Re: The Official AC/DC Thread
I'm the opposite I am a much bigger fan of the Bon Scott era of the band, nothing against Brian taking the place of a legend in the making but he screeches a little more than I like. Still Back in Black and For Those About To Rock are great CD's.
I'm with you on this LG
I seen AC/DC 3 times with Bon & Twice with Johnson & for me their is no comparison,Bon Scott era hands down. Bon was one of the coolest frontmen I'd ever seen.Sure there is plenty of great video footage of the Bon Era(I wish they would release the old 'Let There Be Rock' concert vodeo) but it's not the same as being there. Bon's cool stage presence mixed with the crazy antics of Angus just made the whole AC/DC show an unbelievable spectacle. I had never heard of AC/DC & they were opening for Aerosmith in 1978. I had no idea what to expect because my one friend told me he heard they were a Punk Band(which I despised back then) & that the guitarist was a midget! All I kept thinking was "This is going to SUCK!". At the time Aerosmith was my 2nd favorite band & I was set to join in with the other 17,000 fans to boo Ac/DC off the stage. We got to the arena & soon the the lights went down. A thumping bass line rang through the crowd,the rhythm guitar kicked in, the drums kicked in, Bon Scott walked out onstage with the mic cord wrapped around his arm snapping the cord like a whip on the stage & finally Angus Young dressed in a School Boy's uniform raced from right to left doing some kind of demented Chuck Berry hop as the bands opening number "Live Wire" rocked the house. I never heard songs like "Let There Be Rock", "Sin City","The Jack", "Whole Lotta Rosie", & "High Voltage" but by the end of the night they were embedded in my head. At this time I knew this style of music certainly wasn't Punk.Aerosmith put on a great show but AC/DC more than held their own against the Bad Boys from Boston. The day after I picked up 'Powerage' mainly for "Sin City" which that song really stood out the night before for me & that whole album just blew me away. I then picked up Let There be Rock & later that year I picked up the new album 'If You want Blood...You Got it' & I kept playing "The Jack" over & over. I loved that tale of Venereal Disease spewed out through Bon's vocals & the earsplitting blues guitar by Angus.This was one of the first songs besides side 3 of the Stones 'Love You Live' that helped me discover the Blues. AC/DC was returning again early in '79 opening for UFO who I was really getting into their Strangers in the Night Live record. I couldn't miss this show & of course I didn't miss the show but unfortunately UFO did miss it. They were busted at the border of Canada & US. Fortunate for us we could use our tickets for UFO when they rescheduled & on that night where UFO got busted AC/DC played a 90 minute set so we actually got 2 concerts for the price of one.AC/DC was even better this time(probably because I knew every song!). Around this time I was talking to a kid on my hockey team about AC/DC & I mentioned the Jack & how I thought the VD lyrics were hilarious & the kid looked at me & said "What are you talking about it's about a card game...She's got the Jack!". I was confused until I bought High Voltage & then realized Bon changed the lyrics live. Highway to Hell came out that year & I thought this was it,AC/DC was going to be huge. The album was phenoinal & the AC/DC following was really catching on. They returned to Buffalo headlining a show with Pat Travers opening & the whole show was wild.During the Jack Bon walked out onstage with a Bananna down the front of his pants & handed it to some girl in the front row. I'll never forget the day Bon Scott died,I was on my way to play Hockey & my Dad had the radio on & it was announced Bon had died. Back In Black came out & when I heard "You Shook Me" I was psyched & thought at first AC/DC brought in Dan McCafferty from Nazareth on vocals. I loved the album & then came For Those About To Rock came out & AC/DC returned to Buffalo & I actually hated it especially Johnson's voice on the old tunes. I realize they had every right to continue without Bon & Johnson had to sing the Bon era tunes but he just never sounded right singing those songs.Gamma with Ronnie Montrose opened & actually I preferred Gamma. I seen them on their 'Blow Up Your Video' album with Cinderella opening & I enjoyed it but still wasn't to keen on Johnson.
I do like alot of Johnson era AC/DC including Fly on The Wall & Flick of the Switch but for me if I'm going to Listen to AC/DC I'll be more likely to pull out the Bon Scott era. I don't mind Black Ice but it's a bit too long. In 2000 they released Stiff Upper Lip & had a great appearance on SNL & late in the summer of 2001 "I Feel Safe in NYC" was getting a ton of airplay around me & I loved the song but right when the momentum was building up 9/11 hit & the song wasn't played anymore