AC/DC - Black Ice

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It was here that the famous story of the exloding amp came about. Apparently Angus was adding a guitar solo to a track, and playing away when smoke started to pour from his amplifier. George shouted for him to f**king keep at it. The tortured sequels and buzz from from the amplifier gave the sound that neccessary Jimi Hendrix esqe dimension.

The first track, Go Down takes the double entendre to almost absurd limits, it goes right on into the tribal stomp of Dog Eat Dog, which certainly presaged the music of 80's bands like Adam And The Ants. Next is the monumental Let There Be Rock. Who can forget that video of Bon dressed up as a priest, seremonising to the gods of rock before jumping into the choir. Bad Boy Boogie, you can hear a distressed buzzing like a disturbed wasps nest bursting from the amplifiers, "One Two!" and the band are off and running, this was traditionally the song where Angus did his strip. Problem Child, this angst ridden number is supposed to be Bon recounting his mis spent youth, something apparently that he regretted for the rest of his life, although in truth he continued to set a course of self abuse right up to the end, as portrayed in the next song, Overdose. Bon had been in a number of relationships with women with drug problems, with almost fatal concequences, maybe he was attracted to that element of danger. At the time of recording this album he was hanging out with somebody called Silver Smith, who was met with dissaproval by Vanda and Young, she had a heroin problem and apparently the whole situation was causing a lot of tension in the studio. Hell Ain't A Bad Palce To Be does not hold out much hope for the afterlife, though he probably thinks that being "down there" is more fun. Whole Lotta Rosie, well, what can we say about one of the most well known rock riffs of all time. Ner! Ner! Ner! ner Ner! Ner! a cue to shout Angus! at all AC/DC gigs. That tribute to big groupies, (not the cider, that just floors you).

Once the album was finished, there were a few Australian dates, then it was back to the UK to launch it and a tour, the critics lumped the band in with the punk craze, with their music being described as "high energy electro fertility stomp". While in London, they shot a video for Australia's Countdown. Some of the dates were played supporting Black Sabbath, but there were problems: after one gig, both of the bands were drinking together, Geezer Butler waved a knife at Malcolm who immediately went for him. They did not work with Black Sabbat again, but Bon and Ozzy Ozbourne became friends, with Ozzy eventually writing the song Suicide Solution as a tribute to him.

Mark Evans was sacked at this point. He went on to join a number of other bands. His replacement, Cliff Williams was recruited from auditions in London and the band prepared to do their first US tour. Preparing the ground for a tour of the US was going to be difficult as they were having problems getting airplay on the radio stations, and having their records distributed to potential customers, so the only way to do it was to start again from the ground up, making sure that they played small and trendy clubs where they could pick up a core audience of influential people. So the dates were arranged for CBGB's in New York and The Whiskey in Los Angeles. Also they played to their biggest audience to date, supporting REO Speedwagon in Jacksonville, Florida. In New York they played a gig at The Palladium as support to the Dictators, but they did not hang around to see the act that hey were supporting. At the end of their set they announced to the audience that if they wanted to see more, they were playing a second set at the CBGB's club later that evening. A good proportion of the audience were so taken by AC/DC's performance that hey followed the band across the city to the other club and a second helping, though apparently the club's regulars, who were into bands like The Ramones and The New York Dolls were not as impressed.

They then played some gigs supporting Ted Nugent, though unimpressed by his attitude and antics. It was about this time that Angus picked up his first cordless guitar amplifier. European dates followed, and then the band was back in US, including some gigs supporting Kiss. All in all they picked up a small but valuable core audience there, before returning to Australia for Christmas. They were hoping to do another Australian tour in the new year, but the authorities refused to issue work permits for Cliff and several of the road crew who were from the UK.

-Nikki Goff