The Mosh Pit 11.07.08: AC/DC And My First Beer

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 11.07.2008

This week the Mosh Pit takes a look at the new AC/DC album Black Ice, a greater look at the music of one of rock’s legends, and discovers that the band’s secret has to do with my first beer…







Well crap on a stick, it seems I've managed to pigeon-hole myself into doing a feature on these old school groups when they put out a new album. I'm not sure I want to take to close a look at that phrase, "Old School", to determine the reality of why that happens. I'll just counsel myself with the fact it's just the style of this column, or at least a point it has evolved to, and that I'd probably explode if I didn't do this. At the end of the day, at least, hopefully, an extended discussion of a group and its music as seen through my well traveled eyes (ears?) is at least entertaining to you.

But really, if you want just a straight up no nonsense review on the new AC/DC album, go check out Dan Wilcox's review HERE. He had the unenviable task of doing a straight up review on a group that likely most of you already made up your mind on before the album came out. So kudos to him and the good job he did.

The Good, The Bad, And The AC/DC


Wherein, I enter a retrospective personal journey into the bands we love, the role of legends in music, and a can of beer.


On The Care And Feeding Of Legends

Sometimes bands, or specific artists, evolve to a point where they stop being just a music entity and become a "legend" in the business. Not legendary necessarily because they are the best, although that is usually what happens, but simply because they become a force into itself. The fact a band carries that much clout is certainly because of their huge fan base, if not now but certainly at a point in time that *made* the band in the first place. But more importantly the legends pick up a momentum of their own and become a cultural phenomenon (for better or worse) in their own right. Simply put, today's legends may or may not have a huge fan base still, but enough to insure the band stays a force. For example, the Rolling Stones still fills arenas in their 5th decade (?!) of touring, and since I know of no one who sings the praises of their newer music they obviously get buy on their reputation, their classics, and the huge fan base built over the years. On the flip side you have Bob Dylan, whose music is not known well by today's generation, would likely not get those kids into a large venue (sorry Dylan fans, but its true), BUT is still a legend of the same caliber. He might have a smaller fan base today, but his fans are incredibly loyal, and more importantly vocal, including various music critics who continually preach the man's impact on music. If the Stones or Dylan was without a contract and announced that they wanted to record an album, labels would trip over themselves to sign them. Why? Because of the sheer power their status in the industry brings them.

That is part of being a legend.

The next part is how the artist rises above certain levels of critique, as if they have become a sort of ad-hoc nobility. Sure, we make fun of the Stones looking old on stage (Keith Richards looks like the ghost of rock and roll past), or Dylan's voice (a stoned version of Charlie Brown's teacher), or any other iconic band, but at the end of it we still recognize their importance and give them their due. "Fuck the Beatles" is a popular slogan with some of the writers in the music zone because of the sheer veracity of how they are portrayed in pop culture (let it go - that's another column for another time), but even the people who say that still give the band their due on what they did and how important they were.

Why all the rhetoric on the nature of legends? Because when a band hits this point, reviewing a new album becomes an exercise in working around this reality. As a critic, you're job in reviewing something is to give people your honest opinion that will help them make a decision on whether to buy an album. But a "legendary" band is at a point where the majority either loves the band or ignores them. There is really only going to be a small group of people who are on the fence enough to look for what the album holds. Most will likely just read the thing out of curiosity.

This fact hit me particularly with the release of Metallica's new album, Death Metallic. Listening to that album to judge it becomes a social exercise where you felt like you were listening to it with everyone else and their assorted opinions become part of the process. It's like the band is big enough to carry those opinions along with them like luggage and become part of the process. Although in Metallica's case it was interesting in that you could feel people holding there breath, and the collective exhale when everyone learned we didn't get St. Anger part 2. In fact, I truly believe that album received a bounce in credibility simply because Metallica in fact put out an album that didn't sound like that. That is the sort of built in weight certain bands inevitably carry around with them.

But the point is most people had already made up their mind whether or not they were going to give Metallica a chance.

AC/DC, while not suffering the stigma of an album like St. Anger, is a legendary band that carries the weight of its own brand of success around with them. It's generally accepted that the bands last couple of albums have been average to decent (depending on who you ask), but it's been a long time since the speakers smoked with something akin to "Highway To Hell" or growled from the "Nigh Stalker". And like all legends, the longer you remove them from their heyday, the more generations you rotate to seemingly "outdate" their music. While a legendary band will always have a large multi-generation fan base, you'll always find a greater number of people from the bands hey-day excited about them, while a greater contingent from the newer generations simply scratching their heads wondering what the big deal is.

