risqu enough to be
banned. Well, it did make us household names, says Blackie,
speaking not only for W.A.S.P. but also for countless other rock and
metal acts, But we found that while someones grandma in Newcastle may have known who we were, that same grandma didnt go
out and buy W.A.S.P. records. Also in the metal world, in the same
year the case of two suicide victims in Nevada brought further negative attention, this time for British act Judas Priest. The case went
to court, with the families of the boys suing the group. Eventually,
with the members themselves giving evidence the case was thrown
out. Supposedly, Priest had planted several backwards messages on
their Stained Class album which suggested the listener should do
it, supposedly a reference to suicide.
Most signicantly, AC/DC did not want to be associated with
heavy metal whatsoever. They had earlier expressed their distaste at
the genre and felt completely distant from the other types of bands
within its connes. This was perhaps to divert early negative attention surrounding Highway To Hell, as much as their inherent dislike
of metal music per se, but unfortunately this did not convince many
parents.
Im an out and out basic man and AC/DC are one of the best rock
n roll bands in the world, doing things just to the basics, you know.
Brian Johnson
AC/DC would play their US tour as scheduled throughout October and November. City ofcials in Springeld and Dallas tried
unsuccessfully to ban them from playing in their cities following
the Ramirez controversy. Malcolm Young explained, We were due
to play at the Springeld Auditorium in Illinois when we heard that
these religious fanatics had managed to get us banned by complaining that we were Satanists or whatever. So we spoke to a few people
about it and found that these loonies were not allowed to do this
kind of thing and we could take them to court about it so thats exactly what we did, and we won. There were still problems ahead
however. The only thing was that the people who run the hotels in
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the area refused to let us stay in any of the local hotels so we ended
up having to spend the night before the gig about a hundred miles
away and drive into town on the night of the show. Weve had a
lot of shit thrown at us in the States, and that episode with the Night
Stalker didnt help, Malcolm told Kerrang!, Some kid was done
for murder a couple of months ago and there was a mass of publicity
about it. Now, this kid had an AC/DC shirt on, which immediately
put the focus on us, and of course the religious fanatics, whove always followed us around over here, put Night Stalker and Night
Prowler together. What they cant see is that Night Prowler is just
about creeping in at night on a couple of old girlfriends and doing
the business, having a bit of fun you know? Its not about raping and
pillagingThe whole thing came about because he had an AC/DC
shirt on when they pulled him in and one of his friends said he was
AC/DC mad. So what? Some loopy loves your band and wears your
tshirt while hes bumping off people were not telling the guy to
do it!
To survive, you have got to have a good sense of humour,
Angus reasoned. What always makes me laugh are the people who
expect a rock and roll band to have answers to todays problems and
issues. Some of the greatest minds of the century couldnt gure
this stuff out.
Brian Johnson agreed: The worst part is some of these fuckers actually sit there and try to answer these questions. Im just sitting there going, Shut up! Dont talk. Pick up a guitar. Go get some
strings. They sit there until theyre so embroiled in it, and then a
year later they suddenly realise how foolish they are because they
keep getting their ngers burned. Theyre musicians, for fuck sake.
Theyre not politicians. We talk about politics in the studios. But
we certainly dont wanna go run out onstage and spout our fucking
opinions.
The only image weve ever had is what we really are. We never
cover up anything. Angus Young
Essentially, AC/DC laughed off accusations of devil worship
of any kind. The nearest they came to consorting with the forces of
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darkness was Anguss occasional predilection for black underwear.

It is easier to take a swing at someone that is singing about sex and
rock n roll, but thats all part of life, and its all in fun, continued
Angus rather jovially. Were not the ones telling people what to do.
I dont like it when people tell me what to do, even teachers. When
I was a kid in school, as soon as a teacher starting spouting at me,
I would go off to the toilet to have a smoke. I didnt want to be sitting here having to listen to this guy telling me stuff that was no use
to me. I would think, How can you do that, knowing full well that
Ill be out of here at 15 working in a factory somewhere? Learn me
something that may improve my lot. There is no way in the world I
am gonna get a job as a university lecturer.
The band members often deected attention away from the
red herring of Satanism simply because they thought the whole insinuation was ridiculous; they were just ve blokes playing rock
music, and that is all they had ever wanted to be known for. Richard Ramirez, like many before and since, saw something that did
not actually exist in the groups music. He took what he wanted
from it, but anything could have given him the power he received
from AC/DC. If they had not been around something else would
undoubtedly have triggered his behaviour whether it was a movie
or another band.
You know, the rst thing Angus and Malcolm said to me
when I joined this band, Brian told Kerrang! They said, Do you
mind if your feelings ever get hurt? and I said Why? And they
said, Because if youre going to join this band youre going to be
expected to take fucking stick. Because weve been slagged off by
every fucking reporter since we left Australia. And I said, Well
Im going to have to take stick anyway, taking this lads place. But
luckily these guys are so much like a fucking family that you never
get the chance to feel alone; like you could just sit by yourself in
your hotel room and feel like shit. The lads say to me, Just fucking
ignore them. Were good in our eld. We just out and out dont give
a fuck. We play what we play and thats it. And the good thing is,
no one else can do it as good as this band. The band is the fucking
best!
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In a later interview, Angus and Brian were asked about their
political opinions and whether their lyrics should be the subject of
disgust; specically the way the words often reeked of sexism. Brian, myself, and Malcolm were out of school at 15, replied Angus.
Your education is limited when that happens. And you dont worry
about whats going on in the news and who is running for public
ofce. Brian paid tribute to the political savvy of his late father,
whose politics could be summed up as: Ill vote for the fucker that
gets me a job so I can feed my family.
Brian made light of questions about his supposedly misogynistic lyrics. There was a Swedish journalist who said to me, Do
you think it is amusing for women to be treated the way you treat
them in your songs? How would you like to be tied up and humiliated like that? And I said, Id fucking love it. Tie me up in a car and
get my fucking brains fucked out by some wild rampant tottie.
He expanded the argument: Of course were sexist, but life
is sex. Thats why were here. Sexism mixed with humour is a wonderfully funny thing. We say things with a big tongue in the cheek.
And its not supposed to be just for men, its for women as well.
Women are horny buggers theres a lot of them about who want to
tie you up and use your little body, you know!
Malcolm, when talking about the bands most lurid days of
sexual depravity, would soften the image, saying, It was more bravado really. It happened more when we were young and inexperienced, of course, but as far as lyrics are concerned weve always
used sex for inspiration. We never have a problem with sex in the
words. It doesnt embarrass us. The reality is that there were a few
stories to tell back then, and now theyre just good memories.
Weve got the basic things kids want. They want to rock, and thats
it. Angus Young
Overall, AC/DC were still successful and able to play to their
own fans, which for them was the whole point of going out on
tour. And living the road life for over a decade had not dimmed the
Youngs enthusiasm. Malcolm: It is hard sometimes but the minute
you walk onstage and you hear the kids cheering and you see all the
170
smiling faces, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and all
of a sudden youre alive and ready to rock and roll all night. Having
Brian in the band keeps us all amused! Hes a real joker, hes always
laughing and fooling around so how can we get fed up with him
around?
171

THE NIGHT FALLER
At a preliminary hearing of his defence, Ramirez flashed a
pentagram that hed had tattooed onto the palm of his hand.
When he was convicted his lawyers informed him that he
might receive the death sentence he replied, Ill be in hell,
then, with Satan. As the newspapers continued to cover his
case he realised all he had to do was flash the pentagram or
talk about serving Satan, and he would be endlessly quoted
in the papers. He also began to wear sunglasses to augment
his air of secrecy. In addition he seemed to embrace the idea
that he was a monster.
During his trial, one juror was murdered, and this caused
the other jurors to suspect Ramirez may have summoned
demons in order to have the person killed. They were fearful
that he might also attack one of them, especially as he would
often stare directly and threateningly at jurors during the
court case. He was sentenced to death and placed on Death
Row in San Quentin, where he still resides. When talking
to police officers, he was quite curious as to whether there
would now be books about him as there were about Ted
Bundy and Jack the Ripper. He loved the idea that someone
had made a movie about him (Manhunt: Search for the
Night Stalker).
On October 3, 1996, Doreen Lioy, 41, married Ramirez, 36,
in a simple ceremony in San Quentins waiting room. They
had been engaged since 1988 but the wedding was delayed
due to prison regulations.
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Chapter 14 Playing With Expectations

Weve never been current. But there comes a time when people
want to be entertained. They want to be happy. And we always look
at rock and roll as that happy link. That will never go away. Malcolm Young
During their 1985 American tour, AC/DC were approached
by horror writer Stephen King, a huge fan of the band, who asked
whether he could possibly include some of their old material for the
soundtrack of his forthcoming movie Maximum Overdrive, starring
Emilio Estevez. He also suggested DC record some new tracks exclusively for the lm.
At the end of the tour, the group accepted Kings offer and as
well as carefully chosen highlights of their career to date, they recorded three brand new songs for inclusion. These were Who Made
Who (also the title of the album), D.T. and Chase The Ace, and
they were completed in two weeks. It was to mark a return for Harry
Vanda and George Young, as the group realised negative comments
regarding their 1985 material were, to an extent, justied. I always
think that we did the great rock tunes when we worked with my
brother, explained Angus of the decision. I like what we did with
him better than the stuff we did with Mutt Lange. Mutt was very
conscious of what was popular in America but with my brotherif
it was a rock n roll song, he made sure it rocked! For the recordings, AC/DC travelled once again to the Compass Point Studios in
Nassau.
The song Who Made Who saw AC/DC in melodic mode
with some clever guitar interplay from the Young brothers. The
sound was captured to mark the times, audibly eighties in terms
of its construction, yet brought the group into newer sonic realms.
They also lmed a video for the title track at the Brixton Academy
in South London, featuring hordes of headbangers (fan club members and radio competition winners) dressed to look just like Angus,
and wielding cardboard guitars.
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The songs picked to represent previous material were You
Shook Me All Night Long, Sink The Pink, Ride On, Hells
Bells, Shake Your Foundations and For Those About To Rock
(We Salute You). This partial compilation is the only time the band
has ever had a compiled set of studio material released. The songs
were deliberately picked to keep the Brian Johnson era as the main
focus, but they couldnt resist tacking on Bons plaintive road song,
Ride On, which quietly paid tribute to him and also showcased the
groups other side for any potential new fans.
In early 1986 Shake Your Foundations was released as a single and this became DCs most successful 45 since For Those
About To Rock, when it reached No. 24 in the UK charts. On May
3, the Who Made Who album followed and was equally well received. It peaked at number 11 in the UK charts and number 33 in
the United States. Many were disappointed that the album didnt entirely consist of new material, but they were placated by the strong
new tracks, which included the bands rst instrumental pieces since
Fling Thing, the bside to Jailbreak.
I like rhythm n blues, I like Rock n Roll. AC/DC, I like a lot: very
loud! Stephen King
The lm revolved around the earth passing through the tail of
a mysterious comet, a as machines on earth suddenly come to life
to terrorise their creators. There is a scene in the movie involving
a ferry bridge, and in the background a van can be seen with the
AC/DC band logo painted on it. The movie was remade for cable
television as Trucks in 1997.
As Simon Wright remembered: Doing the instrumentals was
a bit strange. We had these TV screens which showed us the relevant parts of the movie, and we had to t the music to the action.
Though the instrumentals were almost out of place on a compilation
of vintage AC/DC songs the whole package seemed to gel rather
well. It also marked a successful venture for the band, but one that
they had no reason to revisit. They would not record another soundtrack album, nor would they attempt any more instrumental tracks,
174
making the appearance of two vocalless tracks on the Who Made

Who album all the more precious.
To celebrate the welcome their new album had received, AC/
DC hit the road for a US tour (supported by US prog metal combo
Queensrche and Japans self explanatory Loudness) in July 1986
and stayed out until November, two months later than they had expected. Every show of the tour was completely sold out, and all this
was achieved while the concert industry was undergoing something
of a recession. America just could not get enough of AC/DC. After
their triumphant live shows throughout the States the group took a
twomonth break before beginning work on their next album.
The band would take it upon themselves to drastically update their sound and return with their best record in years. They had
Vanda and Young back in tow for a full album, the rst time since
1978. With the three brothers working together, I think its just the
climax of many years of doing the right thing with music, Brian
commented. What I love to watch sometimes is Mal or Ang will
look at George and just go ummm. And George will go hmmm.
And theyve just had a conversation. But it was through the mind,
without words getting in the way. I think the boys believe in George
more than anybody else in the world. They trust him, I do too. DC
had enjoyed working with the veteran partners so much for Who
Made Who that the choice of producers for the next full record was
easily made.
I dont think there is an ideal environment for writing songs.
Weve written songs under a hell of a lot of pressure, but then some
songs just come when suddenly and spontaneously, like when youre
not thinking and youre in the middle of a cab ride. Weve even
written songs on stage. But thats the key, I suppose, never knowing
when to expect it. Angus Young
Together, the producers and musicians would record at the
Miraval studios in the South of France. There was no air conditioning, but despite exceedingly warm temperatures a good time was
had by all. There was ample time for AC/DC to enjoy their collective hobbies of barhopping and, less stereotypically, golf. Johnson
admitted a fondness for French tarts although in this instance, he
meant the cakes. However one woman was particularly welcome.
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We had French women cooking us beautiful breakfasts. I couldnt
stop eating. We had a ball! Brian recalled.
The studio where we record always plays a big part he reckoned. We need a place thats got a great live sound. Were not
looking for technology, like effects and stuff. We rely mainly on
getting the best sound out of whatever room were in. Altogether,
19 tracks were composed and recorded but eventually only ten were
chosen for the LP, called Blow Up Your Video. The title came from
a line in the records strongest tune, Thats The Way I Wanna Rock
N Roll and Brian Johnson thought MTV would appreciate it, being
so relevant and descriptive.
The album would see a thoroughly rejuvenated AC/DC, capable of competing with the big boys of the eighties. They were
still playing a modern form of rock n roll but such was the sharpened presentation of their material, with Brians rough voice and
the striking riffs of the Young brothers that they could easily cut it
alongside heavy metal acts of the day. Again the members distanced
themselves from the style, though it was intriguing to note the band
had longer hair than ever, especially Angus.
It wouldnt be AC/DC if we did something different said
Angus. And were certainly not going to start putting dragons on
the album covers. AC/DC kept it simple and in accordance with
the title of their album they featured Angus exploding out of a television set rather than the fantasy styled artwork preferred by many
of the bands heavy metal rivals.
Oh, weve had our share of hotels being smashed and all, but that
was a long time ago. You get lousy room service... I mean, there is
no use throwing a TV set out the window for the sake of throwing a
TV set out the window. But if you get a lousy picture then you have
an excuse. Angus Young
The songs had to swing, according to Angus. When we
write songs the rst thing is the feel. Its got to have that bottom
edge to it and you take it from there. Its dumb to make a song fast
just for the sake of it. The bottom line is we get out there and play
176
rock n roll music. I may wear that school suit but for me that just
gives me that extra condence. Then I can act like a real asshole.
Though Angus would demonstrate his guitar chops all over
Blow Up Your Video, especially on Meanstreak and Thats The
Way I Wanna Rock N Roll he wouldnt concede that he was in the
same department as many of the 80s crop of super fast guitarists
who loved to play high up the guitar neck and werent exactly fond
of standard songs. Ive never been impressed with someone who
can zoom up and down the guitar neck, I can do that myself, but I
call it practising, he would scoff.
I dont like to play above or below peoples heads. Basically,
I just like to get up front of a crowd and rip it up. Angus Young
There was certainly a tinge of metal mania to Anguss style on
the Blow Up Your Video LP but you sensed this was an almost ironic
quip at the thousands of would be great guitarists releasing records
in the saturated eighties rock music market. Angus was almost acknowledging the method but proving he could play it with greater
style and ease, whilst still incorporating the blues scales he so loved.
His opinion was reassuringly frank, Ive always liked Chuck Berrys music because its simple and direct. You dont have to think
about it. It makes you dance and tap your feet.
The metal rhetoric was quite removed from AC/DC even on
stage in some ways. For one thing, they were only about showmanship in terms of performance. With the exception of Angus, who
perpetually wore the obligatory school uniform, the group did not
exactly dress to impress. There was no spandex, leather or huge,
teased hair, just ordinary blokes with extraordinary talents. The lead
guitarist was no prima donna, hogging the spotlight to satisfy his
ego; it was just the way it happened. No one person in AC/DC begrudged another his time in the spotlight. Brian did not mind whether he received all the attention or not, he was just there to do a job of
singing to the best of his ability, much like Bon had. And Malcolm,
despite being the better guitarist according to Angus, did not care in
the least that he was usually to be spotted in the distance, in fact he
preferred it that way.
Angus also acknowledged regularly it was not by any means
his band or even his guitar style, which dened AC/DC. He admit-
177

ted to Hit Parader, Malcolm is a big inspiration to me. He can
always tell me if Im playing good or bad. Hes a very tough critic. I
know if I can please Malcolm I can please the world. A lot of people
say, AC/DC thats the band with the little guy who runs around
in shorts. But I wouldnt be able to do it without Malcolm and the
other guys pumping out the rhythm. They make me look good.
There was one thing the group rarely did on stage and that was
to have Brian address the audience in typical metal mode. There
were rarely any contrived singalong moments from the crowd, no
screaming for the crowd to be the best the band had ever played to.
Sure, people in the audience sang along but it wasnt at the request
of the performers that was their job. As Brian would put it, In
fact, I never say anything onstage. The musics supposed to do the
talking.
Also, despite AC/DCs rough and ready image, even swearing
was a rarity. Every other band has a front man who hogs the spotlight and swears, said Brian. I think theres a school for it. One of
the guys used to work for this band I wont mention their name
and the singer said fuck 165 times during one show. That was the
record. Our guy used to count fucks every night with a clicker. Ive
never said fuck onstage. Well I said it once but and this woman
said, I cant believe you swore onstage, I have my daughter here.
And I said, Jeez, Im sorry. And Ive never said it since.
For Blow Up Your Video AC/DC would maintain their aversion to slower songs. Were still as tough as ever and theres denitely no ballads, said Angus of the album. I have a great aversion
to slow songs. Apart from anything else the world is saturated with
the damn thingsI dont mind hearing a ballad every now and then,
like once a year maybe, but even then I get pissed off after about two
minutes. So whatever we try in the studio, it wont be a ballad!
The mood in the studio was so light hearted and fun that the
band enjoyed the recording of the album more than the last three
they had put together. We just went through the whole album with
smiles on our faces, remembered Brian. The album is smashing,
and we just knew it was going to be good. George has this father
gure approach and he knows more about rock n roll than any
fucker! Then youve got Malcolm and Angus there, so happy to
178
work with their own brother, and Harry too. The atmosphere in the
studio came through on the album itself with the entire record having an upbeat vibe. Some of Johnsons favourite songs were Thats
The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll and Kissin Dynamite but the one
he liked to sing most of all, chiey because of what he described
as having a great sense of humour, was Meanstreak. The lyrics
were typically brazen AC/DC: I aint met no one who told me I got
class, They say never feed the animal, the boys got too much ash.
Im a guy they just cant teach, and I always kick the castle thats
been built up on the beach.
Brian also acknowledged the last track on the album, This
Means War as being the fastest AC/DC song for some time and
a real cracker. Johnson reckoned it was as fast as a number the
band had recorded a decade before, Riff Raff. Though Blow Up
Your Video would see AC/DC once again compared to heavy metal
acts, it was still constructed from the usual components AC/DCs
trademark riffs, licks and melodies. The one difference from the
likes of Fly On The Wall and Flick Of The Switch was the thicker
sound buzzing throughout the album.
All this was even more impressive because unlike the distorted and literally buzzing sounds most metal outts employed,
Angus actually played with a clean guitar sound; it just sounded
heavier when it was loud! The amp is set very clean, he disclosed.
A lot of people who have picked up my guitar and tried it through
my amp have been shocked at how clean it is. They think its a
very small sound when they play it and wonder how it sounds so
much bigger when Im playing. I just like enough gain so that it
will still cut when you hit a lead lick without getting that sort of
false Tonebendertype sound. I like to get a natural sustain from the
guitar and amp.
The real secret with AC/DC was the way they interacted, not
the ideal of playing as loud as possible just for the sake of it with
maximum distortion. It just depends on the nature of the room,
Angus added. If youve got a great sounding live room and everyones in the same room, especially the drums and the guitars, then I
think youll really cook because theres more of a feeling of camaraderie. It makes for much more of a live feel. If youre in the control
179

room or separated, sometimes you can be a little bit cut off. Weve
done it different ways, but a lot of it is still down to the room itself.
If youve got a great sounding live room, you can get lucky. DC
were most certainly lucky with Blow Up Your Video, though it was
clearly more about talent than good fortune.
Fans were in agreement and sent the rst single lifted from the
album, Heatseeker to number 12 in the UK charts. They loved the
album just as much, seeing it in at number 2 on the British charts
and number 12 in the United States. This was the best showing for
an AC/DC album since the milestone Back In Black. After three
days of rehearsals at the Entertainment Center in Perth, Australia,
AC/DC would begin their world tour with a jaunt around Oz, beginning on February 1st 1989. This was the groups rst live appearance
in their spiritual homeland since 1981. Poignantly, Bons parents Isa
and Chick attended the show. Appropriately, AC/DC stuck to the
early career material, plying the locals with mostly Scottpenned
lyrics.
After their successful return to Australia, the band headed to
the UK where they played in Birmingham and London, headed out
to Europe, then returned for a second visit to Wembley Arena before
the US leg of the tour.
But all was not well in the ranks. Before the North American
jaunt, Malcolm Young dropped out, with the ofcial excuse being
exhaustion. In fact, the temporary exit was an attempt to cure his
alcoholism, which had been worsening for several years. Malcolm
would later admit to his addiction and explain the long road back
to sobriety.
It went something along the lines of too much, a lot, not
much, now nothing. Its only a cup of tea for me these days, he
explained. I was drinking an awful lot before. I reckon you could
have written a book about the things I got up to. But I had to give it
up and get myself back together. I was bored of it, getting ripped all
the time. It was always the same story and I couldnt leave it alone. I
was a real Jekyll and Hyde character. Id lost my selfcontrol. I was
still playing the songs OK, but I was always drunk. Things would
get really bad after the gig, though. I was the rst one to start drinking and the last to leave any club. I always had to be dragged out.
180
Ive never been on tour without a drink inside me before and I never
thought it would be a problem. So its always difcult to stick with
the tea when things get stressful. Angus would laugh, He had to
stop, it had just gone too far. From the age of 17, I dont think there
was a day when he was sober. I suppose you could look at it as a
record! I never knew how he could function like that. I dont drink,
but everyone else was sure doing it for me!
AC/DC had brought in another family member to take over
from Malcolm in his hour of need. His nephew Stevie Young looked
a lot like Malcolm and carried off his guitar parts with great aplomb.
He did a great job, Angus assured Kerrang! most people thought
it was Mal! Theyre very similar; hes got a strong personality. I was
more nervous than he was. Stevies rst show with the band was
at the Cumberland Civic Center in Portland, Maine, on May 3. In
both situations, Ive always found that it works to put your best foot
forward and dont be afraid, Angus said, about playing live and recording. I suppose its a bit like swimming. You cant just dip your
little toe in the water. Youve got to go all the way. I believe youve
got nothing to fear, although a lot of people think thats strange. If
you hit a bum note, that was fate. Some of those bum notes might be
a great accident. I think that if youre too tight and restricted, then
those sort of little spontaneous things just seem to give it that little
bit of magic, they wont happen. Every now and again, we all hit a
bum note. The ideal situation is just to hit less of them! I think that
it just takes a bit of condence when youre doing something. Ive
never been afraid. I guess Im lucky for having grown up in a family of musicians. I think that gave me a lot of condence about my
playing and made it easier for me to be comfortable in any musical
situation.
While Stevie Young was rocking packed arenas as Malcolms
double, the heart of AC/DC was enjoying time away from the rock
n roll circus, pursuing leisurely activities with his wife Linda and
family in Sydney. For the rst time in ages, he could relax away
from the band. He even bought a racehorse, bringing something
different to his otherwise musicdominated existence. However,
music hadnt entirely disappeared from Malcolms life, he was still
cooking with ideas for the next AC/DC platter. The US tour had
181

proved to be an enormous success for the group as they sold out
most venues they visited throughout the world. By the end of the
year Blow Up Your Video became the bands best selling album
since For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).
182
BRIAN JOHNSON EXPLAINS

what might have happened to AC/DC had they been easily
persuadable people
In the middle eighties, we had a bit of a bad time, when all
the music changed, long hairs... you know, Whitesnake and
REO Speedwagon. The record company came to us to tell us
change the clothes; they said, It would be best if you would
change your image. We were like Fuck you! And all the
bands that did change arent here anymore. Because they
let themselves be manipulated by the record companies, who
quite frankly dont have a clue about music. They have only
one thing; they know how to make money out of music. But
thats it, thats where all ends. Its a funny world.
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Chapter 15 Days Of Thunder

I am sick to death of people saying we have made 11 albums that
sounds exactly the same. In fact, weve made 12 albums that sound
exactly the same. Angus Young
At the end of 1989, AC/DC made headlines in a rather bizarre
manner. American troops had invaded Panama, seeking to oust the
countrys leader, General Manuel Noriega. However, the general
took refuge inside the Vatican diplomatic mission in Panama City.
When all else failed, it was decided that only loud rock music would
shake him out, and who better to annoy someone than AC/DC?
Highway To Hell was chosen, and a shaken Noriega surrendered
on January 3, 1990. Angus explained: They were trying to aggravate him so he couldnt get a restful sleep. It was pretty funny for
us. I gure if our music is good enough for the U.S. army its good
enough for anybody.
With this unusual conrmation of the power and obnoxiousness of their music, AC/DC started work on their next album. It had
by now become a running joke that the band made the same record
over and over again. This was doubtless unfair: clearly Blow Up
Your Video had been different from the material they recorded in the
1970s, but there was a specic AC/DC sound that the fans responded to, and provided the quality was maintained, the diehards werent
going to complain about a certain sonic consistency. However the
material they were about to come up with would offer something
different from the norm.
Were a rock group. Were noisy, rowdy, sensational and weird.
Angus Young
Things were not easy during the preparation for the album.
Simon Wright left to join Dio, the band fronted by the diminutive
Ronnie James Dio, formerly of Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath.
184
Wright had previously guested on the groups Lock Up The Wolves

album, but now decided to occupy the Dio drumstool on a permanent basis.
Brian Johnson was also going through a period of transition,
as he was getting divorced from his wife Carol. He spent a lot of
time in the USA dealing with legal matters, which meant it would
be difcult for him to come up with lyrics for the LP. For the rst
time in the bands history, the singer would not compose the words
for the new record. Mal and I thought it would ease the pressure on
him if we wrote the words explained Angus. Weve always contributed in the past anyway. Wed sit down, all three of us, me, Mal
and Bon, sometimes four of us with my brother George and wed
have this big shoot around. We always gave Bon a helping hand in
the past; same with Brian, because if you have some lyrical idea
while youre writing it can save you a lot of heartache and trouble
at the end of the day.
I just ran out of ideas, Brian would later say about this time.
I just cant think enough. I dont want to write same thing again.
And Angus and Malcolm helped Bon with lot of the lyrics in the
earlier days. Mal and Ang have this song writing in the blood, they
are very good at it. They just let go. I just felt terrible when we were
doing an album, I didnt have much idea wise. I thought Id wait
to see the boys and hear them playing the riffs. I was having a real
tough time thinking of lyrics. That just happens sometimes, you just
dry up. Well, the boys said We will give it a try. And the boys gave
it a thought, and it was great. It was from a different angle. And Angus has the craziest ideas. Angus is way out there, he comes back,
get these things in his head and they are great. Angus and Malcolm
are just that talented. But what I still do, and what I love very much
is to meet Malcolm and Angus in London. Theyll say, Come on
Brian, we have few ideas. And thats the best part of it, because I
know I will be the rst person in the world to hear them. And I help
them to shape the songs. We just sit down there, and its lovely. You
are with your pals, drinking lots of coffee, I just love it.
The band was at least relieved to be able to write without a
deadline looming over their heads. We had plenty of time, which
was good, said Angus. In the past weve always been committed
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to something; sometimes weve even been committed to touring,
with the dates set and we wouldnt even be nished with the record.
This time, there was no pressure on us, which was great. We could
write songs take some time and listen to them, say Thats good or
That needs help. Maybe change a piece here or there. We dont really like to go into the studio with nothing and try to do it there. We
like to have it done and worked out, so that when youre recording
you can concentrate on the performance and the sound.
AC/DC did, of course, need a replacement drummer, and
the new man behind the kit was, in terms of style, a link with the
bands past. Chris Slade had played with Manfred Manns Earth
Band, Uriah Heep, The Firm, Gary Numan, Gary Moore and many
more. He also drummed on Tom Joness 1965 chart topper Its Not
Unusual. Slade was originally approached to provide temporary
percussive assistance. DC worked in a barn close to Brighton, and
almost straight away it was clear they could consider Slade for a
permanent position. As Angus explained, His style is just perfect
for the band, it is as solid and powerful as you can get. Chris is a bit
similar to Phil Rudd; they both smash the drums as hard as they can.
But Chris can be frightening to look at; you look at his bald head
and it could scare you.
Slades muscular, chromedomed look made him stand out
from his bandmates, who tended to be small and hairy, but his
concrete backing was the ideal accompaniment to songs such as
Fire Your Guns. After rehearsals in Brighton, the band headed for
Windmill Road Studios in Ireland to start work on the album proper.
The choice of producer was a surprise to some observers. Canadian
Bruce Fairbairn had worked his commercial magic for acts such
as Bon Jovi and Aerosmith in the past and some were worried he
would effect a change in the AC/DC style.
You always make the best album you can for that period. We never
have, never would, put something out unless we felt condent about
it. This time, we kept pushing the deadline for completion further
and further back so that the record was right. Angus Young
186
There was no chance of AC/DC losing their edge, however.

