Back in Black
AC/DC
Babble, Bar Open, 17 December 2008
Side 1
Hells Bells EMILIE ZOEY BAKER
Shoot to Thrill BEN POBJIE
What Do You Do for Money Honey ALICIA SOMETIMES
Given the Dog a Bone JUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD
Let Me Put My Love Into You PAUL MITCHELL
Side 2
Back in Black SOLID BOGE DANCERS
You Shook Me All Night Long YANA ALANA
Have a Drink On Me SEAN M WHELAN
Shake a Leg IAN BLAND
Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution JOSH EARL
It is 1980. In England, a prominent member of a bluesy hard rock band – one of the biggest, most influential bands in the world, in fact – has had a few. No, it’s not a slow news night… he’s had quite a few. Before morning, he throws up heroically, chokes on his own vomit and dies, robbing the world of one of rock’s greats. The band’s response? They break up, unable to continue without him.
Earlier that year, Bon Scott, unaware that Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham would die choking on vomit in a few months time, was also having a few. The lead singer of AC/DC, riding a surge of popularity destined to make them Australia’s biggest export and one of the biggest bands of all time, is lying in the back of a Renault 5, parked in Dulwich, London. February 19, 1980. He has another few. He laughs. He chokes. He laughs just once more. Frowns. Then he dies. AC/DC’s singer is dead.
News of their charismatic front man’s death hits the band hard. They were just starting to look like rock gods, leading the way for hard rock acts such as Saxon, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest. Then, their irreplaceably charismatic singer dead. So they did what any band of brothers would do when their best friend dies: they grabbed the nearest singer and went to the Bahamas.
They waited an appropriate period of mourning first: they were in the studio six weeks after Bon gurgled, “A little help here…?” The new singer – Brian Johnson. In fact guitarist rock-god brothers Malcolm and Angus Young considered several replacements, including Jimmy Barnes, apparently, before settling on Brian, the barrel-chested screecher from Glaswegian glam rock band Geordie. Bon had seen Brian Johnson sing years before and loved him. He told Angus that when he saw Geordie, Johnson was screaming at the top of his lungs and then he fell on the stage still screaming. Bon thought it was part of his act. Later that night, Brian had been diagnosed with appendicitis.
Anyway… they must have thought… “Where should we record our filthy bogan sex romp ‘n’ grind…. I mean, tribute to Bon?” The Bahamas… The album was certified platinum a year after its release. It is the second biggest-selling studio album of all time, behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller. And this is it’s story…
It’s gonna get a bit dirty. But, in the immortal words of Spinal Tap, what’s wrong with being sexy? And it’s gonna get a little bit bogan… I mean, really… I’ve seen a clip of the band running around Melbourne laneways, in that Beatlesesque manner of all bands back then, and Bon is there… no shirt, shorts, thongs… How did this band ever make it anywhere outside of Frankston?
