Soundtrack For A Saturday: AC/DC Highway To Hell
After watching No Bull on DVD, I looked at my CD towers and realized there are only two AC/DC albums in my library: Back In Black and the 2-CD Live, which is the closest thing to a career-spanning retrospective in their catalog.
It hasn’t always been this way. I used to own more, mostly on cassette when I was a high school headbanger. I decided this would not do and went out and purchased three more albums, including a classic I’d never before owned.
You may wonder how a self-proclaimed headbanger never owned Highway To Hell. One word: parents. Yeah, that title would have never gotten past Mom and Dad. There was no way to sneak that one in. It’s impossible to listen to quietly listen to an AC/DC record. I’d have gotten busted. By the time that was no longer an issue, my musical tastes had turned other directions.
I finally bought H2H and it was a revelation. It’s amazing how good that album still sounds nearly 29 years later. Stunning. It is an amazing contrast to Metallica’s Death Magnetic, another album I listened to quite a bit this week. The annoying, distorted, digital buzz of DM is nowhere to be found on H2H. Before Mutt Lange was overproducing albums, he was producing masterworks like this. H2H is lean, menacing, and compact. It is a nuclear reaction of manic, majestic menace.
Heavy metal would get louder, faster, and more sinister, but I’m not sure it ever got better. Evolution isn’t always an improvement. AC/DC never evolved. They’re still telling dirty jokes with chest-rattling riffs, and God bless them for it.
ok, here’s what else you should have purchased:
If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It
For Those About To Rock, We Salute You
Duly noted…
I’ll report on the rest of my haul in the coming days.
Do yourself a favor and buy every AC/DC album with Bon Scott.
High Voltage, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock and Powerage are a must.
I second High Voltage as your next purchase.
I need to update on my AC/DC shopping spree o’ the weekend. I’ve been busy.
AC/DC just added a Nashville date to their tour, January 31 at the Sommet Center.
OH HELLS YES! Thanks, Donald. Research this, I must.