All they were doing was to update the overall sound of the album.
The material they would create was to be as strong and deantly
unfashionable as ever. In fact the group showed a dark side on the
title track, The Razors Edge. Anguss stroked a sinister riff and
the vocals took on an epic edge. The song was unlike anything DC
had created before and showed a distinct metal tinge, albeit unintentionally. We had the main riff and there was something really
ominous about it, remarked Angus. And for that reason alone we
decided to go ahead with it. In the past wed stay away from things
that sounded too musical.
Elsewhere it was business as usual with the likes of Got You
By The Balls and Goodbye & Good Riddance To Bad Luck. But
the real beauty of the album was in the opening track, Thunderstruck. Beginning with a wonderful, onengered guitar hammer
on/off trick the song built into a crescendo of hardrocking perfection. I was just ddling around with my left hand when I came
up with that riff, said Angus. I played it more by accident than
anything. I thought not bad and put it on tape. Thats how me and
Malcolm generally work. We put our ideas on tape and play them
for one another. The lyrical inspiration for the song was a suggestion by Angus. I was in an airplane over East Germany and the
plane got struck by lightning. I thought my number was up. The
stewardess said we were struck by lightning and I said, No we were
struck by thunder, because it boomed.
DC penned another memorable melody with Are You Ready
and a chorus which verged on the commercial in Moneytalks.
Theres a lot more melody on The Razors Edge and weve always been wary of melody Brian would explain. A song like
Moneytalks or Thunderstruck, there are real melodies in those
songsI had to learn what to do again with that nonsense.
Moneytalks, which would be released as a single, was another idea from Angus. Moneys the big divider, he would say.
Places other than America are not necessarily like that. In Europe
they think youve got to be born with class. In the U.S. they think
you buy it, like it comes with the tux. So its just our little dig at the
lifestyle of the rich and the faceless.
187

It seemed clear Bruce Fairbairn had a right to claim credit for
the extra kick he had extracted from AC/DC. Rather than moulding
them into his own sonic puppets, he simply honed their everpresent
rock n roll ideologies and made them slicker and stronger than ever
before. For example, the prominence given to Cliff Williams bass
during Rock Your Heart Out was a ne example of Fairnbairns
gift for nding previously hidden potential in something that had
been present all along.
Bruce told Malcolm that he didnt want to change AC/DC,
Angus remembered. And he didnt want us to do anything that
wed be uncomfortable with. These days its hard to nd people
who are rock producers. A lot of people say they are, but as soon
as you start working with them theyll push their ballads at you.
The material was all ready to go when we got to Vancouver. Fairbairn just brought out the dynamics a bit. Bruce is a big fan of our
older albums; he said he liked the excitement, rawness and lack of
production on them. He wanted to capture that in your face sound
again and did a good job doing it. There were very few overdubs.
But sometimes somebody had picked their nose and hit the wrong
chord so we patched up a couple of songs.
Brian felt it was a return to the nopressure environment of
his rst year with AC/DC. The studio experience reminded me of
the old days when we would experiment with the arrangements and
just try things out for the fun of it, he explained. In the back of
our minds we realised that there is a whole generation of fans that
has sprung up in the three years since our last album was released. I
want them to see what all this noise and fun is all about.
For The Razors Edge AC/DC signed with the Atco label, and
it was decided the rst single to be released from the LP should be
Thunderstruck. which would go on to hit number 13 in the British charts. The album itself went top 5 in both Britain and America,
taking the groups global album sales tally to over 60 million. In addition, they also charted in Britain with Moneytalks and Are You
Ready. Touring the album began in the United States. Again DC
travelled across Europe playing a series of 20 Monsters Of Rock
festivals in 18 cities. When the band headlined the British show
at Castle Donington for an unprecedented third time, they were
188
supported by the likes of Metallica and Motley Crue. When Brian

Johnson bumped into Crues Nikki Sixx he told him that his tattoos
looked as if someone had thrown up on his arms.
Comedy moments also prevailed at a show in Belfast in 1991,
when Angus suffered the type of wardrobe malfunction that Janet
Jackson would later make infamous. The moment was made more
piquant by the fact that he was the last person to notice that little
Anguss had made an unscheduled appearance. I was wearing two
pairs of shorts, remembered the guitarist. And I didnt know the
pair underneath had ripped at the front. So I pull these shorts down
and Malcolms looking at me funny, but Im too busy in my own
little world. Im sort of thinking, Whats he pointing at? And the
police are all sort of looking at me. And I turned around to the audience and theyre all sort of stunned. And I sort of look down and
theres all my wedding tackle hanging out for all the world to see.
But it wasnt all laughter. On January 18th 1991 tragedy was to
befall AC/DC fans and the group itself. While the band were playing live at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, three youngsters Curtis Child and Jimmie Boyd, both 14, and 19 yearold
Elizabeth Glausi were crushed as the crowd surged towards the
front as the group began their set. A friend of Curtis Child, Scott
Neil remarked, It was chaotic it was hell. People were screaming.
After they started another song, people started chanting, Stop the
concert, stop the concert until it echoed, but they wouldnt. When
they started another song, I didnt think I was going to make it. According to another eyewitness, security had also attempted to alert
the band to stop playing. One particular guard was frantic, trying to
get the lead singers attention, said 39 yearold Gertrud Schefer.
He was making motions across his neck, like to cut. You could see
he was desperate.
A statement from AC/DC read: The events of this calamity
occurred in a very quick time frame. Once the gravity of the situation was communicated to the band, they immediately stopped performing, but stayed onstage in an effort to minimise the confusion.
During this time singer Brian Johnson made several requests with
the audience to clear the area. AC/DCs management co operated
with the Salt Lake City re marshal and other health and safety of-
189

cials to maintain calm and order. After 15 minutes, the decision
to nish the performance was made with the re marshal. This decision was motivated in order to maintain calm and order among
thousands of fans who were unaware of what occurred.
Elizabeth Glausi died after her parents requested her lifesupport machine be turned off. Curtis Childs father led an $8 million
suit against AC/DC, as well as concert promoters and county ofcials. Later, Glausis parents also sued the band. Less than a month
later, on February 10th AC/DC were cleared of any involvement in
the deaths of the teenagers although they continued to negotiate
with the victims relatives. The group did not know the teenagers
were being crushed and were completely devastated at the news
they received at the end of the show.
Many a bootlegger has captured the whole feel of an AC/DC live
gig. So we thought maybe its our turn. And this was the best time,
because we had done a lot of touring, nearly two years. Angus
Young
AC/DC played a free show at the Tushino Aireld in Moscow
on September 28 that attracted something between 500,000 and one
million fans. The Moscow concert was presented as a celebration
of democracy and freedom and as a gift to Russian youth for their
resistance against the military coup that had recently failed. It happened just thirty days after the coup attempt and it was the Moscow
governments way of saying thank you to the kids for helping to
stop the coup, explained Brian Johnson. It was inspiring seeing
these kids whod put their lives on the line, rocking out to AC/DC
like kids anywhere.
The crowd was maybe crazier than any audience we ever played
for. The government had insisted that the military be used to provide
most of the security, but some of them started beating the kids with
sticks. In the end, our security guys got them to pull back and just
watch the show. Angus Young
190
The show was televised in Russia, lmed for a documentary

by director Wayne Isham and recorded for a projected live album.
The Russian concert was particularly signicant in light of the fact
that most Western rock music had been outlawed in the USSR until the advent of glasnost (the openness promoted by President
Mikhail Gorbachev). Although AC/DC had long been popular
among Soviet youths, the bands recordings were only obtainable
on the black market. The concert almost didnt take place due to
huge security concerns by the Russian Army, but as it turned out
there were no greater problems than normally experienced in Russia at rock gigs. As other acts have found out, police brutality is
commonplace and on the day AC/DC played there were many fans
injured by the army security with 53 people requiring hospital attention. Authorities panicked when AC/DC wheeled out the cannon
to accompany For Those About To Rock. Angus said the military
really freaked! You saw their mouths drop. You almost heard them
say, Weve been tricked! Its a dirty imperialist trick!
We have been rioted upon by police; weve had all that,
Angus continued. But we are not telling people to do this; this is
their own natural reaction. The biggest percentage of people who
come to our show like to chant along to the songs they know really well. They like to throw their arms in the air and just release a
bit of energy. Theres nothing of This is aggressive. I suppose if
somebody were nodding his head or shaking his arms in the streets,
people would say the guys crazy. I could see that. But I cant see it
when they are all together in a show and having fun; theres nothing
at all aggressive in that.
The most aggressive headshaker of all was, of course, Angus
Young. He was asked if he ever got headaches from such intense
head movement on stage. No, when you rst start, you are going
to get sore bones, he admitted. But Ive never had any real headache from it. Ive had headaches from travelling. Sitting around for
12 hours will give you a headache, because youre not doing anything. While on stage Angus would state that he didnt actually
think about anything. Its funny, but I dont. Its like two different
people, sort of split. To me, the whole show is over and done within
ve minutes. Its like watching a movie.
191

1991 also saw the release of a video collection entitled Clipped,
including material from both Blow Up Your Video and The Razors
Edge. It clocked in at 22 minutes. The lead track, Thunderstruck,
became a classic in the AC/DC visual archives, encompassing everything from Chris Slade thumping the tomtom drums, to Angus
duck walking across a see through stage oor, and not least the inclusion of several hundred fans who were all housed in cages at
the Brixton Academy. Unlike many acts that mime badly in videos,
AC/DC looked as if they were giving their all, as if it was their last
ever concert together. Brian Johnson is clearly singing properly, as
he is at one stage caught spitting into the air, such is the intensity of
his performance. And Anguss axewielding histrionics sometimes
approach the level of air guitar.
Moneytalks was equally memorable. It begins with the
burning of a specially designed dollar bill (bearing the image of a
certain shorttrousered guitarist rather than the customary George
Washington). By the end of the video there are thousands of the dollars falling from the venue ceiling. Similar, but not identical dollars
were later produced as inserts for the Live double album; any that
were caught by fans in attendance at the Philadelphia video shoot
are now collectors items.
For the Are You Ready video the band had a studio built to
look like a prison. 10 volunteers had the AC/DC logo shaved into
their heads especially for the video; one of the extreme haircuts was
also used for the cover of the single. The audience was dressed in
prison overalls, and to make the clip even more unusual, Angus was
playing a black SG guitar rather than his usual red.
As ever, Angus was the visual focus. On Heatseeker he exploded out of a television set, and returned (backwards) into the
same set at the climax. On Thats The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll
he enters rooms where all manner of different characters reside, including a schoolgirl, a mechanic and several people at a hospital
and an airport. As ever, he duck walks at the start of the song, boogieing along perfectly to the stuttering riff.
During 1992, AC/DC worked on the release of the Live album, which was mixed (and, according to the group, retouched)
at Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver with producer Bruce Fair-
192
bairn. The tracks were recorded in various places during their world
tour, notably at Castle Donington. It was made available in a single
CD format, a double CD Special Collectors Edition, as well as
a video, lmed in 35mm by David Mallet during the Monsters Of
Rock festival at Castle Donington. The album went straight into
the US top 20 albums chart and went on to attain Double Platinum
status in the States. We wanted to capture it before the hair and
the teeth drop out, laughed Angus. We didnt want to be on life
support systems. The album really is more for the AC/DC collector.
When youre talking to them at shows, its always the rst thing
they ask When are you guys going to do another live album?
Thats probably the most asked question of anyone in the band. But
we wanted to wait until Brian had a lot of studio albums under his
belt, so hed get a fair shake.
The disc, the bands rst ofcial live album for 14 years, and
Brians rst ever with the band, was a perfect representation of the
group on a collective onstage high. The band had carved out an
impressive array of songs with the Geordie vocalist and they were
collectively itching to have the live renditions captured for posterity. Four of the 14 songs originated on Back In Black, including
Shoot To Thrill, You Shook Me All Night Long, Hells Bells
and the iconic title track. Other Johnsonera tracks included the anthemic Thunderstruck and Who Made Who, which was suitably
pumped up and carried greater dynamism than the original. Were
constantly being bootlegged in Europe and Asia so were bootlegging ourselves, said Brian of unofcial DC products. Both the
live double album and the video have odd songs that werent singles
or that we dont perform very often.
Unless they had access to these bootlegs, it was the rst chance
for some fans to hear Johnsonfronted versions of older AC/DC
numbers such as The Jack, Whole Lotta Rosie and Dirty Deeds
Done Dirt Cheap. Perhaps some were surprised at how capably
Johnson attacked the Bon Scott songs, but he did so with remarkable ease at least it seemed that way. Brian often suggested he had
to try incredibly hard to carry off the older songs in an appropriate
manner.
193

Unlike the often poorquality bootleg material, Live was expertly produced and featured a clear mix that highlighted Johnsons
shredding vocals. Often it was taken as read the Young guitar would
be at the forefront of the sound but Fairbairn and mixing engineer
Ken Lomas had been careful to assert Johnsons rightful place as
front man. Credit also had to go to Chris Slade who seemed to be
the strongest and most creative drummer the group had ever featured in its ranks. More likely to throw in a ll than previous sticks
men, but equally as driven and solid with the beat, Slade was a sight
to behold.
The downside to the album was the lack of atmosphere in
between some songs, caused by the inclusion of tracks from several
different live arenas. Rather than being the record of one continuous
show, the songs jumped from venue to venue, which somewhat diluted the AC/DC live experience. Im not sure where all the songs
on the record come from, said Brian candidly. Ive been so mixed
up with all the tapes being sent back and forth. The songs come
from Moscow, Donington, Scotland, Canada and America. They
didnt want to put too much from one place because somebody
would be insulted. They tried to be a bit diplomatic, but most of it
is from America and Canada. He also said it was great being done
this way, collecting tapes from shows all over the world at different spots.
Nevertheless, the album was a timely gathering of the various
strengths of an AC/DC gig. As Angus would testify, I never hit a
bum note, God forbid! I prefer to call it artistic license. If you were
going to x up that sort of thing, then it becomes a studio album.
Theres the inevitable feedback, the squeaks, the snare drum rattle,
the technical things, you try to pull all that out
The album was to become the bands biggest seller since For
Those About To RockWe Salute You, which seemed to endorse
Angus and Brians assertion the material was strictly for the AC/DC
connoisseur. An added bonus was the time it afforded the group to
come up with new songs. Were pretty lucky at this moment, said
Angus. Weve got a little time to play with. The good thing about it
is we can get to write a whole new record without somebody saying,
194
Come on guys, youve got two weeks to nish it! Hopefully we

can do this next one exactly the way we want.
Brian added, Sure, it gives us a little breathing space until
the next studio album comes out. But we didnt want to put out a
stopgap record. We wanted it to be a little special, to give the fans
a wide choice does putting out all this material mean were cashing in and then packing it up? Im being asked that and Ill tell you,
denitely not.
195

THE PERILS OF ROCK N ROLL
Apart from the disaster in Salt Lake City, the early nineties
saw numerous negative incidents surround AC/DC. On
November 11 th 1990 21 yearold David Gregory was attacked
outside the groups show at the Brendan Byrne Arena in New
Jersey and died a day later in hospital. A state trooper was
cleared of criminal wrongdoing in relation to the incident
(though the Gregory family won a $250,000 settlement).
On November 13 th 1991 while AC/DC were playing a show
in Wellington, New Zealand two fans received stab wounds
and several overdosed. After the show, unruly fans rampaged
through the town damaging cars and shop windows. By the
end of the day, 50 arrests had been made.
196
Chapter 16 Vast Action Heroes

We cant sit on our arses and say the world owes us a living because weve paid our dues. Me; I think if I uff a note Im robbing
the kids. Youre gonna pour it all on until you drop, so even if they
hate you they can still say At least they tried. Angus Young
In 1993 AC/DC made a return to Hollywood, after the success of the Who Made Who soundtrack. There was less work for
them this time; just one track, Big Gun for the tiein album for
the Arnold Schwarzenegger motion picture Last Action Hero. AC/
DCs song was the rst track on the album, and one of the strongest no mean feat on a compilation that included Def Leppard,
Queensrche, Aerosmith, Tesla and Alice In Chains. The song was
produced by Rick Rubin and once again kept AC/DCs name in the
current musical spotlight, introducing them to new fans.
Big Gun was released as a single by Atlantic on June 28,
backed with live versions of Back In Black and For Those About
To Rock, both of which were recorded at the Moscow Monsters Of Rock show in 1991. The video for Big Gun was lmed
at Van Nuys Airport Hangar 104E in Los Angeles and featured
Schwarzenegger, who was a fan of the band, wearing a schoolboy
uniform while mimicking and playing alongside Angus.
It was a wonderful combination of huge and tiny men, and the
interplay between the pair worked well on screen. Angus recalled,
Well, I showed him a dance step for a video. I remember when I
met him; he picked me up with his hand, lifted me to eye level and
said, Hullo Anggoose. We had done a track for his movie, Last
Action Hero, and the lm studio wanted him to be part of the video.
I said to him, Itd be cool if you were in the school suit like me so
they had a big school suit made for him. And the director said, Arnold, see that little runaround Angus does? It would be good if you
could copy it. So I showed him how to do it. The footage of the
band was perfectly timed to coincide with the action in the movie
197

and at the end its left to Arnie to bid goodbye, with the Austrian
saying, thats what I call action.
The soundtrack album brought AC/DC into close proximity
with metal bands such as Anthrax and Megadeth but DC just carried on doing their own thing, resisting easy categorisation.
When youve hung together that long maybe people just get
used to you. They might think, Theyve been around a lot. Maybe
they are good, laughed Angus when asked how the group had managed to carve out a 20year career. I think we have survived because we stayed the same. You try to be yourself. Its a bit late in the
day for us to get out there and chase some trends. When we started
playing, music was very mellow at the time, very middle of the
road. If somebody had said, Whats happening? Whats the buzz
out there for music? It was the Village People, Macho Man. There
was Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, of course, but these acts
were rarely touring at the time. I thought of Zeppelin as a music trip,
like a Yes or something. I never really saw them as a rock and roll
band, even though they might have a stab at the rock and roll thing.
The Stones were more rock and roll. We thought there was room for
a good, tough approach with hard rock music.
Regardless of some connections with older acts Angus still
did not ever consider playing outside of AC/DC and either jamming
with other major names, or making a solo album. Its not a thing
thats ever appealed to me, he explained. Ive never had the idea
to go, even if anyone said to me, Come and play with me. It doesnt
give me a thing. Playing with the guys as AC/DC is what makes it
for me. Thats what makes the sounds. Outside of that, its different.
If I was standing there playing on my own, youd nd it dull. So, I
need my brother, the two of us together. Its the combination.
After a break, AC/DC would begin to write for their second
album of the 1990s. We always seem to know when weve had
enough of a break, said Angus. Though it wasnt as long a break
as some people think. We got together and jammed and the songs
seemed to just fall into place.
At the dawn of 1995, rumours spread that Phil Rudd had returned to the band. At the end of the last DC tour, Malcolm and Angus had bumped into Rudd in New Zealand. Phil asked if there was
198
any chance of playing with them again. So, when the group were
rehearsing in England in early 1995, they asked him to sit down at
the drums and see if the spark was still there.
Weve never tried to say were better than our audience. Theres
a lot of people who come to see us and go, I can do what he does.
Ive never said to an audience, Youre going to have to applaud
cause were here, so stand up and go nuts. AC/DC knows when we
go onstage we go to work. Angus Young
In the 12 years since leaving the band Rudd had got his life
back together. I had plenty of ideas when I left the band that I
hadnt had time to put into practice before, he says. I raced cars,
ew helicopters, learnt to shoot, became a farmer and planted some
crops. I lived in New Zealand which was great; nice and quiet with
nobody bothering me.
Rudd might not have been playing his preferred instrument
much during the period away from AC/DC but he was still involved
with music in other ways. Rudd: I built my own 24track studio
and worked with a few bands, recording and mixing. But I didnt
play drums at all for six years and even since then Ive only played
when I wanted to rather than when I had to. In the end I got together
with a couple of close mates and started to play. We were a real Saturday night band and we got a few tracks together that we could
make a record with. We recorded them in my studio and gave them
to a few people to listen to. They were impressed but if we had taken
it further we wouldve had to go on tour and I wasnt ready for it at
that point.
Rudd missed the camaraderie of the old days, not to mention the early material which AC/DC would always play live. I
loved Powerage and when we rst started rehearsing in England
we started with tunes like Gone Shootin and Whats Next To The
Moon? recalled Phil. It was good. Even on tour we played older
songs like Down Payment Blues and Dog Eat Dog. It only took
ve minutes to feel like Id never been away.
According to his rhythm section partner Cliff Williams, Phil
is really the groove. His play is simple, like mine, still being strong
199

and xable. Chris Slade was more a technician, kind of a studio
shark. Simon, he knew every song! His play was simple too, but he
wasnt Phil Rudd. Phils play is exactly what we need. Moreover,
hes got this sixth sense, a natural feeling. Phil always had a natural
feel for what the band was about. Chris is a fantastic drummer but
Phil ts us like a hand in a glove. So its nothing specic, more of a
feeling. He was in the band even before I joined and when I came in
the group already ran like a welloiled machine. I had to t in with
it and thats what I did.
AC/DC had already begun to record their album in late 1994
at the Sony studios in New York but the sessions would be scrapped
and the group then had to start all over again. They relocated to
Ocean Way studios in Los Angeles and began work proper with
coproducers Rick Rubin and Mike Fraser.
Malcolm Young, commenting on the move from New York to
L.A., said, we jammed a lot this time. And because of the delays in
the studio, we jammed even more! Id say we were together almost
a year just playing, making this album. Things got really tight, the
sort of thing you usually only get on tour. So that gave us a great vibe
in the studio. We want our albums to sound like our best live gigs,
and normally you have to shut your eyes and imagine youre back
onstage again. But this time we were already in the stage mode.
Brian Johnson thought the ve months AC/DC spent recording in L.A. were Brilliant. We were having such a good time I
didnt want to go home! When we all rst got together its always
fun, because you havent got a clue what is going to happen next.
The boys just come in with some riffs I dont know where they get
them from, theyre brilliant. And all I have to do is open my mouth
and shout my tits off.
Rick Rubin made us record every track about 50 times each to obtain the good dynamics and we kept those that had the best feelings.
Sometimes, when we heard the whole tracks, our opinion changed
totally. It was a bit disappointing and I thought wed lose the sacred
re by playing all of those tracks again and again. Cliff Williams
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The idea of recording an album with Rubin came from his

work on the Big Gun track. From doing that he really wanted to
try to do an album with us, said Angus. Different folks, different strokes, I suppose. His approach is a little bit more bare bones.
I dont know what Mutt Lange is up to now, but he was very into
tuning in on what was current in the world. Rubin was certainly
different; in no way did he follow any trends when working with
musicians, especially a group who were as well established as AC/
DC. As Angus would testify: Hes got a good approach because he
doesnt sit there and say Lets make a hit single. Some guys want
you to do a ller because they say Lets make three hit singles.
One of the reasons we used Rick Rubin was to recreate the
feel of the earlier albums, explained returning drummer Rudd. We
wanted to get that classic AC/DC sound back, the sound that suits
us best. Im really pleased with the results. I had the most fun Ive
ever had in a studio with this one. On Rubin, Cliff Williams would
comment, Yeah its good to have young blood. Hes loved the band
for years at least thats what he says and wanted to work with
us some more. He knew that the band has its own sound and knew
what we wanted to hear. He doesnt try to get us to do things that
dont suit us.
Most of the kids in my high school were into bands like Led Zeppelin, Yes and Pink Floyd, and I spent a lot of time hating those bands.
Two bands grabbed me, Aerosmith and AC/DC. DC were kicking
with that great huge guitar. I remember being impressed by all the
things they tell you are wrong volume, power, the simple riffs. And
Bon Scott was just brilliant. Rick Rubin, 1987
The album was to be called Ballbreaker, which summed up
the bands sound, according to its members. We just thought of
the hardest and heaviest thing we could and it came from there,
said Malcolm, It just seemed to sum the whole album up. Equally
descriptive was the rst single from the record, Hard As A Rock.
This featured a glorious guitar lick that, like so much AC/DC material, combined simplicity with an irresistibly catchy quality. Released on September 22nd 1995, the album was a riotous update of
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the classic DC blueprint and would reach the number 4 spot on the
US billboard charts.
There was no arguing about the direction of the material; it
was more good time rock n roll, honing decades of experience and
dynamics into tightknit riffs and melodies. Im really proud of
this album, stated Angus. I can honestly say I love very one of the
songs and thats saying something, coming from a band that started just after the Crucixion. There were no surprises with Ballbreaker, just basic headsdown hard rock played with an audible
sense of fun. Hail Caesar was an update of For Those About To
Rock, a Roman tale of gladiatorial combat, with lyrics such as
Starring in the coliseum, tied upon the rack. Up comes the thumb
of Caesar, to stab you in the backAll hail Caesar, hail, hail!
My rst impressions of Rick Rubin was this big guy, twice my
height, with sunglasses, lying on the oor doing yoga and telling us
what a big AC/DC fan he was Angus Young
Elsewhere, the group were in ne tongue in cheek lyrical form,
penning lyrics such as the questionable paean to the female form,
The Honey Roll: Honey roll over, and lettuce on top. Strap you
to the bed, and make you rock. Run it up the ag, send it on home,
push you to the wall, and make you moan. AC/DC were not winning themselves any more devotees among the ranks of feminists,
but then they had not exactly intended to. Likewise, they were not
likely to be attracting too many new fans with their brand of wise
old rock; though it did seem younger fans were coming to gigs all
the time, eager to see masters at work. The likes of Caught With
Your Pants Down might not have been literary masterpieces but
the music behind the lyrics was as raw and energetic as anything the
group created in the late seventies. Ballbreaker received the overall
thumbs up from dedicated fans and DC were always guaranteed to
ll out concert halls. In some ways, writing a new album was simply an excuse to go on tour and rip it up.
As Brian Johnson put it, AC/DC was just Five blokes who
enjoy getting together and playing some music, making light of the
bands place in rock folklore. But Angus was in agreement that the
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group was tightly knit, both as friends and musicians. We play as a

