AC/DC “Who Made Who” b/w “Guns For Hire (Live Version)”

45 rpm 7″, Atlantic, 1986

People probably don’t think of AC/DC as a singles band, but they had a pretty good run of it. “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Back in Black,” “Moneytalks” … these were all, like, top-40 songs when such a thing existed, and “Let’s Get it Up” just missed. The theme from S. King’s Maximum Overdrive movie, this one sorta came out of nowhere during the group’s fallow period between Fly on the Wall and Blow Up Your Video, and kinda revived its flagging career. Then the machines took over and crushed humanity. R.I.P. (rock in peace), Bill Robinson.

 

AC/DC “Flick Of The Switch”

12″ LP, Atlantic, 1983

This slab may not have the chart hits or stadium anthems of the band’s preceding two, but the bare-bones production sounds great and Brian’s at his vocal peak. It’s just too bad they didn’t really call it “I Like To Rock.”

I’m almost 100% certain I bought this new at Tommy Edwards Record Heaven in Fulton Plaza, a few doors from the entrance to Meszar’s Lanes. Tommy Edwards and Meszar’s were two more of my favorite places as a kid.

We’re out of AC/DC records now; fittingly, I’m about out of pleasant childhood memories as well.

AC/DC “For Those About To Rock We Salute You”

12″ LP, Atlantic, 1981

The way I recall it, I purchased this record prior to attending a Cub Scout meeting. I can picture the room in the basement of the old schoolhouse and myself sitting on the floor, rapt with every detail on the album jacket, just waiting to be able to get home to listen to it.

Is this a true memory? Who the hell knows.

Is this a great rock record?

What’s a rhetorical question?

 

 

Off The Record Specials With Mary Turner (AC/DC)

2 X 12″ LP, Westwood One, 1983 (?)

This is a two LP interview/ promotional record designed for radio. It’s pretty much the best thing ever. The members of this group (“AC/DC”), if you’re unfamiliar, are incoherent Australians and British; tough-ass working-class blokes. You may speak English, but you may not understand them! Pretend it’s a reggae album.

Special bonus: includes Budweiser & Atari commercials; Boo-yah.

AC/DC “Powerage”

12″ LP, Warner/Atlantic, 1978

A damn fine record. A ‘deep cuts’ selection, perhaps.

I’m gonna win at Sin City, bitch.

AC/DC “TNT”

12″ LP, Albert, 1975.

The seminal work.

I wish I could snort this record.

Except “School Days.” Fuck that.

I once saw Toody Cole close a LONG Dead Moon set singing, “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If you wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll).” Nothing could exemplify the spirit of true rock and roll more.

I’m pretty sure this is one of these dudes’ first records, and the blueprint is all here. They come out of the box swinging 100-pound hammers at your skull. Don’t even pretend you like rock ‘n’ roll if you don’t like this. It’s OK to not be into rock. I dig classical music, when the band is really swinging.

AC/DC “Trip Wires”

12″ LP, “PolarVox,” 1979 (?)

I bought this Finnish bootleg for 10 bucks (about $24 today) at Record Revolution, which was in the outside portion of Parmatown Mall. Man, I loved that store – it was one of my favorite places as a kid. My mother got really angry when she found out I spent that much money on “songs you already have,” and I think that colored my opinion of this platter for a long time. Turns out it’s a pretty hot document of a rip-roaring rock band in its prime. The Finnglish song titles are just a bonus.

By the way, memory suggests we had fried chicken for dinner that night.

AC/DC “If You Want Blood You’ve Got It”

12″ LP, Atlantic, 1978

Think anyone could get away with images like these for a live album nowadays, assuming “live albums” still existed, and had “covers”? Oh, the concert album era … who to blame? “LIVE!” releases often seemed kinda humdrum, to me at least. Maybe that’s why my favorite thing about this record has always been the various drinks on the drum riser on the back jacket. AC/DC put on a ridiculously good show in this era, as exemplified on, say, Family Jewels, but the insanity doesn’t really translate to vinyl here. If we only had a bootleg or something …

AC/DC “Let There Be Rock”

12″ LP, Atco, 1977

I guess this is the first “mature” record by these guys, whatever that means, since the original Australian version featured a song called “Crabsody in Blue,” which as a track you may never have heard isn’t one you’d particularly miss. The title track is one of modern culture’s true apexes, of course. Quasi-related Fun Fact: I used to own (and dearly loved) the book Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be, which reprinted a live review referring to “Bad Boy Boogie” as “Barefoot Boogie” (and the staple “High Voltage” as “High Mountains”).

AC/DC “’74 Jailbreak”

12″ LP, Atlantic, 1984. First of all, these songs are from 1975. This four song money grab was a total record label move to make some cash money in Amerikkka after Back In Black came out. All of a sudden these guys were HUGE and hey, fuck you, buy this. In all seriousness though, I have to admit that as a young child, this is one of THE records that made me want to devote my life to nothing but r’n’r abandon. “You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me,” “Show Business,” & their version of “Baby Please Don’t Go,” still send a shiver down my spine years later. Yeah, it’s cliched cock-rock nonsense, but this is the real deal, folks, believe it or not. White trash Australian motherfuckers interpreting American Blues. Goddamn straight.