Artist: AC/DC
Album: Back in Black
Release Date: July 25, 1980
AC/DC’s continued success is quite frankly inexplicable to me. The band has been around 34 years, and in that time has had about as many different members, and somehow still retained relevancy. Listening to Back in Black, it scores a number of points for not reaching for anything other than straight-up rock n’ roll and having the ballsy guitar solos of Angus Young and the quasi-Robert Plant wails of Dave Evans/Bon Scott/Brian Johnson to back up that swagger. But maybe it’s just me, but I can only take so many tracks about sex, drugs and rock n’ roll before they all just blend together. I hesitate to compare AC/DC to the likes of today’s Nickelbacks and Seethers, since even I find that harsh, but I can’t help but feel like substance isn’t something AC/DC is particularly good at injecting into their music. It’s loud, it’s musically proficient, and Back in Black certainly has its fair share of memorable rockers, but if you’ve heard “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Back in Black” you’ve gathered the gist of the album.
And another thing; how are AC/DC still relevant in an age where rock music has inched closer and closer to the middle of the road, and nobody’s buying albums anymore? AC/DC are many things, but moderate sure as hell ain’t one of them, and even the hard rockers of today, folks like Disturbed and the Foo Fighters are tame compared to the rock music of 1980, the year Back in Black came out. Furthermore, AC/DC have outright blasted any notion of their music being made available at digital outlets like iTunes, claiming that their music is best heard as an album. Problem is; since 2000 album sales have plummeted, and by all accounts places like iTunes are the future of music sales. What’s going to happen to AC/DC in five years when the last big-box retailers cave and stop dealing CDs? Something’s gotta give, and to be honest, I’m not sure which side will cave first. AC/DC are good in small doses, and pretty soon that’s all anyone might get of the band.
AC/DC – Back in Black [iTunes...oops, not so much] (YSI)
==TJ==
Filed under: Album A Day | Tagged: 1980s, AC/DC, Album A Day