unit, he conrmed. I think thats why we are what we are. We get
out there and we dont try and go crazy. I mean, Im standing out
there jumping around a lot, but its more nervous energy than anything. Same with Brian. Weve always been pretty out front, and we
always went onstage with that attitude. We always said, If youre
gonna do something make sure you let em know youre doing it!
We have the best jobs in the world. Millions of people love us everywhere we go and we get to visit them whenever we want to tour.
Wed have to be even dumber than we are to give that up. I know
that some bands have internal problems that make life very difcult,
but nothing could be less true where were concerned; we love each
other like brothers. Brian Johnson
For Hard As A Rock, the band worked with director David
Mallet for the seventh time. Four hundred Londonbased AC/DC
fans were invited to the shoot and driven by bus to a soundstage at
Bray Studios in Windsor. Angus spent the majority of the day hanging in midair on a giant demolition ball, on which he eventually
came crashing through a window amidst a hail of fake glass and
(real) exploding reworks. Its scary, laughed Angus. Im not
that brave, and they dont pay me any extra for it! My whole life
was ashing before me up there! David Mallet is always coming up
with these crazy schemes to try and kill me!
We have a gang of fans coming around, said Brian Johnson
of the video. From England, Switzerland, Germany, and we see
them all the time, around the world. In Australia they turn up, and
Im like What the hell are you doing here? Well, we knew you are
down here playing so we came here for two weeks. And in Japan,
the same guys were there. I couldnt believe it. Well, my brother is
a chef with the band we just cook some great stuff, hes fantastic
and I see the lads, and ask have they eaten. No, we havent, you
know, its a bit of an expensive place this, Japan. And I say come
on guys, have some beer and food. Its the least you can do. On the
last tour we gave them tour jackets that the band got. Sometimes
I give them special shirts that I wear onstage. This is our way of
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saying thank you, its the only way we can. But now I have noticed
that I can spot some them in the audience during the show, like in
Boston I was thinking Carl Allen? What the hell you are doing
here? Its absolutely stunning, I cant believe these guys. But it is a
wonderful feeling, not many bands have that loyalty which kept us
going through the good and the bad years.
AC/DC began its Ballbreaker world tour in America on January 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina, with The Poor as support
act. Bons mother, 78 yearold Isa Scott, showed up to give the
boys support at the rst date. Just two weeks into their American
tour however, the band were forced to cancel four shows after the
unexpected death of Brian Johnsons father. Brian left the tour in
San Antonio on January 28 and immediately ew home to Britain
to attend the funeral. He was back for the Oakland show on February 3rd. This not only proved his dedication to the band, but also
the groups continuing allegiance to their legions of fans proved
there was still a long way to go and more shows to play for AC/DC.
Some people suggested the Ballbreaker tour would be the last for
the band. Cliff Williams responded, No way! As long as the public
will want us and were able to be good, theres no reason to stop.
AC/DC is the best thing that ever happened to me, so I hope with
of all my heart well continue. And our concerts are good, the kids
have fun. We dont pretend to give something deep and intellectual,
just good rock n roll!
We want to go everywhere, even places no man or woman
has boldly gone before, Angus said. Now that the Wall has come
down theres more and more places to play in the East. And Asias
opening up more, and it wants its slab of Western culture and
who better to do it than AC/DC! Clearly the group were still doing
something right, as many of the shows they played were sold out
and during the year AC/DC received an award from Warner Music International to commemorate the sale of more than 80 million
albums worldwide (this was with the exception of Australia and
New Zealand, where the band had also sold millions of records).
Also in the same year an 84minute video, entitled For Those About
To Rock We Salute You was released, taking in the footage of the
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Moscow show AC/DC had played alongside Metallica, The Black

Crowes and Pantera.
Malcolm shrugged off suggestions that Ballbreaker was AC/
DCs last stand. Weve been going so long they always say that.
No, were gonna keep on rocking. We dont know any better!
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GOT YOU BY THE BALLS
The American part of the Ballbreaker tour ended in Dallas on April 4 1996. On April 20, the European tour began
in Oslo with the British band The Wildhearts opening for
AC/DC. In July, the band played three nights in the Plaza de
Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, Spain. The second show was
filmed for a video project. The European part of the Ballbreaker tour ended on July 13 in Bordeaux, France, with
a small festival with the French band Silmarils, The Wildhearts and Brazilian veteran metallers Sepultura.
In 2002 a DVD version of the Clipped video compilation
was released, which also included the promos for Big Gun
and Hard As A Rock. The latter was filmed in 130 heat
but the fans, who had travelled from around the world to
see the group in action did not seem to mind. One fan from
Bavaria told the cameras he had been following AC/DC for
17 years, the band is my life. The general performance was
basic DC but there was an appearance from a wrecking ball
in a demolition scene; whereby Angus was perched on top
of the ball. This was some achievement as he doesnt like
heights and was left 80 feet in the air!
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Chapter 17 Short Changed

Take your save the trees issue. I mean, my guitar is made of wood.
A tree has been chopped down to make that guitar. Id be a hypocrite cause Ive got about 21 of those bits of wood. Thats probably
one tree in itself. Every rock n roll musicians got a wooden guitar,
including Sting. Its hypocritical. Angus Young
As the new millennium arrived, AC/DC prepared yet another
studio album to placate their long time fans, originally known as
Smokin but eventually released as Stiff Upper Lip. Never mind reports of the band losing hair and being too old to rock n roll, it
seemed no one could prevent them from making music and travelling all over the planet to perform it live. However, tragedy was
again to affect the group in 2000. During a concert in Ghent, Belgium, a fan climbed onto a chair during an encore before slipping
and falling some 13 metres onto a concrete oor below. He later
died in hospital.
The customary question of Is this the last AC/DC album?
was met with typical deance from Angus Young. Its the last one
til the next one, he would say. Brian Johnson would concur, Yeah
its a bit like a bus. There will be another one along in a minute.
There would always be an element of rebelliousness about
AC/DC, even as its members passed their 50th birthdays. As soon
as they start liking you I think then youve got a problem, Angus told Circus magazine, referring to the media generally. Weve
never been one to make yourself look nice or pretty or acceptable.
Angus recounted a story, which was typical of the kinds of remarks the media would often make to him or the other members of
the band. This DJ came into our dressing room and said, Hi, Im
so and so from so and so, I used to listen to your albums a few years
ago and, to be honest with you, I didnt like them, but these kids
kept ringing up and requesting them and gradually Ive grown to
like it. And I just said to him, Pal, with us you either like it or hate
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it and if you didnt like it then Ill be buggered if you like it now. I
just told him what I thought and showed him the door.
AC/DC has survived because weve never changed direction, never given in to trends. Thats why there havent been any solo projects
from within the band. No one has ever wanted to. Our music doesnt
go out of fashion because it isnt about fashion. I hear about all
these different kinds of music: grunge, hardcore, death metal. And
all it is is rock n roll. Brian Johnson
Songs such as All Screwed Up and Come And Get It were
once again the subject of prurient scrutiny. Interviewers asked
whether AC/DC was still driven by their libidos. Its what people on the street say, man, responded Brian. Working lads, thats
where their heads are at. Its not just the fellas, either added Angus. Malcolm worked in a bra factory, and that was with, like,
1,000 women. You should have seen these women. They would go,
Mal, my machines down. And hed go in and say, Theres nothing wrong with your machine. And while hes on the oor, theyre
patting his head and rubbing his butt.
As for the explanation for still playing straightforward rock
n roll, the response was reassuringly basic. Brian Johnson: Hell,
I still like Chuck Berry playing rock and roll, and he doesnt turn
around and come on like Martin Luther King and start giving me
a lecture. I like Little Richard and he doesnt tell me what to do.
These people lived it. I read this thing about Louis Armstrong and
the hardships he went through in his life. And yet heres this guy
coming on so happy just to be on a stage playing and performing.
Hes having a great time, and thats how I view it. We are in a great
job. We get to do what we love most, make music. We get to travel.
And were happy.
Our music comes from the heart. Its always been there. People put
you down for playing rock n roll you know. Well, fuck those people.
You have got to do your own thing. Brian Johnson
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The happiness was evident throughout the material on Stiff

Upper Lip. Much like Ballbreaker it centred on composing familiar
styled material, with a very slight modern twist in the production.
The sound of the album was crisp, clear and upfront. At least in studio terms, AC/DC were brought crashing into the modern era. Stiff
Upper Lip might have been on a par with material from the Flick Of
The Switch album, which had received a mixed reception. At least,
unlike that album, and certainly Fly On The Wall, the newest AC/
DC record brimmed with a vibrant, punchy sound. Although there
were a few complaints by some at the lack of ambition shown by the
group, they were in the minority.
Furthermore, and more blatantly than previously, the band
steered further into traditional blues on many of the albums tracks.
It was still clearly AC/DC of course, as Angus conrmed. Its good
when you can hear something and straightaway go, Thats them.
Somebody said to us once that you can instantly identify a Rolling
Stones track. I said, Hey, with them you might hear it in a couple
of chords, but weve got it in one! You hear Back In Black and
its just one chord. And that will crack it straight away. Highway To
Hell was another one.
The album was recorded in the Vancouver studio belonging to
soft rocker Bryan Adams. It was kind of strange, thought Johnson. I didnt know it was his until we were recording, and one day,
in walks Bryan Adams. Apparently, hes a nonsmoking vegetarian,
and heres our lead singer cooking all this meat and making bacon
sandwiches. With this bacon smell oating around everywhere, he
walks into the studio and its full of cigarette smoke. So that was his
introduction to us.
In a strange turn of events, Brian Johnson would have to go
out and buy one of his own albums. As he was asked whether he
collected AC/DC memorabilia, as had been a rumour for some time,
he answered, From us? No! Every time I get an AC/DC record, I
just sign it and give it away to a fan. I dont have any of them left.
But on this album, I had to go out and buy it. They forgot to send
me one. And I got to the store and it was quite an embarrassment.
They said What are you buying this for? I havent got a copy of it,
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thats why. Sometimes they forget these silly things, like sending
the record to the artist.
Brian was also peeved at the companys choice of single. Im
still angry that they didnt release Cant Stand Still as a single,
he said later. I couldnt believe that they chose Satellite Blues instead of Cant Stand Still. But thats just me personally. We dont
have a choice; its up to them. They just say, We want this, because
we think it will sell more. But I think on this they were terribly
wrong. First single Stiff Upper Lip was great. But I would have
chosen Cant Stand Still because it didnt have a high and low, just
simple straightahead rock. It just rocks. And Im amazed that it
wasnt taken out as a single. We did that all the way through without
any breaks. It is just beautiful rock n roll.
Nothing, it appeared, could prevent AC/DC from knocking
out material and entertaining their fans, which was what it was all
about, according to Angus. We are there as a rock n roll band to
give fun and entertainment, he said. And we dont want to go out
there and bullshit an audience. An audience can smell bullshit from
a fucking mile away. It might wash once but when you come on
twice, be prepared for the ripe tomato. When we started in the clubs
our attitude was, we had one intention rock n roll! And we go for
the same thing nowAC/DC never got sidetracked, to go this way
or that way. We know what we do best, we play rock music.
Continuing his theories, Angus pondered, I never take it seriously. Rock n roll music was meant to be fun. I pick up a guitar and
play it for enjoyment. If somebody says to me, do you think youre
alienating an audience, are you being sexist, are you being this, are
you being that? Are you doing harm to anyone out there? Hey, thats
the last thing on my mind. The rst thing is to get out there and have
fun. In accordance with Anguss opinions, Brian remarked, Were
just pranksters more than anything. Youre having fun. And thats
all there is. Its not meant to harm anyone.
As for the longterm future of the band, Angus commented,
I dont think I could walk on that stage and do what I do or any of
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the lads do if we couldnt be honest. If it all went bad, we would

feel it more than anyone. I couldnt get out there and rip people off
in any way shape or form. If theres one thing I believe in, then its
that. Weve just kept plugging away at what we do. I know that
sounds like a simple answer but Ive never tried to write songs for
any particular reason other than to do what I think is good. Yeah,
theres a lot of people out there who write music they think other people will like, and then those people end up wondering why
theyre not successful at it. If wed tried to write songs for those reasons, wed probably be unemployed alongside those people. Luckily, weve been able to keep doing it, and hopefully it will continue
for a while.
Theres not a day goes by when I dont pick up a guitar. And Im
getting there. Ive got two ngers going now! Angus Young
Brian was adamant that AC/DC always did things their way,
even if that may have been different to other acts. Weve never
pulled any punches, he stated. We just play music thats fun and
simple, the way our audience likes it. Were not gonna write some
real serious political stuff that has no meaning to us leave that for
someone else to do. Were not here to save the world; were here
to play rock music. Thats what we do, and thats why were still
around.
A lot has happened since our days with Bon, Angus reected. But at the same time, I dont think music has really changed
that much over the years. Its still all about making good music and
the fans liking it. The business side of it hasnt really changed too
much either, theres still the same kind of problems to deal with.
You always hear about how all these revivals or new trends are taking place, but as far as Im concerned were just trying to do what
were good at.
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2000 also saw the 20th anniversary of the death of Bon Scott,
and there were many tributes. One in particular was a real reminder
of the bands roots.
Simon Croft, the guitarist with Thunderstruck the worlds
no 1 AC/DC tribute band rang me just after Christmas 2000 to let
me know that his band was doing a special show on the 19th Feb
which was the 20th anniversary of Bon Scotts death, explained
Dave Evans, the man who preceded Bon as the bands singer. I
had worked with Simon in the 80s. As I had known Bon before he
joined AC/DC, I asked Simon if he would like me to y down to
Melbourne from Sydney and do a couple of numbers with his band.
He said it would be great and that I could do as many numbers as
I wanted. I then realised that this was rock history in the making
and that the AC/DC fans worldwide would be interested in this historic event so I arranged for the tribute to be recorded and videoed
live.
As for the track listing, Evans commented, I chose the rst
few songs from what I had recorded and sung with AC/DC to show
my credentials. The other songs I felt told the story of Bons rise,
his pinnacle, his personal fears and his epitaph: Its A Long Way
To The Top If You Want To Rock N Roll, T.N.T., Ride On and
Highway To Hell. It was very electric, very emotional. The basic
feel and excitement has never changed in over 30 years and so it
continued to be a phenomenal success.
AC/DCs status as a surere moneyspinner was now set in
stone. The merest hint of a gig by the legends could sell out venues
in the most unlikely places, as the organisers of a jazz festival in
Finland discovered in 2002. A man claiming to be George Young
took a substantial advance from the organisers of the Pori Jazz Festival, claiming that AC/DC would perform as part of a threeconcert
tour, comprising the somewhat elongated itinerary of Melbourne,
London and Pori, a town on the Gulf of Bothnia, in southeast Finland. Explaining the unlikely decision to book the nofrills rockers
for a jazz event, the festivals managing director, Hannu Hakala,
212
explained: We were interested because the band is genuinely interested in the Aboriginals of their country, and some of them would
have played at the Pori concert. Our part of the deal was to get Smi
(indigenous Lapp) musicians for the concert.
George Young, unsurprisingly, vanished, having relieved
the organisers of tens of thousands of euros.
213

BILLBOARD REPORT ON AC/DC SIGNING FOR EPIC
RECORDS DECEMBER 2002
AC/DC Rides The Highway To Epic.
Australian rock icons AC/DC have signed a multialbum
deal with Epic, the first fruit of which will be refurbished reissues of seminal albums such as Back In Black, Highway to
Hell, and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, due early next year.
Further reissues will follow, all of which will sport new liner
notes and rare photos, and utilize Sonys proprietary Connected technology to unlock special online content created
for each release.
It is understood that AC/DCs next studio album, due sometime next year, will complete the groups contractual obligation to Elektra. AC/DC has spent the past 26 years of its career recording under the Warner Music Group umbrella. The
groups back catalogue is one of the most consistent sellers
on Billboards Top Pop Catalogue chart. According to Epic
parent Sony, 1980s Back In Black has sold 41 million copies
worldwide, making it the sixth highestselling album in history. It has sold 318,000 copies this year alone, according to
Nielsen Sound Scan.
The move to Epic reunites AC/DC with Epic chairman Dave
Glew, who previously worked with the group at Atlantic, as
well as Epic executive VP/GM Steve Barnett, formerly the
groups manager. The new deal brings 16 of AC/DCs 18
U.S. releases to the label, which plans to also reissue some
of the albums on vinyl and compile DVD releases.
Today AC/DC is going stronger than ever, making it a true
pleasure to welcome the band into the Sony Music family,
and an honour to have the opportunity to bring both their
classic repertoire and new releases to fans across the coun-
214
try and around the world, Sony Music chairman/CEO Thomas D. Mottola said in a statement.
AC/DCs last Elektra studio set, Stiff Upper Lip, debuted
in March 2000 at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 and has sold
842,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Sound Scan.
The title track from that album hit No. 1 on Billboards
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Meanwhile, Image Entertainment has set a Feb. 18 release
date for the DVD Rockmasters AC/DC, capturing an Oct.
27, 1977, concert in London. The video finds the band, at
the time fronted by the late Bon Scott, running through such
favourites as Let There Be Rock, T.N.T., and Bad Boy
Boogie.
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Chapter 18 For Those About To Rock Again

Im not going bald, my heads just getting higher Angus Young
In 2003 AC/DC were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame, a scenario that was accepted with the usual good grace and
humour by the band. Yeah, we got on and did a few songs and
watched people wearing the tuxes and the evening gowns get up
and go nuts, said Brian. People were saying to us, thank fuck for
AC/DC because it had been all speeches up until then. Its very nice
that so many bands have respect for us, but it does make me feel
very uncomfortable. Ive always felt much of our appeal was based
on the fact that anyone in the crowd could look up at us on stage and
think, Hey, that could be me up there. We are always making sure
that we keep that good feeling between us and the fans, and I think
if they look at us as legends that would be difcult. Id rather have
everyone just think of us as a good rock and roll band.
That was unquestionable but the fact remained that some
of AC/DCs records had become imperishable rock classics. So,
could the band members tell when they had a potential nugget on
their hands? Usually I can tell while were making it, said Brian.
Obviously I think all our records are good, or we wouldnt release
them. But there are certain songs that just get your foot tapping right
away. I dont like to sell our music to people; I like to think that they
buy it because they like it. But the fact that a lot of people seem to be
buy our albums only makes me believe that were doing what were
supposed to doing and thats playing good ol rock and roll.
Despite the bands backtobasics, traditionalist approach,
they have given in to many of the technological changes that have
occurred in the music industry over the last 30plus years, from videos and compact discs to, more recently, the Internet do check out
www.acdc.net for an idea of what a band site can achieve. Brian,
however, had a particular gripe about the Internet. I gotta tell you,
one of the troubles in the Internet and some of the fanzine things, is
rumours, he grumbled. These mischief makers. Like, such and
216
such is not going to make the gig this year, like Phil wasnt going
to come on this tour. And we were looking at this and thought, why
would anybody want to put that down? There is no reason for it. Or
I wont be there. You know, like in America, in 21 years in twenty
one years I missed one gig. Because I was so sick that the doctor
wouldnt let me, he said I cant let you on stage, Mr Johnson youre
gonna mess the rest of the tour if you go tonight. Blood level was
that high, you know. We were just working too hard. So the doctor
said I cant let you go, youre gonna kill yourself. And I cancelled
the gig. Within 24 hours I had left the band, I had been sacked; I
was going to join other band, et cetera. I was like holy shit, one
gig in 21 years. It wasnt that bad in the eighties, the rumours were
just hearsay, you know it goes in to your left ear and out from your
right. But now with the Internet, because its the written word, people believe it. People believe anything that is written.
For me, you just cannot whack rock n roll, because it just does not
tell any lies, you know? Brian Johnson
Despite the obvious cyber waste, which could affect even
an institution such as AC/DC, the band members still liked to keep
an eye on fancreated websites, as Brian explained. The band does
that all the time. As we like to browse and see whats put on there
that is true, what is not true. You know, you cant do anything about
it, because if you write Hi, this is Brian... you lying piece of shit...
nobody would believe you. So they wouldnt believe it anyway. Its
the problem of the Internet; people can put anything they like there,
because nobody can identify them. Nobody knows who you are.
You can get a nickname like Great Fish Blue living in Kansas
and sitting in your room, mischief making. But thankfully there
are lot of fans who are really good, they do try to get reliable information. Like the Dirty Deeds boys Michel Remy & friends from
Belgium, they are good boys. In some cases they have been a little
naughty too. We let them in the studio in Vancouver. They asked if
they could come and visit, I said sure. And they came and we let
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them into the studio. They took photographs, but what they did was
take a photo of a list of songs hanging on the wall...
This supposed leak of details about a forthcoming album
made it to the Internet. You gotta be careful, Brian stated. But
thats their job, they want to get the info rst. So I said Ten out of
ten points to you. To let them in and let them take photographs. But
you see what happened straight after that, that was when the mischief started, people started make things up; the album was going to
be called such and such, which it wasnt. Somebodys going to do
this, which it never did...
In this story the rumour was actually posted that Angus was
going to sing on an AC/DC song, which of course was met with a
mixture of surprise and elation for many fans. It was me but they
thought it was Angus, Brian recalled. I was just starting Stiff Upper Lip, I was out on the drive... and they thought it was Angus
singing. Because Angus sings like that. And that kind of misinformation gets out there. Of course its bad. But its our part of the
game the music. And the good thing is that at least people are interested to know. Which makes us happy. When people like to know
what were going to do and what were thinking. So its got good
and bad sides. The Internet is a curse and a wonderwall.
I dont follow newsgroups that much myself. A lot of it is just not
true so its not worth watching. Its just like sitting in the pub. The
weirdest rumours on the band can be heard in the pub, like somebody may have a sore throat, and at the end of the evening he is
going to a throat operation Brian Johnson
Although Brian was annoyed about the loose grasp of reality
displayed on unofcial fan sites, he was even more damning about
content providers who should have known better. I think that the
last time I went on the record companys website which was Elektras I got on there but its full of advertisements, he said. You
get the feeling What are you doing here? So they use it as an advertisement platform, they cant win over the fan sites. They are our
record company. I never forget about one situation... how dumb can
they be? fucking dumb!
218
Brians scorn for the suits extended beyond cyberspace, however. We were in Argentina, he said, and the head of our record
company, the lady in charge, phoned up Sarasota (Florida) where
I live and had a contact to my race shop, where we build racing
cars. And she said Could I speak to Brian, I really need to talk to
him immediately and Tomas Ransen, a Swedish guy answered and
asked Who is this? Well, its the record company, we want Brian
to come and sing a song on this new bands album, to do a duet with
the singer. I have forgot the bands name by now. And Tomas said
You are the record company? Im afraid I dont believe you.
So the lady shouts How dare you, WE ARE THE RECORD
COMPANY, this is our number, ring us back, and Ill prove it.
So Tomas rang back, and yes it was the record company. Tomas
said You want Brian? So when do you want him? The lady answered If he could try to get to Miami by tomorrow, that would be
wonderful! Tomas: You dont know hes in Buenos Aires? Lady:
Pardon? Hes in Buenos Aires, hes on tour. They have just been
awarded a platinum album in Argentina from your company, and
you dont know he is there? So the lady was like Ooops, sorry...
You know what I mean. It can be as dumb as that. She didnt
even know that we were on tour, and she was the head of the record
company. I wont give any names, to protect the innocents. AC/
DC nally left the Atlantic label after almost 30 years but there
was no love lost. As Angus put it, We were one of their biggest
selling artists, but I dont know what we meant to them. They put
out some anniversary album to celebrate their acts and we werent
even on it.
We always like to feed the kids who follow us everywhere. Theres
always a lot of food back stage; more then we can eat. So as soon
as we are leaving the venue we say Okay guys! And the kids come
in with their haversacks and ll them up, so they can get to the next
gig. Brian Johnson
In 2004 Angus Young discussed the outlook of the group in
modern times. In typical fashion he observed, The style of the music is still the same. We still play hard rock or rock and roll music.
219

Thats what we started with and we still play it now. We just try to
nd new ways of presenting it, and for us, that is always a challenge
to come up with a new idea, turn it into AC/DC and still retain that
style. Weve recorded a lot of material over the years and, in a way,
you have to be your own editor. We look at it all, but we dont let
every one of the songs we write go out there. We try to pick the best
of what weve got.
As for writing and presenting that music to the public, the
outlook was reassuringly AC/DC. I try to nd new ways of playing things and Ive always had a thing where I dont put a guitar
lick into something just for the sake of putting a guitar lick into
something, Angus said. I like everything to have a groove and
go with the track and besides that, you do like it to shine out, too,
so it doesnt come across as just being in there as ller. As for Anguss guitar hero, Chuck Berry, it was nice to know the legendary
player was still treading the boards on stage. I saw him recently in
Australia, and he was great said Angus. I saw Buddy Guy at the
Roxy in L.A. while we were making the record, great show. To me
these guys are timeless. Muddy Waters was the same. You look at
them and they ooze youthfulness. Me and Malcolm both like the
blues. Its between that and the early rock and roll, Little Richard
and Chuck Berry. For us that is rock music. All the other things that
you hear, like the current trends, Top 10s, and the latest, thats all
that they are, trends. But I think all of those other things are timeless.
Angus was asked whether he enjoyed anything he might see
or hear on the television or radio. Not really, he responded. I
hear the odd tune or maybe I might hear a bit of classical on the
TV. But Ive never zeroed in and gone, Whats that? Whereas with
blues music, even if Ive seen an old documentary and theres somebody banging on a piece of wood in the back, Ill try and nd out
who it is. Thats what I grew up with and liked best. Maybe its the
lack of rhythm in classical and other things. I like rhythm more than
anything. But I know theres heaps of music out there, and Im sure
theyre all good at whatever theyre doing.
Still, there is not going to be any chance of an MTV Unplugged album from AC/DC. When asked if the band would ever
220
go unplugged, Anguss response was characteristically cheeky. An

undrugged sort of thing? Haha. I dont know. When things are in
fashion, you get one band to do something and they all do it. We
tend to stray away from a lot of the trends. I suppose its good for
the people who can do it. Sometimes weve sat there, and Mal might
pick up an acoustic
And there is the dening character of the group. They will
never change, and for that their fans rightly love them. When AC/
DC nally bow out of the world of rock, they will do so with their
respect intact and an arsenal of classic records behind them, albums that will be successfully reissued for successive generations.
The band has always appealed to the underdog, the naughty kid
at school, the loner rocker and the heavy metaller as much as the
biker and even the punk. You will be hard pushed to nd a group
with more widespread appeal than AC/DC, and for that they must
be saluted.
221
October 2004 AC/DC now has a city laneway named after

them. On October 1, 2004, Lord Mayor John So of Melbourne erected the sign for AC/DC Lane. The unveiling
was accompanied by cheers from fans present and a bagpipe player who belted out Its A Long Way To The Top
(If You Wanna Rock N Roll). The newly named AC/DC
Lane is parallel with Swanston Street, which was the setting for the video to the song, filmed in 1976. The Mayor
announced the sign with a quick speech, saying, As the
song says, this is a highway to hell. But I say this is a
lane to heaven. Let us rock, as he pumped his fists in
the air. The city made sure it produced plenty of copies
of the sign, anticipating that the groups fans might take
the original as a souvenir. Councillor Kimberley Kitching
said, We would expect it would be pretty hard to get it off
though, youd have to come with some pretty good equipment.
Many members of Australias music scene were present to
honour the band that made Melbourne their home in the
1970s. I think the whole band would be blown away
Im sure if Bon was still alive he would be very proud,
said Aussie music business legend Ian Molly Meldrum.
The only downside, of which Bon would undoubtedly not
approve, is the fact the Office of the Registrar of Geographic Names would not allow the lightning bolt between
the AC and the DC.
222
Chapter 19 The SG Spot

