10 things you need to know about AC/DC ahead of tonight’s gig in Dublin
Angus Young mentioned in an interview earlier in the year that his duck walk is as vital a part of AC/DC’s shows as his fake fits and the baring of his backside. The duck walk — the practice of swinging one leg in the air like a pendulum while walking across stage in a squatting position — was first popularised by the 1930s blues guitarist T-Bone Walker. It got legs in the 1950s with Chuck Berry but will forever be associated with Young since he started doing it on stage in the 1970s for his guitar solos.
For Those About to Rock (and we salute you) in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, they will likely be rocking out to four songs with the word “rock” in the title, going from set lists to date on a tour that is called Rock or Bust, which is only a fraction of the 21 songs AC/DC have with “rock” in the title. Although a critic from Rolling Stone magazine was moaning as far back as 1983 that the band had “made the same album nine times”, AC/DC have never apologised for their conviction that There’s Gonna be Some Rockin’ at their shows.
AC/DC have had their issues with alcohol over the years. Several of the band members have struggled with alcoholism (although Angus Young is famously teetotal). It was perhaps something of a surprise then when the band launched a collection of wines in 2011. Anyone fancy some Back in Black Shiraz? It’s said that their Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon is quaffable but that their Hells Bells Sauvignon Blanc is far from transcendent. A glass or two of You Shook Me All Night Long Moscato might just put her in the mood though.
#RockOrBustWorldTour pic.twitter.com/0TALlTMQOw
— AC/DC (@acdc) June 10, 2015
Few band logos are as iconic as AC/DC’s one, especially with that ingenious bolt of lightening down the middle, drawn as if in letterform, which supposedly symbolises the band’s energy. A 25-year-old art designer from Los Angeles called Gerard Huerta designed the logo in 1977 for the international release of the band’s Let There Be Rock album. Huerta was inspired by letterforms from the Gutenberg Bible. It was a one-off commission. He has never received a dime on royalties from the merchandising cash that subsequently tumbled the band’s way on the back of its arresting, gothic simplicity.
The Rock or Bust tour is a chance for AC/DC to promote their 16th studio album, also called Rock or Bust, which was released last November. The tour started at a festival in the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California, in April, the first of 55 gigs. It seems the band’s appeal shows no sign of diminishing, some 42 years after their first live concert. In Germany, where the band plays eight cities, it set a world record for the number of tickets sold within the shortest timespan — more than 300,000 tickets hawked in 77 minutes.
Rosie is stepping out in style for the new tour! Check http://t.co/8pwgsXNun5 to see when she's coming your way! pic.twitter.com/wQcBGFllAY
— AC/DC (@acdc) May 6, 2015
Leganés is a municipality in Greater Madrid. It’s where Real Madrid and Spain football star Dani Carvajal grew up, but it isn’t known for much else. The town’s mayor, José Luis Pérez Raez, caused a stir in 2000 when he decided to rename one of its streets after AC/DC. Angus and Malcolm Young came along for the inauguration. The street name proved a big hit, especially with thieves who robbed the sign so frequently that the municipality decided to paint the name Calle AC/DC on the street’s wall instead. Local souvenir shops have, however, been doing steady sales in replica street signs.
Bon Scott was found dead on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 19, 1980. He was 33 years of age. The front man was found in the front of a Renault 5 car, which had been lent to him by Alistair Kinnear, a friend. Kinnear, who discovered his body, had been out drinking with him the night before at Music Machine, a live music venue in London known these days as Koko. It seems Scott choked on his own vomit, although the coroner’s report listed “acute alcohol poisoning” as the cause of death.
There have been few comebacks in rock ’n’ roll history like AC/DC’s seventh album, Back in Black. After Scott’s death, the band members toyed with calling it a day, but — encouraged by Scott’s family to keep on going — the band decided to source a replacement singer. Years earlier, Scott had talked up the vocal powers of a bloke named Brian Johnson who he’d seen performing with a band called Geordie. Johnson auditioned for the band, and they chose him over other candidates like Slade’s Noddy Holder. And so, six months after Scott had died, Back in Black was released, and has gone on to sell more than 40 million copies, the second-biggest-selling album in history.
In April, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd pleaded guilty in court to charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs. When police raided his house last November, they found 0.71g of methamphetamine and 130g of cannabis. They were following up on an incident in September 2014 in which Rudd, according to police reports, allegedly threatened to kill a man and his daughter. AC/DC replaced him in the band in February with Chris Slade ahead of its tour. “Phil created his own situation,” said Angus Young in a statement. “It’s a hard thing to say about the guy. He’s a great drummer, and he’s done a lot of stuff for us. But he seems to have let himself go. He’s not the Phil [we knew] in the past.”
Malcolm Young founded AC/DC with his brother Angus in 1973. Malcolm was forced to retire from the band last year at 61 years of age from dementia, which Angus said in a television interview with ABC, Australia’s national broadcaster, was apparent as far back as the recording for their 2008 album Black Ice. In the same interview, Brian Johnson said Malcolm had “to rehearse songs that he played for 30 years every day before he did a show”. His nephew Stevie Young replaces him on tour. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Malcolm Young is currently living in a nursing home in Sydney.
