The front of AC/DC’s 1977 tour book featuring both Bon Scott and Angus Young’s crotches. The program, signed by the band, and for some reason multiple times by Bon Scott, sold in an auction for $5,000.
 
AC/DC’s second album T.N.T. is pretty much the perfect rock record from start to finish—bagpipes and all. One song on the album, “The Jack,” was reworked lyrically after getting the thumbs down because it was considered too lurid. You don’t say? A song about contracting a sexually transmitted disease is tastelessness personified and expecting anything else from a song covering such a topic seems kinda misguided if you ask me. In an interview with Angus Young in 1998, the guitarist spoke about their lyrics and how with the help of Bon Scott, they would tweak them to avoid being labeled “sexist”:

“Bon was an extremely gifted lyricist. Did he often fine-tune and rework lyrics? It’s difficult to be simultaneously clever and smutty, which was his trademark. I don’t think that “smutty” is exactly the right choice of words. I believe that the politically correct term is “sexist.” Intellectuals like to put a tag on it and say, “these guys are out-and-out sexist.“I’ve always found there’s a two-sided thing when it comes to lyrics: someone can call a song “Sexy Motherfucker,” and be accepted, and yet we’ve been writing all songs all these years, and while there may be the rare “fuck” in the lyrics there somewhere, it’s all been quite clean cut. Still, people just make the assumption that we’re five guys who’ve just got our dicks in mind.”

While I was under the distinct impression pretty much every song has “dicks in mind,” of all the Prince songs to call out for its content, why 1992’s “Sexy MF”? I can’t be the only one who can think of at least five other Prince songs far smuttier than this one but regardless, the iconic Angus makes a good point. The original version of “The Jack” did not appear on T.N.T. (released in Australia in 1975) or 1976’s High Voltage, but it did not stop the band from performing it in all its raunchy glory live. Bon would begin “The Jack” by dramatically asking the crowd if they had ever had “gonorrhea.” In the case of the recording in this post (which is over ten minutes long), Bon eggs the audience on by asking a spotlight be turned on them so he could see who else in the crowd had “the jack” which is Aussie slang used to describe a venereal disease. Through the years there have been several versions about who in the band actually got the jack and how. The general perception is that the song, conceived mostly by Scott, was the vocalist’s autobiographical account of acquiring the jack from one of his female fuck partners. However, in one account attributed to Bon, he confesses it was he who gave the jack to one of the chicks hanging around the band’s house. Scott said he wasn’t worried about the girl spreading it around because she was unattractive. Now there’s some rock star logic for you.

But Bon turned out to be wrong.

After having sex with Scott, she stopped by drummer Phil Rudd’s room for a quickie before leaving. A short time later Rudd got a letter from the girl which included a 35 dollar doctor’s bill to cover her penicillin treatment. Scott has also presented other scenarios about the inspiration for the song, including one in which he confessed every member of AC/DC was at one point passing around the penicillin after also passing around the same female sexual partners. 
 

Another page from the 1977 tour program.
 
In the 2006 book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, it is noted Bon wrote “The Jack” after guitarist Malcolm Young received a letter from a woman claiming Young had given her gonorrhea, but he allegedly received a clean crotch bill of health from the band’s doctor who at this point (according to Angus) was giving the band “group rates” due to their frequent office visits. Lastly, there is also another version of AC/DC’s gonorrhea woes in which Bon recounts a show where all their collective (and seemingly interchangeable) girlfriends were up in the front row, so Scott decided to point them out one by one every time he sang the lyrics “She’s got the jack.” What a charmer. 

This version of AC/DC’s dirty confessional was fittingly recorded in the band’s birthplace of Sydney, Australia. The band would continue to keep the “GONORRHEA!” version of the song a part of their setlist until Bon passed away in February of 1980. Audio of Bon oversharing while performing the original version of “The Jack” in 1977 follows.  
 

The original NSFW version of “The Jack” recorded in Sydney in 1977.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Glamtastic footage of AC/DC *before* Bon Scott
Raw footage of AC/DC killing it at an Australian high school 40 years ago (& Bon Scott’s bagpipes!)
The story of the real ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’: Bon Scott’s real-life obsession with bodacious women
AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson’s balls out metal vocals for a Hoover vacuum commercial in 1980
Heavy Metal Parking Lot: Photos of AC/DC hanging with a bunch of teenage super-fans in 1979

Angus Young (top left), Phil Rudd (top right), Bon Scott (bottom left), and Malcolm Young (bottom right).
 
Spoiler alert! This post does, in fact, contain an image of AC/DC guitar hero Angus Young’s balls, a sight you may have witnessed yourself if you’ve ever seen the band in concert. And that’s because Angus is known for flashing his ass and low-hanging fruit in the wild, much to the delight of AC/DC’s loyal fans during their live performances.