Id always wanted an SG, I think the cutaway horns reminded me
a bit of myself Angus Young
Such is the importance attached to the guitar style of AC/DC,
and indeed the guitar itself, you may have wondered where the guitar talk was for much of the book. Ladies and Gentlemen, here is
the SG Spot, a dedication to Angus Young and his ubiquitous guitar
and Malcolm and Anguss playing style, plus more. Though Angus
will often tell interviewers his guitar style is simple, there is perhaps
an element of modesty at play, characteristic of AC/DCs attitude to
life in general. Angus and Malcolm stick to basic chords and also
power chords, both of which are amongst the rst things an aspiring rock guitarist will learn. However its the quick combination of
the varying chords, and a complicated spread of notes which sets
AC/DC apart from modern rock n rollers. For a small man Angus
can sure spread his ngers across the guitar neck to get the best and
most appropriate sounds. I have a very small reach, says the guitarist. When I sweat a lot, my ngers seem to go apart for miles.
Theyll stretch on their own once they get really loosened. Ive only
got a small hand so I use all my ngers to bend strings. I really push
it with all my ngers backing it up.
Most of the speed for guitar work comes from his left hand, as
Angus says there is a lot he can do without picking. In concert he often performs solos with just the left hand. When I was smaller and
wanted to learn to play, I thought maybe Id toughen my left hand
up, he explains. But then I found it was always easier just to use
the two as much as possible. Dont think of technique or anything,
just play. Some guys play chords with their thumb, some guys with
their pinkie. Thats how I sort of learned for myself. I used to play
with my thumb and make up my own sort of little chords, what I
could do here and there. I just use them. I dont know any sort of
positions or things like that.
223

We ddle about, usually, is Anguss perspective on creating riffs. You go between different chords. We play a lot of open
chords. Mal will ddle around sometimes and try and come up with
a couple of different things, even with chords and stuff. When we
grew up, we never had chord books. We just played. Its like you see
someone hit a chord and then you go, Ive got six strings. I better
use them all. Now, we might use two or one. When we were recording things with my other brother, George, he used to say, Look,
that strings rattling. Take it off. Wed tape it up just for the sound.
Sometimes people get all the bits and gadgets and everything and
think, Im going to use it all. We listen and hear the song rst. If
somethings not right we try some other way. Sometimes, playing
live and jumping off monitors and generally up and down can create trouble in terms of the tuning of the guitars. When you jump
off things, yeah, you can have problems, conrms Angus. But its
basically down at the guitar. Some guitars sit well the tunings stay
in no matter what you do. Ive got a few of them that wont for the
love of anything stay in tune. You can just use them for a second
and they go out.
Are any of my solos particularly difcult? It depends. If somebody
says, Roll around on the oor, and I want you to spin around at 100
miles an hour and whistle Dixie or something, it can be. The style
of a solo might be difcult, but I dont think the actual thing itself is
if you know what youre doing. Angus Young
Angus, like his brother, now has a wide range of guitars, including Fenders and acoustics as well as his trusty Gibsons. I would
say my favourite one is from about 67 or 68, he comments. It
used to have one of those engraved metal things on the back with
the little arm the tremolo, but I replaced it with another tail piece.
Ive got a couple of them that have the vibrato arm. However, he
rarely uses the tremolo arm. There are songs where I can do it for
the sake of convenience, for tuning or something. Ive used it on
some songs in the studio for growling, but mainly I would do that
with a tuning key because you can go up a way or down a way. But
224
Ive got one thats all set up and put there on the stage, and if I want
to, I might use it just for a song.
When the boys were growing up, guitars were available in
Australia but, as Angus has said, It used to be very expensive
there because they came from America. I bought one when they
got cheap. The rst electric guitar Angus ever purchased was the
Gibson SG and he still uses it to this day. I played other guitars
too, though, he said. I had an acoustic guitar rst. My mum got
it for 10 bucks when I was nine or so. She got both me and Malcolm one, so there would be no ghting over it. There was always
a guitar around the house. Always some brother that had a guitar
lying around somewhere. I always wanted an SG as a kid. I had a
friend from San Francisco who went to school with me in Sydney.
He had a Gibson guitar catalogue and when I looked through it and
saw the SG, I said, Thats my guitar! I always liked the shape of
it and when I got a hold of my rst one, I was in love with it. Ive
always thought it was a great guitar. The shape of the SG has the
little horns, its red and its a little devilish. Its also lightweight. Of
course, I like the sound of it, too.
In the early years, Angus was tempted to shift his allegiance,
but never seriously. I tried a Les Paul once, he recalled, but Im
a little guy and the SG just felt more balanced. Just as I came out
of school, I saved up all my pesos and went to the guitar shop. As
soon as I saw the SG, I knew it was that one I wanted. It was so easy
for me to play. I always thought that it was just a runofthemill
Gibson, that they were all basically like that, and that you might
get better ones. Over the years, Ive never found one that was the
same as it. And the other thing when I saw the Beach Boys with a
Stratocaster, I think that also swayed me the other way. It didnt
look right. And that surng thing was popular at the time. So inextricably linked is Angus with the guitar, that there is now an Angus
Young Signature model, made to his own specications (and with a
demonic Angus cartoon on the head).
Angus said that one of the things he loved was the the double
cutaway, for a start. If you think youre clever youll get all the way
up the neck, and you dont have to worry about being a contortionist and bending over. I know a lot of people that will go, Ah, yeah,
225

Les Paul, Les Paul, but the SGs got the same neck. I dont think
theres many more in the Gibson line with a similar neck. If youre a
little guy like me, the balance makes it a lot easier to play. The only
other guitar I could really get around on was a Tele, because of the
size. But Ive always liked the SG, plus with Gibsons you can get a
certain tone. Theyre all different, whereas with a Fender type thing
theyve got a similarity that goes a lot of the way through. What I
didnt like about Fenders, probably because I was never a fan of the
surf type thing was they always make a clicky click click sound.
With the SG you dont get that click. You get a mellower tone, a
little bit more bottom end.
Whatever you play, somewhere along the line guys will rip it off.
People like Hendrix were always abused; everyone got into that
sort of thing. I never did. I just sit on what I can do and feel Angus
Young
As far as the neck of the guitar is concerned Angus likes it as
thin as possible. The rst one I had was a very small, thin neck. I
showed it to a guy from Gibson, and he wanted to do some photos of
it and look at the pickups. I said, Could you get me one the same
as this? And he went, Ive never seen one like it. It wasnt shaved
either. It had come direct from their factory. It had all the original
pieces. Ive got another guitar thats a reject, and its an incredible
guitar. I said, If you can make a few more rejects, Ill like them,
too! The pickups that they make are good, says Angus regarding the original Gibson pickups he likes to leave in the guitar. Ive
even got a couple of their newer ones that are really good. Ive also
got a few different pickups that a guy in England made for me once.
He knows how I like guitars because he used to repair them all the
time. They are basically the same as Gibsons. So, if Im in England,
Ill use him. If Im in the U.S., Ill try and get a Gibson one.
Im more interested in bands than guitarists. I like the Yardbirds,
some of the early Who, Stones. When it comes to solos and things,
the guitar can be exciting. You like to see rock music be very hard
226
and tough, but a lot of that seems to be gone. People just seem to
be worried about how many tricks they can do. Someone like Eddie
Van Halen ddles around a lot, and it tends to be like guitar exercises. People like Hendrix knew how to rip the hell out of it, but they
still knew there had to be rhythm in there, too. Thats whats missing
a lot nowadays. Its a bit like Deep Purple, its all technical, but
theres none of the rhythm to back it up. Angus Young
227

EQUIPMENT
Musicians with money usually buy expensive tuners when

their sharps are a little flat. But who ever heard of a musician with money? If youre broke like the rest of us, heres
an option: simply slap on AC/DCs Its a Long Way to the
Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll). The song has only one
chord. If you can figure out which one it is, hold the chord
with one hand and twist the pegs with the other until you
sound just like Angus. If that fails, just follow the example
of Sonic Youth and forego tuning altogether. Remember:
one mans noise is another mans art. Turds of Wisdom,
Guitar WORLD, April 1997
228
AC/DC Tour Equipment 1980 Back in Black UK Tour:
Angus
2 Gibson SG guitars
2 Radio Transmitters
3 Marshall 100 Watt Stacks
Malcolm
Gretsch Falcon
Gretsch Rock Jet
3 Marshall 100 Watt Stacks
1 Marshall 50 Watt Combo
Cliff
Fender Precision Bass

Fender Jazz Bass
3 Marshall 8 x 10s
3 Ampeg Suites
Phil
Sonor Custom Kit

Zildjan Cymbals
Brian
The TwoTon Bronze Bell
229

THE RECORDING OF BALLBREAKER.
To record the Ballbreaker album Angus Young used 3 Gibson
SG guitars. The primary guitar he used was a 1964 model
and he played with Ernie Ball regular gauge strings .010 but
with a .048 on the lower E. For solos he used a 1968 model
strung with Ernie Ball super slinkys. For Power chords he
played another 1968 model with Super slinkys. Malcolm
Young used the same 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird he has
used since the start of AC/DC although the guitar has been
altered through the years. For strings he used .012 .056
Gibson strings with a wound G (.025).
When it comes to strings, Angus likes to change them fairly
often, Every show they have to be changed, he says.
Nobody plays them in. They just give them a tug and pull
them in. And then Ill get a hold of them and pull them in
just to make sure. Theres nothing worse then going onstage
and being out of tune. Angus rarely uses effects pedals,
explaining, I just have a Schaffer Vega wireless system.
For me, it is probably the best. Ive tried a few other ones,
and they sort of cut out. The further you get away, the
weaker the signal. The Schaffer seems to stay; it seems to
keep going even if there are obstructions. Ive been outside
of buildings and played with that, and it still fires up really
well. Equipment is important to Angus and AC/DC, but it
is simply used as a means of getting a message across, there
are no audio tricks being used to produce a specific sound.
I like it to work, is about as technical a view as Angus is
likely to have but he does concede, It is a big, important
thing. On the stage, we know how to use those amps and
everything. They are always repaired after the tours. They
are a good, reliable amp, Marshall. I very seldom have ever
had problems with them.
In 1995, Malcolm collaborated with guitar manufacturers
Gretsch to come up with a new version of his guitar. The
Malcolm Young Autograph is based on his old Jet Firebird,
230
and comes in one and twopickup models. It comes factory

strung with .012s, which is the usual gauge that Malcolm
uses. Malcolm played several of these, along with his old
reliable one, during the Ballbreaker tour.
Malcolm has played a Gretsch Rock Jet stripped of all
controls except the volume for a number of years. He used
to have a Gretsch White Falcon too, but says that after
someone fixed it, it lost the sound he liked it for and he
got rid of it. In the Are You Ready video, he is playing an
orange Gibson; supposedly he was working with them on a
new guitar, not for endorsement, but for himself since he
only has one that he likes.
Phil Rudd plays a fivepiece Sonor Designer Series kit in
Stain Red. For sticks, Phil uses Easton Ahead, which are
said to be unbreakable. He also uses the Swissmade Paiste
cymbals.
Cliff Williams uses a 76 Music Man strung with DAddario
flatwound strings.
I always keep it simple. I think when you get onstage and
youre playing rock and roll, the big lesson is this: If youve got
too many toys up there, then theres too many things that can go
wrong. Angus Young
231

THE ONSET OF THE SG
In the late 1950s the guitar of most connoisseurs up until

then, the Les Paul had been declining in sales. However,
its maker Gibson was enthusiastic about bringing in a
new model as its successor. One advertisement for the new
SG with its distinctive shape boasted it was An exciting
new approach to the mahogany, solid body guitar a solid
success with players. The customary colour was, and has
remained cherry red, though black is a popular second
choice.
Though sales were initially slow, partly due to the popularity
of folk music at the start of the 1960s, Gibson knew it was
onto a winner, as an institution with a respectable name
and diverse selection of instruments, and soon proved to be
correct. By 1966 the company was the largest guitar maker
in the world, with 250,000 square feet of manufacturing
space.
Gibsons design for the SG weaved its way in slowly. At first
they created the solid body Melody Maker guitar that was
very similar to the Les Paul in appearance. By 1962 it had
developed into an axe with the double cutaway and five years
later developed the classic SG shape, which also appeared
as a 12string model and a threepickup version.
232
OTHER PROTAGONISTS OF THE DEVILISH AXE

Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Pete Townshend ( The Who),
Dave Grohl ( Foo Fighters), Bernard Sumner ( Joy Division,
New Order), Damon Gough ( Badly Drawn Boy), Eddie
Vedder ( Pearl Jam), Ian Mackaye ( Fugazi), Mark Collins
(The Charlatans), Matt Bellamy ( Muse), Mike Campbell
( Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers), Peter Holmstrom
( Dandy Warhols), Ryan Peake ( Nickelback), Todd Youth
( Danzig), Bob Balch ( Fu Manchu).
233
Chapter 20 Fly On The Ball

A Brian Johnson Prole
Me, Phil and Cliff, we were watching Father Ted last night on
telly. We have seen the episode about fty times, but it didnt make
any difference. We were crying and rolling on the oor; it was hysterical. Brian Johnson
(Some of the material in this chapter is from an interview by Jarmo
published on the no nonsense webzine www.kolumbus./nononsense/brian.htm)
He may have been in AC/DC for 25 years but Brian Jonna
Johnson is still something of an unknown entity to his legions of
followers. He rarely speaks on stage and in most interviews he is
asked repetitious, mindnumbing questions, leading to the same responses time after time. In many ways, Johnson keeps himself to
himself, happy to take a back seat, even in the band he leads onstage
hundreds of nights each year.
Perhaps this is a consequence of joining AC/DC at a time
when modesty and a meek nature was required. It is to his eternal
credit that Johnson did not seek to change AC/DC and adopt the
typical lead singer mentality of me, me, me. Instead he was astute
enough to realise he was an addition to a perfectly run machine. He
did not seek to overwhelm the DC chemistry with his personality,
much less his voice. Instead he complimented the group with decent, honest and hard working dedication.
Brians father, Alan Johnson, was a sergeantmajor in the
British army. During World War II, he was in the thick of campaigns
in Italy and North Africa, but nothing could prepare him for his rst
experience of AC/DC in the raw. I was at Monte Cassino when the
Americans attened the place, he said, and I was at El Alamein
when we knocked Rommel back with a big barrage of guns, but Ive
never heard anything as loud as this in my life.
234
My father was a Protestant, Church of England, and my

mother was a Catholic, an Italian, said Brian. My father was in
the Army. He took lessons to be a Catholic so he could marry my
mother. So he was getting changed over to be a Catholic in the
church and he was on his knees with his hands together. He was a
sergeantmajor. His captain walked in and said, Johnson, stand on
your feet and walk out of this church. My father said, What? Get
out of this church, now. And my father said, Ah, captain, I dont
think you understand. Im being changed into a Catholic. And the
captain said, Im your padre, Church of England. The Catholic
priest came in and said, Who do you think you are coming into my
church, and the two of them fought each other, the Catholic priest
and the captain, the padre. My father has turned his back on religion
ever since. Now hes a total atheist, total, because of two men of
God, two men who have read the Bible back to front.
Brian was raised with affection and encouragement, although
any child who was raised in an industrial town in the NorthEast of
England during the fties and sixties doubtless experienced a few
hard knocks. It was no different for Brian, who though sensitive and
almost shy, would later claim that he never showed his emotions. In
cold, bleak towns like Newcastle to be seen as shy or thinskinned
meant you were a sissy or a jessie.
Acting in local television programmes as a young child encouraged Brians condence. He also performed Gang Shows with
the Scouts, and joined the local church choir. He eventually went on
to work in a factory. There he toiled alongside the Animals Chas
Chandler and both used a lucky lathe. Brian explains, There was
a place where I served my apprenticeship in Newcastle. The foreman comes up to us and he said, Right son, youre going on that
lathe there and I was like, Thats a bit big for us and he was telling
me that it was the lucky lathe. He said Chas Chandler worked on
that and he didnt know what strings Id pulled, but I was on it.
Eventually, Brian would develop a strong Christian belief. As
he put it: I think even the hardest of men, the most cynical of men,
people that are quite hard on the outside would have to say that at
certain moments of depression, or when theyre feeling really low
235

and theyre facing a big task, the hardest of men would have to ask
for some help.
Actually admitting to a specic belief or suggesting others
believe in the same things is never something Brian would do, however. I keep it within myself, he says. If I go to a church Ill go
when the priests arent in or the people arent in. I dont like going
with anybody else. But Ill tell you what I think about Americas
Sunday morning religious programs. When I see a man on television, telling me that he got a message from God; that we must ght
the communists and saying, He told me, He came down and told
me. So Im starting a collection! Ive put my foot through many
television screens before!
For a rock singer, Brian admits its seen as uncool to be seen
to say prayers every night, but for him its a personal belief and
something he does on a nightly basis. Ive been talking to Him
since I was about ve, he says, and Ive never stopped.
Brian has never been one for licentiousness but his concession
to the stereotypical rock n roll lifestyle is that he does like a drink.
I live in Sarasota, Florida, and theres a pub called Watsons Pub,
he explained. And they serve the beer like it is supposed to be
served. These guys, when serving European beers, they serve them
in glasses that they are supposed to be served in. Like German beer,
real big Weiss beer, they are supposed to be served in these beautiful steins, glasses. The Belgian beers come in big balloon glasses. It
gives something extra to the pleasure of enjoying beer.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brians favourite brand of beer is the
hometown speciality, Newcastle Brown Ale. I used to drink Newcastle Brown... a lot! But unfortunately, the ale is just like taking
drugs, you just cant stop drinking. Its a beautiful drink, and I had
to get off that. You know, its too easy to drink that stuff. God, I love
it. But now I have to watch it, as Im getting old, and I gotta watch
my stomach. I better keep t. I go to the gym, life a few weights and
I do a lot of breathing exercises. Ive cut down on the ciggies too. I
used to smoke three packs a day; now its a lot less, a packet at most.
They were knackering me. I hope Ill give them up completely one
day. I feel a whole lot better.
236
HOMELY PURSUITS
Because we keep a low profile we can walk around
relatively unrecognised, Brian says of AC/DCs popularity.
And its where we are living also. Phil lives in a small
place in New Zealand, Malcolm lives in a small village,
Angus is living in a small village. And Cliff lives in North
Carolina, and Im in Florida, but they are both small places.
Everybody knows you, the kids just say Hey Brian when I
go to get French bread. So people know who you are, but its
an enjoyable situation. It must be hard to be a superstar; I
never could handle that kind of shit.
Brian can still become star struck himself. I got to see
George Thorogood and the Destroyers in Helsinki, he said,
and as far as Im concerned, its been a fabulous rock
band for years and years. And I went to say Hi to them
before they went onstage. They were like Oh man, its a real
honour. And I was Fuck, its an honour for me. So I still
get thrills when I see someone who I think is famous in my
eyes. Its wonderful. The people you meet in your life, some
of them are just rude arrogant bastards. But you get that in
every form of life, in a factory, in the music business, in the
business world. If I meet an arrogant one, untouchable, you
know, I tell them what they are. I dont like the arrogant
ones, they are not good.
In the singers house there is Nothing to do with music,
certainly no home studio! When I go home, thats the end of
music. I have a bar though, English bar, which is an exact
replica of a pub in Newcastle I used to go Queens Head
I took photographs of it, and told them to build it exactly
to be the same. My house is all cars, just cars. Cars, cars,
and more cars.
Brian races cars in his spare time, as part of a lifelong
obsession with vehicles. He spoke of his participation in
237

the Indy 500 I was at the championships of 97 to 98. In
99 I had to stop it, to do the album. I really cant wait to
get back on the track. Its all over America, its not round
and round. Its real racing, road racing as we call it in
America. I cant wait, just the thrill of it, all the competition,
crashing...
Talking of crashing, Brian has had more than his fair share
of scrapes over the years. The worst time was in Atlanta
when I had to get cut out of my car, he recalls. I hit the
bridge. I had slick tyres, and I was in the lead. It was my
first race, I couldnt believe I was in the lead; I was just
going faster than anybody else. The car was a Lotus Cortina
Mark I, this was my first race, all the Porsches were behind
me. And I came up the hill towards the bridge at the speed
of 120 miles per hour. And the bridge was behind the hill; it
was a blind spot. You see the bridge and you see the sky. You
just got to take your chances because the road turns rapidly
after the hill. And I turned my steering wheel, but nothing
happened, I just went straight ahead. I got a film of it
there are these cameras in the car. This is gonna hurt! And
bang! And the car went upside down; it was nasty. So from
first, I was last. But I didnt finish the race, obviously. They
took me away by ambulance. But it was funny, just seeing
your life flashing. I was very calm, I just sat there, This is
it, you know.
I didnt get injured, he says, apart from feeling pretty
stupid because there was nothing I could do. Because once
I hit the grass, which is like ice and water, and that was the
end of me. I didnt have a chance; I was just a missile. It
didnt stop me; I was in the next race. We were in the first
class area with all these businessmen, and in Japan when
youre not working, you have to sleep. We had lots of fun,
the crew was there, everybody was on. Its a nice country.
I hadnt been there since 1982. And wed forgotten how it
is to be there. We know that the Japanese like these pretty
boy bands more. So we went out and did three shows there.
238
The promoters said Youve gotta understand that they

wont go crazy, they just sit down and give applause between
the songs. Which was totally wrong. They went nuts, they
were like wild monkeys. It was brilliant. I couldnt speak to
them; I dont have a clue about the Japanese language. Too
difficult to handle.
Japan continues to provide an element of culture shock
to the band. Its a funny culture, you know, says Brian.
These young kids walking around with their long hair, they
look like women. And these bands... some of them are not
even bands. Theyll get together, like four good looking
young guys getting together. And they just call themselves
The Boys, they dont play instruments, they dont sing,
they dont do nothing. But they book into a hotel and put
an advert in the newspapers The Boys will be signing
autographs. And the chicks just go nuts. And the boys
wont do anything. But then they will be picked up to do an
advertisement for Nike shoes or something, and then they do
an album. And all of sudden they are famous... for nothing.
Its just amazing. Because I was asking the record company
what they do. They dont do anything, they just get together
and call themselves The Gang! All they do is that they
walk around like The Beatles. But the food is good, and the
people are lovely.
Brian has been confronted with the mindbending
commitment of some devoted fans. This guy had his whole
back tattooed, the Fly On The Wall album cover... in colours.
I kept thinking Boy, that must hurt. I havent got a tattoo;
Im too chicken, I guess. Ive never seen one that I liked
enough. I nearly had one when I was in the in the parachute
forces. And we all went in, 12 of us, and we were drunk.
The only reason I didnt get one was because I was last in
the line. And by the time there were two in front of me, it
was, like, four in the morning, and the tattoo guy just had it.
Thats enough, I cant take anymore.
239

TOO CLOSE TO HOME
Brian had been married to Carol Johnson, but it was their

divorce which was causing him problems at the time of the
Blow Up Your Video album. In an amazing coincidence,
Carol went on to marry Malcolm Supermac MacDonald,
the famous Newcastle United centre forward, who played for
the club 187 times between 1971 and 1976. Newcastle have
been Brians football heroes since childhood and he remains
a dedicated fan today.
Carol and Malcolm married at a secret ceremony in Tyneside
after redhead Carol had moved in with Macdonald (in a flat
in Jesmond, Newcastle) to help him dry out after he admitted
his battle with alcoholism several years ago. Carols experiences with AC/DC, with whom she toured as a teenager, led
to a long battle of her own with whiskey and cocaine, and
she drew upon this part of her life to aid MacDonald into a
rehabilitation programme.
He said: Carol is the one who has given me a kick up the
backside, and she has been there for me. I couldnt have
done it without her. The twice divorced former striker is
now enjoying a life of punditry, has seven children and two
former wives.
240
BRIANS DESERT ISLAND DISCS
Delta Lady ( Joe Cocker)

Here, There And Everywhere (The Beatles)
Boom Boom ( John Lee Hooker)
Blue Bayou ( Roy Orbison)
Jailhouse Rock ( Elvis Presley)
Bad Bad Boy ( Nazareth)
Seven Seas Of Rhye ( Queen)
Bad To The Bone ( George Thorogood)
Brown Sugar ( Rolling Stones)
Get Back (The Beatles)
any Louis Armstrong record
241
Chapter 21 They Salute You

AC/DC is one of my favourite bands and our rst album, Iron
Balls, was made, in a way, like the Young brothers with the same
arrangements and song structure. At the present time our style is far
from AC/DC, but we covered Back In Black to show our roots.
Lead Weight, Kazakhstan metal band
There are more AC/DC tribute bands throughout the world
than there are actual AC/DC songs; such is the level of worship at
the altar of the Gods of rock n roll. From banjoplaying hillbillies
to downtuned death metal grunters every type of musical act has
tipped a hat to Angus Young and co. There are groups who have
made whole careers out of covering AC/DC, and then there are
those who merely record one or two tracks to show their allegiance
more discreetly. In this chapter, the art of the tribute is examined.
In recent times one outt in particular has made waves with
fans of all types of music, from hardcore DC fans to lovers of
traditional country. Hayseed Dixies career kicked off with the
album A Hillbilly Tribute To AC/DC, reworking the songs of the
rock titans using the traditional bluegrass lineup of mandolin, ddle
and banjo, not to mention some terric strawinthemouth singing
and grumbling. Singer and violin player Barley Scotch explains:
It became revealed to me that Lost Highway of Brother Hank
Williams and that Highway to Hell them boys was singing about,
well, I knew: theyre the same damn road! So, we just set about
playing some of them songs, in with our regular ones, you know,
at church socials and such, and the next thing we knew, this fellow
from Nashville had us down there making a record. Before I knew
it, I was talking on the radio every day and the record was in every
WalMart in the country.
The boys of AC/DC have never been the type to take
themselves too seriously, and they are, in turn, fans of the Hayseeds.
Cliff Williams invited the group to play at a tourwrap party, and
even joined them onstage to play bass on Have a Drink On Me.
242
Yeah, so we didnt know what to expect, you know recalls Barley,