Why?

Simple answer is that "It's a generation" thang…

But that is too easy for this column. I think the answer is a little deeper, and so I simply asked myself why I might like the band more than someone half my age. That took me back to when I first listened to the band.



My First Beer

There is an old adage, and it's one you become more consciously aware of as you get older, and that is you favor the band's "You cracked your first beer to." After all, musical preference is already a highly biased and subjective enterprise, and nothing highlights that more than the rose-tinted lenses we look at the music of our youth. It's the sounds that for many introduced us to that kind of music, and when push comes to shove it carries the one thing a newer band can never compete with…

Memories.

The nostalgia a band or song has simply because it carries the weight of a time or place specific to you, the listener. I can walk over to my CD rack and point to a number of newer albums that are likely better and more technically sound then some of the odd older stuff I listened to 25 years ago, but a few will likely get played less than those older albums. Why? Those albums carry fond memories, and that is whether you are implicitly aware of it or not. ZZ Top's Eliminator isn't the most technical or daring album the band ever did. Hell, a few tracks are more dance than desert grizzle. Don't get me wrong, it's got some real good stuff on it, and I love that album, but truth be told I can think of a handful of albums from the band that deserve better recognition by virtue of sheer musical chops and song craft. But back in 83-84 a young Dan wandered over to a friend's home after school and caught this new cable channel called MTV, and what did he see for his first video: "Gimme All Your Loving". The car – The legs – The meaty hooks. It was hot rods and hot bods and I fell in love with the band. I played that vinyl to death, and to this day it's still the most played ZZ Top CD in my collection. Fair? Nope. But that's what I want to hear, so that gets the pull.

It's about the memories, the nostalgia, and just the silly reason I heard it first. And no matter how unbiased you are as a music fan, the simple fact is that when you judge an album you carry those memories with you, like baggage, into your views.

"It's a guilty pleasure" likely has it's origins in this phenomena.

So when did "I crack open my first beer"? At a party with such classics as Def Leppard's On Through Their Night (still their best album), Led Zeppelin II, Motley Crue's To Fast For Love, I remember some Ozzy, Scorpions, Maiden, and Saxon playing, and more importantly for this discussion was AC/DC. Young and company providing the perfect soundtrack to a party, the sort of timeless groove that you can enjoy no matter what you where doing. Drinking, talking, screwing around, that beat just seeps into your conscious and makes your toe-tap despite itself.

The music makes you want to move whether you are listening to it or not.

I immediately ran out and picked up Back In Black, the first AC/DC album I ever bought, and never looked back. I knew of AC/DC and heard their songs, and liked them, but was only just coming out of the late 70's early 80's post-punk thing I was into then, and had nothing on bands like them. When I popped that thing in the player, it was a thing of beauty despite its dark groove. And more parties followed, with so many great AC/DC songs, the simple catchy rhythms, the massive hooks, and dazzling passionate solo's piling up with a young punter coming of age so that the whole is as much about art as it is biography. AC/DC was really the gateway band into hard rock and eventually metal.

Not that musical judgment doesn't play a part, for I was also saddled with a few albums at that age (Theatre of Pain, I'm looking at you) that were just so bad I still despise their limp dumb'd down sounds. No amount of the cute girls wanting to dance to that monstrosity could make it a warm memory, that's for damn sure. Sorry - It's true. The first two Crue albums were good, but several long painful albums (Theatre and Girls, Girls, Girls) later they came back with a good one in Doctor Feelgood. But man you might get a decent EP between those two albums combined. Maybe. Blech.

So the moral of the story is that memories are not the be-all end-all of music appreciation, but merely the fact that it will color your view to a degree.

With AC/DC, for myself and a massive contingent of fans the band carries with it a lot of our youth: The parties, the beats, just a massive sample of a time that was ours. It was the party before career and family, and that will always hold a special place in anyone honest enough to admit it. Yes, AC/DC did some great albums for sure, but I don't think anyone is going to say they've done a 9/10 or 10/10 classic in the last twenty years or that they expect them to put out another certified classic. The great music the band did is a part in this, but so does everything else that a legendary band like AC/DC represents to people.

