Bon Scott On AC/DC : "The Beatles, The Rolling Stones....We're Better. Who Needs Them? They're Last Year's Model"



By Darryl Mason

The 'Long Live Bon Scott' concert hitting Sydney this week - Panthers on June 3, Enmore Theatre on June 4, reminded me of a bunch of Bon videos and recordings from YouTube I've had bookmarked.

So here's a quick history of Bon Scott through two decades. and a few different looks.

1965 : Bon Scott singing Gloria with the Spektors

1968, with The Valentines :



1971, with Fraternity :



1975, TV debut of Bon Scott with ADC/DC



Late 1975 :



July, 1976 : Great clip of Bon Scott and Angus Young being interviewed in a London street, where Bon declares AC/DC better than The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

1977 :



1978 :



These interviews with Bon Scott, from the soon to be re-released AC/DC Let There Be Rock live concert film, were recorded a few months before his February, 1980 death from acute alcohol poisoning. "I'm a special drunkard. I drink too much."



Ten days before Bon Scott's death, AC/DC mimed Highway To Hell for a German TV show. Bon Scott stands nearly motionless, in deep shadow, away from the rest of the band, who appear in many shots to have aready lost their lead singer.



A few days before his death Bon Scott jammed a version of Ride On in London with the band Trust. This was the voice Bon Scott was taking into the recording studio for the new AC/DC album sessions, scheduled to begin in the last week of February, 1980.

Angus Young on the death of Bon Scott.

AC/DC : The Musical?



By Darryl Mason

It's hard for any die-hard AC/DC fan not to shudder at this news, from UK's Popbitch,
that a new rock musical is in the works, based on the career and music (obviously) of Australia's most successful and influential hard rock band.

Working title apparently is 'It's A Long Way To The Top' and it is expected to mix some of the true early history of AC/DC with a fictional tale of an AC/DC-like hard rock outfit taking on a new singer, who grew up as a die-hard fan of the band he will now front. Something like that.

Of course, there is a massive audience all over the world for an AC/DC musical, if done right, and presumably Angus and Malcolm Young have been sold on the concept by the awing success of the ABBA-based musical, Mamma Mia, and the millions of Best Of CD sales the musical, and movie of the musical, have been responsible for.

But what AC/DC songs to include in a musical? Whole Lotta Rosie? The Jack? Big Balls?

Actually, plenty of Bon Scott-era songs are extremely theatrical, and perfect for that kind of sing-along retro vibe. Bon was a master showman, and the brothers Young always knew they had to entertain, first of all, to win a following that would stay with them for life. They pretty well achieved that in a way that only a handful of other bands ever have.

It's easy to imagine an AC/DC musical being some hideous train wreck, but in all likelihood it will be a monster success. How many 40 and 50-something blokes out there who haven't willingly seen a musical will be vibed to hear all those excellent old-school AC/DC blasting from a Broadway or West End stage, complete with a chorus line of headbanging Anguses?

You'd imagine there must be a few million at least.

And unlike Mamma Mia, the blokes this time will be the ones dragging their wives and kids to the show, and buying and blasting the soundtrack.

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When AC/DC Were Glam


AC/DC's first photo shoot in 1974
Ak! Before Bon Scott joined the brothers Angus and Malcolm Young to record some of the heaviest and grittiest hard rock albums ever pressed into vinyl, AC/DC (with scarf wearing lead singer Dave Evans) had a taste for the sound and fashion of the era : glam!

Photographer Philip Morris took the above photo for what was AC/DC's first official photo shoot. Morris has now dug through his old 1970s Australian rock photos archive for a new exhibition.

From smh.com.au :

"I used to photograph a lot of unknown bands who didn't have a record deal and weren't going to," Morris says. "I thought AC/DC were fun, but it was just another day at work."
He photographed AC/DC's first gigs and saw their transformation from glam to hard rock. They ditched the knee-high boots and their original frontman, Dave Evans, when Bon Scott arrived on the scene.
It was Scott's energy on stage that finally convinced Morris the band had a future. "When he sang, he transformed into this amazing performer," he says.
AC/DC Exposed! opens tonight at Blender Gallery, Paddington (in NSW).

Only Malcolm and Angus Young stayed on from that 1974 line-up. A year later, Bon Scott had replaced Dave Evans as lead singer and, as the below video shows, most of the glam-era imagery had been well and truly (and thankfully) tossed aside for the more standard tight jeans, tight t-shirt hard rock look. Most of the glam, that is, but not all. In the video you'll notice that Malcolm (on the left) was still enjoying his knee-high boots with stacked heels.

More Rock Writing From Darryl Mason Here - Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Buckley, Silverchair, Kyuss

The Art Of Bon


Photo by Rennie Ellis
Bon Scott isn't just the greatest rock n' roller in Australian history, he's also become something of a cultural phenomenon :

Interest in Scott keeps surging 28 years after his drink-induced death just as the band was hitting its prime. British magazine Classic Rock has named Scott the greatest ever frontman, ahead of Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant.

The Melbourne City Council has named a laneway after his band, his birth town of Kirriemuir in Scotland unveiled a Caithness stone slab in his honour and money was raised to erect a bronze statue of him in Fremantle, Western Australia.

His grave in Fremantle cemetery is now the most visited grave site in the country.

Bon Scott has also become the subject of an art and installation exhibition in Fremantle, Scott's home, which aims :

...to explore notions of masculinity, remembrance and rebellion by deconstructing the charismatic rock star.

"I feel that Bon has always relished his outsider status. He's always been a bit of a rascal and hellraiser, like a Ned Kelly figure, so I wanted to look at other ways we could celebrate his life."

Some of the works include personal letters, photographs uncovered from the late Rennie Ellis' collection, Bevan Honey's Apparition installation, which is visible only in certain light, and a blog written by Lucas Ihlein about the cult of Scott.

They will even wheel out fashion critics to analyse "the ugly/sexy factor" — Scott's allure despite his not being conventionally handsome.

"By wearing kilts and dressing up as a schoolgirl, it's clear Bon had an intuitive understanding about how to play dress-ups," Ms Stephens said. "And yet he was admired so much for resisting the pressure to go glam — he was a denim man through and through."

The exhibition runs from May 17 in Fremantle's Arts Centre. It will probably tour from there.

And there's more AC/DC exhibitfication coming :

The Melbourne Arts Centre also plans to present exhibitions on AC/DC and Peter Allen.

Presumably that will not be a joint exhibition.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Look at the faces in that audience, a moment more than 30 years in the past now. Did anyone who saw this photo in The Age newspaper recognise themselves? Did they get that distinct, electric jolt that comes when a vivid exciting memory of youth suddenly unfolds in the mind?



The girl in the front row second from the left looks like she just might be in love.

(photo and link found at the BonScottBlog.com)