But Cliff was about the coolest fellow we ever met. He said the
whole band really liked our record, and I gured, after him saying
that, well, I didnt give a damn what any of them critics had to say
about it, you know. So we got out there touring around, spreading the
message, you know . . . about that Lost Highway and that Highway
to Hell being the same road and such.
People seemed to enjoy the different take on a familiar style.
The band often appeared on radio throughout the United States
and sold over 100,000 copies of the album worldwide. Nobody
expected that record to do like it did, laughs Barley. I guess the
message just hit home with a lot of folks. I mean, verily, verily I
say to yall, theres four key elements in any good mountain song
drinking, cheating, killing and going to hell. Thats what weve
been singing about our whole lives. And thats just what them AC/
DC songs was about too. So you know, theres a lot of stuff the same
between rock and mountain music. You listen to some old Stanley
Brothers stuff and youll hear what Im talking about.
I think AC/DC is the only band that can rewrite a song over and
over and over and have it still be classic and good. I think that a lot
of records suffer from one good song and nine pale imitations of the
one good song Jizzy Pearl, Love/Hate, L.A. Guns
Unsurprisingly, the hard rock and metal community provides
the most fervent admirers of the band. American traditional metallers Iced Earth recorded versions of both Highway To Hell and
Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll). Matt
Barlow sang with the band when they recorded these DC classics,
and although hes a natural baritone, he managed to follow Bons
screechy tone easily enough. He certainly believes AC/DC was a
major inuence on himself and Iced Earth. Yeah, that was the stuff
that I cut my teeth on, listening to hard rock, that was the shit back
when I was a kid, he acknowledges. Before that I was basically
spinning my dads country and Elvis 45s. So that was like the rst
inuence down the road to hell basically. Highway To Hell was the
rst AC/DC record that my brother brought into the house and I
243

just listened to it over and over. Then, of course, Its A Long Way
To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll) is something that Jon
(Schaeffer, guitar) picked because it makes perfect sense. If theres
a message in a song on the record, thats the one.
Another group appealing to listeners in both metal and rock
camps is the Floridabased Six Feet Under, a death metal outt that
has now recorded two albums entirely consisting of covers. One,
Graveyard Classics was a mixed selection of rock, punk and metal
standards that included AC/DCs T.N.T.. True to their usual style,
the track was heavily downtuned, and highlighted vocalist Chris
Barness deathmetal growl. The album was generally well received
but when, in 2004 Six Feet Under decided to record Back In Black
the whole way through, in a death metal style, the punters werent
so happy.
Many wondered why the band did it at all, and those AC/DC
purists out there were hard pushed to nd a positive note regarding a group completely deadening the impact of the originals. A
review on www.SMNnews.com had this to say about the record:
Without a doubt, words cannot fathom the disgust and contempt
I feel about this release from Six Feet Under. Shockingly titled
Graveyard Classics 2, there is nothing classic about it. Its a disgrace to AC/DC, a disgrace to metal, and a disgrace to Metal Blade
Records who actually paid for such a thing to be made. For those of
you unaware of what this monster is it is a feeble attempt at covering the entire AC/DC album Back in Black all the way from Hells
Bells, right through Rock and Roll Aint Noise Pollution.
Many purists listening to Barness vocals thought he was having a joke, but the group was actually seriously paying tribute to
a band they grew up with, and one they respect. Barnes does say
though, Im not the AC/DC acionado of a mass of useless knowledge on the subject. Ive seen them a lot of times when I was growing up and that was about it. I didnt need to nd out too much about
them apart from being dragged to Bons grave site in Perth when
we were on tour. As for the furore surrounding the Back In Black
reworking, Barnes makes light of it, but is somewhat hurt by the
vilication that has been stirred up.
244
Oh my God, manits haunting me worse than the rst one,

Barnes says of the album. What can I say, I get a vision and I have
to follow through on it, its a tunnel for me, I have to get through to
the other side. I love it, man. Those guys did such an awesome job
laying the music down. I couldnt believe the leads Steve (Swanson,
guitar) laid down. If you want to you can set that thing up on two
different CD players and play the original and ours together on top
of each other and it doesnt change except for the end of Back In
Black, because I couldnt chop that lead, it was just too good.
Unlike many cover artists, SFU were scrupulous in their delity to the original. Its exactly the same tempo and the CD is exactly the same length, exactly the same time between songs which
no one really picked up on, Barnes points out. I thought it was
great, man. I know people rip me to shreds because of my vocals,
but I dont get it. I dont know what they expect Im not going to
start singing like Rob Halford. How I felt about it is, if you cant
sing and scream like Brian Johnson its not worth trying. I just had
to do it my own way. My favourite song is Let Me Put My Love
Into You. It just reminds me of night time, I dont know why. If
thats the most I get out of it Im happy with it and Im glad I did
it. Contrary to popular belief, the album has actually reached quite
a few fans, eager to hear a new take on a wellknown set of songs.
The sales have been pretty good, conrms Barnes. Over here on
the college radio charts it was surprisingly doing well.
245

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
We gotta do something like that. Joe Perry & Steven Tyler
of Aerosmith after seeing an AC/DC concert.
Other expressions of love for the band range from the all
female tribute act Hells Belles, formed in 2000 by guitarist
Amy Stolzenbach (aka Angus), to the German football team
FC St Pauli, noted for their hardcore support among the
anarchists and punks of Hamburg and the fact that they
begin every game with a rousing rendition of Hells Bells.
As Four Four Two magazine mused, its hard not to fall in
love with FC St. Pauli. The politics, the passion, the counter
culture, AC/DC
But perhaps the greatest tribute ever paid to AC/DC was
for the remembrance service for Bon Scott. For the 25 th
anniversary of his death, in 2005, a pipe band marched to
his gravestone, while tribute bands from Spain to Sydney
paid their respects through several commemorative concerts.
I like AC/DC. Keith Richards, Rolling Stones
As for original AC/DC members, most are creating music
and touring. Original singer Dave Evans reports: I have
been gigging in Europe during the last two years and have
recorded a new CD called Sinner in Newcastle, New South
Wales (and mixed in Germany) for my record company CM
records, out of Hamburg. I am looking forward to heading
back there again this year. Dave also recorded two songs
live for the Bon Scott memorial gig on the A Hell Of A Night
album. He also adds that he wrote and performed two songs
with AC/DC, called Sunset Strip and Fell In Love, which
stayed in the bands repertoire under new titles. My lyrics
were rewritten with Bon and released under the titles Show
Business and Jean. Dave Evans and Hot Cockerel did
record and release some music but this might be hard to
246
track down, as Dave explains, It was only for a film, which

I starred in, called Coming Of Age, which only received
a video release. I played a rock star called Rexx Rated,
frontman of The Banned. The guys from Hot Cockerel
played as The Banned. Including the title track, there
were four or five of our tracks in the movie. Hot Cockerel
was much heavier than Rabbit and blacker in genre. As
mentioned previously, Dave has also performed with AC/DC
tribute group Thunderstruck.
MARK EVANS HAS ALSO BEEN BUSY, AS HE SAYS;
Ive been doing lots of things since leaving the band. Ive
been primarily back in Australia, based in Sydney. The last
year Ive been actually dealing with vintage guitars. And
theres a guy outside my office playing Jailbreak, ha ha.
But Im also doing lots of playing now. Im in a band called
Headhunters. And also I have done bits and pieces of work
with Rose Tattoo, Ive been doing some bass work with them.
I also toured America with a band called Heaven, which
was managed by Michael Browning. Im still pretty active in
playing, but the main thing at the moment is my passion for
guitars. And my family, of course.
According to Angus, his older brother George has been
writing songs. He is always writing songs. And he is
opening up a new studio somewhere in England. I never talk
to him. Im his little brother.
Bon still lives on in reissues of his original recordings
with AC/DC but there are still littleheard tracks featuring
Scotts voice. 1996 saw the release of the last recordings he
made as a solo performer. As the press release put it: Bons
back! Two new songs, three tracks. One CD single released
October 20 is the closest thing youre ever likely to hear
to the solo album he talked about but never got the chance
to complete. Now reproduced for the Nineties. Round
And Round And Round and Carey Gully are the last two
songs Bon Scott committed to tape a month before joining
247

AC/DC and the only released from a threeyear period in
his career between Fraternitys Flaming Galah in April
1972 and AC/DCs Baby Please Dont Go in March 1975.
In their original form, the tracks are genuine Australian
long lost Basement Tapes, recorded a few months after
Bons motorbike accident. Recently rediscovered, both
Round And Round And Round and Carey Gully have been
extensively reworked to create musical pieces, which the
projects collaborators believe Bon would have been proud
of.
The tracks were recorded in July 1974 and were written
by Mount Lofty Rangers musical director Peter Head. He
teamed up with a friend of Bons, Ted Yanni to isolate Bons
vocal track and rerecord the backing track from scratch.
The original version is also included on the CD, featuring
former members of Headband and Fraternity. The press
release boasts, Carey Gully, a lilting countryflavoured
ballad has been tastefully augmented with strings the
Classically Blue String Quartet. The song celebrates the
Mount Lofty Rangers stomping ground at the time, then
home to one of South Australias leading artists. Vytas
Serelis, whose stunning photo portraits grace the CD cover.
The whole project has been achieved by many people
musicians and technicians donating time, talent and studios
in order to pay tribute to an old friend. The result is one
of the best recordings available by Bon Scott displaying a
side to his vocal ability that wasnt as evident in subsequent
releases. Although the original release was very limited,
there are plans to issue a fulllength album.
248
THE ULTIMATE ACCOLADE
AC/DC songs recorded or performed by other artists, and

where to find them.
16 volt ( Eric Powells oneman industrial group, straight out
of the bedroom) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (from the album Wisdom, Cargo Records 1993)
Aerobitch (Spanish punk band) High Voltage (from the album An Urge to Play Loud, People Like You Records 2000)
Alivaltiosihteeri (Finnish rockers) Highway To Hell (from
the album Yeah Baby Yeah, Hiljaiset Levyt 1992)
A.N.I.M.A.L. (Argentinian metal band) Highway To Hell
(from the album USA Toda Tu Fuerza, Warner 1999)
Anthrax (Veteran New York thrash metallers) & Dee Snider
( Twisted Sister vocalist) Walk All Over You, (from the album Back In Black A Tribute To AC/DC, Zebra 2000)
Baron Rojo (Spanish veteran heavy metal act) Girls Got
Rhythm (from the album Desafio, Avispa 1992)
Beck (American experimental artist) Highway To Hell (from
the 12 single Mixed Bizness, White Label 2000)
Pat Boone (Smooth singer most popular in the 50s and 60s)
Its A Long Way To The TopIf You Wanna Rock N Roll
(from the album In A Metal Mood: No More Mr Nice Guy Hip
O Records 1997)
Birmingham6 (Obscure industrialists) Thunderstruck (from
the album Covered In Black An Industrial Tribute To The
Kings Of High Voltage AC/DC, Cleopatra 1997)
Black Obelisk (One of the first Russian thrash metal bands)
Touch Too Much (from the album Stena, JetNoise 1994)
Bob Rivers (American radio presenter and novelty musician)
Jingle Hells Bells (from the album I Am Santa Claus, Atlantic 1993)
Casanovas (Australian band very much influenced by AC/DC)
Riff Raff (from the single Shake It, Rubber/Shock 2003)
249

Cowlicks (Self confessed riproaring and shin kicking country rockers) You Shook Me All Night Long (from the album
The Cowlicks Live & Unplugged, Tres Payasos 2005
Bruce Dickinson ( Iron Maiden lead singer) Sin City (from
the single Dive Dive Dive, EMI 1990)
D4 (New Zealand indie rockers) High Voltage (from the album Garage Days V/A Soundtrack, Mercury 2002)
Dandy Warhols (alternative/psychedelic unpredictables)
Hells Bells (from the single Bohemian Like You, EMI 2000)
De Heideroosjes (German punk rockers) Bad Boy Boogie
(Played live only)
Diamond Dogs (The Swedish Rolling Stones) You Shook
Me All Night Long, (from the album A Salute To AC/DC, Tribute 1996)
Die Krupps (Industrial Metallers) Its A Long Way To The
TopIf You Wanna Rock N Roll (from the album Covered In
Black, Zebra 2002)
Cline Dion (FrenchCanadian diva) & Anastacia (American songstress) You Shook Me All Night Long (Played live
only)
Downstroke (German modern thrash metal act) Overdose
(from the album A Salute To AC/DC, Tribute 1996)
Everclear (American alt rock trio) Sin City, (from the single Heartspark Dollar Sign, Capitol 1996)
Exodus (San Franciscan thrash metal veterans) Overdose
(from the album Fabulous Disaster, Music For Nations 1988),
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (from the album Good Friendly
Violent Fun, Combat 1991)
John Farnham (Australian rock legend) Its A Long Way To
The Top If You Wanna Rock N Roll (from the album Age
Of Reason, BMG 1989)
Femme Fatale ( Lorraine Lewis fronted glam rockers) Its
A Long Way To The TopIf You Wanna Rock N Roll (from
the single Falling In And Out Of Love, MCA 1988
250
Fuckemos (Texan punk rockers) Thunderstruck (from the

album Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be ... A Tribute To AC/DC,
Reptilian Records 1999)
Genitorturers (Dominatrix fronted industrial act) Squealer
(from the album Covered In Black, Cleopatra 1996)
Girlschool (All female quartet, popular in the 80s)
Livewire (Played live only in 1980)
Godflesh (British industrial metal icons) For Those About
To RockWe Salute You (from the album The Worlds Greatest AC/DC Tribute, Big Eye Music 2004)
Lesley Gore (Popular 60s female singer helped by Quincy
Jones) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (from the album
When Pigs Fly Songs You Never Thought Youd Hear, Xemu
Records 2002)
Great White (Glam rockers most popular in the 80s L.A.
scene) Sin City, (from the album Thunderbolt A Tribute to
AC/DC, Triage 1996)
Guns N Roses (legendary L.A. rock quintet) Whole Lotta
Rosie (from the German 12 inch Single Sweet Child O Mine,
Geffen 1989)
Hard Corps (Early rap metal group) Back In Black (from
the album Def Before Dishonour, Interscope 1991)
Hayseed Dixie (See main text) Covered Several AC/DC
Tracks On Their Tribute Album A Hillbilly Tribute To AC/DC,
Dualtone 2003)
Honeygun (obscure rock outfit) High Voltage (from the album Honeygun, 1996)
Honeymoon Killers (Legendary Sub Pop blues noise group)
Get It Hot (from the single Get It Hot, Sub Pop 1989)
Hotwire (German hair band) You Shook Me All Night Long
(from the album Middle Of Nowhere, 2001)
Hullabaloo (Hardcore/rock/ska crossover act) Back In
Black (from the album United Colors Of Hullabaloo, Musical
Tragedies 1992)
Hundred Reasons (UK emo rockers) Back In Black (from
the single How Soon Is Now, Sore Poiint, 2004)
251

Iced Earth (See main text) Its A Long Way To The Top
If You Wanna Rock N Roll (from the album Tribute To The
Gods, Century Media 2002)
Jackyl (Chainsawwielding friends of Brian Johnson) Live
Wire (from the album Stayin Alive, Shimmering Tone 1998)
Joan Jett (Female rock icon) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
(from the album Hit List, Epic 1989)
Kanuuna (Finnish act who record in their native language)
Touch Too Much (from the album Kanuuna, A & M 1992)
Sam Kinison (American comedian rock fan, now deceased)
Highway To Hell (from the album Leader Of The Banned,
Warner Bros 1990)
Knorkator (German punk rockers) Highway To Hell, (from
the album Hasenchartbreaker, Mercury 1999)
Mark Kozelek ( Red House Painters frontman) 10 cover versions of AC/DC tracks (from the album Whats Next To The
Moon, Badman 2001)
Ed Kuepper (Australian singersongwriter) Highway To
Hell (from the album A King In The Kindness Room, Hot
2002)
Alan Lancaster (former bassist of Status Quo) High Voltage (from the album Life After Quo, Eagle 1998)
Lead Weight (Kazakhstan metal band) Back In Black (from
the album For Thine Is The Kingdome, Maximum 1999)
Living Colour (crossover funkmetallers) Back In Black
(from the album Collideoscope, Sanctuary 2003)
Local H (American twopiece in Nirvana style) Its A Long
Way To The TopIf You Wanna Rock N Roll (Played live
only)
Marilyn Manson (The self styled God Of Fuck) Highway
To Hell (from the album Detroit Rock City), Mercury 1999
Metallica (Multimillion selling metallers) Back In Black,
Highway To Hell, High Voltage Live Versions (Played live
only)
252
Motley Crue (Glam metal legends of the Sunset Strip) Bad

Boy Boogie, (from the album Girls, Girls, Girls, Hip O
1987)
Motrhead (Lemmyfronted Brit rock n rollers) Its A
Long Way To The TopIf You Wanna Rock N Roll, (from the
album The Worlds Greatest AC/DC Tribute, Big Eye 2004)
Nashville Pussy (Dirty punk metal rockers) Kicked In The
Teeth, Shot Down In Flames, Highway To Hell (Played live
and available as bonus tracks)
Nitronic (Featuring ex Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy) Whole
Lotta Rosie, (Played live only)
Omen (American traditional heavy metal group) Whole Lotta Rosie (from the EP Nightmares, Metal Blade 1987)
Onslaught (UK thrash metal titans) Let There Be Rock
(from the album In Search Of Sanity, London 1989)
Pearl Jam (Seattle grunge legends) Sin City (Played live
only)
Phish (Alt rock quartet) Highway To Hell (Played live only)
Psychopomps (Danish industrial outfit) Badlands, (from the
album Covered In Black, Zebra 2002)
Quiet Riot (Veteran Canadian hard rock act) Highway To
Hell (from the album Alive And Well, Axe Killer 1999)
Red Star Belgrade (Alternative country experimentalists)
Highway To Hell (from the album Telescope, Checkered
Past 2000)
Refused (Swedish modern punk innovators) Back In Black
(Played live only)
Reo Speedealer (Metal/punk band now known as Speedealer)
Rocker (Played live only)
Henry Rollins (former Black Flag/current Rollins Band vocalist and spoken word performer) and The Hard Ons (Aussie
punk rock veterans) Let There Be Rock (single, Vinyl Solution 1991)
Screaming Jets (Aussie hard rockers, popular in early nineties) High Voltage, Aint No Fun Waiting Round To Be
253

A Millionaire (from the single Living In England, Rooart
1993)
Shakira (Tiny Colombian pop singer) Back In Black (from
the album Live And Off The Record, Sony 2004)
Six Feet Under (See main text) T.N.T. (from the album
Graveyard Classics, Metal Blade 2000) Complete rerecorded
version Of Back In Black: Graveyard Classics 2, Metal Blade
2004)
Skid Row (American hard rockers fronted by Sebastian Bach)
T.N.T., Little Lover (Played live only)
Slashs Blues Ball ( Guns N Roses/ Velvet Revolver guitarists side project) Night Prowler, Highway To Hell (Played
live only)
Spahn Ranch (Industrial/electronic rock outfit) Shot Down
In Flames (from the album Covered In Black, Zebra 2002)
Sprung Monkey (Hardcore funsters) Thunderstruck (from
the album Varsity Blues, Hollywood 1999)
Straitjackets (Surf rockers from Nashville) Hell Aint A
Bad Place To Be (from the album A Salute To AC/DC, Tribute
1996)
Andrew Strong (Irish star of The Commitments movie)
Girls Got Rhythm (from the album Strong, MCA 2003)
Supersuckers (Punk rockers with a country side) Rock N
Roll Singer (Played live only)
Surf Rats (Professional surfers who also make music)
Rocker (from the album Straight Between The Eyes, Lost
Moment 1989)
Andy Taylor (Ex Duran Duran) Live Wire (from the album
Dangerous, A&M 1990)
Lydia Taylor Band (Femalefronted Canadians) Highway
To Hell, (from the album Lydia Taylor Band, Passport 1981)
Terminal Sect (Industrial two piece) Who Made Who
(from the album Covered In Black, Zebra 2002)
The Donnas (All Female alternative punk quartet) Shot
Down In Flames (Played live only Coney Island High, New
York, 11/5/98)
254
The Dwarves (Punk legends famous for naked guitarist) Big

Balls (from the album Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be ... A Tribute To AC/DC, Reptilian Records 1999)
The Fargone Beauties (Australian rock act) Highway To
Hell (from the album Its Hard When Youre Ugly, Mercury
1992)
The Hives (Swedish garage quintet) Back In Black (Played
live only)
The Offspring (Million selling modern punk rockers from Orange County) Sin City (Played live only)
Tiny Tim (aka Herbert Khaury, eccentric 60s entertainer)
Highway To Hell (from the single I Love Rock N Roll,
Regular 1992)
Tornado Babies (Swedish 80s hard rock band) Jailbreak
(from the album A Salute To AC/DC, Tribute 1996)
Transport League (Swedish metal crossover group) Let
There Be Rock (from the album A Salute To AC/DC, Tribute
1996)
Travis (Scottish alternative act) Back In Black (Played live,
Leeds, England 28 th May 2001)
Trust (French hard rock group from the 70s/80s) Love At
First Feel (from the album Paris By Night, Melodia 1978)
Turbo Acs (American punk group) Riff Raff (Played live in
Vienna, June 2001)
Twisted Sister (Recently re formed outrageous 80s glamsters) Sin City (from the album Twisted Forever, Koch 2001)
Ugly Kid Joe (Defunct early 90s funk metal crew) Sin City
(from the single Everything About You, Mercury 1992)
Vulcain (Hard rock band, known as the French Motorhead)
Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be (from the album Live Force,
Musicdisc 1987)
Warrant (Lipstick wearing rockers, famous for the 80s hit
Cherry Pie) Down Payment Blues (from the album Under
The Influence, Downboy 2001)
255

W.A.S.P. (Los Angeles shock rockers from the 80s) Its A
Long Way To The TopIf You Wanna Rock N Roll, Whole
Lotta Rosie (Played live only)
Wax Tadpole (Obscure Aussie punk rockers) Let There Be
Rock, (from the album Hometown Tribute, GOH International
2000)
Wolfsbane (British rock/metal band who once supported Iron
Maiden) If You Want BloodYouve Got It (Played live
1987)
Zakk Wylde (Ex Ozzy Osbourne guitarist) Hell Aint A Bad
Place To Be (from the album Thunderbolt: A Tribute To AC/
DC, De Rock 1998)
NOTE: Aussie band The Stetsons released an album called The Stetsons 97, featuring a cover of the Bon Scott song Up In The Hills Too
Long which he wrote while working with the Mount Lofty Rangers.
256
Chapter 22 Did You Know?

When Norman and Marilyn White sued the band for 120,000
because their phone number was mentioned in Dirty Deeds Done
Dirt Cheap, Angus remarked: The numbers dont refer to any
particular phone number. They are simply my dream girls vital
statistics 362436. I thought any redblooded male would realise
that.
AC/DC is an enduring band with a fervent set of highly knowledgeable fans, but there may be nuggets contained in this section
that even the bestinformed admirer may not have known.
MEMBERS OF AC/DC PAST & PRESENT
Guitar
Malcolm Young,1974 present
Angus Young, 1974 present
Stevie Young, 1988 (on tour)
Vocals
Dave Evans, 1974
Bon Scott, 1974 1980
Brian Johnson, 1980 present
Bass
Larry Van Kriedt, 1974
Rob Baily, 1974
Bruce Howe, 1974
George Young, 1974
Malcolm Young, 1974 1975
Mark Evans, 1975 1977
Cliff Williams, 1977 present
257
Drums
Colin Burgess, 1974
Rob Carpenter, 1974
Peter Clack, 1974
Bon Scott, 1974
Tony Kerrante, 1974 1975
Phil Rudd, 1975 1983
Simon Wright, 1983 1989
Chris Slade, 1989 1994
Phil Rudd, 1995 present
50 AMAZING FACTS
1. AC/DC was offered a chance to star in the movie Dracula Rocks
but they declined.
2. Some Christian Church groups believe the lightning bolt between the AC and DC to be a Satanic S.
3. Cliff Williams has been known to bleach his hair.
4. Bon had six tattoos including an eagle, a snake, and a cartoon
lion. He also pierced both ears out of boredom.
5. Geordie, Brian Johnsons former band, spent a total of 35 weeks
on the UK singles chart during 1973. Their biggest hit was All
Because Of You which reached Number 6 in March of that
year.
6. Bons parents still refer to him as Ron.
7. One of AC/DCs rst supporters in England was the magazine
New Music Express (NME), a publication not known for its love
of hard rock.
8. Angus lives in Groningen in the Netherlands, Malcolm lives in
England, Cliff lives in Fort Myers, Florida and North Carolina.
Brian also resides in Florida, while Phil lives in New Zealand.
9. AC/DCs rst strongholds in America were Jacksonville, Florida and Columbus, Ohio.
258
10. Angus rst mooned the audience during the last Australian show
the band played before leaving for England.
11. Malcolm had originally intended to be the sole guitarist in AC/
DC. Instead of another guitar, he wanted to have a piano player.
12. Bon was born in the Scottish county of Angus.
13. AC/DC came close to being dropped by Atlantics U.S. division, but retained its spot thanks to the support of U.K. division
manager Phil Carson.
14. Anguss hobby is to paint landscapes.
15. The band prefers to use buses rather than planes when they are
on tour.
16. When AC DC appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night
Live, wrestling star The Rock was the presenter.
17. Readers of music magazine Sounds picked AC/DC as the leader
of the New Order in 1976.
18. On August 18th 1979, AC/DC opened for The Who at Wembley,
at the headliners request.
19. In common with most other performers, AC/DCs lyrics are
sometimes prone to creative misunderstanding. In Money
Talks, people thought that Brian was singing Mommy Dogs.
In You Shook Me All Night Long the lyric She had sightless
eyes was heard as She had me circumcised. And in Back
In Black the Forget the hearse cause Ill never die line was
misinterpreted as Ive got a hairstyle thatll never die. These
mistakes are known as mondegreens.
20. Angus and Malcolm originally wanted to call the band Third
World War.
21. In 2004, an Australian movie called Thunderstruck was released.
Its a comedy about ve friends who go to an AC/DC show in
1991, and agree that when the rst one of their number dies, he
will be buried next to Bon Scott.
22. In Australia, the song Thunderstruck was used in commercials
for the Holden Commodore SS Ute (utility vehicle). The adverts were about an Australian built Ute creating a storm in the
outback.
259

23. For AC/DCs last show as Cheap Tricks opening act, Angus,
Malcolm and Bon bounded onstage for the headliners encore,
which included renditions of Sin City and School Days. The
encore also found a roadie hoisting Cheap Trick guitarist Rick
Nielsen on his shoulders, a pose that Angus tends to enjoy.
24. McFarlane Toys released an Angus Young doll in October
2001.
25. Former Buffalo member Chris Turner has a unique place in the
history of AC/DC. His are the ngers on the guitar fret board on
the cover of the Australian Let There Be Rock album. Recently
Chris has released a few solo albums that are reported to feature
Mark Evans.
26. If you look closely at the cover of Green Days Dookie album,
you will see a picture of AC/DCs Angus Young. (Look at the
guitarist standing on the roof of the building on the bottom right
hand corner).
27. On the 15th September 2000, AC/DC were inducted into the famous Hollywood Rock Walk. Further details of their induction,
including pictures and video clips can be found at www.rockwalk.com.
28. In October 1983 a Fort Lewis soldier caused $20,000 in damage
to the Tacoma Dome by ring a military are into it during an
AC/DC concert.
29. The title Crabsody in Blue is a parody of George Gershwins
Rhapsody in Blue. The song appeared on the Australian and
UK vinyl releases of the Let There Be Rock album. The track
was later replaced by Problem Child on the North American
release.
30. Bob Defrin designed the classic AC/DC logo.
31. Ozzy Osbourne is quoted as saying that he wrote the track Suicide Solution to honour the memory of the late Bon Scott.
32. Bon met Rosie (the inspiration for Whole Lotta Rosie) at Freeway Gardens Hotel in Melbourne.
33. Part of Anguss solo in Let There Be Rock is lifted from the
song B.O.G.I.E. by Bill Haley and the Comets.
34. The MTV Cartoon Beavis & Butthead features the Butthead
character wearing an AC/DC Tshirt.
260
35. The Maximum Overdrive movie opened in the U.S.A on 18th