Many people are going to buy Black Ice, many more will not. Maybe you're my age and have those memories of the first time "Hells Bells" rolled off the vinyl like the most apocalyptic drinking game ever conceived, or maybe you're younger but backtracked based on what you've heard from your parents or radio, but odds are either you already have a predilection for this band or not. When talking about this new album, what I'm really telling people at that point is whether the album confirms what they want to know. Is the album just more of the same stuff they love? Or for the others does it confirm that the band is doing the same old thing.

How do you review that for people? For me, at least hopefully, it comes in answering those basic questions.



Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

One thing AC/DC has done, and as much as it makes me get grumble over time, is that they don't put out an album on a schedule. In fact, for all intent and purposes the band is semi-retired. This is the fourth album in 18 years, and when you have Presidential terms between albums there is much more anticipation for each release. Let's face it - AC/DC isn't going to reinvent the wheel anytime soon.

Ever.

Nor should they.

So having this be their third album in that time spreads out the bands patented stripped down groove rock to better effect. If this was their eighth album, with fans getting Ball Breaker II and Stiff Upper Lip II and III then people would be a lot more burned out on the band. Black Ice is the product of a well loved legendary band putting out an album when the fans are hungry for more.

So there is something to be said for a long distant relationship, a fondness that doesn't die simply because we're not having the same thing shoved at us every other year. Bottom line, if a band like AC/DC had released these last three albums in quick succession after The Razors Edge, I firmly believe reaction would be a little worse for wear. But they didn't, and we're ready for this sort of basic riff rock and rolling solos. A band might be a drink from the Fountain of Youth, but there is always the risk of drinking to much and getting sick. But when we're thirsty for more… Well, then it can be a fine thing indeed.

So by hook or crook, and design or just happenstance, the pace of new releases from a band like AC/DC has had an affect on perception, and in this case many fans like me are just ready for more classic fun.

And really, with all the crap going on in the world it's a welcome reminder of the things that make life grand worth the journey.



Putting It Together

OK. AC/DC is truly a group that you either get, or you don't. And likely, their basic rock and roll blues boogie is a product of a time that you either like, or you don't. Truly the voice of every party that you could have attended in the late 70's or early 80's; be it those memories, the beat that just makes your foot move undeniably, or some of rocks most fundamental but catchy hooks, the band is the supreme lord in a sound they invented and largely occupy alone. And yes, I know who Tokyo Rose or Status Quo is, but 99% of the people purchasing Black Ice will not.

You can say the following review is biased, as seen through the beer-goggles grin of my youth. So be it fanboy, hater, or Mr. Indifferent, what is the scoop on Black Ice and what will it mean to you?




Black Ice - A Review







Man, "Rock And Roll Train" rolls out of the speakers like grilled medallions of beef, as much smoke and sizzle as meat, expensive cuts of beef prepared on the most primitive of tools, and as much a summer experience as it is a rhythm. A simple but good beat, until you get to Young who just goes off on the guitar come solo. I mean the end of that song is a thing of long overdue beauty, with our favorite aged school-boy dancing up and down the fret board like some ADD kid who's been bored for eight years and finally allowed out to play, an analogy probably steeped in more fact than likely to be admitted. Be it as it may, the last minute of that song scorches with everything right about rock in 1980, and that is enough to bring a tear to the eye.

And there lies one of the cornerstone reasons to pick-up this album, Angus Young has a real good time on it, with many great solos in addition to those little leads and hooks he can fill empty space with. One of the reasons I'm always pounding on the failure of over-production is that there is a certain level of energy, the passion of a simple sound that can only come from the touch of a human hand. A computer cannot replicate it but only kill it. Angus has a certain school-boy charm (ha!) to his playing that speaks of an eternal energy with a grin. He provides an amazing level of electricity, buoyancy that makes him one of the greats who does more with less. He represents the metaphor that is the secret of AC/DC itself, in that the band brings that *it* to those simple grooves that lifts them above more complicated written spreads. All the math in the world can't compensate for the fundamental spark that gives the inanimate life.

