AC/DC The Bon Scott Years | Music Documentary | Geoff Barton | Malcolm Dome | Tank Montana

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[waves splashing] Highway to hell I'm on the highway to hell Highway to hell Don't stop me - They were the first Australian out-now rock band. I mean, they didn't play anything, except rock. - What AC/DC have always done is so simple and straightforward. Yet, whenever ANYBODY else tries to do it, they sound like a second rate pop band. AC/DC always sound world-class. I'm on the highway to hell - Their trademark sound was this raw, in-your-face, but very well polished and rockin' sound that just made people want to get up and jump to their music. - One of the best things that AC/DC have shown us is that you don't have to be clever, you don't have to use funny timings or complicated guitar chords to make a good rock song. - The Bon Scott years just showed more of their raw talent, which is what they were full of in those first 3, 4, 5 years. All the way Whoa! I'm on the highway to hell - AC/DC is very much Malcolm Young's band. Always was, always will be. He was the guy who put the band together initially. He was in the band called 'Velvet Underground.' Would you believe back in Australia, in Sydney, in the early 70s? And when they split up, he put together a new band, and one of the people he brought in was his kid brother, Angus. - They got their name in quite a funny way. Their sister actually noticed AC/DC written on a sewing machine. And they started to call themselves AC/DC. But apparently, she had quite a bit of, must have had quite a bit of influence because she also was one who suggested to Angus that he should start wearing his little school uniform and stuff. - He was only 15 when he joined the band, and when they started, he used to run from school to play on stage in Australia. And so she just said, "Why don't you leave the uniform on?" And that's actually why he actually wore it. It wasn't actually some big commercial, let's see if we can find a gimmick. It's actually something he's been lumbered with. - One thing that worked in AC/DC's favor in the early days was the fact that there was a company in existence called Albert Productions, which was run by the eldest Young brother, George Young along with Harry Vanda. So there was this ready-made, little organization to kickstart AC/DC's career. - "Albert" did quite a good job in the beginning, too, coz they were an indie label that had major distribution. Um, I think they did quite well as far as setting them up and helping the band to break in Australia. - The defining moment came when Bon Scott hooked up with AC/DC. He'd been in a couple of bands in Australia before, 'Fraternity' and the 'Valentines'. - He became a roadie for the band, even played drums for AC/DC, and actually did say at one point, "I think I can do a better job than Dave Evans. Give me a shot. Let me have a go. I think I'm a better singer." - Dave Evans, the singer who had been pretty reliable up to that point, apparently, failed to turn up to a gig one night. Bon seized this opportunity and, you know, superseded David Evans in the microphone and got on with business. And I think all of a sudden, you know, that was, that was a magical element, that was the last piece of the jigsaw as far as AC/DC were concerned. You wanna roll You wanna rock You find it hard If your guitar's in hock That's show business (Show business) Show business (Show business) Show business That's the way it goes - They also came to the attention of a guy called Michael Browning, who was a manager of the Hard Rock Cafe at the time, who became THEIR manager. And with professional representation, having someone who could pull the strings in terms of getting gigs as well as George Young and his partner Harry Vanda behind the scenes, musically, DC started to move forward. They started to get known in the local scene, and a buzz started to be created. Show business That's the way it goes - So the High Voltage, obviously, the first AC/DC album, albeit, only issued in Australia, initially. And AC/DC weren't really a proper band at that point, Bon had just joined on vocals. They had a guy called Tony Currenti on drums, and he was an unknown figure, didn't figure in subsequent AC/DC releases. You got George Young, the oldest Young brother, helping out on the bass. - The first album that they released was basically a lot of stuff that they used to play live. A lot of just cover tunes, you know, "Baby Please Don't Go," which was a classic blues track, and then they would do that. And I think they just sort of introduced them to the studio, introduced them to try to get that raw feel that they had live. Can we bring in the studio? Are they gonna get it with their own originals? Probably not, but they had a few. But mainly doing cover tunes just to show what they did live on stage, but tried to emulate that in the studio, which I don't think they quite captured on the first album. Baby don't go Baby don't go Baby don't go down to New Orleans You know I love you so Baby don't go When the man done gone When the man done gone When the man done gone down the county farm He got the shackles on Baby don't go - Not a great record although it has certain wonderful moments. Their cover of "Baby Please Don't Go" is excellent. "You Ain't Got a Hold on Me", superb on that record as well, but it's a little bit patchy and a LITTLE bit primitive. - Listening to it now, it does sound pretty much like an AC/DC of Bad AC/DC covers band, I think. You got the elements there, and it's plain that the foundations for the band are being built at that point, - Like an early Stones' album or like early anything, they had great value. You can't devalue something just because it isn't polished. You had Angus and Malcolm and the band playing well, and you had some great vibe to it. Yes, of course, there were great songs, and there were not so good songs, but that goes with anything. I love, Oh, I love you So baby please, please Please don't go - Production is pretty light-weight. You know, some of the playing is a bit labored as you would expect because you've only got 3/5ths of a proper band there really. So you can't really read too much into that as a debut effort. And after all, it was a debut effort only for the Australian market at that point. - It's not a fantastic introduction to the band. But having a domestic release, an album out, gave them that opportunity to spread the word far further around what is a HUGE country. - After the release of their first album, it didn't make them superstars, uh, worldwide. It did make them local stars in Australia, but again, this is because they would play so many festivals, so many, they would play any kind of venue. It could be a country venue, it could be a gay venue. They would play birthday parties. They would just play as many gigs as they possibly could. ["It's a Long Way to the Top" playing] - TNT is the first proper AC/DC album, to me, because by that point, Phil Rudd was behind the kit, Mark Evans was on bass. They had the first classic line up, really, of AC/DC. This is a lineup that everyone got to know, "Ah right, DC have arrived." It's also FULL of fantastic songs. Playin' rock 'n' roll Gettin' robbed Gettin' stoned Gettin' beat up Broken boned Gettin' had Gettin' took I tell you folks It's harder than it looks It's a long way to the top If you wanna rock 'n' roll - I think TNT is, is a much, much better album than High Voltage, um... This is, I think, where the whole AC/DC ethic was beginning to gel. - The title track to TNT was "It's a Long Way to the top, If you wanna rock 