July 1986.
36. The rst Australian AC/DC single to have a picture sleeve was
the 12 inch of Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution.
37. The press launch for the Razors Edge album was at the School
Dinners restaurant in London.
38. The band lmed a performance of Dog Eat Dog for the 5th anniversary show of Countdown on Australian television.
39. My Favourite Things, from the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical The Sound of Music is reinterpreted as Jingle Hells
Bells, and AC/DC parody by Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio,
a band from Seattle that performs unusual versions of classic
rock songs. At the start of the song they chant Ho! Ho! Ho!,
spoong the Oye! Oye! Oye! chant of T.N.T.. It is available
on a Christmas music compilation.
40. Bon used to walk the streets with his pet boa constrictor hanging round his neck.
41. Bons brother Graeme has been seen in various parts of the
world singing in numerous rock and blues bands.
42. The Let There Be Rock concert was lmed on December 9th
1979. However, the guitar solo at the beginning of the lm is
taken from Anguss sound check at Metz (France) on December 6th.
43. Lee Richardson, one time midelder with Aberdeen FC was
quoted in The Sun as saying he would rather play drums with
AC/DC than play for Inter Milan. Sadly, he did neither. After
leaving Aberdeen he joined Oldham Athletic.
44. During December 1993 it was reported on Radio 1 that AC/DC
were under surveillance by the K.G.B. from the late 70s until
the breakup of the Soviet Union.
45. Malcolm joined the Australian band Velvet Underground in
1971. The only recordings by Velvet Underground were from
the time before Malcolm joined the band.
46. In 1985 Brian contributed to a charity single called Try Giving
Everything along with other musicians from the NorthEast of
England, under the group name Geordie Aid.
261

47. AC/DC met Mark Evans at the Station Hotel, a live venue in the
Trahan district of Melbourne.
48. Malcolm plays lead guitar on Soul Stripper, Show Business,
You Aint Got A Hold On Me, and Can I Sit Next To You
Girl.
49. At the beginning of the movie Mad Max, the Night Rider character steals a police car, and during the chase he is ranting over
the police radio. One of his rants is, Im a rocker, Im a roller,
Im a right out of controller! This from the DC song Rocker.
50. AC/DC are among only 12 Australian rock n roll artists honoured with a postage stamp. The Australian Rock n Roll
stamp set was issued May 26, 1998 by Australia Post. The AC/
DC stamp features a picture of Angus, with Its A Long Way
To The Top written across his school satchel. The other artists
were Johnny OKeefe, Col Joye, Little Pattie, Normie Rowe,
The Easybeats, Russell Morris, Masters Apprentices, Daddy
Cool, Billy Thorpe, The Aztecs and Sherbert.
AC/DCS LIVE REPERTOIRE
Here is a complete list of the songs AC/DC has performed since
the beginning of their stage career on stage, noting the rst year in
which a song made an appearance, or the rst time it was sung by a
specic frontman.
DAVE EVANS ON VOCALS
1973
Baby, Please Dont Go
Heartbreak Hotel
Jailhouse Rock
Jumping Jack Flash
No Particular Place To Go
Shake, Rattle & Roll
262
Thats Alright Mama

The Old Bay Road
Sunset Strip
Can I Sit Next To You Girl
Rockin In The Parlour
Fell In Love
Midnight Rock
Rock N Roll Singer
Soul Stripper
BON SCOTT ON VOCALS
(* originally sung by Evans)
1974
*Can I Sit Next To You Girl
Little Lover
School Days
Shes Got Balls
Show Business
*Soul Stripper
Stick Around
The Jack
You Aint Got A Hold On Me
*Shake, Rattle And Roll
*Honky Tonk Women
*Jumpin Jack Flash
1975
High Voltage
Its A Long Way To The Top
Live Wire
Rock N Roll Singer
Rocker
T.N.T.
*Jailhouse Rock
*Thats Alright Mama
*Heartbreak Hotel
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*Roll Over Beethoven
1976
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Jailbreak
Problem Child
Tutti Frutti (only 5.12.76)
1977
Bad Boy Boogie
Dog Eat Dog
Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be
Kicked In The Teeth (only 3.9.77 half a year before the release
date)
Let There Be Rock
Up To My Neck In You (only 3.9.77 half a year before the release date)
Whole Lotta Rosie
1978
Beating Around The Bush (only 27.5.78)
Down Payment Blues
Fling Thing (played only on Glasgow and some London gigs up to
date)
Gimme A Bullet (only 29.5.78)
Gone Shootin
Riff Raff
RockNRoll Damnation
Sin City
1979
Girls Got Rhythm
Highway To Hell
If You Want Blood (Youve Got It)
Shot Down In Flames
Walk All Over You
264
BRIAN JOHNSON ON VOCALS

(** originally sung by Scott)
1980
Back In Black
**Bad Boy Boogie
Given The Dog A Bone
**Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be
Hells Bells
**High Voltage
**Highway To Hell
**Let There Be Rock
**Problem Child
**Rocker
Shoot To Thrill
**Shot Down In Flames
**Sin City
**The Jack
**T.N.T.
What Do You Do For Money Honey
** Whole Lotta Rosie
1981
**Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
Inject The Venom (only on few dates)
Lets Get It Up
Lucille (only 25.1.81)
Put The Finger On You
Rock And Roll Aint Noise Pollution
1982
C.O.D. (only 3., 4. and 5.10.82)
**Live Wire (only 9.10.82 and 30.9.82)
Have A Drink On Me
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1983
Badlands (only 9., 11. and 13.11.83)
Bedlam In Belgium (only on a few dates)
**Dog Eat Dog (only on a few dates)
Guns For Hire
Landslide (only 3.11.83)
Nervous Shakedown
Rising Power
This House Is On Fire
1985
Fly On The Wall
**Jailbreak
Shake Your Foundations
Sink The Pink (this song was performed on the rst part of the European tour)
Playing With Girls (only at 4.9.85)
First Blood (only at 4.9.85)
1986
**Shes Got Balls (on the whole US tour.)
Who Made Who
1988
Go Zone (only on a few dates)
Heatseeker
Nick Of Time
Thats The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll
1990
Fire Your Guns
Moneytalks
The Razors Edge
Thunderstruck
1991
Are You Ready
266
1996
Ballbreaker
Boogie Man
Cover You In Oil
**Dog Eat Dog (only for one date before 1996)
**Down Payment Blues
**Girls Got Rhythm
Go Down (only 5.7.96)
**Riff Raff (only 5.7.96)
**Gone Shootin (only 5.7.96)
Hail Caesar
Hard As A Rock
Songs that were also rehearsed:
The Furor RockNRoll Damnation Rocker Dog Eat Dog
High Voltage Live Wire Fire Your Guns Whats Next To The
Moon Burning Alive Big Gun D.T. Chase The Ace Rock
And Roll Aint Noise Pollution Jailbreak Problem Child
2000
Get It Hot
Stiff Upper Lip
Meltdown
Safe In New York City
Satellite Blues
Soundcheck in Pittsburgh: Riff Raff (According to Mark Erb, ear
witness)
2001
**Ride On
**Up To My Neck In You
Also rehearsed:
Night Prowler
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OTHER FACTS RELATING TO AC/DC

The following is a list of other bands of which the main members of AC/DC have been members as well as a checklist of non
DC albums that they have appeared on.
MALCOLM YOUNG
Velvet Underground 1971 1972
Marcus Hook Roll Band 1973
Stevie Wright 1973 (guest on album)
ANGUS YOUNG
Kentuckee 1971 1973
Tantrum 1973
Marcus Hook Roll Band 1973
Stevie Wright 1974 (guest on album)
Ray Arnott 1979 (guest on album)
BON SCOTT
The Spektors 1965 1966
Valentines 1967 1970
Fraternity 1970 1973
Blackfeather 1971 (guest on album)
Vince Lovegrove 1972 (guest on single)
Mount Lofty Rangers 1974
MARK EVANS
Finch 1977 1978
Contraband 1978 1979
The Beast 1982
Heaven 1983 1984
Headhunters 1988
Bob Armstrong 1990 (guest on album)
Chris Turner 1990 (guest on album)
268
PHIL RUDD
Buster Brown 1974
CLIFF WILLIAMS
Home 1970 1974
Al Stewart 1974 (touring band)
Bandit 1975 1977
Alexis Korner 1977 (touring band)
Adam Bomb 1986 (guest on album)
BRIAN JOHNSON
Geordie 1972 1980
Jackyl 1997 (guest on album)
Neurotica 1998 (producer and guest on album)
STEVIE YOUNG
Starghters 1980 1984
Little Big Horn 1989
SIMON WRIGHT
Tora Tora 1980 1981
AIIZ 1981 1982
Tytan 1982 1983
Dio 1989 1991
Rhino Bucket 1993 1995
UFO 1995, 1997 1999
CHRIS SLADE
Tom Jones 1963 1969
Session Drummer 1969 1971
Manfred Manns Earth Band 1972 1979
Session drummer 1979 (Frankie Miller & Kai Olsson)
Uriah Heep 1980 (Conquest album)
Session Drummer 1980 1983 (Gary Numan, Mick Ralphs Band)
David Gilmour 1984 (touring band)
The Firm 1984
Gary Moore 1989 (touring band)
269
MORE TRIVIA
The Valentines rst single Everyday I Have To Cry B/W
Cant Dance With You was released in May 1967 and reached the
top ve in the Western Australian charts.
The Valentines recorded a Coca Cola commercial.
MONSTERS OF ROCK AND DONINGTON FACTS
1984 Monsters of Rock line up:
AC/DC topped the bill plus Van Halen , Ozzy Osbourne ,
Gary Moore , Y & T, Accept, Motley Crue. Compere was Tommy
Vance. 65,000 people attended.
1991 Monsters of Rock line up:
AC/DC topped the bill, plus Metallica, Motley Crue,
Queensrche, The Black Crowes.
The width of the Donington stage in 1991 was 72.45 metres.
It included 250 tonnes of steel, plus a further 250 tonnes of production equipment, which required 34 articulated lorries to ferry
everything around. 116 production workers were contracted to
AC/DC alone. AC/DC hit the Donington stage at 8.20 pm playing
Thunderstruck. 72,500 people attended.
1991 Monsters of Rock tour
20 concerts in 18 European cities nishing with a special free
concert at the Tushino aireld on the outskirts of Moscow on September 28th. 500,000 people attended this show. The tour also included Donington, Basel & Dortmund.
270
Old Fossils?
Fossils discovered in Australia have been named after brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. (As published in the records of the
Australian Museum, Volume 50, Number 3, November 1998).
The fossils are of two species of an animal named Maldybulakia, believed to be related to millipedes or horseshoe crabs.
One species was named for Malcolm (Maldybulakia malcolmi) and one named for Angus (Maldybulakia angusi). Malcolmi was
deposited in a lake in volcanic terrain in southern New South Wales
383 million years ago. Angusi was deposited in oodplain sand in a
river system not far from Canberra about 414 million years ago. The
only closely related species to these two Australian Maldybulakias
comes from Kazakhstan (two Russian palaeontologists named it for
the farm, Maldybulak, where they found their fossils). A complete
animal would have reached about 15 cm or so in length.
Senior research scientist Greg Edgecombe from the Australian Museum named the two species after the Young brothers.
271
Chapter 23 Discography
In 2004 a report in the Australian Financial Review suggested
that AC/DCs Back In Black album has been certied by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) as the second
biggest selling album of all time.
Although the album has indeed sold tens of millions of copies, the report was possibly slightly overenthusiastic. It sits at sixth
in the R.I.A.A. list (which refers to sales in North America) but, as
John Henkel of the Association points out there is no ofcial world
statistic for album sales. Each country keeps their own gures and
in most cases those gures are never made public. We only certify
titles based on domestic sales which is basically the United States
and its territories, says Henkel.
Therefore it is difcult to nd out exactly how many AC/DC
records have been sold, or how their sales stand in comparison with
other artists. The only information made available worldwide is
when a particular album hits a sales level, resulting in a Gold, Silver
or Platinum disc. In 1976 the denitions were different from today.
For instance, in order to qualify for a Silver award, an artists album
had to clear 100,000 prot. This is based on the revenue received
by manufacturers after export sales and tax have been deducted.
By 1977 the Silver mark rose to 150,000, with Gold increasing to
300,000 (from 250,000 in 76). However, for both years the gure for a Platinum award remained at a cool 1,000,000.
Everything changed in 1979. Firstly, the basis for qualication became units sold rather than cash. From the beginning of that
year, the qualications were: Silver 60,000 units; Gold 100,000
units; Platinum 300,000 units.
This has remained in place ever since, but for AC/DC specically the changes mattered little. This is because every single long
form release of theirs has turned Silver and then Gold virtually instantaneously. It took just a month for Back In Black to hit 60,000
units, but by the end of 1980 it had risen to 100,000 and Gold status.
Today it stands at multi, multi platinum level. Blow Up Your Video
272
had been available for just 11 days when it attained Gold status,
proving the late 80s was a fruitful period for the band.
Of course, it takes time for Platinum status to accrue; yet
much like their recorded output, AC/DC has remained consistent in
this respect also. Each release, from Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
to Ballbreaker and even the box set Bonre, now sits comfortably in
Platinum territory. Even the video releases from the group occupy
a place in the high sales list. The No Bull, Stiff Upper Lip and Who
Made Who releases all made Gold status, while Live At Donington
rose to Platinum level.
The likeable act remain a guaranteed seller, yet true to their
roots they stringently control the quality of their releases. A case
in point is the 2005 DVD release, Family Jewels. It contains early
television appearances, as well as the previous longform video releases, Let There Be Rock, Fly On The Wall and Clipped. A perfect
entry into the age of the digital versatile disc, the actioncrammed
product is a perfect accompaniment to AC/DC for fans young and
old.
What follows in the discography section is the denitive list
of all available AC/DC products, which includes everything from
general albums to bootlegs, and interview discs. Of course, with
such a long standing band, and one who appeal heavily to collectors
it would take far more space than available at the end of a biography, to do full justice to the overall amount of DC paraphernalia
available. Thus, this does not claim to be the ultimate collectors
guide (this would necessitate a separate tome), yet it certainly does
stand as the most authoritative directory ever produced on an enduring and prolic group.
The current Top 10 sellers of all time as certied by R.I.A.A.
are:
1. The Eagles Their Greatest Hits (28 million)
2. Michael Jackson Thriller (26 million)
3. Pink Floyd The Wall (23 million)
4. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (22 million)
5. Billy Joel Greatest Hits Vol 1 and II (21 million)
273

6. AC/DC Back In Black (19 million)
6. Shania Twain Come On Over (19 million)
6. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (19 million)
6. The Beatles The White Album (19 million)
10 Soundtrack The Bodyguard (18 million)
10. Boston Boston (18 million)
274
ALBUMS
HIGH VOLTAGE: Baby Please Dont Go / Shes Got Balls / Little Lover
/ Stick Around / Soul Stripper / You Aint Got A Hold On Me / Love Song
/ Show Business
LP, Cassette Albert 1975 Australia Only
T.N.T.: Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) / Rock n
Roll Singer / The Jack / Live Wire / T.N.T. / Rocker / Can I Sit Next To You
Girl / High Voltage / School Days
HIGH VOLTAGE: Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n
Roll) / Rock n Roll Singer / The Jack / Live Wire T.N.T. / Can I Sit Next To
You Girl / Little Lover / Shes Got Balls / High Voltage
CD, LP, Cassette Atco 1976
DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap /
Aint No Fun Waiting Around To Be A Millionaire / Theres Gonna Be
Some Rockin / Problem Child / Squealer / Big Balls / R.I.P. (Rock In
Peace) / Ride On / Jailbreak
DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap /
Aint No Fun Waiting Around To Be A Millionaire / Theres Gonna Be
Some Rockin / Love At First Feel / Big Balls / Problem Child / Rocker /
Ride on / Squealer
CD, LP, Cassette Atlantic 1976
LET THERE BE ROCK: Go Down / Dog Eat Dog / Let There Be Rock /
Bad Boy Boogie / Crabsody In Blue / Overdose / Hell Aint A Bad Place
To Be / Whole Lotta Rosie
LET THERE BE ROCK: Go Down / Dog Eat Dog / Let There Be Rock /
Bad Boy Boogie / Problem Child / Overdose / Hell Aint A Bad Place To
Be / Whole Lotta Rosie
275
POWERAGE: Rock n Roll Damnation / Down Payment Blues / Gimme

A Bullet / Riff Raff / Sin City / Whats Next To The Moon / Gone Shootin /
Cold Hearted Man / Up To My Neck In You / Kicked In The Teeth
IF YOU WANT BLOODYOUVE GOT IT: Riff Raff / Hell Aint A Bad
Place To Be / Bad Boy Boogie / The Jack / Problem Child / Whole Lotta
Rosie / Rock n Roll Damnation / High Voltage / Let There Be Rock /
Rocker
HIGHWAY TO HELL: Highway To Hell / Girls Got Rhythm / Walk All
Over You / Touch Too Much / Beating Around The Bush / Shot Down In
Flames / Get It Hot / If You Want Blood (Youve Got It) / Love Hungry Man
/ Night Prowler
BACK IN BLACK: Hells Bells / Shoot To Thrill / What Do You Do For
Money Honey / Given The Dog A Bone / Let Me Put My Love Into You /
Back In Black / You Shook Me All Night Long / Have A Drink On Me /
Shake A Leg / Rock and Roll Aint Noise Pollution
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU): For Those About
To Rock (We Salute You) / Put The Finger On You / Lets Get It Up / Inject
The Venom / Snowballed / Evil Walks / C.O.D. / Breaking The Rules / Night
Of The Long Knives / Spellbound
FLICK OF THE SWITCH: Rising Power / This House Is On Fire /Flick
Of The Switch / Nervous Shakedown / Landslide / Guns For Hire / Deep
In The Hole / Bedlam In Belgium / Badlands / Brain Shake
74 JAILBREAK: Jailbreak / You Aint Got A Hold On Me / Show Business / Soul Stripper / Baby Please Dont Go
276
FLY ON THE WALL: Fly On The Wall / Shake Your Foundations / First
Blood / Danger / Sink The Pink / Playing With Girls / Stand Up / Hell Or
High Water / Back In Business / Send For The Man
WHO MADE WHO: Who Made Who / You Shook Me All Night Long /
D.T. / Sink The Pink / Ride On / Hells Bells / Shake Your Foundations /
Chase The Ace / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
BLOW UP YOUR VIDEO: Heatseeker / Thats The Way I Wanna Rock n
Roll / Meanstreak / Go Zone / Kissin Dynamite / Nick Of Time / Some Sin
For Nuthin / Ruff Stuff / Twos Up / This Means War
THE RAZORS EDGE: Thunderstruck / Fire Your Guns / Money Talks /
The Razors Edge / Mistress For Christmas / Rock Your Heart Out / Are
You Ready / Got You By The Balls / Shot Of Love / Lets Make It / Goodbye
& Good Riddance To Bad Luck / If You Dare
LIVE: Thunderstruck / Shoot To Thrill / Back In Black / Who Made Who
/ Heatseeker / The Jack / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Money Talks /
Hells Bells / You Shook Me All Night Long / Whole Lotta Rosie / Highway
To Hell / T.N.T. / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
BALLBREAKER: Hard As A Rock / Cover You In Oil / The Furor / Boogie Man / The Honey Roll / Burnin Alive / Hail Caesar / Love Bomb /
Caught With Your Pants Down / Whiskey On The Rocks / Ballbreaker
CD, LP, Cassette Elektra 1995
STIFF UPPER LIP: Stiff Upper Lip / Meltdown / House Of Jazz / Hold Me
Back / Safe In New York City / Cant Stand Still / Cant Stop Rock N Roll /
Satellite Blues / Damned / Come And Get It / All Screwed Up / Give It Up
CD, LP, Cassette Elektra 2000
277

SINGLES
CAN I SIT NEXT TO YOU GIRL
Can I Sit Next To You Girl / Rockin In The Parlour
7 Albert (Australia only) 1974
DOG EAT DOG
Dog Eat Dog / Carry Me Home
7 Albert (Australia only) 1975
ITS A LONG WAY TO THE TOP (IF YOU WANNA ROCK N ROLL)
Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) / Can I Sit
Next To You Girl
7 Atlantic 1976
JAILBREAK
Jailbreak / Fling Thing
7 Atlantic 1976
HIGH VOLTAGE
High Voltage / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n
Roll)
7 Atlantic 1976
DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Big Balls / The Jack
7 Atlantic 1977
LET THERE BE ROCK
Let There Be Rock / Problem Child
7 Atlantic 1977
ROCK N ROLL DAMNATION
Rock n Roll Damnation / Sin City
7 Atlantic 1978
WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE (LIVE)
Whole Lotta Rosie (Live) / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be
7, 12 Atlantic 1978
278
HIGHWAY TO HELL
Highway To Hell / If You Want Blood (Youve Got It)
7, 12 Atlantic 1978
GIRLS GOT RHYTHM
Girls Got Rhythm / Get It Hot / If You Want Blood (Youve Got It) /
Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Rock n Roll Damnation
7 Atlantic 1979
TOUCH TOO MUCH
Touch Too Much (Live) / Live Wire (Live) / Shot Down In Flames (Live)
7 Atlantic 1980
YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG
You Shook Me All Night Long / Have A Drink On Me
7 Atlantic 1980
ROCK N ROLL AINT NOISE POLLUTION
Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution / Hells Bells
7, 12 Atlantic 1980
BACK IN BLACK
Back In Black / What Do You Do For Money Honey
7, 12 Atlantic 1981
LETS GET IT UP
Lets Get It Up / Back In Black (Live) / T.N.T (Live)
7, 12 Atlantic 1982
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU)
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) / Let There Be Rock (Live)
7, 12 Atlantic 1982
GUNS FOR HIRE
Guns For Hire / Landslide
7, 12 Atlantic 1983
FLICK OF THE SWITCH
Flick Of The Switch / Badlands
7 Atlantic 1983
279
NERVOUS SHAKEDOWN
Nervous Shakedown / Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution (Live) / Sin
City (Live) / This House Is On Fire (Live)
7, 12, Cassette Atlantic 1984
DANGER
Danger / Back In Business
7, 7 Picture Disc, 12 Atlantic 1985
SHAKE YOUR FOUNDATIONS
Shake Your Foundations / Send For The Man / Stand Up / Jailbreak
WHO MADE WHO
Who Made Who / Guns For Hire / Who Made Who (Collectors Mix)
YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG
You Shook Me All Night Long / Shes Got Balls (Live) / Shes Got Balls
(Extended)
HEATSEEKER
Heatseeker / Go Zone / Snake High
THATS THE WAY I WANNA ROCK N ROLL
Thats The Way I Wanna Rock n Roll / Kissin Dynamite / Borrowed
Time
/ Shoot To Thrill (Live) / Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)
7, 12 Picture Disc, 12, Cassette, CD Atlantic 1988
THUNDERSTRUCK
Thunderstruck / Fire Your Guns / DT / Chase The Ace
Year Of Release 1990
MONEYTALKS
Moneytalks / Mistress For Christmas / Borrowed Time
280

ARE YOU READY
Are You Ready / Got You By The Balls / Razors Edge
7, 12, Cassette, CD Atlantic 1991
HIGHWAY TO HELL
Highway To Hell (Live) / Hells Bells (Live) / High Voltage (Live) /
Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be (Live) / The Jack (Live)
DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live) / Shoot To Thrill (Live) / Dirty
Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
12, CD Atlantic 1993
BIG GUN
Big Gun / Back In Black (Live) / For Those About To Rock (We Salute
You)
HARD AS A ROCK
Hard As A Rock / Caught With Your Pants Down
7, CD Atlantic 1995
HAIL CAESAR
Hail Caesar / Whiskey On The Rocks / Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)
Cassette, CD Atlantic 1996
COVER YOU IN OIL
Cover You In Oil / Love Bomb / Ballbreaker
CD Atlantic 1996
STIFF UPPER LIP
Stiff Upper Lip / Hard As A Rock (Live) / Ballbreaker (Live)
CD Atlantic 2000
281

SOUNDTRACKS
WHO MADE WHO: Who Made Who / You Shook Me All Night Long /
D.T. / Sink The Pink / Ride On / Hells Bells / Shake Your Foundations /
Chase The Ace / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
LAST ACTION HERO: Big Gun
CD, Cassette Sony 1993
BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD DO AMERICA: Gone Shootin
CD, Cassette Geffen 1997
PRIVATE PARTS: You Shook Me All Night Long (Live)
CD, Cassette Warner Bros 1997
SIXTEEN CANDLES: Snowballed
CD, Cassette MCA 1998
DETROIT ROCK CITY: Thunderstruck (performed by Sprung Monkey)
CD, Cassette Universal 1999
282
BOOTLEGS
During the course of AC/DCs live career there have been literally
hundreds of unofcial products on vinyl and CD. In fact, although the
band is generally not seen as visually appealing, they could easily have
a full book written simply about the rarities and collectibles, which have
amassed over the years. Therefore it would take far too much space to list
every bootleg recording of the band in these pages, but here is a selection
of the best.
1976 (LP):
Side 1: Angus Int. (78) / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / Live Wire (BBC Sessions 3 Jun 76) / Bon Int. (79) / Jailbreak (London (Wimbledon Theatre)
Rollin Bolan TV Show 13 July 76) / Angus Int. (78) / Rock & Roll Singer
/ School Days (Reading 29 Aug. 76)
Side 2: Its A Long Way To The Top / Soul Stripper / Baby Please Dont Go
(London (Marquee) Jul. 76) / Bon Int. (78) / Little Lover (BBC Sessions
3 Jun 76)
Various live 76 and interviews 78 79
A GIANT DOSE OF ROCK & ROLL! (CD/LP):
Side 1: Jailbreak / The Jack / Shes Got Balls
Side 2: Can I Sit Next To You Girl / T.N.T. / Rocker
Live Sydney (Hurtsville Civic Centre) 5 Feb. 77
YD 004 (Matrix) (1998, Germany)
...AND I CURDLED HER CREAM THE LITTLE CUNTS REVISITED (2 LPs):
Side 1: Love Song (intro) /Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Shes Got Balls
/ Problem Child
Side 2: Live Wire / The Jack
Side 3: Jailbreak / T.N.T. / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / High Voltage
Side 4: Baby Please Dont Go / Rocker
Live in Hobart, Aust (City Hall) 7 Jan. 1977
RRR 1040 (Oct. 2002, USA)
BBC TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES (LP):
Side 1: Live Wire / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock & Roll)
/ Soul Stripper/High Voltage
Side 2: Def Leppard Live Reading 1980.
283
Live London (Marquee Club) Jul. 76.

