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Every year, this gets harder to explain. AC/DC's Back in Black is a preposterous, drongoid record. It's built on casual sexism, eye-rolling double entendres, a highly questionable
attitude to sexual consent, a penchant for firearms, and a crass celebration of the unthinking macho hedonism that killed the band's original singer. The guitarist, Angus Young,
still dresses like a 50s schoolboy, underlining the inveterate puerility of AC/DC's oeuvre. The guitar solos are like endless streams of ejaculate; the vocals suggest a man whose
piles are exploding. It really is appalling.
And it was a fairly calculated release at the time, too. There can be few rock fans who need ask for whom the bell tolls at the start of AC/DC's seventh album, released in July
1980. It rings for their former singer Bon Scott, who drank himself to death in February earlier that year; the cover is black in his memory. More
On this work, I've delivered the album cover art design brand new, still wrapped in plastic, and, since the title says "back", it means it's been somewhere before, and most probably
from white, which is also a colour for mourning. Oh no, it's been 35 years. Let's stop it now!
Here's your traditional Halloween Black.
No. 13, Billboard, The 300 Best-Selling Albums of All Time; No. 42, Entertainment Weekly, 100 Greatest Albums Ever;
No. 54, Rate Your Music, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time; No. 77, Rolling Stone, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time;
No. 107, The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000.
Cover art design by Bob Defrin. Album produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Albert, Atlantic, 1980.
Michael Durant was an American pilot whose helicopter was downed by rebels in the US military's 1993 attempt to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Mogadishu.
He was held captive and was rescued after 11 days. Brian Johnson, who replaced singer Bon Scott in the album says:
“He was shoved in prison.” “His back was broken. They were kicking him, shooting bullets into him and he was terrified. His pals knew that AC/DC was his favourite band so
they hooked up a speaker to the skid of one of the choppers and they were playing "Hells Bells" over the rooftops. He took his shirt off and — because his legs were broken —
he crawled up to the windows and waved his shirt. That’s how they got him out.” More
Cover art design by Bob Defrin. Album produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Albert, Atlantic, 1980.
Michael Durant was an American pilot whose helicopter was downed by rebels in the US military's 1993 attempt to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Mogadishu.
He was held captive and was rescued after 11 days. Brian Johnson, who replaced singer Bon Scott in the album says:
“He was shoved in prison.” “His back was broken. They were kicking him, shooting bullets into him and he was terrified. His pals knew that AC/DC was his favourite band so
they hooked up a speaker to the skid of one of the choppers and they were playing "Hells Bells" over the rooftops. He took his shirt off and — because his legs were broken —
he crawled up to the windows and waved his shirt. That’s how they got him out.” More
This event is chronicled in the 1993 film Black Hawk Down.
(A) Hells Bells - Shoot to Thrill - What Do You Do for Money Honey - Given the Dog a Bone - Let Me Put My Love into You
(B) Back in Black - You Shook Me All Night Long - Have a Drink on Me - Shake a Leg - Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
(A) Hells Bells - Shoot to Thrill - What Do You Do for Money Honey - Given the Dog a Bone - Let Me Put My Love into You
(B) Back in Black - You Shook Me All Night Long - Have a Drink on Me - Shake a Leg - Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
