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‘Anyone here tonight ever had gonorrhea?”: AC/DC’s dirty autobiographical version of ‘The Jack’
08.19.2019
12:50 pm
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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

Posted by Cherrybomb
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08.19.2019
12:50 pm
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The story of the real ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’: Bon Scott’s real-life obsession with bodacious women
10.01.2018
09:49 am
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Bon Scott pictured with two very excited female fans while arriving at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport, November 27, 1976. Around this time rumors were circulating about young female fans of AC/DC giving each other home tattoos around Melbourne trying to look like Bon (Scott had at least six tattoos).
 
If you think you know the story behind AC/DC‘s riffy homage to a certain big, bad girl “Whole Lotta Rosie,” you might want to hold on as the author of Bon: The Last Highway Jesse Fink goes into even more detail regarding the actual identity of Rosie, with a little help. On The Last Highway blog, Fink discusses the many mythological tales about Rosie, including accounts from brothers Angus and Malcolm, three journalists and respected rock historians, Sylvie Simmons, Phil Sutcliffe (also known as Mike Stand), Mary Renshaw, and Scott himself. Let’s dig into the gritty details of this late-70s backstage, no-tell-motel sleaze, shall we?

In support of Angus Young’s claim of Scott’s preference for dangerously curvy women, both Angus and Simmons recall a regular groupie duo of Bon’s; Angus called them the “Jumbo Twins” and Simmons—who spent a lot of time with the band during the Bon era, referred to them as the “Jumbo Jets.” Another of Angus’ memories of Scott running into Rosie was when the band was in town to play a show in Tasmania in 1976. Angus says after the show the band took to the streets looking to keep the good times rolling when Bon was approached by a woman in a dark doorway—a very large woman which Angus estimated to have the following famous measurements; 42-39-56. Scott happily entered the room and joined the woman and her friend for the night.
 

A vintage ad for AC/DC’s 1977 live album, ‘Let There Be Rock’ using 34 unique words to describe the band.
 
Sutcliffe’s version is slightly different than both Angus’ and Simmons’. Sutcliffe says things went down in the dressing room of Malcolm Young after a show August of 1976. Malcolm and Bon had hooked up with two girls, one of them they nicknamed “Big Bertha,” yet another interlude with a roomy woman many would come to believe was Rosie. Bon said this Bertha/Rosie would have “broken his arm” if he had refused her advances, so he complied. In a 2003 interview, Malcolm told the story, calling the woman “Big Rosie.” Now, let’s get to the story of Rosie told by the late Bon Scott (as noted by Fink on his blog) which is taken from an audio track included on the 1997 box set Bonfire named after Bon’s promise to call his first solo record by the same name. Scott recalls things went down with Rosie (on more than one occasion it seems) at her place where he and the band would often party just across from the Freeway Gardens hotel in North Melbourne. On Bonfire Bon gives us the low-down on getting down with Rosie:

“We were all staying in the same hotel and this chick Rosie lived across the road. She was so big she sort of closed the door and put it on ya’, half your body, and she was too big to say no to. Then she used to look up and see what band was in town and say “hi over there boys” and we’d go over and have a party. She came to one of our shows, she was from Tasmania actually, and she was in the front row. She was like 6’2 and like 19 stone 12 pounds (around 266lbs). That girl was some mountain. So you can imagine the problems I had. So I just sorta had to succumb … I had to do it. Oh my God, I wish I hadn’t.”

Yeah, the old “taking one for the team” isn’t fooling anyone, Bon. We know you liked big butts and we love you for it. Corroborating Bon’s arm-twisting sexy-times story are both AC/DC roadie, Pat Pickett (Pickett has been quoted as saying he was responsible for an “orgy” involving Rosie, Scott, and others and also knew Rosie personally), and author of the 2015 book on AC/DC, Live Wire, Mary Renshaw. Attempts have been made to find Rosie but have never turned up even so much as a concrete lead though there seems to to be no lack of people claiming to know the real Rosie or to have seen the elusive, show-stealing woman.

If you’ve ever seen AC/DC live, you’ve maybe seen the gigantic, inflated Rosie prop used by the band when they kick into “Whole Lotta Rosie” with her bright blonde hair and red lingerie. I’ve also seen a cool vintage embroidered patch of Rosie in all her glory, but never a photo of anyone with Bon (or other members of AC/DC) who looked even remotely like the girl described in the song. Does this mean Rosie was conjured up through the collective memories of Angus Young and others due to Bon’s interludes with various lusty, bodacious women? Let’s me put it to you this way; Bon Scott said Rosie was real. His version is gospel. Period. The End

Footage of AC/DC from 1979 during a live gig in Paris ripping “Whole Lotta Rosie” apart follows. It includes an appearance by a very talented AC/DC roadie.
 

