{"id":48477,"date":"2015-03-02T18:16:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T23:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=48477"},"modified":"2015-03-02T18:16:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T23:16:27","slug":"acdc-back-in-black-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/acdc-back-in-black-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"AC\/DC | Back in Black<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"acdcHow do you know an album is a classic? When it still sounds as good thirty-five years after its release as it did the day it hit the streets. And make no mistake, Back in Black<\/em> is a badass, bona fide classic. You can be nitpicky and point out that the album isn\u2019t flawless if you must\u2014and frankly, you would be correct\u2014but anyone who claims Back in Black<\/em> isn\u2019t classic caliber deserves to have a guitar busted over their head.<\/p>\n

This is lean, mean, red-blooded Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll that saw the band come roaring back from the tragic death of their original singer right after they broke big with Highway to Hell<\/em>. Sure, the album sounds like unbridled grief therapy, but it simultaneously sounds like a band with something to prove, a defiant, clenched-fist declaration that the Reaper may have kicked them in the nuts, but they refuse to fade quietly into the dark night of has-beens.<\/p>\n

AC\/DC fans will forever debate who was the superior vocalist\u2014the original (Bon Scott) or the replacement (Brian Johnson)\u2014but even folks who prefer Scott agree that you could not ask for a better replacement than Johnson. And there\u2019s absolutely no denying that the band obtained the kind of commercial heights with Johnson at the helm (20 million copies sold) that they scarcely dared dream of with Scott. Seriously, this is probably the most successful vocalist replacement in rock history.<\/p>\n

The songs themselves are so well known by now that it\u2019s almost pointless to discuss them \u2026 but let\u2019s do it anyway. Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young give a showcase on how guitarists should work in synchronicity, performing in gritty lockstep to inject the foundational riffs with crunch and punch, and with Johnson rasping about sex and booze, several jukebox favorites were born.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou Shook Me All Night Long\u201d is the go-to song when you want to get people shaking their stuff on a dance floor, the song\u2019s insistent hooks impossible to resist. Same goes for the blistering title track; \u201cBack in Black\u201d is blessed with an instantly recognizable guitar riff and is guaranteed to make you bang your head. Brian Johnson pours on the sneering attitude and wails like a man with something to prove and the result is the very epitome of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll.<\/p>\n

Back in Black<\/em> works on dual levels; first, it serves as a stellar \u201cF*ck you, Grim Reaper\u201d tribute to Bon Scott, but even when stripped of the tragic back story, it also works as a raucously explosive dose of gritty, testosteronic Hard Rock. Even if AC\/DC\u2019s next album (The Razor\u2019s Edge<\/em>) was technically superior, Back in Black<\/em> is the album that defined their career. The band continues to release good music, but they have never topped this thirty-five year old classic. Because sometimes older is better. <\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBrian Johnson (vocals)
\nAngus Young (lead guitar)
\nMalcolm Young (rhythm guitar)
\nCliff Williams (bassist)
\nPhil Rudd (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing
\n1. Hell\u2019s Bells
\n2. Shoot to Thrill
\n3. What Do You Do For Money
\n4. Given the Dog a Bone
\n5. Let Me Put My Love Into You
\n6. Back in Black
\n7. You Shook Me All Night Long
\n8. Have a Drink on Me
\n9. Shake a Leg
\n10. Rock and Roll Ain\u2019t Noise Pollution<\/p>\n

Label: Atlantic Records<\/p>\n

Web: www.acdc.com\/us<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen – Senior Columnist — How do you know an album is a classic? When it still sounds as good thirty-five years after its release as it did the day it hit the […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":48481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10852,12394],"tags":[10337,10340,10874,10873,10341,2317,10876,1103,10875,10877,2387],"class_list":{"0":"post-48477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-1980-landmark-albums-turn-35","8":"category-arcrvws2015","9":"tag-acdc","10":"tag-angus-young","11":"tag-atlantic-records","12":"tag-back-in-black","13":"tag-brian-johnson","14":"tag-cd-review","15":"tag-cliff-williams","16":"tag-hard-rock","17":"tag-malcolm-young","18":"tag-phil-rudd","19":"tag-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}