AC 22 DC

HELL OR HIGH WATER

Taking a well-deserved break from touring, over the next three years, AC/DC would release a treasure trove of merchandise and material. Brian Johnson’s autobiography, Rockers and Rollers: A Full-Throttle Memoir, was published in May 2011 by HarperCollins. It’s a book of personal anecdotes chronicling Brian’s passion for cars, car racing and anything on wheels. Some of the stories are laugh-out-loud funny and it really highlights his sharp sense of humor.

Being an avid car collector and race-car driver, Brian hilariously recounts watching Cliff buy a car on the way to a concert which continually broke down, ending up in a 100-mile cab ride to the venue. In another story, Brian almost talked Malcolm into ordering a Bentley and finally giving up his years-old Nissan. Always practical, Malcolm decided to wait until the end of the Black Ice tour to look at cars.

Brian’s sense of humor shines through everything. In that way he has always been very similar to Bon, playing a large part in the band hiring him in the first place. Malcolm admitted that Brian was the first person who came to audition and actually made them laugh since Bon’s passing. As I’ve said before, I believe Brian was born to take Bon’s place and his longevity with the band is a testament to that.

Let There Be Rock, the 1979 concert film of AC/DC playing live at the Pavillon in Paris, was re-released in June 2011. Capturing high-octane performances of “Let There Be Rock,” “Whole Lotta Rosie,” and “Highway To Hell,” it’s a bittersweet film for me, because that’s exactly how they looked when I was seeing them a few times a year. It would also be one of Bon’s last performances with the band.

The previous year, in February of 2010, Warner Brothers had flown me to New York City for an interview. The producer of the film informed me that they used this book (the 2006 edition) as a template for the re-release. In fact, there is a whole section called “Monster Of Rock,” which came from a quote Angus made to me on the Razors Edge tour. While visiting after their show in Madison, Wisconsin in December 1990, I said to Angus that he was now the God of Rock. He laughed and said, “No, I’m the monster!” Three decades later, Angus remains the reigning Monster of Rock.

Special segments included in the June 2011 re-release feature interviews with Motörhead’s Lemmy, Matt Sorum of Guns N’ Roses, Scott Ian from Anthrax, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Def Leppard’s Rick Allen, Eddie Trunk, The Donnas, and yours truly. It was a real honor to be included and seeing your name next to Lemmy’s in the credits is simply priceless.

In August, the band joined forces with Warburn Estate, an Australian winery, to introduce “Back In Black” Shiraz, “Hells Bells” Sauvignon Blanc, “Highway To Hell” Cabernet Sauvignon, and “You Shook Me” Moscato—AC/DC wine to drink while you played the new special limited-edition AC/DC Monopoly game. The following spring, they would announce an AC/DC Premium Lager, which hit the shelves in Germany. Angus assured their fans, “We hope to give beer drinkers the same assurances we give our loyal listeners. They know what they’re gonna get every time. There are never any surprises!”

Just in time for Christmas, the band released their first live recording in 20 years. The Live At River Plate DVD was released in November of 2011, shot with 32 cameras; their triumphant return to Argentina inspired the Pagina 12 newspaper to state, “No one is on the same level when it comes to pure and clear rock ‘n’ roll.” Showcasing AC/DC at the top of their game, the DVD has a bonus feature, “The Fan, The Roadie, The Guitar Tech & The Meat,” which includes interviews with the band, road crew and fans in Buenos Aires. The two-CD package comes with a 24-page booklet and there’s a three-disc red vinyl version.

Record Collector declared: “With the production values of a mid-sized Hollywood action movie, not to mention the electricity bill of a modest island nation, AC/DC are more than aware of the cartoon bombast at the heart of what they do, and are admirably very comfortable with it. It may be a few albums since they’ve recorded anything that counts as a progressive step forward in hard rock but, as all-round three-chord entertainers, they remain the best on the planet.”

Coinciding with the release of River Plate, AC/DC—being one of the last bands to hold out and not sell their songs on iTunes—reversed their position and made available their back catalog, offering albums and tracks individually or as packages.

It prompted one journalist to declare that hell had frozen over. Less than a year before, Angus had told The Guardian, “I know The Beatles have changed but we’re going to carry on like that,” he said. “For us it’s the best way. We are a band who started off with albums and that’s how we’ve always been. We always were a band that if you heard something on the radio, well, that’s only three minutes. Usually the best tracks were on the albums.”

Their concern was immediately put to rest in the first few days of making their music available on iTunes, considering they sold almost 100,000 singles a day. Billboard reported 696,000 singles sold and 49,000 album sales in the first week. AC/DC had always held onto their beliefs regarding how their music is made and consumed, but you can bet they didn’t regret their decision to step into the digital age.

