Repetition vs Consistency: where to draw the line?

[Dinosaur David B]

They actually, IMO, had a creative two-album peak with HTH and BIB. Whether you prefer it or not, in terms of sales, BIB is far their sales peak.

[guitard]

Whether you prefer it or not, in terms of sales, BIB is by far their sales peak.

And that's what always left me scratching my head ... and wondering ... "Is this the first AC/DC album for a lot of these people? Certainly if they had heard some of the earlier stuff, albums sales for those earlier albums would match or surpass BIB."


And when you think about it, it's a truly amazing feat. Your lead singer ... one of the most iconic and original dudes in all of hard rock ... dies tragically ... and then seemingly without skipping a beat ... you come right back with a new guy ... and put out one the best selling hard rock albums of all time.

[Dinosaur David B]

Highest degree of difficulty ever. Only them and Van Halen really did that (5150 outsold previous albums). And yes, it WAS many folks first intro to AC/DC.

[iGouger]

I'll eventually get around to listening Back in Black and Let There be Rock, then, as per the suggestions of you guys. I've heard songs off of Back in Black on the radio--the title track, "Shook me All Night Long," "Hell's Bells." Those are on that album I think.


I still like AC/DC, so when I'm feeling in the mood for that style of music I'll give either of those albums a listen.

[Joebuddha]

I love HTH but I listen to High Voltage, Powerage, and Dirty Deeds a lot more often.

[madmax]

All this talk about AC/DC made me decide to listen through all their albums.


I'm typing this up at work, so I'm not %100.


The first AC/DC album I ever heard was BiB, so that is my benchmark to judge the other albums against. I think they changed attributes of the instrumentation when BJ came on. The only other album I had heard all the way through was The Razor's Edge, and that was maybe only once or twice.


Right now, I'm listening to the first album, High Voltage(the Aussie-only release): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJGpIo4L6rA

To me, the only real thing that sounds AC/DC-ish is Bon's vocals. The guitars do come close at times. Both the tone and what they play is much different than what I'm used to. The bass is very present here.


The next album is TNT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFnG2EEG78

I've heard ….Long Way…. many times before. The second track, Rock 'n' Roll Singer, which I've never heard before now sounds almost 100%. The only thing that is off is Angus's tone, but the phrasing is there. The Jack is another song I've heard before. this is AC/DC doing their version of the blues, so it sounds different than their regular fare. As I'm listening to Live Wire, I'm thinking one of the things that was different in the Bon era was that the guitars were a bit more trebley. Because I've heard the song TNT a bunch of times, it sounds like AC/DC to me even though I can tell there are differences in the tone. I wasn't paying much attention to the next to songs(work and all). The song High Voltage sounds a bit different in the verses. Again, Angus's tone sounded odd during the solo. Their cover of School Days sounds like AC/DC. Angus's tone sounds like normal. He is playing something more suited to the song instead of his normal style though.


Next up is the international debut, also named High Voltage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbz6Ck6gDVM

This is 2 songs from the original HV and 7 songs from TNT. I don't know if they re-recorded or remixed anything for this album.


Dirty Deeds….: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wics-jTiJCs

Here Angus does a blusey solo for Ride On. There is also the humorous song Big Balls. I didn't pay that close attention to this album.


Now it's Let There Be Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdj3O2ihPK0

Listening to Go Down, it seems they have turned the treble down on the guitars. The solo tone is different than normal, and Angus was playing a bit differently. On the song Let There Be Rock, it sounds like Malcom was using more dist/gain. Also on Bad Boy Boogie, but less than LTBR. On Overdose, it seems Angus is a little bit more distorted.


Now is Powerage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WANy0Ux3u8

Rock n Roll Damnation has a lot of crunch and is rather treble-y. On Riff Raff, Angus gets faster than normal on the solo parts. Up….You has the "classic" rhythm tone. Angus does a bit of an extended solo.


I guess tomorrow I'll start with HtH, and then go into the BJ albums. It looks like I got carried away.


I think one of the points I'd also to make is that there a few factors that make AC/DC sound same-y.

Bon's and Brian's distinctive vocals.

The Young bros distinctive styles.

The Young bros distinctive guitar tones.


Maybe the problem is that these factors are too distinctive.


There does seem to be some variation, but if the things above annoy you, that's just the way you are.

[Venomboy]

I first heard ACDC right around the time of the Highway to Hell release. My brother and I bought a lot of their records. I loved how heavy (for the time) that it was and there were some angry and powerful songs. They took basic song structures and did what many bands weren't doing at the time, making the songs heavy and memorable.


I can't lump ACDC and Ratt into the same category even though they can both be formulaic. I think Ratt added some really great solos by Warren (sorry...never thought much of Robbin Crosby's playing) and I loved some of the odd chords. I don't really like much after Out of the Cellar but I did hear a newer song called Eat Me Up Alive that is very heavy and I think pretty awesome.


I've been thinking about this subject for a while. I'll always have a soft spot for ACDC since they were my first love, but I can't stand anything after For Those About to Rock. Listen to Highway to Hell and Back in Black and now imagine Shania Twain singing those songs. Classic Mutt Lange and it kinda ruins some of the songs for me now. But ACDC will never to anything different and they don't need to. I think Ratt had a hard time deciding if they were going to be heavier like on Out of the Cellar or do really lame stuff like Dance Dance Dance.


I think Accept has a bigger sandbox to play in (think Neon Nights, Princess of the Dawn, Head over Heels) but still mangoes to bring The Metal.


I think Dio had so much promise but just about everything after The Last in Line to me just doesn't work. It's all kinda the same and just not as good.


There's a ton of bands I just don't get that are favorites here so no worries if ACDC doesn't do anything for you. They do less for me but they bring me a long forgotten smile every once in a while.

[guitard]

The first AC/DC I heard was "If You Want Blood You've Got It." It became a party rock album for me and my friends. One of the truly great live albums of that era.

[Venomboy]

In the Chris Broderick/George Lynch video posted here, Lynch makes a good point about wanting to try new things and not be formulaic. Some people can't repeat themselves and always move on. There's also the record companies that insist on a sellable formula. Tensions arise and the record company usually wins. I think some artists are comfortable with the formula too.

[Agrippa]

In all honesty, for the last ten years or so, the only AC/DC record thats been on my turntable is "If You Want Blood".


Brilliant album.


BTW, the hands down best Brian Johnson AC/DC album is "Flick Of The Switch".

Yes, imho even better that BIB and FTATR.