London Wavelength 2647S (1990, UK)
CAN I SIT ON YOUR FACE GIRL... YOU CAN SIT ON MINE (LP):
Side 1: Jailbreak / The Jack / Can I Sit Next To You Girl
Side 2: High Voltage / Rocker / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna
Rock n Roll)
Live Sydney (Haymarket) 30 Jan. 77.
AC 201 (Matrix) (Nov. 02, Sweden)
DIRTY DEEDS DOWN UNDER (LP):
Side 1: Love song (intro only) / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Shes Got
Balls / Problem Child/Jailbreak (cut)
Side 2: The Jack / T.N.T. / Baby Please Dont Go (cut)
Live Brisbane (Festival Hall) 18 Dec. 76.
AC1 (1986, Germany)
THE DEVIL ROCKS (CD):
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Shes Got Balls / Problem Child / Live
Wire / Jailbreak / The Jack / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / T.N.T. / Rocker
/ Interview
DC DR 01 (Matrix) (Dec. 2002, Germany)
THE LITTLE CUNTS HAVE DONE IT (CD):
Intro / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap/ Problem Child / Live Wire / The
Jack / Jailbreak / T.N.T. / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / High Voltage / Baby
Please Dont Go / Rocker
Rosies Revenge Records RRR 1040 (June 2001, USA)
LIVE IN ENGLAND FEATURING BON SCOTT (7 Single):
Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) / Jailbreak
Azimuth AM 301 62 (1989, UK)
NO AFRAID... ...ITS ONLY ROCK N ROLL (LP/CD R):
Live Wire / Rock N Roll Singer / Jailbreak / Shes Got Balls / Rocker /
High Voltage / Baby Please Dont Go
No Afraid Records 2 39 56 (1997, Germany)
SCOTTISH BASTARDS (LP):
Live Wire / Shes Got Balls / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna
284
Rock n Roll) / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / The Jack / High Voltage /
T.N.T. / Baby Please Dont Go
Wolf Records WOLF 003 (Jan 2002, Sweden)
SIN SYDNEY 76 (LP):
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Shes Got Balls / Problem Child / Live Wire
/ Jailbreak / The Jack / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / Stone Cold Crazy
Home Grown MEFW 01/02 (1991, Germany)
110/220 (LP/CD):
Live Wire / Problem Child / High Voltage / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be /
Dog Eat Dog / The Jack / Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker
Impossible Recordworks IMPI.31 (1979, USA)
AC/DC (Live At The Atlantic Studios) (LP):
Live Wire / Problem Child / High Voltage / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be /
Dog Eat Dog / The Jack / Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker
Bobop A 7925 (Jan. 83, Germany)
THE NUCLEAR BOMB OF ROCK N ROLL (LIVE WITH BON
SCOTT)
Live At The Mayfair, Newcastle (UK) 01.01.1980 (LP):
Live Wire / Problem Child / Gone Shootin / Bad Boy Boogie / Rock n
Roll Damnation / Highway To Hell / Soul Stripper / Baby, Please Dont
Go
For The First Session For Highway To Hell 1979:
If You Want Blood / Back Seat Condential / Touch Too Much
WE CANT STOP ROCK N ROLL (D CD):
Recorded Live In Paris, November 2000
Disc 1: You Shook Me All Night Long / Stiff Upper Lip / Shot Down In
Flames / Thunderstruck / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Hard As A Rock
/
Shoot To Thrill / Angus Young Guitar Solo / Rock n Roll In Noise
Pollution / I Feel Safe In New York City / Bad Boy Boogie
Disc 2: Hells Bells / The Jack / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Back In
Black / Highway To Hell / Whole Lotta Rosie / Let There Be Rock / T.N.T
/ For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
EUROBOOTS: EB 67/2 (2001, Luxembourg)
285
SHES GOT BALLS REMASTERED (CD):

Live In Towson, Maryland, USA 16.10.1979
Live Wire / Shot Down In Flames / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Sin
City / Problem Child / Bad Boy Boogie / The Jack / Highway To Hell /
High
Voltage / Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker/Guitar Solo / If You Want Blood
(You Got It) / Get It Hot (early version, different lyrics and vocals) / Dirty
Eyes
(Early version of Whole Lotta Rosie, completely different)
Bontow: BT CD 7879 2 (2002, Germany)
THE BBC TAPES (LP):
London 1980
Live Wire / Shot Down In Flames / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Sin
City / Walk All Over You / The Jack / Highway To Hell / Girls Got
Rhythm
/ High Voltage / If You Want Blood (Youve Got It) / Let There Be Rock
London 1976
Live Wire / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) /
Soul Stripper / High Voltage
THE BBC TAPES VOL. 2 (LP):
Rock Goes To College TV Show ABC University, Colchester, Essex
28.10.1978
Live Wire / Intro / Problem Child / Sin City / Bad Boy Boogie / Whole
Lotta Rosie / Rocker / Let There Be Rock
Radio 1 Broadcast, Maida Vale Studios, London 03.06.1976
High Voltage / Live Wire / Can I Sit Next To You Girl? / Little Lover
Bonus Tracks: High Voltage (Video Version) / Jailbreak (Video Version)
IN THE STUDIO (LP):
Live radio broadcast, Atlantic Studios, N.Y 07.12.1977
Live Wire / Problem Child / High Voltage / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be
/ Dog Eat Dog / The Jack / Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker / Dirty Eyes / Crabsody In Blue / Cold Hearted Man / Get It Hot / If You Want Blood / Back
Seat Condential / Touch Too Much
IN ROCK WE TRUST THE RARITIES (CD):
Can I Sit Next To You / Rockin In The Parlor / Love Song / Shes Got
Balls / Little Lover / Stick Around / High Voltage / School Days / Rock
286
In Peace / Crapsody In Blue / Carry Me Home / Down On The Borderline

/ Fling Thing / Cold Hearted Man / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / The
Jack / Whole Lotta Rosie (All tracks are single B sides, Australian only
album tracks or otherwise unobtainable material)
MILESTONES OF DYNAMITE THE RARITIES VOLUME 2 (CD):
Dirty Deeds Done Cheap (only released on aussi vinyl) / Dog Eat Dog
(released by mistake only as a German 7 B side) / Highway To Hell
(Live
on Rock Pop German TV 28.08.1978 / Johnny B Goode (Rare Live
Version,
Sioux Falls, USA 07.07.1979) / Ride On (Last recording of Bon Scott,
Scorpio Studios, London 13.02.1980) / Guns For Hire (tour rehearsals,
Los
Angeles 05.10.1983) / Flick Of The Switch (tour rehearsals, Los Angeles
05.10.1983) / Nervous Shakedown (tour rehearsals, Los Angeles
05.10.1983) / Rising Power (tour rehearsals, Los Angeles 05.10.1983) /
Thats
The Way I Wanna Rock n Roll (studio outtake from 1987) / Heatseeker
(Studio outtake from 1987) / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) /
Live, Moscow, 28.09.1981 from a rare Maxi CD) / Highway To Hell (mega
rare
live version only ever released on a French 5 track maxi) / Back In
Black (Previously unreleased VH1 session track, London 05.07.1996) /
Stiff
Upper Lip (The tracks live world premier, MTV 2Total Request Live
10.03.2000) / Back In Black (The tracks live world premier, MTV 2 Total
Request Live 10.03.2000) / Stiff Upper Lip (Live on NBCs Saturday
Night
Live TV Show, March 2000) / You Shook Me All Night Long
HAIL GEEZER SPANISH FLY (CD):
The Bullring, Madrid, Spain July 3, 4, 5 1996
Back In Black / Shot Down In Flames / Thundershock / Girls Got Rhythm
/
Hard As A Rock / Shoot To Kill / Boogieman/Heatseeker / The Jack /
T.N.T
/ Highway To Hell / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
Buddy Knox Music (1996, USA)
287
MADRID 1996 (D CD R):

Live in Madrid at Plaza De Toros De Las Ventas, Spain, 10.07.1996
Disc 1: 1st Intro Beavis & Butthead / 2nd Intro Stage Destruction /
Back In Black / Shot Down In Flames / Thunderstruck / Girls Got
Rhythm
/ Hard As A Rock / Shoot To Thrill / Boogie Man / Hail Caesar / Hells
Bells / Dog Eat Dog / The Jack / Ball Breaker / Rock n Roll Aint
Noise Pollution / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Disc 2: You Shook Me All Night Long / Whole Lotta Rosie / T.N.T / Let
There Be Rock / Highway To Hell / For Those About To Rock (We Salute
You)
(1997, France)
BACK IN RHYTHM (D CD):
Westfallenhalle, Dortmund, 08.05.1996.
Disc 1: Intro / Back In Black / Shot Down In Flames / Thunderstruck /
Girls Got Rhythm / Cover You In Oil / Shoot To Thrill / Boogie Man /
Hard As A Rock / Hells Bells / Dog Eat Dog / Down Payment Blues /
The
Jack
Disc 2: Ballbreaker / Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution / Dirty Deeds
Done Cheap / You Shook Me All Night Long / Whole Lotta Rosie / T.N.T /
Let There Be Rock / Highway To Hell / For Those About To Rock (We
Salute You)
(1996, USA)
LIVE AT THE APOLLO STADIUM (LP):
Apollo Stadium, Adelaide, Australia 12.04.1976.
Jailbreak / She Got The Jack / Can I Sit Next To You / High Voltage /
Im A Rocker Im A Roller / Long Way To The Top / Baby, Please Dont
Go / Problem Child
LIVE AT LEITH THEATRE (LP):
Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland 12.06.1976.
Live Wire / Shes Got Balls / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna
Rock n Roll) / Can I Sit Next To You Girl / The Jack / High Voltage /
T.N.T. / Baby Please Dont Go
ROUTE 666 VOL 1 (CD/LP):
Warners Theatre, Fresno, California, USA 09.08.1979
288
Highway To Hell (German TV) / Live Wire / Shot Down In Flames / Sin
City / Problem Child / Walk All Over You / Bad Boy Boogie
Haizea Prod. HP010301 (2003, USA)
ROUTE 666 VOL 2 (CD/LP):
Warners Theatre, Fresno, California, USA 09.08.1979
The Jack / Highway To Hell / Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker / Let There Be
Rock / Unknown Jam (Unreleased)
Haizea Prod. HP010301 (2003, USA)
LIVE AT THE MYER MUSIC BOWL (D CD):
Myer Music Bowl Melbourne, Australia 27.02.1981
Disc 1: Hells Bells / Shot Down In Flames / Sin City / Back In Black /
Bad Boy Boogie / The Jack / What Do You Do For Money Honey / Highway To
Hell / High Voltage
Disc 2: Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker /You Shook Me All Night Long / Rock
n Roll Aint Noise Pollution / T.N.T / Let There Be Rock
FLY ON TOUR (D CD):
Frank Erwin Centre, Austin, Texas, USA 11.10.1985
Disc 1: Fly On The Wall / Back In Black / Shake Your Foundations /
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / You Shook Me All Night Long / Sin City /
Jailbreak / The Jack / Shoot To Thrill
Disc 2: Hells Bells / The Jack / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Highway
To Hell / Whole Lotta Rosie / Let There Be Rock / T.N.T / For Those
About To Rock
LIVE AT THE PEPSI CENTRE (CD):
Pepsi Centre Denver, Colorado, USA 11.04.2001
You Shook Me All Night Long / Stiff Upper Lip / Shot Down In Flames /
Thunderstruck / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Hard As A Rock / Shoot
To
Thrill / Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution / Safe In New York City /
Bad Boy Boogie / Hells Bells / Get It Hot / The Jack / Back In Black /
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Highway To Hell / Whole Lotta Rosie /
Let
There Be Rock (We Salute You)
289
RIDE ON PARIS (D CD):

Stade De France Paris, France 22.06.2001
Disc 1: Stiff Upper Lip / You Shook Me All Night Long / Problem Child /
Thunderstruck / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Hard As A Rock / Shoot
To Thrill / Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution / What Do You Do For
Money Honey / Bad Boy Boogie / Hells Bells
Disc 2:Up To My Neck In You / The Jack / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
/
Back In Black / Highway To Hell / Whole Lotta Rosie / Let There Be
Rock
290
SELECTED PROMOS
As with many collectible bands, the prices for promotional items
can be fairly high, and for some of the following items it might well be
astronomical. Many of the following were issued in very small numbers.
Collectors will often state the value of something is merely based upon
how much a person is willing to pay, but the promo only items listed below rate as the crme de la crme of the AC/DC collecting world and you
should expect to pay rather a lot to complete your collection!
10 Of The Finest Items Of Promotional Memorabilia
Here are some of the most unusual and sought after AC/DC items which
were usually scarcely produced as items for serious fans. All memorabilia
is promotional only and will have been produced from the record company
of the time.
SET OF 5 CREDIT CARDS This incredible set was made to promote
the Money Talks single. There is one credit card for each member of the
band. There are only 6 complete sets in existence.
SATCHEL
For the 1976 Lock Up Your Daughters tour a satchel was produced
which came with a red sticker, badge and lyric sheets. It was given to the
winner of radio contest. This was a supremely rare gem as it was a complete one off.
STOPWATCH
The Are You Ready single was promoted with a rare stopwatch. The
watch is white with red logo.
PROMOTIONAL TIE
For the release of the If You Want BloodYouve Got It album in the
United Kingdom, certain record stores were giving these mock Angus
ties to the rst paying customers.
291
DECK OF PLAYING CARDS

For the release of The Jack (live version) 7 single there was a set of
playing cards produced. However this item was never distributed due to
The Jack never being released; it was therefore locked away in the Atlantic vaults. Only 25 sample decks were made.
SET OF EARPLUGS
This item was produced for the Blow Up Your Video American tour. The
earplugs came with a black case with gold logo. The edition was strictly
limited to 200 sets.
MATCHBOX SEMI TRUCK
For AC/DCs Australian tour in 1991 the band held a press conference in
Sydney beforehand. A matchbox truck was placed on each table. There
are less than 50 in existence. There is a picture of one of the trucks on
Live double album insert.
CARDBOARD GIBSON SG
200 cardboard replicas of Anguss SG were made for Thats The Way
I Wanna Rock N Roll video shoot which was lmed in Sydney. Afterwards Angus signed as many as he could.
SPRAY CAN AND PLASTIC FLY
These items were made to promote the Fly On The Wall album. The insect can is blue and it has a red AC/DC logo on it. The plastic y, known
as Looy is around 2 inches in size.
WATCH
For the song Nick Of Time a watch with a gold rim, white face and red
AC/DC logo with black strap was produced.
292
THE JAPANESE EFFECT

All the AC/DC albums before Powerage were issued in the 80s
specically for Japanese fans as they caught onto the band. As Japanese
fans often nd, the albums packaged in their country are generally far
nicer than in terms of general production and with AC/DC it was no different.
The front sleeves were similar all over the world but the back
sleeves were lavishly illustrated. The albums were contained OBI strips (a
customary Japanese inclusion) as well as lyric sheets.
The Blow Up Your Video and The Razors Edge albums were promoted with CD singles. Both are in generous and colourful packaging.
ALBUMS
(with inserts, OBIs and lyric sheets)
Powerage (LP P10533A, CD, 1978)
If You Want Blood (LP P10618T, CD, 1978)
Highway To Hell (LP P10719, CD, 1979)
Back In Black (LP P10906, CD, 1980)
High Voltage (LP P10926T, CD, 1980)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (LP P10994, CD, 1980)
Let There Be Rock (LP, CD, 1980)
For Those About To Rock (LP P11068, CD, 1981)
Flick Of The Switch (LP P11399, CD, 1983)
74 Jailbreak (LP P6196, CD, 1984)
293
Fly On The Wall (LP P13152, CD, w/exi disc, 1985)

Who Made Who (LP 13269, CD, 1986)
Blow Up Your Video (LP 13634, CD, 1988)
The Razors Edge (LP, CD AMCY 138, 1990)
Live (2LP) (LP, CD AMCY 656, with extra track, 1992)
Ballbreaker (CD AMCY 888, 1995)
Bonre (CD 251541, w/ booklet in Japanese, 1997)
PROMOTIONAL ALBUMS
Japan Tour 81 (LP PS180, picture disc, 1980)
AC/DC vs. Foreigner (LP PS205, 6 tracks each, 1982)
The Heavy Metal (LP PS171, special DJ copy, v.a., 2 AC/DC tracks,
1981)
The Heavy Metal 81 (LP PS187, v.a., 1981)
Heavy Metal 1964 1984 (2LP PS239/40, v.a., 2 AC/DC tracks, 1984)
Hard Rock 1985 (LP PS269, v.a., 2 AC/DC tracks, 1985)
WEA Top Hits September 85 (LP PS271, vol 26, v.a., w/Danger, 1985)
The Atlantic Times (CD ASCD 10, v.a., 3 AC/DC tracks)
CD SINGLES
Heatseeker / Go Zone (105W 9, 3 CD, w/PS, 1988)
Thats The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll / Kissin Dynamite (105W
49, 3 CD, w/PS,
1988)
294
Thunderstruck / Fire Your Guns (3CD, w/Long PS, 1990)

Moneytalks / Borrowed Time (AMDY 5040, 3 CD, w/Long PS, 1991)
7 SINGLES
The 7 singles from Japan are also of appeal to AC/DC collectors.
These are generally very nicely packaged and tend to be quite different in
appearance from the regular releases. Also in the mid eighties two Japanese exisingles were pressed, Guns For Hire and Danger. Both are
incredibly hard to nd.
Back In Black / What Do You Do For Money Honey
Danger / Back In Business (7/85)
For Those About To Rock / T.N.T. (live) (5/82) (P1649)
Guns For Hire / Landslide (10/83) (P1809)
Heatseeker / Go Zone (3/88) (P2377)
Highway To Hell / If You Want Blood (9/79) (P464)
Lets Get It Up / Back In Black (live) (2/82) (P1615)
Rock N Roll Damnation / Sin City (7/78) (P311A)
Shake Your Foundations / Send For The Man (11/85) (P2038)
Touch Too Much / Walk All Over You (3/80) (P544A)
Who Made Who / Guns For Hire (live) (6/86) (P2134)
295
Whole Lotta Rosie (live) / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be (live) (1/79)
(P372A)
You Shook Me All Night Long / Back In Black (10/80) (P631A)
5 FLEXI SINGLES
Danger (Came with the Fly On The Wall album)
Guns For Hire (Came with the Flick Of The Switch album)
296
BOXED SETS
AC/DC (Volume 1) (Australia only) LP
High Voltage / T.N.T. / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Let There Be
Rock / Powerage / Highway To Hell
Also includes: 12 Maxi Single with Cold Hearted Man
Iron on transfer
Originally released in November 1981. Available in Australia & New
Zealand only.
Reissued in 1987 without transfer, and in 1989 without 12. CD reissues
without transfer & 12.
AC/DC (Volume 2) (Australia only) CD
Back In Black / For Those About To RockWe Salute You / Flick Of
The Switch / Fly On The Wall / Who Made Who
Also includes: Poster
Originally released in November 1987. Available in Australia & New
Zealand only. Reissued in 1989 without poster. CD reissues without
poster
BOOM BOX / AC/DC (Australia only) CD
Rock / Powerage / If You Want BloodYouve Got It / Highway To Hell
/ Back In Black / For Those About To Rock / Flick Of The Switch / Fly
On The Wall / Who Made Who / Blow Up Your Video / The Razors
Edge / Live (Special Collectors Edition) / Ballbreaker (On 2002 reissue
only) / Stiff Upper Lip (On 2002 reissue only)
Originally released in 1991 (without Live), reissued in October 1995 (All
remastered CDs until Live), and in December 2002 as AC/DC. Available
in Australia & New Zealand only. CDs are in jewel cases & booklet with
lyrics, same as standard remastered Australian CDs. Original release in
different package.
Live: Thunderstruck / Shoot To Thrill / Back In Black / Sin City * / Who
Made Who / Heatseeker / Fire Your Guns * / Jailbreak * / The Jack / The
Razors Edge * / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Money Talks / Hells
Bells / Are You Ready * / Thats The Way I Wanna Rock n Roll * / High
Voltage * / You Shook Me All Night Long / Whole Lotta Rosie / Let There
297
Be Rock * / Bonny * / Highway To Hell / T.N.T. / For Those About To

Rock (We Salute You)
* Box Set Only Tracks; Special Longbox Collectors edition (which contains fold out Booklet and AC/DC dollar)
1992
BONFIRE (CD)
DISC 1: Live From The Atlantic Studios: Live Wire / Problem Child /
High Voltage / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Dog Eat Dog / The Jack /
Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker
DISC 2: Let There Be Rock The Movie Live In Paris: Live Wire / Shot
Down In Flames / Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be / Sin City / Walk All Over
You / Bad Boy Boogie / The Jack / Highway To Hell / Girls Got Rhythm /
High Voltage / Whole Lotta Rosie / Rocker / T.N.T. / Let There Be Rock
DISC 3: Volts: Dirty Eyes / Touch Too Much / If You Want Blood You
Got It / Back Seat Condential / Get It Hot / Sin City / Shes Got Balls /
School Days / Its A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock n Roll) /
Ride On
DISC 4: Back In Black: Hells Bells / Shoot To Thrill / What Do You Do
For Money Honey / Given The Dog A Bone / Let Me Put My Love Into
You / Back In Black / You Shook Me All Night Long / Have A Drink On
Me / Shake A Leg / Rock and Roll Aint Noise Pollution
1998 Elektra
AC/DC (Europe only)
Rock / Powerage / If You Want BloodYouve Got It / Highway To Hell
/ Back In Black / For Those About To Rock / Flick Of The Switch / Fly
On The Wall / Who Made Who / Blow Up Your Video / The Razors
Edge / Live (Special Collectors Edition) / Ballbreaker / Live From The
Atlantic Studios
All CDs included are the vinyl replica reissues in card sleeves.
2000 (Available in Australia & Europe only): Stiff Upper Lip Tour Edition
Stiff Upper Lip: Stiff Upper Lip / Meltdown / House Of Jazz / Hold Me
Back / Safe In New York City / Cant Stand Still / Cant Stop Rock N
Roll / Satellite Blues / Damned / Come And Get It / All Screwed Up /
Give It Up
298
Bonus Disc enhanced CD: Cyberspace (Non album track) / Back In

Black (Live Madrid July 96) / Hard As A Rock (Live Madrid July 96)
/ Ballbreaker (Live Madrid July 96) / Whole Lotta Rosie (Live Madrid
July 96) / Let There Be Rock (Live Madrid July 96) / Stiff Upper Lip
(Video Clip) / Safe In New York City (Video Clip) / Satellite Blues
(Video Clip)
2001.
299

BOOKS
HIGHWAY TO HELL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AC/DC LEGEND
BON SCOTT, Clinton Walker, Verse Chorus Press, U.S. 2001
ROCK N ROLL FANTASY MY LIFE AND TIMES WITH AC/DC,
VAN HALEN, KISS..., Susan Masino, Badger Books Inc 2003
AC/DC: SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM, Mark Putterford, Omnibus Press
1992
AC/DC AN ILLUSTRATED RECORD COLLECTORS GUIDE VOLUME 1 & 2, Chris Tesch, C.M. Tesch 1992
SINGING IN THE DARK A ROCK N ROLL ROADIE STEPS INTO
THE LIGHT, Barry Taylor, Kingsway Communications, 1990
HELL AINT NO BAD PLACE TO BE, Richard Bunton, Omnibus Press
1982
AC/DC THE WORLDS HEAVIEST ROCK, Martin Huxley, Saint Martins Press 1996
GET YOUR JUMBO JET OUT OF MY AIRPORT (RANDOM NOTES
FOR AC/DC OBSESSIVES), Howard Johnson, Helter Skelter Publishing
1999
AC/DC HARD ROCK LIVE PHOTOS 1976 1980, Von Wolfgang Heilemann, Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf 2004
AC/DC, Malcolm Dome, Jewish Pubn. Soc. of America 1982
AC/DC STORY, Paul Ezra, Babylon Books 1982
AC/DC: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY, The Kerrang! Files (Various),
Virgin Books 2001
MAXIMUM AC/DC, THE UNAUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY OF AC/DC
(Audio Book), Chrome Dreams 2000
300
INTERVIEWS
CDs
The Conversation Disc Series, ABCD, 1989
The Interview, Baktabak, 1992
Dirty Words, Holoview Ltd, 1994
Monsters Of Rock, Kokopelli Records, 1996
Monsters Of Rock, Rockview, 1996
AC/DC X Posed, The Interview, Chrome Dreams 2005
7s
An Interview With Angus Young and Brian Johnson Parts 1 and 2,
10/01/82, 1984
12s
Limited Edition Interview Picture Disc, Tell Tales 1986
AC/DC Interview Picture Disc, Baktabak, 1987
AC/DC Interview Disc, RDPD, 1987
Rock Sagas The Chris Tetley Interviews, Fotodisk, 1988
AC/DC, Tell Tales, 1988
Mini Disc
The Razors Edge, Atco, 1992
301
(This is a Japanese released interview and the only ofcial AC/DC mini
disc ever produced).
DVD
No Bull Live
Warner 1996
Stiff Upper Lip Live
Elektra 2001
Live At Donington
Sony 2003
No Bull Live/Stiff Upper Lip Live
Warner 2003
Guitar Method In The Style Of AC/DC
MVP 2003
And Then There Was Rock: AC/DC Unauthorised Documentary
Chrome Dreams 2005
Family Jewels
Sony 2005
302
VIDEOS
PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS
Can I Sit Next To You Girl (1974, w/ Dave Evans vocals)
High Voltage (1975)
Its a Long Way To The Top (1975) (version 1 studio)
Dirty Deeds Done Cheap (1976)
Jailbreak (1976) (version 1 studio)
Jailbreak (1976) (version 2 outdoors)
Jailbreak (1976) (version 2 edit)
Jailbreak (1977) (version 3 studio / stage)
Its a Long Way To The Top (1977) (parade oat)
Let There Be Rock (1977) (both edit and unedited versions)
Dog Eat Dog (1977)
Rock n Roll Damnation (1978)
Riff Raff (live, 1978)
Bad Boy Boogie (Live, 1978)
Highway To Hell (1979)
Walk All Over You (1979)
Touch Too Much (1979)
Shot Down In Flames (1979)
If You Want Blood (1979)
Walk All Over You (live, 1979 LTBR movie)
Hells Bells (1980)
Back in Black (1980)
What Do You Do For Money Honey (1980)
You Shook Me All Night Long (1980)
Rock n Roll Aint Noise Pollution (1980)
Let Me Put My Love Into You (1980)
Back In Black (live 1981) (B&W and Colour)
For Those About To Rock (live 1981)
Put The Finger On You (live 1981)
Lets Get It Up (live 1981)
Guns For Hire (1983)
Flick Of The Switch (1983)
Nervous Shakedown (1983) (version 1)
Nervous Shakedown (1983) (version 2)
303
Fly On The Wall (1985)

Danger (1985)
Sink The Pink (1985)
Stand Up (1985)
Shake Your Foundations (1985)
Who Made Who (1986)
You Shook Me All Night Long (1986)
Heatseeker (1988)
Thats The Way I Wanna Rock n Roll (1988)
Thunderstruck (1990)
Money Talks (1990)
Are You Ready (1990)
Highway To Hell (live, 1992)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (live, 1992)
Back in Black (live, Moscow, 1992)
Big Gun (1993)
Hard As A Rock (1995)
Hail Caesar (1995)
Cover You In Oil (1995)
OFFICIAL RELEASES
Let There Be Rock
1980
Fly On The Wall
1985
Who Made Who
1986
Clipped
1990
Live At Donington
1992
AC/DC Uncut
1996
No Bull Live
1996
304
WEBSITES
www.ac dc.cc
www.highwaytohell.net
www.crabsodyinblue.com
www.acdccentral.com
www.acdcfrance.com
www.acdcrocks.com
www.acdcband.com
www.gotmacdc.de
www.acdc1.com
www.squealer.net
www.kolumbus./nononsense/
www.thereddevil.com
www.ac dc.net/
www.accadacca.net
www.bigguns.galea.com
305

