AC/DC will NOT announce their retirement this week

[Nekov]

Changed the thread title to accommodate for the situation

[TAC]

Not surprised.  With a 40th anniversary tour supposedly on their horizon, they aren't just gonna ditch that big of a payday.

That makes $ense. One last big one perhaps.



I would love to see KK Downing fill in.

[Mladen]

I would love to see KK Downing fill in.

[El Barto]

Pretty disappointed to see that. They'd said in the past that Malcolm was irreplaceable and there'd be no AC/DC without him. Furthermore, if they were carrying on as sort of a Clive Burr thing to make much needed money for his care then I could see it. As co-writer of the second best selling album of all time I seriously doubt the guy needs any assistance. This actually applies to all of them. Hell, I'd be surprised if even Phil and Cliff weren't filthy stinking rich. I don't see any reason for a cash grab, and a farewell tour without him would be disrespectful.

[TAC]

Brian Johnson speaks!
https://www.bravewords.com/news/221051

[kirksnosehair]

Pretty disappointed to see that. They'd said in the past that Malcolm was irreplaceable and there'd be no AC/DC without him. Furthermore, if they were carrying on as sort of a Clive Burr thing to make much needed money for his care then I could see it. As co-writer of the second best selling album of all time I seriously doubt the guy needs any assistance. This actually applies to all of them. Hell, I'd be surprised if even Phil and Cliff weren't filthy stinking rich. I don't see any reason for a cash grab, and a farewell tour without him would be disrespectful.

[emtee]

To be fair nobody here knows what the true situation is and it's possible the band has made multiple commitments that they
don't feel comfortable breaking. Adding to that the realization that they are all getting along in age and this is likely the last
chance they all have. I'm sure they had multiple meetings spread out over many months and came to the conclusion this was
the best course of action.

[kirksnosehair]

I'm sure they were committed to some stuff, but I'm guessing that their contracts had clauses to protect them in cases of "natural disasters" or "personnel issues" etc.


If not, they should fire their manager 








I have a lot of fond memories that are tied to this band.  First time I ever got laid was while listening to "Shoot to Thrill" on the car stereo.   

[wolfking]

I also find it pretty surprising that they possibly look to continue without him,  I wonder who they will get.

[rickhawk80]

If memory serves, the only other time Malcolm had to sit out his son Scotty filled in.

[Zook]

Mike Portnoy could fill in

[Mladen]

If memory serves, the only other time Malcolm had to sit out his son Scotty filled in.

This would be both appropriate and touching.

[black_biff_stadler]

If not, I'll settle for Steve Young.

[kirksnosehair]

Yeah, Malcom's son would be a great choice.   

[mike099]

Would love to see them again.  It has been about 30 years since I last saw the show.  By the way, Black Ice is a great cd for those that have not listened.

[El Barto]

If memory serves, the only other time Malcolm had to sit out his son Scotty filled in.

Nephew Stevie, I thought. My understanding is that nobody even noticed.

[Jaq]

If memory serves, the only other time Malcolm had to sit out his son Scotty filled in.

Nephew Stevie, I thought. My understanding is that nobody even noticed.

It was, and yes, no one apparently noticed.

[TAC]

By the way, Black Ice is a great cd for those that have not listened.

Yeah it was decent. At 15 tracks, there was a healthy bit of filler, but if you got it down to 10, it would be a lot better.

[jammindude]

Black Ice was OK. I preferred Stiff Upper Lip.

[TempusVox]

It makes sense that they would carry on. I can remember when Bon died and everybody thought they were done. People wondered how can they go on without their frontman? He was after all the voice of the band. And their statement then was basically thst, no one member was bigger than the band. Then they went out hired Brian Johnson and crafted what is arguably one of the best hard rock albums ever.

So, I would think Malcolm would want them to keep playing.

[rumborak]

I think the comparison with Bon's death is severely flawed. When Bon died, they were only 4 years together and were just breaking big on the international scene. In contrast, the current lineup has been together for 35 years and at this point everybody was expecting the closing of the curtains anyway.

[TAC]

Black Ice was OK. I preferred Stiff Upper Lip.

I thought Stiff Upper Lip, and Ballbreaker for that matter, were terrible.

[jammindude]

Black Ice was OK. I preferred Stiff Upper Lip.

I thought Stiff Upper Lip, and Ballbreaker for that matter, were terrible.

The last time they had an album I loved from start to finish was Blow Up Your Video.    Even The Razor's Edge is vastly over-rated, and only gets praise because of the title track and the hit singles.   The rest of the album honestly isn't that good.     

I agree that Ballbreaker wasn't that great either.   I think I like 3 songs.   But I actually enjoy about half of Stiff Upper Lip.   The title track, Meltdown, Hold Me Back, Safe in NYC, Can't Stand Still, and Satellite Blues are all great tunes. 