'n' roll," and that became almost a seminal track. Just everyone could sing along to that. They were also probably talking about how hard it is to break it. Rock 'n' roll life. - What a great opening to an album and how many other bands would've thought about having a bagpipe in there. But it did have Bon in there who could play bagpipes, so it helped a little bit. - It just showed potentially, especially Angus's guitar. Boy, for a kid of that age, it was ridiculous. I mean, he just got better and better. And he had one thing that Van Halen had and all the great had, he had a style that is really just his. - The first thing about Angus Young is that he's very small, physically. He's tiny that, that... I mean, there's nothing of the guy. And so when you, when you see him holding the guitar, you see my hands on the fretboard. But if you look at him when he plays an SG, which is a similar, similar type guitar to this, his hands look tiny on the fretboard. And he's like, he's like a child, you know, he cannot get his hand around. So, you know, first and foremost, it can't be easy for him to play like that, the way he does. He's very 'blues' orientated, and, you know, he doesn't try and do all those clever stuff. He feels what he plays. In fact, he's also quite quick when he does this kinda thing, and it's all just straight down the line, sort of bluesy rock 'n' roll. High voltage rock 'n' roll High voltage High voltage High voltage rock 'n' roll - The TNT album, I think that their influence was the 50s and 60s rock 'n' roll, which is what they grew up on. A lot of the lyrics were tongue-in-cheek, which kinda showed Bon Scott's humorous side and then that having a good time side. Even 'High Voltage' is very, very reminiscent of T-Rex and Bang a Gong. So I think what they did is they just kinda like borrowed, stole some of their favorite riffs and sounds to those songs or their influences of the 50s and 60s and brought it to that album. ... rock 'n' roll High voltage rock 'n' roll - Ironically, they've got a song called 'High Voltage', which should have, presumably, have been in the first album, the 'High Voltage' album, but ended up on TNT. - Ones that I really like are 'School Days' and 'High Voltage'. They, to me, are the great songs. I mean, there are other songs on it. But those were just, they gave a real direction of where the band were going. If you listen to those now and then you listen to something much later on, you can see where it's going. - Bon Scott's songwriting abilities have taken a quantum leap really from the early album. You know, he was really coming on strong, as a sort of bare-chested, fist-fighting guy that he would subsequently become. - Bon Scott was the playboy of the band. If you have you seen him, he's not the greatest looking guy in the world, but he was so respected by the working-class men. He had a lot of tattoos, he looked kinda rough, a few teeth missing. He's the kinda guy you party with. The kinda guy you'd want on your side if a fight broke out. But all the women loved him as well because he was this great performer. He was the guy on stage, no shirt, hairy chest, showing off his tattoos and then singing about the song and then going backstage. Whereas, the Young brothers, I'm sure, had a bit of fun in the early days, they preferred to have a cup of tea, while Bon Scott would prefer to have two bottles of vodka and hang out with the girls to see if they did indeed have the jack. She's got the jack She's got the jack and no one to blame She's got the jack She's got the jack She's got the jack, woah! She's got the jack She's got the jack She's got the jack - 'The Jack', which is one of the first really clever Bon Scott tracks. It's about a game of cards or is it? And it's a very cleverly written song. - 'The Jack' is a real tongue-in-cheek song about venereal disease. Listening to the song, if you didn't know that, you're thinking about Bon Scott partaking in some Las Vegas poker tournament and card tournament, and it was very well written as a funny little tongue-in-cheek song. - But it sounds as if they did a jam, and then he probably ad-libbed some lyrics around it. And then they constructed the song around it, and then he went away and rewrote the lyrics. - Bon was right in the script, and then he wrote about life. And it's brilliant because you can laugh, you can cry, but, you really get an insight and it all went... The rawness went straight into that music, didn't that? He's like a pirate, you know, he's like a modern-day pirate. [Audience singing: She's got the jack] Don't give to me, aooh! yeah! [She's got the jack] Stick 'em right up, Stick 'em right up Aoo! - When you listen to that, that is just a straightforward slow blues thing. But it's a real crowd-pleaser because it's one of their songs when they do it live and everybody sings along with it. - It introduced his style, which was... If you see many photos of him or see him perform, he's sneering, and he's half-speaking, half-singing, telling a story, which, of course, sometimes, performers would stop to do, but he would just do it in a song. - It had 'The Jack" on it, it had 'High Voltage.' Just TNT actually became an anthem. And for kids almost, you know, kids would be singing that, chanting "TNT is rock 'n' roll." What sort of more rock can you get than that? - That first chord of TNT just immediately made you sit up to say, "Who's this? What is this?" All right, TNT (Oi, oi, oi) TNT (Oi, oi, oi) - 'TNT' will always be along with 'Highway to Hell' and all those. It'll always be one that people want, and I think TNT is always gonna be a part of their set. They don't do it all the time now, not all the time, but it will always be in the things they have to do like 'Satisfaction" with the Stones, like anything, really. T. N. T., I'm a power load T. N. T., watch me explode - It's just an album full of great rock 'n' roll songs. And you listen to it now, and it stands up really well. It's a shame in a way that album wasn't released in its entirety as the first proper 'High Voltage' release. - Their first major sign was with Atlantic, and Atlantic actually moved them to London, relocated them, and they were, by now, really popular on the Australian scene. Atlantic saw the talent in them and thought they could do something with them because in England, at the time, there was not really anything like them happening. And so they brought them over to London and promoted them that way. - By the time the European market picked up on them, Atlantic in America picked up on them and signed them. They were already at 2 or 3 albums down the line, so, like they do actually, English bands have done that as well, is they take the best of the first 2 albums from the home market, and they put them into one album for the overseas markets, hoping that it'll have more impact, and 9 times out of 10, it does. - It's interesting that when those two albums, which were for the Australian market only, TNT and High Voltage, when they were bolted together for the worldwide market, there were only a couple of tracks of High Voltage that actually turned up on the two albums that were mixed. So that's what leads you to believe that the band took a serious look at the two initial Australia only releases, kind of assessed their qualities and thought, "Well, hang on a minute" you know. This first one maybe, you know, wasn't quite so good. So maybe we'll just squeeze in a little bit from that. But really, you know, High Voltage, not so great. TNT, you know, that's the way we're going forward. - Yeah, the High Voltage album was the worldwide release, which was of course the 2-thinned-out