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High school kids win spot on 1981 LP with their wonderfully shambolic cover of ‘Highway to Hell’
07.29.2016
10:46 am
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Angus Young
 
The obscure 1981 compilation album Brown Bags to Stardom was the result of a contest established the previous year by Honolulu radio station KIKI. 200+ Hawaiian high school acts competed for a spot on the LP, with nineteen ending up on the record. The highlights of Brown Bags to Stardom are the ramshackle contributions from teen rock bands Black Rose, and Brain Damage (Ha! Love the name!). “Rockin’ Roller” by Black Rose could pass for an AC/DC song—bonus points for the defiant lyrics about the contest—and is the vocalist a girl or just a very young boy? Brain Damage’s entry is an AC/DC song, a snotty, perfectly chaotic version of “Highway to Hell.” Sooooo great. 
 
Brown Bags to Stardom
Those are KIKI DJs—not very mature-looking teens—on the cover.

I first got wind of these winning tracks via WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. In his post, DJ Tony Coulter nailed it when he referred to Brain Damage’s AC/DC cover as “wonderfully shambolic.”
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Bart Bealmear
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07.29.2016
10:46 am
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