That fact alone is what also drives the rhythm section, and what makes something like "War Machine" a true tour de' force in awesome; I swear, the band needs to play this one live and just ride that intro, working up the crowd into a sing-along chant "WAR… MACHINE". I mean, I'm sure the guitar tab on that intro is mind numbingly simple. But in the hands of a band that pours this much character into it the affair blossoms into one of their best songs, outside of "Thunderstruck" the band has done since the early 80's. DAMN I'm digging it. I'm just going to hit repeat and hear it again.

And here in lies another thing about the album; this is a less blues affair than the last couple of platters, the band taking those experiments to task on a more traditional rhythm sound, a kick of rock to wash down the swig of southern riff, almost an aftertaste laughing at the corner of your vision while the band just keeps turning out anther excuse to pull another draft.

Sure, there are four (of 15!) songs with "Rock" in the title, a formula on overkill even for this band, but each still works with its own integrity and is a jewel in a crown of road worn steel. "Rock And Roll Train" is the sizzle, but "Rock and Roll Dream" actual comes with a moody balladry before opening up hooks wide and sparse. And oh my, Brian Johnson actually sings, if not croons a bit over the verse. Yes, I'm still waiting for a vocal cord to blow out on the man, one note to many and his voice snaps, but that gravely smoker's style soars and adds to the desperate quest that fills the empty spaces of this brave song. The band hasn't stretched out like this in a looooong time, and while still AC/DC it shows the many shades of win a band can do when creative minds work to their potential even within a limited universe.

"Rocking All The Way" returns the bluesy gate, a sort of swagger that delivers the bass on the down turn that just dares you to not work your head to its beat. Johnson's voice still sounds like he'll drop his range at any minute, but that adds to the bar room atmosphere, and I can picture Angus having a good time with that solo at the end, hoping up and down the bar much to the ire of the bartender.

Speaking of brave, the title track has a sort of funk to it, a roll from cascading form to an off-beat dance rhythm. Sometimes prominent, sometimes a back drop to Johnson's cheering you on to hit start again, or just another fun solo effort that revitalizes the whole damn shebang, somehow performing in a dark alley while sparkling in Time Square.

Are there a few throw away tracks on here? Sure, nothing offensive but just an average song these royal jesters can kick out. "Big Jack" has a slight modern fill and drizzle to the hooks, and you can still lift a shot to "Money Made" despite the sing along chorus (and actually, that base line is a fine hunk of meat). Speaking of bass, Cliff Williams still proves he a vital part of the intimate AC/DC alchemy mix throughout this album, but songs like "Decibel" are carried on his fine beat before Angus spreads his magic out, stretching the leads and melody into a fine buffet. "Stormy May Day" is a chorus that is almost inane in it's lyrical simplicity, but damn we're back to that Southern Comfort bayou grizzle with the guitar tone, the riffs stretching like moonshine through the bog.

You get the idea. Part inspired riff rock, part head nodding, and many well worn paths we've traveled before but glad to travel again. If you don't care for AC/DC, you're not going to find much to change your mind despite the interesting nuances the band injects. If you like a few classic songs, but think the band is overextended its welcome, I'd recommend you give it several good spins as I think you'll find some good tracks to add to you're play list. If you like this band, then trust me when I say you're going to have a good time.

I'm calling it an 8.5 out of 10, an admitted long time fan having a good time with a favorite band. Probably a 7.5 in the extended music universe, but then again AC/DC doesn't play for the extended music universe. They play out of a playbook for those who want to have another swig of that beer, and I have to say they still do one damn fine job of it.

Haven't I Heard This Before…


If there is one thing that can drive the fan a specific kind of music to complete distraction is the charge of "It all sounds the same to me!" As someone who likes heavy metal, I obviously hear this enough. But fans of any specific genre get the same thing, even from each other! But when push comes to shove and you get down to brass tacks, this is something that is said about AC/DC that is hard to argue. Instead of trying to tell someone the difference between "Back In Black" and "For Those About To Rock", you just flip through the endless rhythms in your mind and helplessly shrug your shoulders with your arms up-turned. Either you get it or you don't, and as lame as that argument truly is, it also happens to be the truth; sort of like trying to explain the theory of gravity to a kid. "Why?" "Because that's the way big things work."

Please don't write to me explaining the theory of energy and mass and their output. I get it. YOU explain it to a five year old.

So either you get the phenomena of head nodding groove that is a simple AC/DC rhythm or you don't. Either you get the fun of it all, or it flies past you. Explaining the simple splendor of those dirty riffs, groovy grooves, Young's trips down the fret board, and… those little intangibles that make you just go "hell yea" isn't going to mean much to someone when they just don't see it.