I got to thinking rather nostalgically about AC/DC on Sunday as it would have marked the 71st birthday of long departed vocalist Bon Scott, who passed away at the way too young age of 34 in February of 1980. Many of the images in this post were previously uploaded to various AC/DC fan forum sites, and others were published in rock magazines in the 1970s. I also came upon more that were taken backstage by fans of the band as well as some behind-the-scenes images that were captured of the boys while they were recording their face-smashing 1978 album Powerage in 1977. Some days, the Internet is very generous, and today was one of those days.

Of all the groups who reside at the top of the mountain that built rock and roll, AC/DC is probably the band with the most universal appeal. I mean, do you know anyone who doesn’t like AC/DC? I sure as fuck don’t.  And if I did, I’d get right to not knowing them as quickly as possible. Even after the death of Bon, which nearly caused the band to call it quits right then and there, they not only carried on but would put out one of the most influential albums of their career—1980’s critically acclaimed Back in Black with vocalist Brian Johnson. With Johnson at the helm, AC/DC would put out a slew of studio albums that collectively sold more than 93,000,000 copies worldwide as of 2014. While it’s possible you may have seen some of the images in this post before, I’m betting that you haven’t seen most of them. Either way, this stuff is a treat for the eyes that deserves two devil horns up! Some of the pictures are NSFW which should make sense since this is AC/DC we’re talking about. Also, balls.
 

In the studio during the recording of ‘Powerage’ in 1977.
 

An early shot of AC/DC and drummer Phil Rudd’s awesome sweater.
 
More mayhem with AC/DC after the jump…

 
Let There Be Rock is a film version of one of AC/DC’s greatest concerts. Recorded during their Highway to Hell tour, at the Pavillon de Paris, France, on December 9th, 1979, this concert contains a great selection of some of the band’s best known early numbers (“Highway To Hell,” “Let There Be Rock,” “Whole Lotta Rosie”), together with stunning performances from an unstoppable Angus Young (only pausing for some oxygen) on guitar, and blistering vocals from Bon Scott.

Track Listing:

01. “Live Wire”
02. “Shot Down in Flames”
03. “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be”
04. “Sin City”
05. Interview
06. “Walk All Over You”
07. Interview
08. “Bad Boy Boogie”
09. “The Jack”
10. Interview
11. “Highway to Hell”
12. “Girls Got Rhythm”
13. “High Voltage”
14. Interview
15. “Whole Lotta Rosie”
16. “Rocker”
17. “Let There Be Rock”

Tragically, 2 months after this concert, Bon Scott died, his body found in the back of car outside a friend’s house in London.  His demise started the version of AC/DC we know today, with former Geordie singer, Brian Johnson on lead vocals.
 

 
With thanks to Miles Goodwin
 

 
McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters born ninety-nine years ago today, at Jug’s Corner, Issaquena County, Mississippi. The legendary Father of Chicago Blues and influence on artists from Jimi Hendrix to The Rolling Stones, Angus Young to Led Zeppelin

Muddy Waters had always wanted to be a great musician, as he once told writer Charles Shaar Murray for the N.M.E. in 1977:

“....ever since I can remember, this is what I wanted to be. Something outstanding. If I couldn’t make it in music, I’d be a big preacher, a great ball player.

“I didn’t want to grow up with no one knowin’ me but the neighborhood people. I wanted the world to know a lot about me. I thank God I got it through…”

Nearly thirty years after his death, Waters is still as relevant, and as important, as Murray summed up back in 1977:

“The reason that Muddy Waters is still a great and not just an honored ancestor, a museum grandaddy, is that no one can do it like Muddy Waters.

And somehow I don’t think anyone will.”

And here’s the proof, Muddy Waters at the Blues Summit in Chicago from 1974, with Dr. John, Michael Bloomfield, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and many more.
 

 
Bonus clip from ‘Beat Club’ 1970, after the jump…
 

 
AC/DC’s official exhibition Family Jewels has opened at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, where it will be on show until February 2012. The exhibition will then move on to America.

Its the first time this band approved exhibition has left Australia, and Scotland was considered the most obvious place to bring the show as there are strong links between the country and the legendary band. AC/DC’s founding members Angus and Malcolm Young were born in Glasgow, while the late, great singer, Bon Scott was born in Kirriemuir - also know for its gingerbread.

The exhibition contains over 400 items celebrating 35 years of one of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands. From photographs, programmes, tour posters, tickets plus personal memorabilia, letters, song lyrics to rare stage costumes, including one of Angus Young’s school uniforms and Bon Scott’s last leather jacket. This is all interspersed with 3 hours of live concert footage, video clips, interviews, which all details the history of AC/DC.

This is a major one-off exhibition and a must-see for AC/DC fans as well as for those interested in popular culture. Check details here and pictures here.