Australian rock band AC/DC, with their fifteenth studio album Black Ice, released worldwide October 2008, reenters the musical stratosphere. An injury to their bass player Cliff Williams an a sudden shift in record labels from Epic to Columbia delayed the project which began in 2006. It had been eight years of silence since the release of Stiff Upper Lip in 2000. The recorded Black Ice in the same studio as Stiff Upper Lip, yet did they get similar results? Have they been gone too long to make a strong comeback?
Judging from the reception the album received, it appears not. With 1,762,000 units flying off the shelves in its first week, Black Ice broke the ice quite impressively. Going number one in 29 different countries, gives a strong signal that their batteries are not corroded. Selling in its first week, 784,000 copies in the US alone, receiving a three-times- platinum certification in Australia, and selling upwards of 110,000 in the UK, the dinosaurs of rock show they are not yet fossilized. The ranked 41st on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “Top 50 Best Albums of 2008“.
Popularity alone is not enough to judge whether or not the band is running on fumes. The Ford Pinto sold a lot of cars but
that doesn’t mean it was a quality investment. It has been about a decade since I have put any time and energy into listeningto this band who’s best work was done a quarter of a century ago. I tried to be objective and not discriminate against the elderly. Yet when I heard the lyrics:
Livin’ long, livin’ long,
Sleep all alone, you’re gonna take it all,
And I’m gonna rip it out,
I’ll kick, I creep crawl down your street,
I’ll gouge your eyes out,
Black ice
I couldn’t determine whether he said rip it out or whip it out. Either way at that age it is a disgusting thought. The imagery of gouging eyes out brings back memories of “Othelo” from Shakespeare, “Out vile jelly”. Nevertheless, do you see any coherency in the words? They ramble from one lame phrase to another without connecting the dots.
Come on and bleeding out the crowds,
We’re watching all the women go,
Come on and what?
One hot angel