An embroidered patch of Rosie from the early 90’s.
 

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.01.2018
09:49 am
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Raw footage of AC/DC killing it at an Australian high school 40 years ago (& Bon Scott’s bagpipes!)
01.24.2018
10:41 am
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The 1976 lineup of AC/DC, L to R; Phil Rudd, Bon Scott, Mark Evans, Malcolm Young and Angus Young (chained to the desk).
 

“Bon was the biggest single influence on the band. When he came in, it pulled us all together. He had that real “stick it to ‘em” attitude. We all had it in us, but it took Bon to bring it out.”

—the late Malcolm Young on AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott and his impact on the band.

To be precise, the footage in this post of AC/DC playing a live gig at St Albans High School in Victoria, Australia in 1976 is 42 years old. And, as you might have hoped, there is a good bit of rock and roll mythology associated with it, especially when it comes to one of the songs they performed to a rabid teenage audience, “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll).” The song was written by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young with help from vocalist Bon Scott and first appeared on their 1975 album T.N.T. produced by George Young (RIP) and his Easybeats bandmate, Harry Vanda. It was also one of the first bonafide rock songs to include bagpipes competing with guitar riffs for attention, though the 1968 jam from Eric Burden and the Animals “Sky Pilot” was likely the first—but I’m sadly no expert as I skipped all of my “Bagpipe 101” classes in college. Now, let’s get to what is undoubtedly the best thing to ever happen to a bagpipe, Bon Scott, and AC/DC virtually combusting on a stage at St Albans High School in Victoria, Australia in 1976.

A few weeks ago the footage in this post was making the rounds all over social media, though it appears to have originated on a Facebook page dedicated to the roving teen gangs of Melbourne, Australia active during the 60s and 70s, the “Sharpies” or “Sharps.” In the raw, nearly six-minute-video we get to see riotous black and white footage of AC/DC slamming through “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)” with Bon playing his trusty bagpipes. But was he? Forget those meddling kids, solving this caper requires the sleuthing skills of someone with a dangerous mind. And as luck should have it, I happen to have one.
 

A very young Bon Scott decked out in traditional Scottish dress.
 
Like the Young’s, Bon Scott was Scottish by birth (he and his family moved to Melbourne when Bon was six) and indeed had prior experience with bagpipes, having played the drums in a pipe band as a youth—a position he held shortly for AC/DC as well after graduating from being their roadie/driver. Scott’s skill with the bagpipes has been disputed in several books about the band, such as AC/DC FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the World’s True Rock ‘n’ Roll Band, and a book authored by former AC/DC bass player Mark Evans, Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC. According to Evans, Bon honed his bagpipe skills in the studio while the band was recording T.N.T.. The idea of using bagpipes in “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)” was the suggestion of elder Young brother George. In this piece of video footage of the band being interviewed at the Mascot Airport in Sydney on April 1st, 1976 for Australian TV show Countdown, Bon quipped that since he had played a “bit of recorder” before (with prog rock outfit Fraternity), he figured he could also “play” the bagpipes. Scott also reached out to bagpiper Kevin Conlon inquiring about purchasing a set of bagpipes as well as enlisting Conlon to teach him how to play. Here’s Conlon recalling the day in 1976 he got a phone call from Bon Scott before the band shot the notorious video for “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll”:

‘‘I got a call from Bon, and he didn’t know who I was and I didn’t know who he was. He wanted to buy a set of bagpipes and have a few lessons. I told him they would cost over $1000 and it would take 12 months or more of lessons to learn how to play a tune. He said that was fine and came down for a few lessons, but as we were only going to be miming, he just had to look like he was playing.’‘

The Bon Scott pipe-plot THICKENS! Now it’s time to discuss theories as to why Bon stopped bringing his precious bagpipes out on stage—and the band’s eventual omission of bagpipes—live or otherwise—during “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll).” First of all, the challenge began when it took the efforts of Mark Evans, Phil Rudd and Malcolm Young to get Bon’s bagpipes to work after laying out $400 bucks for it, a virtual fortune for a touring band in 1976. Even with his recorder experience and help, Bon just couldn’t seem to get the hang of playing the bagpipes well enough. Then, George Young got the idea to loop in recorded and edited bagpipe music (all of which is noted in Martin Popoff’s book, AC/DC: Album by Album), over the PA during the song, which didn’t help Scott much. This led to a loud argument backstage between Bon and Mark after a gig which concluded with a frustrated soundman taking the bagpipe cassette and “smashing” it against a wall.