versions of the previous two albums. That was the album that introduced them to the world. It wasn't the album that made you go, "Wow, this is absolutely fantastic." But it was a great album to start with. - It was a funny time for the, for the music industry at that time in the mid to late 70s, because a lot of the classic rock bands were dying out. Disco was coming in big, and so was punk. And so if you were a rock band at that time, that'd associate you with punk music. And AC/DC didn't like that at all. They wanted just completely disassociate themselves from punk music. - But that punky thing, I think, helped AC/DC to a large extent because they weren't bracketed with tired old rockers of a bygone age that Johnny Rock would pontificate about. So the fact they had this aggression and the fact that they weren't pigeonholed necessarily with the heavy rockers of the past, I think, once again, was a very, very good thing for them. - AC/DC had a very straightforward, boogie, hard-rocking, driving energy that could come across to anyone into rock 'n' roll. If you were a Rolling Stones' fan, if you were a Doctor Feelgood fan, if you were a Sex Pistols' fan, there was something about AC/DC you could pick up on. And also, if you were a Led Zeppelin fan or if you were a fan even strangely enough of YES, there was something about AC/DC that made them appeal universally. - They were their own band, they didn't... I don't suppose they cared what the Sex Pistols' single was or the Damned or, you know, YES or Led Zeppelin. I'm sure Led Zeppelin, perhaps, but no, it was music that was original and that came from somewhere other than England. And here they fashioned, "We're AC/DC, and you watch us." - There's this one rock band, maybe the only rock band for people to get a taste of, and that's why they set London and the UK alight because of this style of music. If you weren't into the punk scene, at least you have these saviors who could still entertain you with great rock sounds. - They were doing really well, and they came over here, they did a few concerts, did got very well received in the papers. At the time, 'Sounds' were still going with Geoff Barton, who ended up editing Kerrang. He picked up on them really big time. Tommy Vance picked up on them big time. Late radio stations picked up on them big time, all the rock magazines picked up on them. And they got, generally, got very well received. - I was working on 'Sounds Music Weekly' at that particular time, and we were approached by Atlantic Records to say that Sam would like to sponsor, to buy this band AC/DC from Australia. We knew nothing about the band at all. So we went down to the Atlantic offices, and uh, they showed us a film of AC/DC. Just AC/DC doing their thing in a scruffy Australian club. And we thought they're absolutely brilliant. You know, we gotta get behind this band, even though we knew absolutely nothing about them. So we sponsored a tour called, "The Sound's AC/DC Lock Up Your Daughters" of the UK, which was about a dozen dates I suppose, climaxed at London's Lyceum, and it took off from there. All right - They played a lot of big festivals as well, and this is before they became their own superstar status. And again, what they did in the UK is what they did in Australia. They just played and played and played. Out for all that I can get If you know what I mean - We put AC/DC on our cover. We put Angus on our cover. Nobody knew who the hell this boy was, you know, this little school kid. And I think the cover line was, "Would you give a job to this school leaver?" [Geoff chuckles] It paid dividend, it paid big dividends for Sounds and, honestly, AC/DC. - It certainly got them off on the right footing. That combined with the early gigs that they did got the buzz going and people were saying, "Have you seen that band? They're amazing. And that kid in a school boy uniform, wow!" - Definitely a breath of fresh air, a mammoth breath of fresh air. You could go to the gig, get hammered, have a laugh, and you still could enjoy it. It wasn't like, you know, be serious, very dark, very, very introvert. It was the opposite of all that. It was like it's a party. ... is back in town So don't you mess me 'round - I went to an arcade club. And, uh, I met 'em. And as I watched the thing, I thought, "Ahh! Brilliant!" This is a type of music I like. It was like completely... Not like, there was no chorus there. Let's not worry where's the lead-break come in. It came at you like a train. So I went there and I said, "My name's Pete Way, and I'm playing UFOs." And he didn't say, "What?" type of thing. And he slightly became friendly with me. - So 'High Voltage', over a period of time, started to sell, but it certainly wasn't a chart-topping album. - It wasn't yet classic AC/DC, but it was still good, and then when 'Dirty Deeds' came out, it was more. Definitely, they were maturing more and finding their way a bit more. And it contained some classic songs that are still in their live set today such as 'Dirty Deeds' and 'Problem Child'. - 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,' I think that that title really sums up the AC/DC ethic at that time. It's a kind of album, if you pick it up, you want to put it back down again and wash your hands because it's such a filthy, scummy, aggressive, you know, borrow brawl of an album. - The songwriting was good. I think Vanda and Young were actually getting heads around what they needed the band to sound like. Angus's playing was... He was older, 18, 19, getting older, getting more mature, you know what I mean. And the whole band was, you know. Bon Scott was flying, he was 'lyrically' flying. He was flying every time we had a drink. [Nick chuckles] No, but he was literally, he was into it. He was, it was a great, the album was... The band were now cohesive, they played well together. And I think that they really started to sound special. Well, I'm ever upper-class high society God's gift to ballroom notoriety And I always fill my ballroom The event is never small The social pages say I've got The biggest balls of all I've got big balls, I've got big balls They're such big balls And they're dirty big balls - There isn't a bad song on the album. You can listen to it from beginning to end, and this is when the comical side or funny side of Bon Scott really came into play. And my balls are always bouncing My ballroom always full And everybody cums and cums again - You got love at first feel. The title said it all, 'Squealer,' 'Big Balls', which is a very double entendre song. - 'Big Balls' is kind of funny. It comes, it comes out of nowhere, this kind of slow song with a heavy chorus. It's all very tongue-in-cheek. ... Dirty big balls And he's got big balls And she's got big balls (But we've got the biggest balls of them all) - 'Dirty Deeds' came along, and it really put the seal and the mark on what they were. The title track itself, it's a real sense of street-wise smart as it were, it's a real sort of sleazy song. - The album title track was, almost became an anthem to follow 'TNT.' 