While the band was riding high after the Black Ice tour, it was discovered by a tour operator in South Australia’s Neptune Bay, Matt Waller, that great white sharks are also AC/DC fans—particularly of “You Shook Me” and “Back In Black.” It seems the primal rhythm of their music tends to change the behavior of the sharks, to the point that these monsters come right up to the dive cage and rub their faces on the source of the music. This should make you think twice about what songs to blast on your boat while floating in the ocean!

Seen from the outside, AC/DC couldn’t have been more successful. The Black Ice album and tour had broken records worldwide, and to the fan in the audience it looked as if everything was fine. But as “Pyro” Pete recalls, “There had been issues with Malcolm in the past. [His nephew] Stevie Young had come out one or two times before when Mal had to take some time off. But [at the time], we never really got the whole story on his health.”

Although Brian had already spoken about getting together to work on a new album, only those close to the band knew what Malcolm was going through. Angus would later say that during the Black Ice tour, Malcolm, who was always so well organized, had started becoming confused and forgetting things, including how to play his own songs. As the tour progressed, at times Angus had to go over guitar parts with Malcolm right before they went on stage.

As Darren Goulden reveals, “I thought that the Black Ice tour was a complete triumph, especially given that Mal was ill but still went on stage night after night, having to relearn guitar parts that he had not only written, but had performed for decades. The audience didn’t have a clue that there was a problem and the fact that the tour went on for 20 months and Mal made it to the very end goes to show the tenacity of AC/DC and especially Mal.”

On April 16, 2014, Billboard reported that Malcolm Young would be “taking a break” from the band to address an illness that Brian Johnson had described a week earlier as “debilitating.” The band stated, “Malcolm would like to thank the group’s diehard legions of fans worldwide for their never-ending love and support. In light of this news, AC/DC ask that Malcolm and his family’s privacy be respected during this time.” The statement added that the band would continue to make music.

In an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, Brian Johnson confirmed the band was still planning on returning to the studio. “We’re going to pick up some guitars, have a plonk, and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas,” he said. “If anything happens, we’ll record it.” Without naming Malcolm, he said in the same interview that one of the band’s members was not well. “One of the boys has a debilitating illness, but I don’t want to say too much about it. He is very proud and private, a wonderful chap. We’ve been pals for 35 years and I look up to him very much.”

It would soon be revealed that not only had Malcolm received treatment for lung cancer, he had suffered a heart attack and was fitted with a pacemaker. He was also diagnosed with dementia. Darren Goulden remembers, “I already knew about Mal’s health issues, including the dementia, lung cancer treatment, and pacemaker and so it didn’t come as a surprise when his retirement was announced. What did surprise me was that the band continued without him. I know they had performed previously without Mal but this time it was different because it was clear that Mal would not be coming back.”

Upsetting their worldwide fanbase, it was clear that Malcolm was certainly not coming back—as hard as it was to imagine at the time. Malcolm and Angus were a well-oiled machine that never stopped running, and just the idea of Malcolm not performing anymore was unthinkable.

Engineer Mike Fraser agreed, stating, “He leads the band by just standing beside the drums, although the whole band watches him for cutoffs, whether it’s a nod of his head, or a swift hand signal. Even Angus, while constantly moving around the stage, keeps an eye on him.”

Michael Ahann wrote for The Guardian in September 2014, “With the departure of co-founder Malcolm Young, AC/DC have lost more than just a rhythm guitarist, they’ve lost one of rock’s great forgers of a sound… Malcolm Young understood that a great riff does not need 427 components to make it great, that what it really needs is clarity. That meant stripping riffs down rather than building them up, and it also meant understanding volume…Malcolm favored quietness: he played with his amps turned down, but with the mics extremely close. That’s why, on the great AC/DC albums, you hear not just the chords of the riffs, but their very texture, their burnished, rounded sound.”

There have been other bands that included brothers, but the bond that Malcolm and Angus shared was truly remarkable. Even though Angus is the focal point, Malcolm has always been the boss, the taskmaster, the teacher, and the heart of AC/DC. What he said was what they did. Their rebound from Bon Scott’s death in 1980 had been nothing short of miraculous, but now, with the world watching, without his brother by his side, the little devil in the schoolboy uniform would step up and continue to rock. Just like his big brother Malcolm taught him to do.

Malcolm, Simon Wright, Brian, Angus, and Cliff in Providence, Rhode Island (November 22, 1985). © Ebet Roberts

Brian having fun with his clangor, at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York (November 21, 1985). © Ebet Roberts

Angus sweating off pounds during a show at the Festival Hall in Frankfurt, Germany (May 1996). © Anna Meuer/S.I.N./Corbis

The first glossy of the band after Phil Rudd rejoined, promoting the new album Ballbreaker. © Michael Halsban

Brian on the stage screen next to the 38-foot bronze likeness of Angus as the band performs at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. (September 14, 2000 ) © Ethan Miller/Reuters/Corbis

Brian communing with half a million at the Molson Canadian Rocks For Toronto show (July 30, 2003). © Kevin Mazur/WireImage