{"id":276,"date":"2007-02-13T22:15:30","date_gmt":"2007-02-14T03:15:30","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2010-03-15T13:37:21","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T13:37:21","slug":"please-explain-bon-scott-s-value-to-ac-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/please-explain-bon-scott-s-value-to-ac-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Please Explain: Bon Scott&#8217;s Value to AC\/DC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/30JwQ9XzKjg?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nBefore I begin, let&#8217;s get a couple of things straight:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It can be safely assumed you are a passionate <em>and<\/em> articulate fan of rock &#8216;n roll if you&#8217;re here in the Hall.<\/li>\n<li>It can be safely assumed that you are aware of the gulf between The Rolling Stones&#8217; <strong>&#8220;Honky Tonk Woman&#8221;<\/strong> and any song by AC\/DC.<\/li>\n<li>Any possible comparisons between Bon Scott and <strong>Brian Johnston<\/strong> will not be considered relevant to the discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>OK. So I&#8217;ve been listening to AC\/DC&#8217;s <em>High Voltage<\/em> over the past week. My friend Seth bought me a couple of AC\/DC albums last year as both fine birthday gifts and educational opportunities. He wanted me to hear their albums&#8217; productions and see if there was anything I could learn and better understand when he discussed the sound of our own band&#8217;s productions. Since receiving these educational gifts, I listen to these albums every few months. I see what he means about the awesome dry production of the drums and guitars, in particular. It&#8217;s the kind of production lovers of dry recording get wet over. Listen to the intro of the opening track, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.groovedisques.com\/mp3\/Overlooked%20Gems\/It's%20A%20Long%20Way%20To%20The%20Top%20(If%20You%20Wanna%20Rock%20'N'%20Roll).mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/www.groovedisques.com\/mp3\/Overlooked%20Gems\/It's%20A%20Long%20Way%20To%20The%20Top%20(If%20You%20Wanna%20Rock%20'N'%20Roll).mp3\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a Long Way to the Top (If you Wanna Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll)&#8221;<\/a><\/strong>, if you want to know what floats my boat in terms of dry production. <em><strong>If possible, hit PAUSE at the 29-second mark, right before the vocals enter.<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThat&#8217;s some <em>fine<\/em> rock &#8216;n roll opening, isn&#8217;t it? I think it&#8217;s on par with the opening to &#8220;Honky Tonk Woman&#8221;. I especially love the restraint Malcolm Young shows in laying out for the opening measures. Throughout this album he displays a mastery of <em>not<\/em> playing! When he actually does hit a power chord, it sounds much more powerful than it would have had he hit it right from the start of a section. Kids and old, nobody musicians alike, take note!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Now, resume playing the track, with Bon Scott&#8217;s entrance to the song.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When this one&#8217;s finished, you might also want to check out the album&#8217;s second track, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.groovedisques.com\/mp3\/Overlooked%20Gems\/Rock%20'n'%20Roll%20Singer.mp3\" title=\"http:\/\/www.groovedisques.com\/mp3\/Overlooked%20Gems\/Rock%20'n'%20Roll%20Singer.mp3\">&#8220;Rock &#8216;n&#8217; Roll Singer&#8221;<\/a><\/strong>. Scott does state his purpose in this song, so maybe it will be helpful in answering my questions. <\/p>\n<p>Before I ask you these few questions, let&#8217;s get one more thing clear:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It should not be expected that AC\/DC is in any way an intellectually driven band.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So here&#8217;s what I&#8217;d like to know from <strong>you, the listener<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What value does Bon Scott bring to the music of AC\/DC, to you, the listener?<\/li>\n<li>Assuming that Bon Scott&#8217;s role as reflected in songwriting credits includes the writing of lyrics, are the lyrics part of his value-added package?<\/li>\n<li>Where do you, the listener, place the intellectual side of yourself when listening to Bon Scott&#8217;s work with AC\/DC?<\/li>\n<li>Is Bon Scott a good singer? Does his voice have pleasing qualities to you, the listener, or are you and other AC\/DC fans simply getting off on his over-the-top, in-your-face delivery?<\/li>\n<li>Could the music of AC\/DC have been better had they had a singer capable of singing in a less-overt style and providing slightly more interesting lyrics?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I look forward to your comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I begin, let&#8217;s get a couple of things straight: It can be safely assumed you are a passionate and articulate fan of rock &#8216;n roll if you&#8217;re here in the Hall. It can be safely assumed that you are aware of the gulf between The Rolling Stones&#8217; &#8220;Honky Tonk Woman&#8221; and any song by <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/please-explain-bon-scott-s-value-to-ac-d\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}