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap', quite a lot of rock and connotations, down and dirty connotations with that. - A lot of the songs are about sex and violence, rock 'n' roll, which is what, which is what they wrote about. - In typical style of them, it's just basic chords strung together, but in a very catchy way. So with 'Dirty Deeds' you've gotta go from an E to a G, back to the E and into an A, to an E, and then from a D to an E. And it sounds like this. It's just the way they're all put together, you know. It's incredibly catchy and memorable kind of stuff, but it's not rocket science at all. But then that's, you know, the simple way is the best way. Well, if you're havin' trouble with the high school head He's givin' you the blues You wanna graduate but not in his bed Here's what you gotta do Pick up the phone, I'm all alone Juist call me any time Dial 362 436 oh I lead a life of crime Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap (Dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap) - They're based around the most basic of chords that you have on the guitar. You know, like you have your main chords E, A, D, G, and you'd think that'd only be a certain amount of combinations you can make with those chords, but they never stop making these great riffs, which is why when you're, when you're a beginner, when you're playing the guitar, you know it's like the AC/DC, which are some of the first things you learn because they're so easy to play. ... I'd be happy to be Your back door man Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap - You've also got 'Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to be a Millionaire)', which has got that wonderful line that might get your jumbo jet off my lawn, which people to this day still smoke at the way it was actually put. - I don't think they were there yet with the V8 car and the money, which is what a lot of those songs talked about. So maybe a lot of those songs and 'Dirty Deeds' were about their dreams of becoming millionaires. The song 'It's gonna be Some Rocking' is a FANTASTIC blues song about them going to perform each and every night. You know, you set it up, we bring it down, playing all night, playing all these different, different clubs. - It's beginning to build up a catalogue of AC/DC classics, and I think that that album shows the band more cohesively. And I think it's also a bit more Bon Scott driven. - Between 'High Voltage' and 'Dirty Deeds' that they've sort of, they'd come on, they'd done a lot more shows, they'd started to tour and stuff like that. They'd started to play better together as a band, and you can hear that in 'Dirty Deeds'. - There was also 'Jailbreak.' It was the out track which made it onto following albums. 'Problem Child' was another one, and a lot of people must have gotten into 'Problem Child.' It was all about foul intentions, causing havoc. I'm hot, and when I'm not I'm cold as ice Get out of my way Just step aside Or pay the price What I want I take, What I don't I break Oh, and I don't want you With a flick of my knife, I can change your life There's nothing you can do I'm a problem child Problem child - Again, typically in AC/DC fashion. Just getting between the main chords and a lot like 'Dirty Deeds' where the riff goes, keeps going back to the E, 'Problem Child' goes back to the D quite a lot. It's just involving three chords. So it's kind of straightforward, it goes, D-A and D-G. And that's all it does for the main section of the song. So it goes, [playing]. Make my stand No man's land On my own Man in blue It's up to you Oh, the seed is sown What I want I stash, What I don't I smash Oh, and I don't need you By 'Dirty Deeds', it was like they've gone a bit more up-tempo, and the riffs were a lot more direct and in-your-face and a lot more catchy and memorable as well. And that's, you know, that's all really down to Malcolm Young. Although you see him on the stage, he just sort of stands there in the background by the drummer. You know, he's really the brains behind the band. Problem child A problem child A problem child - 'Problem Child' became very much Bon's anthem about being that sort of person that's difficult to deal with, but I'm gonna go my own way. I don't really care what anyone thinks. You've got the 'Rocker'. Now, the 'Rocker', of course, was originally done for TNT. Why it was missed of the international race of 'High Voltage,' I don't know because it's a great song, but at least they made up for it by putting it onto 'Dirty Deeds' rather than seeing it totally lost to a posterity. - It's got a track called 'Ride On' on it, which is the most sensitive, most gentle rolling rhythm. And that sort of... it's almost like the aftermath of that big barroom brawl, you know, the dust has died down. You know, people have picked themselves up. They've tended to their wounds, and then they got on their horse, and they were off on to the horizon. It's just a, just a great track. And subsequent to that when, when Bon, unfortunately, died a few years later, every tribute would say, 'Right on, Bon', ... standing on the edge of the road Thumb in the air One of these days I'm gonna change my evil ways, huh Somehow I'll just keep ridin' on - You listen to the lyrics and they stand apart from anything else Bon Scott really wrote because he's very much talking about the loneliness of being on the road. And it's very much done as a slow bluesy-paced song. And you've got lyrics like, you know what's the tell of the day by the bottle in your hand, which other bands over the years have used, but somehow it really captures that, for all his larger than life gregarious activities, Bon Scott could be as lonely as anybody else. And there were moments when he really thought, "Why am I doing this?" Keep on, ridin' Ridin' on, and on and on and on... - You put that record on now, it still sounds a good record. Okay, you know, maybe sounds aren't as high tech and all that, but it still sounds like a great record, and they're playing really well, three or four years on the road, tight. You know, there's a vibe in there. It's just a very well, well-constructed record. - It was a good, well-rounded hard rock album, but it was setting them up for what was to come next. - The other interesting thing about 'Dirty Deeds' is that America refused to release it. They didn't see any appeal for it, and they just said, "Naah, we're not putting it out." It came out five years later after 'Back in Black' hit really big. That's when America decided, "Oh, we'll release this record now." - But they didn't release it because they probably didn't get it and in America, they put out the 'High Voltage' thing and probably because it didn't do what they expected it to do, they, they do what, they did what everyone else did. They hung on and then they went for the album after it. So that was left high and dry. - Let me introduce you a band who have recently released a brand new album called 'Let There Be Rock'. And that's the title of their single as well. And they're gonna rock 'n' roll for us right now. I don't know if that's part of the song, but anyway, would you welcome please, AC/DC. [Applauds] - I think AC/DC were the first ones to actually be as crass and as open as just saying something like 'Let There Be Rock'. And there was rock. [Guitar riff] - 'Let There Be Rock' is the moment when AC/DC really broke into an international band. It's a world-class album. It's just full of fantastic, fantastic music. - They wanted to rock, and they bloody well did, and they were telling you that they were about to do so. Back in 1955 Man didn't know 'bout a rock 'n' roll show And all that jive The white man had the schmaltz The black man had the blues No one knew what they was gonna do But Tchaikovsky had the news He said let there be light - It had more sort of classic AC/DC tracks on it. 