But that being said, there is an undeniable pattern to the simple music equation that is the extended Young play-book. A formula of sorts, something else that either bothers the detractors or insures the gratitude of fans, and basically it goes a little something like:


AC/DC Song Generator

* Create a catchy rhythm
* Create a catchy chorus
* Create a solo. Playing off of catchy rhythm is optional
* Roll for Song Structure Table (2d6)

2-4: Long into (stripped down variation of chorus) with a verse-chorus-solo-verse-chorus format
6-8: Follow standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus formula
8-11: Standard verse-chorus formula with outro (extend last chorus with catchy rhythm and additional solo)
12: Roll Twice, ignoring results of 12.

* Roll on Gimmick Table (2d6) [See Brian for beer money if group vote needed]

2: Explosions/Canons
3: Sing Along Chant/Chorus
4-8: None
9-11: Fun Lyrics (Consult Lyric Sub-Table)
12: Bells

Lyric Sub-Table (d6)

1-2: Rock and Roll theme
2-4: Use "balls" as a pun/analogy
5-6: Sex




And there you go.

Hey, I love the band, but you can still have some fun.

And besides, the magic is not only in the catchy rhythm, but HOW you play it.

The Set List
What's Playing In My Head Phones

1. AC/DC - Black Ice: Yea, I'm hopeless. But I'm having fun at the same time!

2. Bloodblath - The Fathomless Mastery: Oh man this is a fun album. More Swedish death metal please.

3. Early Man - Beware The Circling Fin : Fun EP of old school NWOBHM. The title track is probably the best Diamond Head song they never wrote.

4. The Answer - Never To Late: Wow. This is a great little EP. It's like a shot of Purple and Hendrix to the system in one blown out hard rock case of bad psych.

5. Trivium - Shogun: Yea, I picked it up. Not as bad as I expected, so I'm giving it a chance. Would be good stuff (even if over produced) if they'd knock off that metalcore bark.

"Jesus, dude, you pick not only some Dead Can Dance, which I love (and am amazed you listen to), but also manage to name check my fave Danzig album, fave BOC album and drop some Rush trivia on everyone - you're getting better each week.

That Sabbath/Gillan show you want will be forthcoming along with another performance and the uncensored videos from that album."

Posted By: the_fiXer

I'm just full of surprises, now aren't I ?! Yea, people are pretty amazed to see my music collection, expecially when I set there with a death metal shirt on and expound on the virtues of…

Well, that will be a surprise for another day. HA! But I'm glad you enjoyed the column.


"Those are great picks

BUT

wheres KING DIAMOND? MERCYFUL FN FATE?"

Posted By: Marc

Dude, you must have missed the beginning of the column where I mentioned I had done them last year. I wanted to really go out of left field this time with something new and not repeat the same groups again. But don't worry, they'll be back!

Music Trivia

At the beginning of the 70's, a young MIT graduate (working for Polaroid) started a band called Mothers Milk. He played all the instruments except drums, and made demos. He did pick up a drummer and a vocalist to help him work on the project out of his home studio. Evidently, this guy was so meticulous about recording music that he continually had the singer redo his parts to methodically overdub the vocals, and since this was the analog age he had literally thousands of bits of recordings on tape everywhere trying to get things perfect.

Eventually the MIT student became frustrated with the limitations of the technology at the time. He knew what he wanted to hear, but couldn't get it in the recording. So he decided to use his background to build his own equipment. After a number of rejections the group was finally signed to Epic Records in 1975.

By this time the bands new home studio was built, but the label demanded that they record a proper album in a professional studio. Our young MIT hero was dissatisfied with the "professional studio", and rejected all the recordings except a song called "Let Me Take You Home Tonight". Without telling the label, he went behind their back to his home studio with his equipment and finished the album his way.

This home studio recording became the master, and after a band name change to Boston, Tom Scholz released the epic self titled Boston upon the world. It would become one of the biggest selling debut albums of all time.

That's right, "More than A Feeling" and "Foreplay/Long Time" was recorded in a home studio, by a MIT graduate because it was better than what the label had on hand.

Rock on everyone, and new or old get out there and play your favorite bands. If someone complains, crank it to 10 and tell them I said "Hi".