Artist – Album: AC-DC – Back in Black
Released:
25th July 1980
Sounds Like: It's like, how much more
black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.
It’s
hard to listen to pre-Spinal Tap hard rock and not conjure up images of
miniature Stonehenges, spontaneously combusting drummers, and amps that go all
the way up to 11. Almost everything I listen to from the early metal era brings
to mind ‘Big Bottom’. In
the proud history of parody bands, from the Rutles to Lonely Island, Spinal Tap
are the most hilariously accurate, perfectly executed and stunningly realised.
Undeniably, one of the reasons that it was so successful was because the genre
itself, unlike the often pretentious indie rock or the are-you-looking-at-me
hip hop, is just plain fun. As good as A Mighty Wind (a similar film by the
same guys) is, folk and country music is just too self-effacing to be laugh out
loud. However, although rock music back then may have been dominated by sweaty,
overly hairy men who either like to sing about dungeons and dragons or sex and
drugs and rock and roll (and that in itself is funny), it also contained
bombastic drumming and exhilarating guitar solos designed solely to make you
clench your hand into a fist and punch the air in delight.
No
album in history has better captured the sheer adrenaline rush of rock at the
time than Back in Black. It foregoes the obsession with myths and legends and
just goes for the old sex and drugs (and drink), and its made all the better
for the knowledge that they truly were living it. It’s almost something of a
disappointment that they didn’t write the seminal ‘Life in the Fast Lane’, as it so aptly sums up their
lifestyle. That being said, however, they did compose some absolute classic
anthems, with the likes of ‘Back in Black’, ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’,
‘Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution’ and
‘Hells Bells’ all
appearing here. Yes, it is a all a bit Spinal Tap-py – ‘Givin’ the Dog a
Bone’ isn’t far removed from
‘Lick My Love Pump’ – but
that’s all just part of the fun.
Following
the death of legendary lead singer Bon Scott in 1979, there was a danger that
this album could have been funereal, particularly given the uniformly black
album cover. In actual fact, the album is more like the most celebratory wake
ever.
Albumaday... rating:
9/10
1. Hells
Bells – 5:10
2. Shoot
to Thrill – 5:17
3. What
Do You Do for Money Honey – 3:33
4. Given
the Dog a Bone – 3:30
5. Let
Me Put My Love Into You – 4:16
6. Back
in Black – 4:14
7. You
Shook Me All Night Long – 3:30
8. Have
a Drink on Me – 3:57
9. Shake
a Leg – 4:06
10. Rock
and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution – 4:15
Listen to ‘Black in
Black ’: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2173790307602894634#editor/target=post;postID=2324177800811426106
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