'Let There Be Rock' is a great song when you listen to it. It sort of builds the whole thing. And when you watch it live, it's like he's telling you a story, and then when the chorus opens up, it all goes crazy. Let there be rock Rock 'n' Roll - To this day, you listen to it with that opening driving Angus guitar, and it just gets people just head banging ferociously and furiously because it is a very hard song. But it also suddenly leans back into sort of going on about the birth of rock 'n' roll. And there are very few songs that do it better than that and capture the imagination of what it was like to actually grow up at a time when rock 'n' roll was first starting. - It's a terrible title for a song if you take it in isolation, but in AC/DC, that was a proclamation, it was a declaration of intent. Let there be light The sound The drums Guitar Let there be rock - There is a video of Bon dressed as a preacher, doing the song, which was videod at the time the album was done. And Bon had this great way of presenting the song and what he did was, it was almost like he was letting you come into this private conversation. Hey, come here, I'll tell you about the birth of rock 'n' roll. Just sit down. I'll tell you all about it. Don't worry, it's just between us, but he had that intimate way of drawing people in. So you had that combination of that low-key element to the song and an absolute burst of energy which happens. - 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be', that's another killer track. I think that conjures up once again, their, sort of, anti-establishment. Fuck you all you people and God or whatever. I wanna be in hell. Can't argue with that. That's what would have gotten that carried on throughout their albums, all these tracks that just had these killer titles, as far as making kids all, "I like that title. I want to go and listen to that." Out for satisfaction, Any piece of action That ain't the way it should be She needs lovin' Knows I'm the man She' gotta see Pours my bee, Licks my ear Brings out the devil in me Hell ain't a bad place to be - It's just a typical Bon Scott title. You can imagine him, even to this day, you know, staggerin' into a bar, down in the Jack Daniels, and, you know, ironic, given the manner of his death. But you can, you can see him sort of spiraling into unconsciousness almost and then coming up with this great line, "Hell ain't a bad place to be." Disillusions and confusion They make me wanna cry And all the shame, Playin' your games Tellin' me those lies I don't mind her playin' demon, baby Just as long as it's with me If this is hell, Then let me say It's heavenly Hell ain't a bad place to be - It's all in the rhythm how they made each song sound different. If you look at 'Problem Child', you've got [playing]. And if you look at 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be', it sounds [playing]. Again, it's using the same three chords, but it's just another combination and doing something with the rhythm, you know, and they're still getting away with it. - 'Dirty Deeds', I think, is a great record. But somehow, 'Let There Be Rock', ups the ante. And that's probably purely because it contains the AC/DC's anthem in 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. That's the song everybody remembers about AC/DC. Even to this day, with Brian Johnson in the band, AC/DC 'Whole Lotta Rosie', it just sums it all up completely. - There's that main riff in there which is just again, a very simple riff, just on the A string. It's rather than putting different chords together, it's an actual riff kind of thing, you know. And so it's just from an open A, up to a third for A and then a fifth for A, but going back in between to the open A, so it's like [playing]. That's it slow. But then up to speed, it's like [playing]. You know, and it just has that punch to it, and it has the gap in the middle where the crowd would shout 'Angus' and stuff like that. And it gradually builds, and then the chorus is just [playing]. It's all very straightforward stuff, but it's just that riff. You know when they start it, everybody knows what song it is. I wanna tell you story About woman I know When it comes to makin' love Rosie steals the show She isn't exactly pretty She isn't exactly small Fourt'two thirt'nine fiftysix You could say she's got it all - 'Whole Lotta Rosie' is still to this day probably one of my favorite tracks. That's attractive, it just rocks, it has blue, sort of, rhythm announcer, but with a heavy rock sort of undertones and attitude. Ain't no fairy story Ain't no skin and bones But you give it all you got Weighin' in at nineteen stone You're a whole lotta woman A whole lotta woman A whole lotta Rosie A whole lotta Rosie A whole lotta Rosie You're a whole lotta woman - I believe it's this woman from Tasmania, who was, you know, a pretty big girl, to be honest with you. And needless to say Bon not possessing an ounce of taste or respectability, has it away with Rosie. You know, much to his delight, much to Rose's delight, and it makes it into a song called 'Whole Lotta Rosie.' Rosie never stops She was a whole lotta woman A whole lotta woman A whole lotta Rosie - He sings brilliantly. Lyrically, it's obviously his song. You know, it's from the heart, and I think he sings it with so much passion that you can compare with some of the plant stuff. It's just really well sung. It's got just such texture and such emotions, and it's an easy song to listen to. - When Kerrang magazine was born in 1981, the very first issue of Kerrang had a poll "The greatest rock songs of all time" No 1, 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. I think if you actually ran the same poll in 2005 or beyond, 'Whole Lotta Rosie' would still be very much up there. It has got SUCH a great chanting feel to it. [Bon Scott singing] - I don't think AC/DC's sound changed substantially as their albums came out. I mean, all it was about was a bit more finesse, a bit more clever lyrical tricks as far as Bon was concerned. And a slight element of more maturity. - 'Let There Be Rock' set them up for where they were wanting to go. And it was very important in actually doing that because that's when they actually started to tour America in a big way and the rest of the world though basically in America, they were flying over to Europe for a few dates and straight back to America. They probably got very little sleep on promoting that album. - 'Let There Be Rock' was, to me, the first American break for album. It's the one where they started to support our loads of bands in America. They started to get stuck into the drudgery of getting down and doing two or three years in America. And although the Americans didn't release the last one, they released this one. And obviously why, because they were going out there and touring. - AC/DC first time in and it was great because what the agent did, when they put the two bands together, it really made sense because you've got a band on UFO with the dimensions of AC/DC who actually started the opening, or brought as special guests sort of thing. It was like in-your-face, they did 60 minutes, in-your-face. We'd come to the dynamics, and it was great. And it went across America, really. - They got exposed to a wider audience like any good band. And then suddenly, yes, everyone talked that they're great. But actually, it's more of a revelation on our part than them getting better. - AC/DC, if you hadn't heard before because don't forget at that time, we might be on the radio or something I, don't know, too hot to handle or something. AC/DC weren't on the radio. So when they were coming in, people were coming at 8 o'clock, and AC/DC were on, they thought wow! - By then, you know Zeppelin was about to do their 'Swan Song' with their, coming out with 'In Through The Outdoor'. But they spent a lot of time between albums. We had bands like 'Deep Purple' who had broken up and gotten back together so many