AC/DC: We salute them — and all those about to rock at Croke Park
Pat Carty, features writer, and Justin Hawkins of The Darkness
We can argue this and that but surely we all agree that AC/DC are the greatest. Their mighty works constitute the Himalayan peaks of rock and even their lesser moments make other ‘bands’ sound like mewling cubs. They are the Platonic ideal of rock and have no use for ‘strings’ or ‘ballads’ or ‘club remixes’. As Van Morrison, who probably enjoys a blast of ‘Shake A Leg’ on his days off, once sang, It Ain’t Why, It Just Is.
Justin Hawkins, frontman with The Darkness, YouTube doyen, and a chap who knows his way around a salacious riff and a nod n’ wink lyric, concurs from somewhere glamorous on the European mainland: “As soon as you start listening to music, someone tells you about AC/DC, possibly the local alcoholic giving out tapes on a Friday night in The Fighting Cocks. I had the iconic logo tipp-exed on my school bag and AC/DC pyjamas designed to look like denim, with a Monsters Of Rock ticket hanging out the arse pocket. When I started listening back, I fell in love with the Bon Scott years.”
