Over 50 years ago, the Young brothers created a branded article in the hard rock segment with AC/DC, stoically, stubborn, stubborn. Even when she lost her iconic shouter to Gevatter Hein in 1980 with Bon Scott, she could not stop it. In black, with a hellish bell in the back and Brian Johnson on the microphone, they cleaned up the rock’n’roll shop again. Most recently, they navigated in somewhat quieter fare, this did not harm their back catalog. An overview of your work.
Four wins
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)
From the beginning, AC/DC albums produce at such short intervals that the audience can hardly follow. After High Voltage and TNT (both in 1975), the band was on the business card of Dishonest John, the villain from Angus Young’s favorite series “Beany and Cecil” – for the first time at the crossroads. In the US label, Bon Scott’s expulsion rumors, his voice is not well received by the Americans, only in 1981, a year after Scott’s death, the record is published in the USA. The title track has long been a classic, “Problem Child” and the “Big Balls” testicle stomp as well, with “Ride On” the band shows that they also master the standing blues. The artwork for the UK and the USA comes from hipgnosis, the “I’m a Rebel” session, recorded in a studio in mesh, grab accept and make it a title track of your second album.
Four and a half stars
Let there be rock (1977)
The Ignorance of the Americans take AC/DC as motivational aid. “We make an amazing salbum and push it in your butt,” said bassist Mark Evans, who can be heard for the last time, about the Vibe in the band at that time. But Let Theree be Rock is more than a predatory middle finger, the biblical drama in the structure of the title song, with Scott as a rock’n’roll preacher, is of iconic class. “Hell ain’t a Bad Place” gives a hellish foretaste of later great deeds, “Whole Lotta Rosie” is contemporary testosterone. The album title is scribbled on the table later in the classroom of the Hamburg school.
Five stars
Powerage (1978)
As far as the obvious evergreens are concerned, they are not as rich here as on the surrounding albums. Nevertheless, the fifth studio work survives the time as an underestimated classic for the “Real Pure Rock and Roll Guys”, o-sound Malcolm Young. There is a profane reason that the opener “rock’n’roll damnation” stands out so proto-commercial. The song is the last of the recording session, at the request of the record company, which had still wanted a serving proposal according to Chartshit-Art.
Four and a half stars
Highway to Hell (1979)
“No matter what comes, never change your style,” demands George Young, the older brother, mentor and producer of the band. The man had already booked the classic “Friday on My Mind” with the Easybeats and knew what he was talking about. When AC/DC finally go through the roof, he is not sitting, but Robert “Mutt” on the studio matters for a long time. A personnel that nevertheless seems secondary. A reef like that of “Highway to Hell” could also have recorded the caretaker. Sorry, Mutt, everything smells very smells. “Beating Around the Bush” and “Girls Got Rhythm” are Instant Evergreens, “Touch Too Much” sounds into a new decade after a departure. For Bon Scott, it ends a year after the album was released.
Six stars
The resurrection
Back in Black (1980)
Bon Scott had also worked on tracks such as “Have a Drink on Me” and “Let Me Put My Love Into You”. When the album appears in July, it has been underground for months. Other bands with such a distinctive front man may have given up after his alcoholic departure, not the young brothers. AC/DC continues to go through, recruit Brian Johnson from the band Servie and make a virtue of death. Programmatically titled, the first album of the post-scott era is returned to the return from bells. “Hell’s Bells” heralds the new chapter, with an intro that can be heard to the moon, “Shoot to Thrill” is the old Atze School of the first cabin. In “You Shook Me All Night Long”, you tend to be almost a little in the direction of Johnson’s ex-band, or rather the one with whom she was often compared, without reaching its extra class: Slade’s Mitshing Glamsters. On the threshold of the eighties, Back in Black proves to be a key album between Hardrock and Metal, Mutt Langes Sound specifies a new level in terms of studioopower.
Six stars
Clap
Fly on the Wall (1985)
The eighties turn out to be decade, in the disorientation and despite the Young’s house. With the start of MTV, videos suddenly become important, a development for which the Jeans vest faction of AC/DC does not seem to be made. It also becomes changeable: a band like ZZ Top may be able to discreetly thicken the blues skirt digitally, it just doesn’t fit for AC/DC. The big exception: “Who Made Who” from the soundtrack for the Stephen-King film “Rhea M-it started without warning”. Here postmodern stadium vapor from bands like Def Leppard is finely wired with the old school stomp of an Angus Young. The rest of the eighties: primarily straw, with the low point on the wall, in which at least the completely reduced cover, similar to Flick of the Switch (1983), makes a clear announcement: finger away!
One and a half stars
Late harvest
The Razor’s Edge (1990)
Another time AC/DC proves to be a standing male and carry out a comprehensive re -establishment, as in the case of back in Black at the start of a new decade. As for the timing as precisely as the beats of the new drummer Chris Slade: Less than two years later, the Young clan would have been sorted off towards the old iron as part of the Grungs revolution. The predecessor Blow Up Your Video (1988) had turned out to be a megaseller despite the mostly mew song material, The Razor’s Edge finally has again what an AC/DC album raises over the mass: an epochal lead track. In this case it is “Thunderstruck”, a song like a history book entry-Angus’ Trademark-Intro, the grown backings, the archaic “Thunder” fanal. Without exaggeration one of the greatest songs of all time, not only in AC/DC Almanach, but in the annals of popular music par excellence, as postmodern folklore between “Seven Nation Army” and “Guantanamera”. It doesn’t matter what follows the opener, but songs such as “Money Valley”, “Are You Ready” or the traditional sub-gourmet linenod “got you by the balls” offer a lot of pretty originals.
Four and a half stars
Power Up (2020)
On this side of the Millennium, a “good that you still exist”-Vibe The band’s reception, there are losses and upheavals internally. Brian Johnson, threatened by hearing loss, is temporarily replaced by Axl Rose, George and Malcolm Young die in 2017, Phil Rudd reports back to rock’n’roll after headlines. The band’s last album may be welcomed with open arms and ears, songs such as “Realize”, “Wild Reputation” and “Money Shot” blows through the melancholic energy of the last rearing. As a potential farewell work (without guarantee), a rock solid Farewell.
Three and a half stars
Atze for the eye
AC/DC – Forever Young (2022)
The ultimate long documentary about the history of the group is still pending, but the shorter formats of the last decades are also entertaining and illuminating. In addition to “Dirty Deeds” (2012), ARTE production gives plenty of insights into the development process of AC/DC and its characteristic sound. The anecdote around “It’s a Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock’n’roll” and Bon Scott’s guest performance in a bagpipe group is worth the entrance fee. In addition, less often belonged to the companions such as the bass player of the early years, Mark Evans, and session drummer Tony Currenti.
Five stars
Live Forever
If you want Blood (1978)
The truth is on the pitch, better: on stage. Originally, AC/DC want to record a best-of album, but then rely on the live variant. A decision for eternity. Today is if you want Blood, recorded on April 30, 1978 in The Apollo of Glasgow, alongside Live at Leeds by The Who or It’s Alive of the Ramones as one of the biggest live albums of all time. The tracklist from “Riff Raff” to “Rocker” is flawless, the interplay between the band and the audience, on the edge of madness is Famos.
Six stars