different times. So the rock bands weren't there. We were about to get into the disco era, which, of course, had developed in North America and Europe. So we're about to ge into Saturday Night Fever and the Bee Gees album. And here was this one band that were still rocking and not changing their style, not changing anything, doing what they wanted. So I think they were welcomed with open arms because of what they were able to provide. Deep inside of me It's a yearnin' But I'm gonna set it free I'm goin' in To sin city - I mean, personally, I'd always go and see them before they went on because I used to like much [unintelligible], you know, it's an enjoyable experience. What else you can do with your evening? You want to go watch AC/DC play or you want to go and sit at the O12 Bar and watch Danish and the boys. You know, you get education welcomed. - It was just a band being worked hard obviously by Atlantic records who saw the immense potential. And now they're touring like nobody's business. A lot of bands would've self-destructed at that point, but that was a way of harnessing AC/DC's energy. I think at that point, if they hadn't been on the road, they weren't in the studio, I think they would've gone crazy. And knowing Angus, he would've gone crazy. He's not a guy, he's not the sort of guy who could sit there in front of the television, relaxing. That's just not what he does. - 'Powerage' was a continuation of what AC/DC did best. AC/DC never really varied the style that much in any of their albums. There's not much variation to be had in what they did, but 'Powerage' still sounds different to 'Let There Be Rock', but the songs are so good again. 'Down Payment Blues", 'Sin City', 'Riff Raff', 'What's Next To The Moon'. Again, the titles chip off your tongue, and, you know, with each particular title exactly what they sound like and each song is different. Given the fact that variations within that style of music are very difficult to achieve, it's remarkable how AC/DC did it. Beggar man thief Ain't got a hope in hell That's my belief Fingers Freddy Diamond Jim They're getting ready - I don't think it's a bad album. It just isn't any different. So when you have four albums one after the other, and then after that, you have 'If You Want Blood', which is a blinding live album, people tend to miss it. And 'Dirty Deeds' is a great album, and in the middle, you've got this album, which is okay. But it's a little bit like, 'we need a new album, so we better do one' sort of syndrome and that's sort of 'Powerage'. It's just not a bad album, anyway. Like I've always said, AC/DC don't do bad albums. But they tend to, now and then, not to shine. - It was probably sharing their influences at the time, which could've come actually because they toured in America with 'Let There Be Rock'. I think that worked very well, so it could've possibly been a little bit of the same, but I think that was still growing within themselves, musically. You say that you want respect Honey for what? For everything that you done for me Thanks a lot C'mon, get up off your bended knees You can set your mind at ease My temperature's runnin' hot Oh, I been waitin' all night For a bite of what you got It's a rock 'n' roll damnation - Of 'Powerage', it's the best track, which again appears on 'If You Want Blood', it's 'Rock 'n' Roll Damnation'. It's just a great rock track. It, again, will always be one they have to do it. It's got, again, quite anthemic, and they seem to do is track- they always get some which have rock 'n' roll in them. One of the few bands that can put rock 'n' roll in the title and sound cool. It's probably the most upfront track they've done. - Everything about that album, again, was set up perfectly. Every song with a killer. It's a cracker. They were going through a period where they didn't make tough albums. They didn't recall bad songs. And it just has that vitality about them as well. However, it also marked an end of an era. It was the end of an era when they worked with George Young and Harry Vanda as producers. They produced since day one. They'd gone all the way through to this. This will be the last studio album for a while with the band albeit they were to come back on board at a later date. And they were to move into a new era with a different producer. ... to live on your own Damnation, you want to live in sin Damnation, it's a rock 'n' roll Damnation - So at this point in their career, AC/DC were rattling out the albums like nobody's business. And also, Angus's energy was being encapsulated and allowed to breed and multiply. As the album's multiplied as well. So you had 'Powerage', then you had 'Powerage' being recorded for the live album 'If You Want Blood'. So it was an endless succession, really, of AC/DC madness. - At the time, it's what everybody needed to hear was a live album from AC/DC 'cause that's when they really come to life. You know, the first stuff I ever heard of AC/DC was alive out, and then I bought the studio albums after that, and it was kind of like... Yeah, it's good, but live is definitely what they do best. - It's a major smart move because they'd done 3 or 4 studio albums. They needed to regroup, writing-wise, they needed to have some time to breathe. They also needed to put an album out that people who are going to see them play would connect with. And that was just a very, very cool move. And it was a very well recorded and very well made live album. - It was recorded in Glasgow, and this is AC/DC at their asolute best. They were a fantastic live band, and they were never better than doing during this era because everything was driven forward. They were really on a high, and it's one of those albums, which does capture the moment, it captures the energy, it captures that time. You listen to 'If You Want Blood,' and you actually are getting a great performance captured as it should be captured. I'm a rocker, I'm a roller I'm a right out of controller I'm a wheeler, I'm a dealer I'm a wicked woman stealer I'm a bruiser, I'm a cruiser I'm a rockin' rollin' man - It's not too overdubbed. It's not too played-with. It's not too technically messed with. It's really very them. I think that's one of the good things about AC/DC to me all the way up to 'Highway to Hell', it was always, they were very organic. They were very straightforward. The production, it wasn't over produced. It wasn't, it was very much them. - It was so energetic, just the songs on the album. It would come across well live because of the energy behind that the title, whether it'd be 'Whole Lotta Rosie', whether it'd be 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be'. - This is where AC/DC really came of age. This is them at their very best. It was never, personally, I don't think they ever better did in a live setting. ... tattoos I'm a rocker, I'm a roller I'm a rocker, I'm a roller I'm a rocker I'm a rockin' rollin' man - It showed to the fans who hadn't yet get to see them, maybe the North American fans, what these guys could do live. And I had always think that was AC/DC's a strong point. They came up with great riffs. They did come up with fantastic lyrics, by the time they got the 'Highway to Hell' and 'Back in Black'. But it was their live performance. [Guitar riff] - Just the tracks, actually, for the early part of career, that's the album where they all fit together really well and possibly even just the tracklisting from one through to the end track. It's where it just flows as an album. - The album's, sort of, emulated what you would hear live, but you still were able to see what they would do for you when you saw them live. - They