Ace Audio: "Black in Back" - AC/DC

Last time I did an Ace Audio I looked at the Queen song "The Show Must Go On" saying that it was a testament to how good the band was as a whole and saying it was an important song for the band. However, I think if any song or release was important to any band, I think this song is the most important song for AC/DC.

Here's a little history lesson for you, AC/DC was formed in the 70s with Bon Scott as their lead singer, and from then until 1980 they made some of the greatest Hard Rock songs ever like "TnT", "Highway to Hell" and "Jailbreak". But then something happened that could have drastically altered the bands future for the worse. Bon Scott, aged thirty-three, died on February 19, 1980. I don't want to go much deeper into that, because I don't think many of you came here to read about somebody dying, but I will say it could have, and in many other cases would have, meant the end of the band.

Many of the greatest bands in the world broke up because of the loss of certain members, like Led Zeppelin after John Bonham died or The Jimi Hendrix Experience after Jimi Hendrix. This is mostly because there was no real way to replace them. Some bands do indeed push forward like Metallica, The Who pushed on for a while and Lynyrd Skynyrd, but not many bands do and when they do, they are often met with huge backlash, and sometimes not just from fans. To say that Metallica was hard on Jason Newsted is an understatement, they flat out turned off his bass on ...And Justice for All, and we could talk for hours about fans being hard on bands replacing members, who simply just left or got kicked out. People still debate whether Ozzy Osbourne or Ronnie James Dio was the better frontman of Black Sabbath.

The thing is, replacing Bon Scott could not just have ended up badly, it could have ruined AC/DC forever, and for many people it did. However, not only did this change not ruin them for the rest of their fans, Brian Johnson may have saved the band as a whole. These are the kind of reasons I look at a song for Ace Audio, not because it's popular, but because it is important.

"Back in Black" was released in 1980 and three whole decades later, it still holds up, as does AC/DC. Seriously, "Rock or Bust" is one of my favourite songs from the band, right up there with "Thunderstruck" and "Walk All Over You".

People may compare Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, but unless you have real good ears, there is very little distinction between the two vocalists. Brian especially gives this song some power, and it is helped immensely by the guitar. Angus Young was a guitar god and it really shows here, seriously find any rock fan who does not know the opening riff and I will show you a fake rock fan.

The whole album of Back in Black shows that not every change is bad, and sometimes the band can still push forward in the same direction, unlike when Dio took over Black Sabbath.

I'm the Entity of Darkness, and I'm glad that AC/DC has had as long a run as they did.