August 13, 2009
ChicagoTribune

The genius of AC/DC: Why less is always more

   One-note wonders abound in rock ‘n’ roll, and the leering king of them all is headlining Friday at the United Center. I say this with all due respect and affection: AC/DC is one of the best rock bands of all-time.

   But innovators they are not. They are what they are, and they really haven’t changed a whole lot since they started raising a ruckus in Australian biker bars in the early ‘70s. Angus Young wore his trademark schoolboy knickers and beanie back then, and he does now. Brother Malcolm Young and his rhythm guitar still tend to the almighty groove like a hawk guarding its young against predators. And singer Brian Johnson (and before him the great Bon Scott) still screams and struts like he’s Jack the Ripper on the hunt. They mix juvenile humor with pithy (and sometimes profound) observations about sex, death and drinking. They come across as regular, blue-collar guys because they once were (and still are to a large extent, despite their multimillionaire status). Their success has come on the back of hard work and on one of the most reliable, bang-for-the-buck concert experiences anyone could wish for. No posh rock-star attitude for these guys. Just a party that swings like a wrecking ball.

   Now Johnson’s voice is pretty much shot, and Angus Young isn’t the spry kid he used to be when he strips down to his shorts and does whirlybirds on his back while soloing. But beauty and youth was never the point. These guys always looked like they belonged in a street gang instead of a band. What endures is their sense of fun, their unrepentant love of blues-based rock ‘n’ roll, those titanic riffs, and Malcolm Young’s undeniable sense of groove and grind. With any justice, he’d be as big as Keith Richards, but Malcolm has always chosen to remain in the shadows, content to toil in the band’s engine room alongside chain-smoking drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams.

   So what if every AC/DC song more or less sounds the same (admit it, it’s not exactly a broad palette these guys play with)?  Angus and Malcolm Young learned to play listening to Chicago blues records, which in turn drew upon the oral traditions and one-chord songs of the Mississippi Delta blues. This was not an art form that celebrated formal innovation. This was a language based on nuance and personality much more so than complex arranging and songcraft. The art is in how it simultaneously celebrates and reconfigures the source material; the sound loses allure and power the farther it strays from that elemental feel (think of all the really bad tourist blues bands you’ve seen play in motel lounges across the land; same chords, same words, but still sadly lacking the brio and bravado of greatness). And so AC/DC sticks to what it does best. It refuses to change, to adapt, to ride the trendy style.

   They are matched in their resolve by only a handful of bands. The Ramones and Motorhead spring quickly to mind. So do the Cocteau Twins and Bad Religion. All these bands developed iconic, signature sounds and made at least a dozen (if not more) records that essentially refined it, but rarely strayed from the source. Critics tend to beat up bands for not innovating, but in the case of these outfits, it’s like they made up their own language, and speak it like no one else. They’ve earned their sense of unwavering style.

   It’s also difficult to complain about truth in packaging. Whenever you got an AC/DC or Ramones album, you often knew what it was going to sound like before you even played it. At their concerts, you’d go in knowing how you were going to come out three hours later: with a giddy, satisfied smile on your face.

 
AC/DC: 7:30 p.m. Friday at the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St., $89.50; ticketmaster.com.

Boomy wrote on Aug 14^th, 2009 at 12:40pm:


Parmeda will be in attendance tonight Boomy!!!
You two should hook up.

LJ.