were there at that point in their career where even the gimmicks were no longer gimmicks. Angus, in his school uniform, was now part of what they were. Angus being carried on Bon's shoulders through the audience was part of what they were. It was a wonderful sense of belonging between the audience and the band, and there was a sense of these were heroes on stage, but working-class heroes. They were part of what you were as well, and you were part of what they were. And Bon was an absolute crucial element of the whole thing. He was the focus of it all. - You could just hear on the album the rawness of him. The way he holds the audience, the way he's such a great frontman, and, again, the way that he and Angus complement each other. You know, it's really, it's like, it's their show. You're going to see the whole band, but it's kind of like, they're the main people you go and see. - It sounds very unfair to say, but I don't think you can really comment on the individual members of AC/DC to any great extent outside Angus and Bon. And that's not to criticize them because Angus and Bon are two very, very large and live characters, and I think if you had any more than that, it would just be completely overwhelming. - Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar, Cliff Williams bass, Phil Rudd drums, and before that, Mark Evans on bass, were an absolute rock solid foundation. They gave such a tremendous sense of backing that you could almost lean against what they did. And it was metronomic, but by being so in the background as it were, it allowed Bon and Angus to do what they did, which was to be charismatic to boost the flurries of guitar technique to produce so sort of performances, knowing that they have that backing, it's a solid rock behind it. - Cliff Williams and Malcolm Young and Phil Rudd, they didn't want to be center of attention. They just wanted to play their music and sit in the back, which is what they did. Had all five of them been trying to entertain you, it would have been too much. - AC/DC had toured a lot in America before 'Highway to Hell,' and they'd made inroads. They sold a reasonable number of albums, but at that point they weren't big time. And it was initially the pressure, I'm sure, from the American Record label who saw that they could be big time, who saw that here was a band who could sell a million albums, that persuaded them to go with another producer to try something a little different. - Vanda and Young had gone as far as they could. 'Powerage, etc, etc, they'd done 'Dirty Deeds', they'de done as much as they could, and there was time for a change. - This is the album that started off with Eddie Kramer, I believe. Three weeks, and they ended up sacking him. That was because Atlantic insisted they work with Eddie Kramer who had a big rep. They wanted to put together a big album that was gonna be groundbreaking, so there was a lot riding on it. They spent three weeks in studio in Miami, Florida, and then they sacked him. - And then Robert John Mutt Lange came into the picture. - He took over the helm of making 'Highway to Hell'. His style is completely different to any other rock producers in the business. He didn't co-write any of the material, which is what he did with Def Leppard. But what he did was to completely change the way of making records. He's a more meticulous producer. He is much more finickity. He's much more involved in arrangements, and he's much more involved musically. In other words, backing vocals change, vocal arrangements change, guitar arrangements change, everything changes. He makes a record in a completely different way from anyone else. Even though his complete production star hadn't developed, this was his first true rock album. The girls got rhythm (girls got rhythm) The girls got rhythm (girls got rhythm) She got the back seat rhythm (back seat rhythm) The girls got rhythm - More than anything else, he and Bon Scott hit it off. They really did ally themselves, and I think that probably two reasons there. One was Bon finally felt that there was a producer in place who could bring out the enormous potential in the band without affecting their sound. And Mutt Lange saw in Bon Scott someone who really did have a genuine genius. - And he took the band by the scruff of the neck and changed the rules. He made this album accessible to the Americans. He's a fine-tuner of a record. A tuner, sonically, he got... He had his head totally around what was needed. The whole game changed. From then on then, they would never be the same. (Girls got rythm) The girls got rhythm (girls got rhythm) She got the back seat rhythm (back seat rhythm) The girls got rhythm - 'Highway to Hell' was the album that made AC/DC superstars. It showed their maturity as musicians. It showed that there are great lyrics. The lyrics weren't so tongue-in-cheek on this album. - And it was perhaps a little bit more serious, but not completely serious. But it just had that edge to it. It's one of those classic albums where there's not a bad song on it at all. - It was well recorded. The songs were great. Bon, I think, was a lot high on its powers, you know, even though he was probably pretty much out of control at that point, and the drinking was taking its toll. - So 'Highway to Hell' represents really a producer, taking AC/DC's sound, slightly smoothing it, but not too much, allowing the melody to come through but also encouraging the songwriter, the lyricist i. e. Bon to really push himself further than anywhere before. Out of my way I'm a running high Take a chance with me and a give it a try - I think he brought out the best in them, and, and it's all there, you know, when you listen to it. The guitars are very clear, very punchy, the drums are, you know, the kick drum is nice and punchy as well. And then the bass is nice and fat. It just has their sound to it, which is why I think it was different from all the other album because it was just a little bit more polished. It didn't sound, it still had the rawness to it because that's the way the songs are written in terms of production into sound that a little bit clearer and crispy. I wanna walk all over you (walk all over you) I wanna walk all over you (walk all over you) Do anything you want me to (walk all over you) baby I wanna walk all over you - That's an album I'm not so hot on. I did get rave reviews and stuff like that, but just personally, I don't think it had all the killer songs. I personally think that 'Let There Be Rock' and 'If You Want Blood (You Got It)' the two albums that came before were the actual killer albums. They always rock, but sort of bluesy based rock, and this was trying to take it, maybe make a bit more pop-arised, a little bit with the backing vocals and that sort of stuff, but I think that could have been one of the reasons that didn't work for me, that is. I'm gonna walk all over you (walk all over you) I'm gonna walk all over you (walk all over you) Do anything you want me to (walk all over you) to you - There's a lot of people that say that the backing vocals tend to warm up and, sort of, take away the direction off of Bon's vocals. In other words, it tends to make things look a little bit soft when... He's always had quite a hard approach to things. I tend not to think that, I tend to think that this is such an early stage in Mutt's development of that sound that I think you got it at the best because he went on to be much, much smoother, and he went on to smooth things out even more. So I honestly think that, I think it worked really well. I think that's what made it successful. - They were trying new things, and I think it