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
What follows is a brief synopsis of the various Bon Scott and Brian
Johnson recordings outside of AC/DC. This does not claim to be complete
as there are undoubtedly other bootlegs etc which are available, but here is
the signicant material each singer recorded before joining AC/DC.
BON SCOTT
THE SPEKTORS
Bon Scott With The Spektors: CD E.P. released in 1992 by See For Miles
Records (SEACD 6). This CD contains The Spektors only known recordings, all from a television broadcast. The track listing is as follows: Gloria (lead vocal: Bon Scott)
On My Mind (drums: Bon Scott) / Yesterday (Bon Scott does not play
drums or sing lead vocals on this, but its suggested he sang backing
vocals) / Interview with Vincent Lovegrove (by Alan Mannings) the interview lasts 23 minutes and contains sound clips of several Valentines
songs / Gloria* / On My Mind* / Yesterday*
*The last 3 songs are the same as the rst 3 except that they include the
announcers introduction and crowd applause
FRATERNITY
ALBUMS
Livestock: The Race Part 1 / Seasons Of Change / Livestock / Summerville /
Raglans Folly / Cool Spot / Grand Canyon Suites / Jupiters Landscape
/ You
Have A God / It / The Race Part 2
LP, Sweet Peach / Astor 1971
Flaming Galah: Shape Im In / If You Got It (Single Version) / Welfare
Boogie /
306
Annabelle / Seasons Of Change / You Have A God / Hemmings Farm /

Raglans
Folly / Getting Off / Summerville
LP, RCA 1971
Fraternity The Complete Sessions 1971 72 (2 CD): Seasons Of
Change / Livestock / Sommerville / Raglans Folly / Cool Spot / Grand
Canyon Spot / Jupiters Landscape / You Have A God It / The Race (Pts 1
& 2) / Why Did It Have To Be Me / Question / Shape Im In, The / If You
Got It (Single Version) / Welfare Boogie / Annabelle / Seasons Of Change
(II) / You Have A God (II) / Hemmings Farm / Raglans Folly (II) / Getting Off / Sommerville R.I.P. / Canyon Suite / If You Got It (II) / Battle
Of The Sounds Sequence / Bon Scott Talks With David Day of 5KA, Adelaide 1977 / Bon Scott Talks With Sheila Renay of KSJO, San Jose, 1978
SINGLES
Seasons Of Change
Seasons Of Change / Summerville
7 Sweet Peach / Astor 1971
The Race Part 1
The Race Part 1 / The Race Part 2
7 Sweet Peach / Astor 1971
Welfare Boogie
Welfare Boogie / Getting Off
7 RCA/Victor 1971
If You Got It
If You Got It / Raglans Folly / You Have A God
7 Raven/Festival 1971
307

THE VALENTINES
ALBUMS
The Legendary Bon Scott with the Spektors and the Valentines SEECD
704: The Spektors: Gloria / It Aint Necessarily So / On My Mind / Yesterday / Interview by Allan Mannings featuring Vince Lovegrove / Gloria
(As original TV Broadcast) / It Aint Necessarily So / (As original TV
Broadcast) / On My Mind (As original TV Broadcast) / Yesterday (As
original TV Broadcast)
Bon Scott With The Valentines: To Know You Is To Love You / She Said
/ Every Day I Have To Cry / I Cant Dance With You / Peculiar Hole In
The Sky / Love Makes Sweet Music / I Can Hear Raindrops / Why Me /
Sooky Sooky
SINGLES
I Cant Dance With You
I Cant Dance With You / Everyday I Have To Cry
7 Clarion / Festival 1967
She Said
She Said / To Know You Is To Love You
Why Me?
Why Me? / I Can Hear The Raindrops
Peculiar Hole In The Sky
Peculiar Hole In The Sky / Love Makes Sweet Music
Ebeneezer
Ebeneezer / My Old Mans A Groovy Old Man
7 Philips 1969
308
Nick Nack Paddy Whack

Nick Nack Paddy Whack / Getting Better
7 Philips 1969
My Old Mans A Groovy Old Man
My Old Mans A Groovy Old Man / Nick Nack Paddy Whack / Ebeneezer
/
Getting Better
7 EP Philips 1969, 1970
Juliette
Juliette / Hoochie Coochie Billy
7 Philips 1970
VARIOUS
Blackfeather At The Mountains Of Madness: At the mountain of Madness / On this Day that I die / Seasons of change (pt1) / Mangos Theme
part 2 / Long Legged Lovely / The Rat suite Main title (The Rat) The
trap Spanish Blues Blazwaorden (Land of dreams) Finale (The Rat)
Round And Round And Round, CD single: Round And Round And
Round/Carey Gully Released: 24/01/1999 Cat: MB619622
Bon Scott Seasons Of Change 1967 1972: To Know You Is To Love You
/ She Said /
Everyday I Have To Cry / I Cant Dance With You / Peculiar Hole In The
Sky / Love Makes Sweet Music / I Can Hear The Raindrops / Why Me? /
Sooky Sooky / Getting Better / Ebeneezer / Hoochie Coochie / Billy / My
Old Mans A Groovy Man / Nick Nack Paddy Wack / Julliette / Annabelle
/ Welfare Boogie / Hemmings Farm / Sommerville / R.I.P. / Getting Off
If You Got It / Seasons Of Change / Interview with David Day of 5Ka in
Adelaide
309

BRIAN JOHNSON
GEORDIE
ALBUMS
Hope You Like It (EMI EMC 3001): Keep on Rockin / Give You Till
Monday / Hope You Like It / Dont Do That / Because of You / Old
Time Rocker / Oh Lord / Natural Born Loser / Strange Man / Aint
It Just Like a Woman / Geordies Lost His Liggie CD, LP EMI 1973
Reissued on CD (Repertoire REP 4033 WZ, 1991)
Masters Of Rock: Geordie Stomp / Can You Do It / Give You Till Monday
/ Red Eyed Lady / Dont Do That / Black Cat Woman / Keep On Rockin /
Electric Lady / Natural Born Loser / Aint It Just Like A Woman / All Because Of You CD, LP EMI 1974
Dont Be Fooled By The Name (EMI EMA 764): Goin Down /
House Of The Rising Sun / So What / Mercenary Man / Ten Feet
Tall / Got To Know / Little Boy / Look At Me CD, LP EMI 1974
Reissued on CD (Repertoire 4124 WZ, 1991)
Save The World (EMI EMC 3134): Mamas Going To Take You Home
/ Shes A Teaser / Goodbye Love / I Cried Today / You Did This To Me /
Save The World / Rocking Horse / Fire Queen / Shes A Lady / Light In
My Window / Ride On Baby / Were All Right Now CD, LP, EMI 1976
Reissued on CD as part of A Band From Geordieland (Repertoire
REP4515 WY, 1996)
No Sweat (Neat 1008): No Sweat / This Time / Move Away / Time To Run
/ So You Lose Again / Rock & Roll / Oh No! / Hungry / We Make It Rock
CD, LP, Neat 1983
Geordie Featuring Brian Johnson (Redbus RBMP 5001, vinyl compilation): All Because Of You / Keep On Rockin /Natural Born Loser / Rocking With The Boys / Going Down / Black Cat Woman / Electric Lady / Can
You Do It / Dont Do That / Aint It Just Like A Woman / Hope You Like
It / Fire Queen / Mercenary Man / Treat Her Like A Lady (Anchor/DCC
U.S. CD compilation, ANZ 700, 1989)
310
SINGLES
Dont Do That
Dont Do That / Keep On Rockin
7, Regal Zonophone 1972
All Because Of You
All Because Of You / Aint It Just Like A Woman
7, EMI 1973
Can You Do It
Can You Do It / Red Eyed Lady
7, EMI 1973
Electric Lady
Electric Lady / Geordie Stomp
7, EMI 1973
Rock n Roller
Rock n Roller / Geordies Lost His Liggy
7, EMI 1973
Shes A Teaser
Shes A Teaser / Were All Right Now
7, EMI 1974
Ride On Baby
Ride On Baby / Got To Know
7, EMI 1974
Goodbye Love
Goodbye Love / Shes A Lady
7, EMI 1975
INDEX
16 volt 249
A
A.N.I.M.A.L. 249
ABBA 125
Accept 154, 270
Adam, Bryan 91
Adams, Bryan 91, 92, 209
Aerobitch 249
Aerosmith 83-84, 132, 143, 147, 160, 186,
197, 201, 246
AIIZ 154, 269
Albert Productions 16, 18, 82, 156
Alice In Chains 197
Alivaltiosihteeri 249
All Screwed Up 208, 277, 298
Amstrong, Steve 16
Anastacia 250
Anderson, Angry 45, 54, 115
Angelic Upstarts 153
Angels 45
Anthrax 147, 163, 198, 249
Archer, Robyn 44
Armstrong, Bob 268
Armstrong, Louis 241
Arnott, Ray 268
Atlantic Records 62-63, 87, 134, 219
Aulton, Paul 40
Ayers, John 44, 89
Aztecs 45, 262
B
B.B. King 19
Bailey, Chris 44
Bailey, Rob 54
Baily, Rob 257
Baker, Glenn A. 42
Balch, Bob 233
Band 42
Barlow, Matt 243
Barnes, Chris 244
Barnes, Jimmy 44, 50
Barnett, Steve 214
Baron Rojo 249
Barton, Geoff 115, 139, 143, 144
Beach Boys 13, 19, 225
Beast 268
Beastie Boys 132
Beatles 16, 22, 25, 139, 146, 239, 241, 274
Beck 249
Bell, Maggie 130
Bellamy, Matt 233
Berdella, Robert 165

Berg, Mauri 44
Berry, Chuck 19, 25, 30, 33, 46, 61, 73, 177,
208, 220
Big Joe Turner 33
Billboard 84, 154, 158, 214, 215
Binks, Les 154
Birmingham6 249
Bjrk 63
Blackfeather 43, 268, 309
Blackfoot 130, 136
Blackmore, Ritchie 67, 87
Black Crowes 205, 270
Black Flag 253
Black Oak Arkansas 67
Black Obelisk 249
Black Sabbath 74-75, 97, 139-140, 143-147,
164, 184, 233
Bloodbrothers 80
Blue Oyster Cult 136
Bodyguard 274
Bolton, Michael 92
Bomb, Adam 269
Bonre 273, 294
Boone, Pat 249
Boston 274
Bowie, David 66, 72
Boyd, Jimmie 189
Bray Studios 203
Brixton Academy 173, 192
Brown, Arthur 42
Brown, Savoy 83
Browning, Carol 62
Browning, Michael 31, 49, 62, 76, 247
Buffalo 260
Burgess, Colin 24, 26, 27, 60, 258, 314
Burroughs, William S. 146
Burwood Public School 14
Buster Brown 269
Butler, Geezer 74
C
Call, Alex 92
Campbell, Mike 233
Canadians 254
Carson, Phil 62, 134, 259
Casanovas 249
Cester, Nic 18
Chapman, Paul 112-114
Charlatans 233
Charles, Ray 63
Cheap Trick 83, 97, 260
312
INDEX
Child, Curtis 189, 190

Chipmunks 19
Clack, Peter 26, 49, 54, 258
Clark, Bill 14
Clark, Russell 36, 39
Clarke, Martin 39
Classic Rock Magazine 112, 115
Clefs 42
Clover 92
Cocker, Joe 241
Cold Chisel 44, 45, 50
Collins, Mark 233
Collins, Phil 67, 139
Colored Balls 54
Compass Point Studios 124, 151, 173
Connolly, Billy 42
Contraband 268
Cooper, Alice 7, 83
Costa, Antone 165
Cowlicks 250
Cream 146
Creech, Thomas 165
Croft, Simon 211
Crue 147, 154, 160, 189, 253, 270
Cureton, Jeff 14, 21
Currenti, Tony 49
Duran Duran 254

Dwarves 255
Dye, Crisping 156
E
Eagles 273
Earth Band 186, 269
Easton, Sheena 166
Easybeats 16-18, 32, 35, 40, 77, 82, 120, 262
Edgecombe, Greg 271
Elektra 214-218, 277, 298, 302
Elf 184
EMI 16, 135, 250, 310, 311
Epic 76, 214, 252
Ertegun, Ahmet 63
Estevez, Emilio 173
Everclear 250
Exodus 250
Eyler, Larry 165
F
D
D4 250
Daddy Cool 262
Dandy Warhols 233, 250
Danzig 233
Deep Purple 52, 140, 146, 227
Defrin, Bob 260
Def Leppard 91-98, 130, 144, 150, 197, 283
Destroyers 237
DeVille, Mink 78
De Heideroosjes 250
Diamond, Neil 150
Diamond Dogs 250
Diamond Head 139
Dickinson, Bruce 250
Dictators 80
Die Krupps 250
Dingoes 45
Dio 184, 185, 269
Dion, Cline 250
Divinyls 50
Donnas 254
Doors 110
Downstroke 250
Down Beat 69
313
Fairbairn, Bruce 186, 188, 192

Fargone Beauties 255
Farnham, John 250
Femme Fatale 250
Finch 268
Findlay, Warrick 38
Firm 186, 269
Flake 26
Fleetwood Mac 274
Foo Fighters 233
Foreigner 78, 83, 91, 97, 160, 294
Fraser, Mike 200
Fraternity 42-50, 60, 65, 89, 122, 248, 268, 307
Free 139
Fryer, Alan 120
Fuckemos 251
Fugazi 233
Future Heaven 120
Fu Manchu 233
G
Gacy, John Wayne 165
Gecht, Robin 165
Genitorturers 251
Geordie 120-133, 193, 258, 261, 269, 310- 311
Gerry and The Pacemakers 16
Gershwin, George 260
Gibson 24, 225-226, 229-232
Gilbey, Chris 48, 52, 125
Gilmour, David 269
INDEX
Girlschool 144, 251

Glausi, Elizabeth 189
Glew, Dave 214
Godesh 251
Gorbachev, Mikhail 191
Gore, Al 166
Gore, Lesley 251
Gore, Tipper 166
Gough, Damon 233
Graham, Bill 78
Green Day 260
Grohl, Dave 233
Guns N Roses 7, 251, 254
Guy, Buddy 19, 220
H
Hajakos, Rob 92
Halford, Rob 245
Hard Corps 251
Hard Ons 253
Hatchet, Molly 83
Hawkwind 139
Hayseeds 242
Hayseed Dixie 242, 251
Head, Peter 44, 248
Headband 248
Headhunters 247, 268
Head East 78
Heaven 247, 268
Heavy Metal Kids 120
Hells Belle 246
Hendrix, Jimi 19, 77, 89, 109, 146, 226, 227
Henkel, John 272
Henry, Hamish 42
Hives 10, 255
Hocus 91
Holland, Agnieszka 100
Holmstrom, Peter 233
Holton, Gary 120
Honeygun 251
Honeymoon Killers 251
Hooker, John Lee 241
Hotwire 251
Howe, Bruce 44, 116, 257
I
Iced Earth 243, 252
Iommi, Tony 146, 233
Iron Maiden 7, 97, 118, 134-140, 144-145,
164, 250, 256
Isham, Wayne 191
J
Jackson, Michael 273
Jackyl 252, 269
James, Elmore 19
Jeffreys, Ian 101, 103, 107, 127, 150
Jet 18, 229, 230, 231
Jett, Joan 252
Jinman, Richard 106, 109
Joel, Billy 273
Johnson, Alan 234
Johnson, Carol 240
Jones, Quincy 251
Jones, Tom 269
Joye, Col 262
Joy Division 72, 233
Judas Priest 7, 97, 143, 147, 154, 167
K
Kamikaze Records 154
Kanuuna 252
Keegan, Kevin 150
Kennedy, Russ 37
Kentuckee 23, 32, 268
Kerken, Stevie van 91
Kerrang! 138-139, 143, 151-154, 166-169,
181, 300
Kick, Russ 57
Kiedis, Anthony 110
King, Joe 113
King, Martin Luther 208
King, Stephen 173, 174
King Diamond 164
Kinison, Sam 252
Kinks 17, 22, 146
Kinnear, Alistair 101-102, 106-114
Kinnear, Daniel 106-109
Kiss 78, 143, 147
Knorkator 252
Korner, Alexis 269
Kossoff, Paul 65
Koylan, Sadi 63
Kozelek, Mark 252
Kramer, Eddie 89
Kriedt, Larry Van 24, 26, 54, 257
Kuepper, Ed 252
L
L.A. Guns 243
Lancaster, Alan 252
Lange, Robert John Mutt 89-93, 96, 98,
124, 129, 136, 137, 153, 173, 201
314
INDEX
Laplanders 213
Last Action Hero 197
Laughlin, Dennis 46
Lawless, Blackie 166
Lead Weight 242, 252
Led Zeppelin 63, 97, 125, 139-140, 143, 146,
198, 201, 273
Lee, Alvin 83
Lewis, Huey 92
Lewis, Jerry Lee 122
Lewis, Lorraine 250
Lioy, Doreen 172
Lips, Ruby 81
Little Mountain Studios 192
Livingston 13
Living Colour 252
Lloyd, Lobby 54
Local H 252
Lofgren, Nils 98
Lord, Robbie 24
Love/Hate 243
Lovegrove, Vince 42, 45, 46-47, 50, 104,
110-111, 268, 308
Lynyrd Skynyrd 139
M
MacDonald, Malcolm Supermac 240
Machine Head 147
Mackaye, Ian 233
Mad Max 262
Maa 88
Mallet, David 193, 203
Mann, Manfred 186, 269
Manson, Marilyn 165, 252
Marcus Hook Roll Band 18, 268
MC5 146
McGhee, Stick 63
McGrath, Steve 55
Meanstreak 177, 179, 277
Meat Loaf 139
Megadeth 147, 163, 198
Mensch, Peter 90, 103, 115, 122, 136
Metallica 63, 125, 136, 147, 189, 205, 252,
270
Metal Blade Records 244
Metal Hammer 7
Midnight Flyer 130
Missy Elliott 63
Mobile One Studio 135
Mogg, Phil 87, 101, 114
Mojos 16
Monsters Of Rock 154, 188, 193, 197, 301
315
Montrose, Ronnie 83, 160

Moon, Keith 109
Moore, Gary 154, 186, 269, 270
Morris, Russell 262
Morrison, Jim 110
Motley Crue 147, 154, 160, 189, 253, 270
Motorhead 147, 255
Mount Lofty Rangers 44, 248, 256, 268
MTV 176, 220, 260, 287
Mulry, Ted 22
Muse 233
N
Nashville Pussy 253
Nazareth 143, 241
Neil, Scott 189
Neurotica 269
Nickelback 233
Nielsen Sound Scan 214-215
Nirvana 252
Nitronic 253
Nomis Studios 153
Noriega, Manuel 184
Nugent, Ted 67, 83
Numan, Gary 186
O
OKeefe, Johnny 262
Ocean, Billy 92
Offspring 255
Omen 253
Onslaught 253
Orbison, Roy 241
Osbourne, Ozzy 116, 146, 154, 256, 260, 270
P
Pantera 147, 205
Parker, Graham 91
Parker, Tom 63
Parkinson, Doug 31
Paul, Les 225, 226, 232
Peake, Ryan 233
Pearcy, Stephen 253
Pearl, Jizzy 243
Pearl Jam 233, 253
Peel, John 72
Perry, Joe 246
Phish 253
Pink Floyd 139, 201, 273
Poison 147
Polydor 27, 154
INDEX
Poor 204
Popoff, Martin 96, 157
Pori Jazz Festival 212
Powell, Eric 249
Presley, Elvis 33, 63, 241
Prince 139, 166
Procol Harum 152
Proud, John 49
Q
Queen 139, 241
Queensrche 175, 197, 270
Quiet Riot 253
R
R.E.M. 66, 155
Rainbow 67-68, 83, 87, 184
Ramirez, Richard 162-167, 169, 172
Ramones 72
Ramsland, Katherine 164
Ratt 253
Reading Festival 67
Reagan, Ronald 161
Record Collector 7
Red Hot Chili Peppers 96, 110
Red House Painters 252
Red Star Belgrade 253
Reed, Lou 20, 35
Remy, Michel 217
Reo Speedealer 253
REO Speedwagon 78, 183
Rhino Bucket 269
Richard, Little 19, 86, 122, 208, 220
Richards, Keith 246
Richardson, Lee 261
Rivers, Bob 249
Rock In Rio 155
Rolling Stones 17, 22, 24-25, 30-33, 63, 66,
89, 198, 209, 241, 246, 250
Rollins, Henry 253
Rollins Band 253
Rose Tattoo 45, 54, 115, 247
Rotten, Johnny 64
Rowe, Normie 262
Roxy Music 153
Rubin, Rick 96, 197, 200, 201, 202
Rudd, Phil 54, 60, 76, 84, 85, 104, 151-153,
186, 198-201, 231, 258
Rush 139, 143
S
Saints 44
Salt Palace 189
Schefer, Gertrud 189
Schwarzenegger, Arnold 197
Scotch, Barley 242
Scott, Chick 103, 180
Scott, Isa 35, 36, 103, 119, 180, 204
Scott, Ronald Belford 31
Screaming Jets 253
Searchers 16
Seedies 78
Selby, Richard 39
Sex Pistols 64, 66
Shakira 254
Sixx, Nikki 189
Six Feet Under 244, 254
Skid Row 147, 254
Slade, Chris 186, 192, 194, 200, 258
Slashs Blues Ball 254
Slayer 96, 164
Small Faces 38, 39, 66
Smith, Levi 42
Smith, Silver 113
So, John 222
Soft Machine 40, 146
Sony Music 214, 215
Spahn Ranch 254
Spektors 37, 268, 306, 308
Sprung Monkey 254, 282
Squealer 68, 251, 275
Stanley, Michael 78
Starghters 269
Status Quo 44, 143, 252
Steppenwolf 146
Stetsons 256
Stewart, Al 269
Stolzenbach, Amy 246
Stone, Rosetta 146
Stooges 146
Straitjackets 254
Strangers 37
Stranglers 98
Strokes 10
Strong, Andrew 254
Sumner, Bernard 233
Sunbury Festival 52
Supersuckers 254
Surf Rats 254
Sutherland Brothers & Quiver 67
T
Talmy, Shel 17
316
INDEX
Tantrum 20, 268

Taylor, Andy 254
Taylor, Barry 100, 300
Taylor, Lydia 254
Terminal Sect 254
Terrorizer 7
Tesla 197
Them 33
Thin Lizzy 143
Thompson, Paul 153
Thorogood, George 237, 241
Thorpe, Billy 45, 262
Thunderstruck 187-188, 192-193, 211, 247,
249-251, 254, 259, 266, 270, 277, 280, 282,
285, 288- 290, 295, 297, 304
Tim, Tiny 255
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers 233
Top of the Pops 99
Tora Tora 153, 269
Tornado Babies 255
Townshend, Pete 233
Transport League 255
Travers, Pat 83
Travis 255
Trisonics 22
Troubadours 37, 39
Trust 255
Turbo Acs 255
Turner, Chris 260, 268
Twain, Shania 91, 92, 274
Twisted Sister 249, 255
Two Sides To Every Glory 12
Tyler, Steven 132, 246
Tytan 154, 269
Velvet Revolver 254

Velvet Underground 20, 22-24, 261, 268
Venom 141, 147, 164, 265, 276
Vulcain 255
W
W.A.S.P. 161, 166, 167, 256
Walker, Clinton 55, 104, 106-107, 110, 112,
300, 314
Ward, Ted 38
Warner Music International 204
Warrant 255
Waters, Muddy 19, 69, 220
Wax Tadpole 256
Way, Pete 87, 112
Wembley Arena 150, 180
Whitesnake 130, 136, 147, 183
Who 16, 17, 22, 66, 98, 233, 259
Williams, Cliff 75-76, 78, 83-84, 134, 188,
199-201, 204, 231, 242, 257, 258
Williams, Hank 242
Williams, Joe 33
Wilson, B.J. 152
Wilson-Slesser, Terry 120, 121
Windmill Road Studios 186
Winter, Johnny 19, 78
Wolfsbane 256
Woodstock 52
Wright, Simon 153-154, 174, 184, 258
Wright, Stevie 16, 17, 32, 40, 120, 268
Wylde, Zakk 256
Y
Yanni, Ted 248
Yardbirds 66, 146, 226
Young, George 14, 17-18, 26, 35, 40, 45, 49,
52, 82-89, 152, 173, 212, 257
Young, Johnny 37
Young, John Paul 82
Young, Stevie 257
Young, Stewart 161
Youth, Todd 233
U
U2 66
UFO 87, 97, 101, 112-114, 143, 147, 269
Ugly Kid Joe 255
Uriah Heep 146, 147, 186, 269
V
Valentines 35, 38, 39-45, 48, 50, 60, 268,
270, 306, 308
Vance, Tommy 143, 270
Vanda, Harry 14, 16, 17-18, 26, 35, 40, 45,
49, 82, 89, 152, 173
Van Halen 83, 97, 147, 154, 160, 227, 270,
300
Vaughan, Mike 82
Vaughan, Ted 16
Vedder, Eddie 233
317
Z
Zoot 40
ZZ Top 130, 139
Also Available from Chrome Dreams
Maximum AC/DC
The Unauthorised Biography of AC/DC
Cat: ABCD054
A 60-minute spoken word biography of AC/DC featuring

interview clips throughout and covering all eras of their
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Comes in deluxe packaging with outer slipcase, 8-page
illustrated booklet and free fold out poster.
Available from all good record stores,

online at Amazon and other good sites and from
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AC/DC X-Posed
Upublished and Rare Interviews Set
Cat: CTCD7038
AC/DC X-Posed provides further insight into this remarkable

group with a series of interviews covering two distinct eras
of the bands history. The rst, with the late but sorely missed
original frontman Bon Scott, is a very rare recording never
previously heard. This is followed by another rare interview
with Bons replacement in AC/DC, Brian Johnson. A unique
opportunity to hear both of this legendary bands singers
revealing all.
Comes in deluxe packaging with outer slipcase, 4-page
illustrated booklet and free fold out poster.

319
AC/DC - And Then There Was Rock

DVD Documentary
Cat: CVIS379
AC/DC: And Then There Was Rock charts the bands early
years, up to the tragic death of their enigmatic front man, Bon
Scott. This DVD documentary takes the cameras where they
have never previously preyed, interviewing AC/DCs original
singer Dave Evans, original drummer Colin Burgess, school
friends of Bon, Angus and Malcolm, Bons lifelong friend
Vincent Lovegrove, and AC/DC biographers Malcolm Dome
and Clinton Walker among others. This DVD is a tting tribute
to the memory of Bon Scott, containing rare footage and music
of him in his earlier bands, previously unseen photographs and
much, much more!

320

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TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC - TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

ISBN 1 84240 308 7

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Music author and journalist Paul Stenning specialises in listening

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

The beauty of AC/DC however was not to last in its most

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

Chapter 1 Career Moves

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

The Headmaster used to call me up every second day or so

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

Chapter 2 Gorillas Of Glam

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

Evans explains why he moved to Sydney: I guess that with

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

Australia on Albert Records and in New Zealand on Polydor. I was

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

Chapter 3 The Chameleon

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

this is it, lets go. Six months later we left to go to Melbourne

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY

AC/DC THE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

Vince Lovegrove is something of a renaissance man who has

TWO SIDES TO EVERY GLORY