AC/DC got to the heart of their musical matter on 1977’s Let There Be Rock. In the opening lines of the title track, Bon Scott narrated the creation of hard rock in the same Biblical style as that of the world in Genesis, and through the band’s music the genre of hard rock was experiencing its own explosion into life.
Angus described to Mojo how he expressed the band’s desire to make a ‘guitar’ album to brother George. ‘[He’d] asked us what kind of album we wanted to make and we said it would be great if we could just make a lot of guitar riffs, because we were all fired up after doing all this touring.’ Years later in a conversation with rock journalist Murray Engleheart, he added that, heading into the studio, the group consensus had been: ‘We said, “we’ll just make a fucking good guitar album! Fuck it!”’
Embodying the live energy of a band who had their own brand of frenzy in their playing style, Malcolm elaborated to Metal CD, ‘I suppose we were a bit more serious and we wanted to get a rawer sound and cut out the commercial choruses like “T.N.T.”.’ We knew exactly what we wanted, which was to have three really strong live tracks to flesh out the set. “Whole Lotta Rosie” we knew would be a sure-fire winner, and “Bad Boy Boogie” and “Let There Be Rock” were the other two we felt would really go the distance on stage. Those three have really overshadowed most of the other songs on the album and ended up in the live set for years after.’
Let There Be Rock was knocked out in a quick few weeks of recording in January and February 1977. Looking back, Malcolm described to Engleheart how the band was in a generally creative groove at that point. ‘We could go in in the old days, set up the kit and the amps, be in there two hours and bang, we’re knocking out tracks. We used to come in from the gigs – we’d work five or six gigs a week – finishing at about two in the morning, then drive down to the studio. George and Harry would have a couple of dozen cans in and a few bottles of Jack Daniel’s and we’d all get in and have a party and rip it up, get the fast tracks – stuff like “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Let There Be Rock” – done right so it was the same loose feeling like we were still on stage. The studio was just like an extension of the gig back then.’
From a production perspective, co-producer Harry Vanda explained to Engleheart how, with AC/DC, ‘spontaneous is basically the word. I suppose if we were talking at the time about no-bullshit rock ’n’ roll, we meant it! Balls everywhere! Not like the Americans’ no-bullshit rock ’n’ roll, which takes two years to record. [The band] had very, very definite ideas what it is they wanted to be. And so did we.’
‘In that field, you’re always looking for bigger and better bass drums, bigger and better snare drums, and as a result everything comes up with it. We never worried that much about whether things were that correct as sounds. To us, it was always more important whether it had the balls and the atmosphere – you know, whether it had the heart. So if we had to choose between a take which had all the heart and it was farting and buzzing and all that, we’d go for that, because we’d prefer that to the sterile version, which might have been correct but it was boring. On Let There Be Rock, we managed to marry a few of those things where the sound was good as well, plus the performances were all there.’
On another occasion, he confirmed this approach to rock writer Susan Masino: ‘We tried to capture that energy they had onstage. You had to get them at the right time, when they were really fired up.’
Having stepped out more aggressively on lead solos than he had in the past, Angus explained Malcolm was ‘the one that shoved me in the first place. He got me into it: “I want you to do all of this.” In the early days we used to fool around on some of our first albums. He would do little bits of guitar. We would double up, swap, do a solo here, a solo there. Malcolm’s more experienced at it than me … He knows what he’s doing with it. He’s got his own style and his own sound.’
Expanding on the duo’s creative process in the studio, Angus said, ‘There’s many a time we’ll get in there – and we might even be in the middle of a song – and we’ll just stop and put a tape on if somebody’s got a blow [improvisation] or something. All of our early material was basically written in the studio. We got in there and did “Let There Be Rock”, “Whole Lotta Rosie”, most of them. We used to go in with a few ideas, and then really do the big per cent of it in the studio – arrange it and everything. In the early days we didn’t even rehearse. Nowadays we try to save time. We don’t like spending too much time in the studio. We get the band together in rehearsals, try and get as many songs as possible, and then take them into the studio.’