did lose a bit of its just straight out ballsy rock. - The opening chorus of the title track, which opens the album, you know you're listening to something that's monumental, and it really has a sense of rhythm, it has a sense of style, it has a sense of personality. He took what they did before on 'Powerage' and 'Let There Be Rock' and just took it up to another level in terms of production and in terms of performance. I think the band were performing better than they had done on record before. - With the song 'Highway to Hell,' it's, in a way, it's like 'Whole Lotta Rosie", where there's that punchy guitar line from the start and then there's a gap. Ypu know, with 'Highway to Hell, it comes in [playing]. It's just an A to a D with an F sharp in the bass and into a G. Then again, it's just the way it's done. Just when you listen to it on the album, it just has that real quality about it. It's the opening track of the album. And it's like here we are, and this is what we do, and it's just another classic riff. Livin' easy, Lovin' free Season ticket on a one way ride Askin' nothin', Leave me be Takin' everythin' in my stride Don't need reason, Don't need rhyme Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do - Probably 'Highway to Hell' might be one of the greatest rock riffs of all time. As soon as you hear that, out comes the air guitar. - So after that, that riff is rolled around quite a few times, and the last time, it then moves to the E and into the chorus, which is again, the chorus chords are just A, D, G, D, but I'll play so it goes from there what would be the verse, so it goes. Highway to hell I'm on the highway to hell No stop signs, Speed limit Nobody's gonna slow me down - Touched too much, shot down in flames, girls got rhythm, beating about the bush, night prawler. It just goes on and on and on. There are just so many great songs on that record. - I don't think their ambitions were to create some sort of magnum opus in the studio. They just wanted to capture the AC/DC ethic as best as they could and get on the road again. I'm on the way to the promised land I'm on the highway to hell Highway to hell I'm on the highway to hell Highway to hell - Their mentality isn't like they wanna be all professional and classy stuff because that's not them. It's just, they just happened to have the right combination on the album and have gone to the next phase. - And every single song on that album was played on North American radio, on FM radio. They would play every track, and to this day, they can still play every track because every track is a brilliant song on 'Highway to Hell'. - It made their career because it is the first massive record in America and the one that followed it, probably one of the biggest selling rock albums of all time. Highway to hell On the highway to hell - 'Highway to Hell' is a real high mark because of the way it was produced, the sense of melody, and rhythm, and passion meeting. - 'Touch Too Much' is a fantastic track from the album they performed on Top of the Pops, literally a couple weeks before Bon Scott was found dead. So they were riding still this big wave of this classic album. - When he died in February, 1980, it was a massive blow to everybody, to the fans, more especially, of course, to the band. - He just liked to rock 'n' roll and drink. Not a bad life. It just ended too early, really, for me. Hmmmm, keep on ridin' Riding on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on - 99 out of 100 bands would not have recovered from that. But AC/DC was such a strong band and such a strong brand at that point that they were able to carry on. ... one of these days One of these days - You've got people who'd say we could never replace Bon, you know, but what does Angus do, go on and perform in a folk band? - They knew they had to carry on. I think if they didn't do that right away, they might have gone back to Australia and maybe never continued on. They couldn't hold their head in their hands. But Bon cos I think they expected that to happen. Whether they could prevent it? Probably not. - There was never going to be another Bon Scott, but the band splitting up wasn't going to bring him back, and it wasn't going to diminish what he had achieved if they carried on. - They considered the future. But, you know, you move on, and I think with Bon's attitude, what Bon would be, it was like "Well, replace me." - All the ground work had been done with the Bon line up, AC/DC were poised for the great things, which they subsequently went on to achieve without him, and with Brian Johnson in the lineup. - I think they did it in the greatest respect to Bon. They found the right singer with Brian, and my God, what a difficult job Brian had to do. I got my bell I'm gonna take you to hell I'm gonna get ya Satan get ya Hells bells Yeah, hells bells, you got me ringing Hells bells - It's extraordinary, really, because Bon died in February, 1980. 'Back in Black' came out, I believe, in the summer that year, in July. So 'Back in Black' has definitely got a flavour of Bon on there, you know, whether you accept the claims that Bon's lyrics were on there or not. - Because they demoed the album while Bon Scott was still alive, you know, you can hear, you can almost hear him on there sometimes. You can hear him singing that melody or that vocal line or something. And Brian Johnson always seemed the weird choice to get because whereas Bon Scott has very, sort of, had a gravelly kind of voice, Brian Johnson was always very high-pitched, screaming kind of thing. You know, which I think, perhaps, what put some people off at first, but I think he can still sing all the classic AC/DC stuff just as well. - Bon Scott singing about these women in his life that had given him the dose, that had broken his heart, that he- all the hearts he broke, him singing about it, you believed, you believed cos it came from him. So when Brian Johnson would sing the songs, they weren't his songs to sing those earlier, and for me, the 'Whole Lotta Rosie', it has to be Bon Scott. A whole lotta woman A whole lotta woman A whole lotta Rosie A whole lotta Rosie A whole lotta Rosie - AC/DC fans will have their pro-Brian camps and their pro-Bon camps, and it's unfair to compare the two, really, because they're almost two different bands, really. Brian Johnson is a completely different front man to Bon Scott. - Personally, speaking on a personal point of view, I've never seen AC/DC with Brian Johnson, and I don't want to. And it's not negative to Brian at all, not anti Brian Johnson. It's just I don't feel that they could have replaced someone who was so special and important on stage, but I respect their right for doing it. ... a whole lotta woman A whole lotta woman A whole lotta Rosie - Bon's contribution to AC/DC just cannot be overestimated. He was the guy that dragged Angus on his terms along with him, you know, through those barroom brawls and into the stadiums of America, you know, in tandem with those guys. But without Bon, I'm not too sure what would have happened with AC/DC.

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Keywords: movie, Entertainment, full movie, feature film, Geoff Barton, Malcolm Dome, Tank Montana, Bon Scott, AC/DC: The Bon Scott Years movie, AC/DC: The Bon Scott Years documentary, AC/DC: The Bon Scott Years 2005 movie, AC/DC: The Bon Scott Years 2005 documentary, AC/DC movie, AC/DC documentary, ACDC movie, ACDC documentary, AC/DC 2005 movie, AC/DC 2005 documentary, bon scott documentary, acdc bon scott

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Length: 76min 52sec (4612 seconds)

Published: Sun May 01 2022