Keep reading after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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01.24.2018
10:41 am
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Blistering footage of Bon Scott’s final TV appearance with AC/DC
11.07.2017
09:02 am
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AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott showing us all what it’s like to be a real rock and roll singer back in the day.
 
Though it wouldn’t start out that way, February of 1980 was almost the beginning of the end for Austrailian juggernauts, AC/DC. The band had started the year laying the groundwork for their next studio album, Back in Black. But as we all know, the hard-partying antics of vocalist Bon Scott would catch up with the 33-year-old, and after yet another night of blackout boozing (as well as possibly dabbling in heroin), Scott was found dead inside his Renault 5 in the street by his South London residence on February 19th, 1980. There has always been a fair amount of speculation regarding Bon’s death, new details of which have been painstakingly researched by author Jesse Fink in his 2017 book about Scott, Bon: The Last Highway

Bon would perform his final live gig with AC/DC on January 27th, 1980 in Southampton, U.K. The band was no longer just a sensation in their native Australia but was finally breaking through to U.S. audiences after the Mutt Lange-produced smash, Highway to Hell penetrated the Billboard Top 200. The record would eventually smash through to the top twenty where it would peak at #17. Following the Southampton gig, AC/DC would appear on Top of the Pop’s on February 7th lipsynching to “Touch Too Much.” Three days later the band was in Madrid for an appearance on Aplauso, a popular Spanish television music program. This time AC/DC ripped through “Beating Around the Bush” (whose opening lick borrows a bit of fire from Fleetwood Mac’s 1969 single, “Oh Well”), with an unbridled lipsynching fury so hot that it’s hard to tell they aren’t actually playing “live” at times. Here’s a rough translation of the Spanish host introducing AC/DC for what would be the band’s very first show of any kind in Spain, and their final appearance with Bon:

“Today on TV Aplauso we receive a new group in Spain: AC/DC. They’re Australian and are considered as one of the best rock bands of the last generation without submitting themselves to the New-Wave or Punk. They’ve got a lot of fans in England and today for the first time in Spain, AC/DC!”

The studio audience in attendance for Aplauso is comprised of people who look like they about get a free car from Oprah...

More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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11.07.2017
09:02 am
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Of overalls and platform boots: Brian Johnson’s ass kicking pre-AC/DC band, Geordie
09.11.2017
11:21 am
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The perpetually jolly Brian Johnson during his days with the band Geordie.
 
A few weeks ago I wrote about former AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson and his “acclaimed” jingle for the Hoover Vacuum company in 1980. Since that time, I’ve been digging around Johnnson’s pre-AC/DC rawk days—and I’ve loved every minute of it. If I were stranded on a desert island and had to live with the music of one band, it would be AC/DC. Give me Sabbath or give me death, I’d still be okay departing this world if Angus, Malcolm, Cliff, Bon, and later Brian Johnson, played me out. A girl can dream, can’t she? For now, let’s get back to the focus of this post—AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson and his band, Geordie.

First off, Geordie’s oddball name was taken from a word that is used to describe the citizens and unique dialect associated with residents of Johnson’s place of birth, Newcastle upon Tyne in England, a place where everyone speaks in Johnson’s nearly impossible-to-understand endearing verbal sway, and the origin site of black metal pioneers Venom. Before joining Geordie, Johnson had some minor success playing various working men’s clubs in the North East of Newcastle with the Jasper Hart Band. Johnson recorded a few singles in the early 1970s with the group before leaving to join forces with his first serious band, USA which would later become Geordie. At the time, glam rock was everything and Geordie was born right smack in the middle of the exploding glitter bomb and musical liberation that was led by the likes of T.Rex and the New York Dolls. Every great story about rock and roll ever written contains at least one piece of WTF mythology, and this one is no exception. The tale associated with Geordie is especially surreal as it concerns the first time that Johnson met Bon Scott while he was fronting one of his pre-AC/DC bands, Fraternity (later known as “Fang”).

According to Johnson, Fraternity/Fang opened a few shows for Geordie in the group’s early days. During one of Geordie’s performances, Johnson was gravely ill battling a dire case of appendicitis—which I can tell you from experience is horrible and will take you down quick and hard. Despite this, Johnson borrowed a tip from the “How to Rock and Roll and Not Be a Giant Pussy” handbook and played the fucking gig in what I can assure you was horrific pain. Johnson was suffering so badly that he laid down on his side on stage and was kicking and screaming in agony—but still, he persisted, and somehow finished the show. Bon bore witness to the spectacle, thinking it was part of the show just like pretty much everyone else at the gig. Later on, after joining AC/DC, he would tell his new bandmates about the gig noting how impressed he was by Johnson’s “performance” and admiring the fact that his future replacement was on the floor kicking and screaming on stage exclaiming “what an act” it was to behold. What an “act” indeed.
 