Of the creation of ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ – which would become a live favourite for Guns N’ Roses as well as an AC/DC concert staple – Angus began by explaining to Engleheart that, from a musical – and specifically rhythmic – vantage point, ‘We were always big fans of early rock ’n’ roll, like Elvis and “Heartbreak Hotel”, things like that – the stop-and-start things, the dynamics. If anything, for “Whole Lotta Rosie” we were looking for a feel like Little Richard – a good old steamin’ rock feel – and see what we could lay on top with the guitars. It evolved into that, but you’re just looking for the vibe, what’s exciting, and that’s what we were listening to. Simple to put together, but still around like a classic.’
Angus also told Masino that initially ‘Malcolm had the guitar riff and George said, “Why don’t we try a little bit of an experiment, try inserting these breaks at the front of the song?”’
From a lyrical perspective, lead vocalist Bon Scott explained that – as so often in his autobiographical style of writing – the inspiration behind Rosie was again a case of art imitating life. ‘I woke up in the morning and to get out of bed I had to climb over her, which was like climbing a mountain. I stopped halfway for a rest and, before I knew it, I was balling her again.’
Angus would confirm to Masino that ‘Bon wrote that song about a huge Tasmanian woman he had shared a “wild time” with in Melbourne. Interestingly, the band ran into her again in Hobart, Tasmania, but she had lost a lot of weight and Bon was disappointed that she was no longer the 42-39-56 that he remembered. She did know the song was about her, and took it as a compliment.’
Tour manager Ian Jeffery shed some additional light on Scott’s lyrical writing process to Engleheart. ‘The lyrics were sketchy but that’s the way Bon did it. It was like a little notebook that he’d flip over and make a few notes, scribble one or two lines, cross them out, add one thing – sometimes one word would change – or he’d write two words on one page. Bon was quite organised. He had a folder with all [his potential lyrics] inside. Believe it or not, Bon used to come to work with a folder and he’d leave with it – that was his life. That was Bon. And he’d have postcards in there that he was writing to people. He was the best communicator in the world.’
By the end of the album, Scott was delighted with the vocals he’d laid over an instrumental album he was equally pleased with. ‘Things fall into place sometimes,’ he mused in an interview with Countdown.
Angus added to the Countdown interviewer that, while recording Let There Be Rock, the band had rocked up such a storm that ‘towards the end, the fucking amp was smoking – there was smoke pouring out of the back of the fucking amp! George is fucking screaming, “Don’t stop!” I’m there fucking banging away and I could see this fucking smoke filling up the fucking room. It lasted until the end and then this fucking amp, it was just like it gave in – it was just “Blaaah!” It melted. [That] was an album where it was cooking!’
Angus would later recall to Brave Words/Bloody Knuckles feeling ‘very proud of the Let There Be Rock album, especially Malcolm and myself, because for the first time we could really feature the guitars!’
Let There Be Rock was released worldwide on 23 June 1977, featuring a cover – a mock-Biblical epic movie still – that appropriately showed the band live onstage, reflecting the energy of the record. Years later Angus would credit it as ‘the album that kicked it home for us all over the world’. Having immediately gone gold, it went on to sell more than two million copies before the end of the decade. Fans were going crazy for AC/DC.
Let There Be Rock was a definite step forward in the eyes of everyone. Billboard hailed the album for being ‘as lean and mean as the original line-up ever got’, while Antimusic.com declared it ‘an instant AC/DC classic’. Blender magazine noted that ‘AC/DC cranked up the volume and intensity, making this weightier than their earlier albums’ but it was Billboard who hit the nail on the head. ‘Shaved down to the bone, there are only eight tracks, giving [Let There Be Rock] a lethal efficiency … It has a bit of a bluesier edge than other AC/DC records, but this is truly the sound of the band reaching its peak.’