Most critics complain Back in Black, the album AC/DC recorded after the death of their original lead screamer Bon Scott, is ridiculously juvenile, obvious, snickering, bludgeoning, derivative, single-minded about sex and booze, a big cartoon. All true, of course, and--on rock 'n' ragers like "What Do You Do For Money Honey," "You Shook Me All Night Long," and the title track--all great. As Scott's replacement Brian Johnson reminds us, loud and crunchy, no-holds-barred "rock and roll ain't noise pollution...it makes good, good sense." Never trust anyone who refuses to drink domestic beer, laugh at the Three Stooges, or crank Back in Black. --David Cantwell
What Highway to Hell has that Back in Black doesn't is Bon Scott, AC/DC's original lead singer who died just months after this album was released. Scott had a rusty, raspy, scream of a voice, like he might break into a coughing fit at any moment. In other words, on crunchy, hook-heavy metal classics like the title track, and on "Get It Hot" which is more roadhouse rock than metal, he had the perfect instrument for such wild-living anthems. Too perfect, it turned out. --David Cantwell
While Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap sounds like every other AC/DC album, it is distinguished by a lyrical puerility spectacular even by Bon Scott's standards. Two tracks--"Love at First Feel" and "Squealer"--are ruminations on the morality of sex with schoolgirls. "Big Balls," ostensibly a narrative from the perspective of an aristocrat socialite, is actually a somewhat labored excuse for the band to chant "We've got big balls." This juvenile posturing was, to a large degree, AC/DC winding up their burgeoning foreign audience by playing to stereotypical expectations of Australians. On Dirty Deeds, however, AC/DC try too hard. Only on "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to Be a Millionaire)" is Scott's laconic wit deployed to real effect: the sheer glee in the line "Get your fuckin' jumbo jet off my airport!" is almost worth the album's purchase price. --Andrew Mueller
In 1976, when the Eagles, Peter Frampton, and Heart ruled the rock airwaves, along came five scruffy young men (the lead guitarist was maybe all of 18 and dressed in a schoolboy's uniform) from Australia playing some of the rowdiest, hardest, dirtiest rock of all time. Screaming "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)," singer Bon Scott teased like a braggart. Sensing the rock community's growing dissatisfaction with bloated, epic-scaled bands, AC/DC were indeed a high-voltage act: their drummer nailed the beat with fury, their bluesy guitar riffs mutated into something metallic and sharp-edged, and Scott's vocals took the shrillness of early Robert Plant to a leaner and meaner place. "Live Wire" is one of the most electrifying hard rock songs imaginable, "High Voltage" and "TNT" are the musical equivalent of touching exposed nerves with a rusty fork, and "Jack" proves that white rock dudes can, contrary to popular belief, get down. Whew! --Lorry Fleming
