Day: December 13, 2012

Thanks to all who listed their Top 10 AC/DC songs – the ones they’d buy from iTunes. The query was, of course, a generational one. Bon Scott vs Brian Johnson, but with a twist. Let me explain.

I’ve never given AC/DC much specific thought. They’re a bit like the walls of your house – they’re always there. They’ve never needed much specific thought. You didn’t have to go out and find their music, it was always around, always enjoyed. In high school, the first rock band I played in had a repertoire consisting of AC/DC, the Beatles and Dio. Odd mix, I know, but it worked.

Buying those songs from iTunes was the first time I’d really given any specific thought to AC/DC’s catalog and as I did, it occurred to me that I wasn’t really interested in anything after Back in Black. I know all band members are credited with songwriting on their albums, but could the ghost of Bon Scott have inhabited their songwriting on that first post-Bon album and departed thereafter?

I thought I’d post here and see if others felt the same – and you do.

I asked people which AC/DC songs they’d pick if they were buying them from iTunes and were limited to just 10 songs (for budgetary reasons, or whatever).

The Results

There were 87 songs listed, many of them more than once. Of those 87 songs, 53 of them were sung by Bon Scott and 34 of them were sung by Brian Johnson.

74 out of 87 songs were either sung by Bon Scott or appeared on Back in Black. That is, only 13 of the songs listed were from the post-Back in Black era.

There were 37 individual songs listed. Of those, 23 songs were sung by Bon Scott. 14 were sung by Brian Johnson. 6 of those 14 songs by Brian Johnson were from Back in Black.

The most popular songs listed, with 6 listings each, were Back in Black, Highway to Hell and Dirty Deeds. Thunderstruck, Shoot to Thrill and Let There Be Rock had 5 listings each and Jailbreak had 4 listings.

Back in Black was the album with the most songs listed, with 21. This was followed by Dirty Deeds (16), TNT (12) and Highway to Hell (11).

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The Bottom Line

It’s hardly scientific, but this small survey seems to represent AC/DC’s pretty well.

Back in Black was undoubtedly the most popular individual album and it was a massive commercial success, as well. There’s been little to crow about for the Brian Johnson era after that, however, with just a few very successful singles but no real hit albums. The Bon Scott era, on the other hand, produced a swag of great albums with song after song showing some serious stickability and character.

Is it the songwriting, the frontman, or simply the ageing of a rock institution? Would AC/DC have done Back in Black and all that came after it if Bon Scott had lived rather than died so young? Who knows? What’s done is done. I still love their work and it’s been on high rotation on my iPod in the gym.

Let There Be Rock, indeed.

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