The awesome cover of Geordie’s 1974 album ‘Don’t Be Fooled by the Name.’
 
Geordie did pretty well for themselves until the later part of the 70s when the increasing popularity of new wave and punk bands like the Blondie and the Sex Pistols killed their appeal. Before their demise in 1976, Geordie would put out four respectable as well as mostly commercially successful records that produced a bunch of hits including “All Because Of You” from their 1973 debut album Hope You Like It that plowed its way into the UK top ten. Though they would technically call it quits in 1976, Johnson would revive Geordie as “Geordie II, ” and his Geordie bandmates would plod onward with a new vocalist Dave Ditchburn. That version of Geordie would produce an album that contained songs featuring Johnson’s vocals as well as Ditchburn’s called No Good Woman before disappearing for good sometime in the early 80s.

More Geordie, after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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09.11.2017
11:21 am
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Big Balls: Rarely seen, intimate photos of AC/DC taken back in the 70s
07.10.2017
01:17 pm
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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…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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07.10.2017
01:17 pm
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Glamtastic footage of AC/DC *before* Bon Scott
07.08.2016
08:48 am
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As someone who considers himself something of a music scholar, who has worked in record shops most of his life, and writes about music professionally, I’m ashamed to admit that I only learned, like, JUST NOW that Bon Scott was not the first singer of AC/DC. I mean, I’m not an obsessive mega-fan or anything when it comes to the band, but I do own every one of their “classic era” albums from High Voltage up to Blow Up Your Video—even some of the Australian alternates. I feel like that’s enough of a level of fan commitment to make my ignorance about AC/DC’s early years unforgivable. Well, you learn something new every day. Hopefully you, like me, are also learning something new today.

Anyway, check out this footage of AC/DC from 1974.  Here you have glam-as-fuck lead vocalist Dave Evans fronting the band, as well as drums by ex-Master’s Apprentices member Colin Burgess and bass guitar by ex-Easybeats member George Young (older brother of band co-founders Malcolm and Angus Young).

The band sounds a bit like The Sweet here.

The song, “Can I Sit Next to You, Girl,” was later re-recorded with Bon Scott on vocals for their Australia-only album T.N.T., released in December 1975, and on the international version of High Voltage, released in May 1976. The edgier Bon Scott version happens to be one of my favorite AC/DC songs of all time and if you were someone I dated in the 90s, you probably got a mixtape from me with that track on it.

Keep reading after the jump…

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Posted by Christopher Bickel
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07.08.2016
08:48 am
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Street art homages to Frank Zappa, Lemmy, David Bowie, Bon Scott, Ian Curtis & more

Frank Zappa street art mural under a bridge in London by James Mayle and Leigh Drummond
A massive mural of Frank Zappa under a bridge in London by artists James Mayle and Leigh Drummond.

I recently came across images of some beautiful street murals of both the sadly recently departed Lemmy Kilmister and David Bowie—which is what got me cooking up this post chock full of graffiti and street art homages to notable musicians and rock stars who are no longer with us.

Of the many public pieces, photographed at places all around the globe, I’m especially fond of the Lemmy/Bowie hybrid that popped up on a utility box in front of a restaurant in Denver, Colorado shortly after Bowie passed on January 10th, 2016, as well as a haunting image of Joe Strummer that was painted on the side of a rusted old van.
 
Lemmy/Bowie street art mashup in Denver, Colorado
Lemmy/Bowie street art mashup in Denver, Colorado.
 
Joe Strummer mural painted on the side of a van by French artist, Jef Aerosol
Joe Strummer mural painted on the side of a van by French artist, Jef Aerosol.
 
Inspired street art dedicated to everyone from Joy Division’s Ian Curtis to James Brown, after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.05.2016
09:14 am
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‘Bubblegum’ version of Bon Scott performing ‘Nick Nack Paddy Whack’ with the Valentines in 1969
08.14.2015
10:16 am
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Bon Scott and Vince Lovegrove of the Valentines
Bon Scott and Vince Lovegrove, co-vocalists of the Valentines
 
The term “bubblegum music” came to be sometime back in the early 1960s with help from Brooklyn music producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz. Known as Super K Productions, the duo helped bring “bubblegum” bands such as the Ohio Express (of “Yummy Yummy Yummy” fame), and Crazy Elephant (“Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’” from 1969) large but short-lived fame. The Australian group, the Valentines—whose lineup included a 23-year-old Bon Scott, also rode the bubblegum music train back in the late ‘60s.
 
The Valentines--Wyn Milson, Bon Scott, Vince Lovegrove, Paddy Beach, John Cooksey
The Valentines (Bon Scott, second from right)
 
The Valentines got together after Scott parted ways with the popular Perth band the Spektors in 1966, and enjoyed a rather successful run down under until they called it quits in 1970. The Valentines kind of had it all—great hair, cool matchy-matchy clothes, and two good-looking vocalists who shared the spotlight in Scott and Vince Lovegrove. Lovegrove, who remained friends with Scott until his death in 1980, would go on to become respected journalist and manager of the Divinyls before passing away in a tragic car accident in 2012.

If you’ve never seen the band performing, then you are in for a treat. The footage of the Valentines performing “Nick Nack Paddy Whack” (a riff on the nursery rhyme “This Old Man”) from the Australian music television show, Hit Scene (below) was shot on July 12th, 1969, just after Scott’s 23rd birthday. And the man who would soon front AC/DC looks like he never stopped celebrating. Whenever the camera catches Scott in action (the one on the left without an instrument, he gets his big close-up at about 01:25), he’s either laughing, hilariously and barely mouthing the words to the song, or is grooving out of time with the music while his massive bell bottom sleeve top flops around. In other words, it is two minutes plus of pure, vintage, must-watch awesomeness.
 

The Valentines performing “Nick Nack Paddy Whack” on the Australian music TV show Hit Scene, July 12th, 1969

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
She’s Got Big Balls: Bon Scott gets in drag for AC/DC’s very first TV appearance, 1975
‘Kenneth, what is the frequency?’ The weird connection between AC/DC and the 1986 Dan Rather assault

Posted by Cherrybomb
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08.14.2015
10:16 am
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She’s Got Big Balls: Bon Scott gets in drag for AC/DC’s very first TV appearance, 1975
09.22.2014
08:59 am
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Bon Scott in drag
 
AC/DC made their first TV appearance with Bon Scott (who replaced originally vocalist Dave Evans) on an Australian charts program called Countdown. The group decided to do the blues standard “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” the b-side of their debut release with Scott, as it was more popular than the a-side of the single. With brand new bassist Mark Evans in tow, the boys were backstage getting ready to go on, but their singer was nowhere to be seen.

With only seconds to go before taking the stage, Bon still hadn’t appeared. When he did, right at the last minute, he was dressed as a schoolgirl, complete with blonde wig, tattoos and a disturbingly short skirt. The band could hardly play for laughing and for Mark Evans it must have been an interesting introduction to what made AC/DC special. The look on (drummer) Phil Rudd’s face said it all. (AC/DC – Uncensored on the Record)

Scott was also sporting earrings, blue eye shadow and rouged up cheeks. It’s quite a performance. The unforgettable footage can be had via AC/DC’s Family Jewels DVD.
 

Posted by Bart Bealmear
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09.22.2014
08:59 am
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‘Let There Be Rock’: AC/DC live in Paris, 1979
11.09.2012
10:25 am
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image
 
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
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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11.09.2012
10:25 am
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This Charming Man: A delightful interview with David Niven

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I always thought David Niven was Scottish, mainly because this great, charming actor regularly claimed he had been born in the town of Kirriemuir in 1909.

Kirriemuir is known as the birthplace of Peter Pan author, J. M. Barrie, and AC/DC frontman Bon Scott. It is also famed for Walter Burnett’s Kirriemuir gingerbread, which I recall eating in thick buttered slices as a child, thinking this tasty treat was the very stuff Niven must have lived off as a bairn.  Of course it wasn’t and Niven hadn’t been born in Scotland, rather he was a son of London, born in 1910.  Still, it only added to his tremendous style and charm, which made me find him so likable as an actor and raconteur.

That and the fact his films, in particular The Way Ahead, A Matter of Life and Death, The Elusive Pimpernel, Around the World in 80 Days, and Separate Tables were regularly screened on local TV during the sixties and seventies, possibly in the misguided belief Niven was Scottish.

Some of this great charm can be seen here in this brief interview with Sue Lawley, from 1973, where Niven discusses his childhood, pot, alcohol and good luck.
 

 
With thanks to Nellym.
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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10.18.2012
06:27 pm
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AC/DC’s major exhibition ‘Family Jewels’ arrives in Glasgow

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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.
 

 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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09.20.2011
05:21 pm
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