Black Ice wasn't terrible...just felt "phoned in".   After three or four spins, I only had 4 or 5 tracks out of 15 stand out.   Stormy May Day and War Machine seem to stand out in my memory.   RnR Train was pretty cool. 

[TAC]

The last time they had an album I loved from start to finish was Blow Up Your Video.    Even The Razor's Edge is vastly over-rated, and only gets praise because of the title track and the hit singles.   The rest of the album honestly isn't that good.     

I agree with you 100% on BOTH accounts. I still listen to Blow Up Your Video. Criminally underrated.

Black Ice wasn't terrible...just felt "phoned in".   After three or four spins, I only had 4 or 5 tracks out of 15 stand out.   Stormy May Day and War Machine seem to stand out in my memory.   RnR Train was pretty cool. 

I'm glad that you didn't ask me which songs I would cut out, because frankly, I couldn't even name the songs I liked!

[Bolsters]

The last time they had an album I loved from start to finish was Blow Up Your Video.    Even The Razor's Edge is vastly over-rated, and only gets praise because of the title track and the hit singles.   The rest of the album honestly isn't that good.     

I agree that Ballbreaker wasn't that great either.   I think I like 3 songs.   But I actually enjoy about half of Stiff Upper Lip.   The title track, Meltdown, Hold Me Back, Safe in NYC, Can't Stand Still, and Satellite Blues are all great tunes. 

Black Ice wasn't terrible...just felt "phoned in".   After three or four spins, I only had 4 or 5 tracks out of 15 stand out.   Stormy May Day and War Machine seem to stand out in my memory.   RnR Train was pretty cool.

I agree with you about Razor's Edge, Stiff Upper Lip and Black Ice, but I never liked Blow Up Your Video. To me it was always one of their absolute worst albums...I'd even prefer to listen to Flick of the Switch, Fly on the Wall, or High Voltage (the Australian version) than BUYV. . Ballbreaker, I really liked that one though, it's easily my favourite of their post-1981 albums.

[jammindude]

I've always thought Fly on the Wall was a real under-rated classic.   The production is a bit spotty (I believe it was the first and only time that Angus and Malcolm attempted to do it on their own) but what I love about it is that Simon tried to do something different on the drums.   His original intro for Shake Your Foundations (which was subsequently scrapped and re-recorded for the Who Made Who album) was really cool and very different for an AC/DC album.    I was absolutely addicted to Fly on the Wall when it came out, and I was really sorry to see it ultimately fail.   

Re: Blow Up Your Video....I think you're missing out.  Nick of Time, Some Sin for Nothin and Meanstreak in particular are FANTASTIC AC/DC songs....not to mention the two fantastic singles Heatseeker and That's the Way I Wanna RNR.   


EDIT:  I also wanted to add that the Fly on the Wall home video was seriously one of the coolest things the band ever did.   It's no secret that the band themselves have never been fond of music videos, which is why the early stuff just tended to be live footage for FTATR, and then studio/warehouse footage for FOTS.   But whoever put the FOTW home video together was just brilliant.   Subsequent videos were pretty cheezy...downright silly actually... 

[jammindude]

The last time they had an album I loved from start to finish was Blow Up Your Video.    Even The Razor's Edge is vastly over-rated, and only gets praise because of the title track and the hit singles.   The rest of the album honestly isn't that good.     

I agree that Ballbreaker wasn't that great either.   I think I like 3 songs.   But I actually enjoy about half of Stiff Upper Lip.   The title track, Meltdown, Hold Me Back, Safe in NYC, Can't Stand Still, and Satellite Blues are all great tunes. 

Black Ice wasn't terrible...just felt "phoned in".   After three or four spins, I only had 4 or 5 tracks out of 15 stand out.   Stormy May Day and War Machine seem to stand out in my memory.   RnR Train was pretty cool.

I agree with you about Razor's Edge, Stiff Upper Lip and Black Ice, but I never liked Blow Up Your Video. To me it was always one of their absolute worst albums...I'd even prefer to listen to Flick of the Switch, Fly on the Wall, or High Voltage (the Australian version) than BUYV. . Ballbreaker, I really liked that one though, it's easily my favourite of their post-1981 albums.

And furthermore....   (seems I just can't shut up about AC/DC now.  )   I will say this about Ballbreaker.    I had *VERY* high expectations for that album.   At that time, Rick Rubin was a producing guru.  (he has since, shown his major flaws)   And the first AC/DC - Rick Rubin pairing had produced Big Guns, which I thought was absolutely incredible.   So when I heard they were making an entire album together, I was expecting Back In Black 2.     When I picked it up, I liked the first two tracks, and Honey Roll (man, I wish they'd bring that one back...GREAT tune).   Nothing else grabbed me AT ALL.    But maybe I'll have to go back and give it a spin to see if time has been kinder to it.     Loved the artwork in the booklet of that album though...possibly the best artwork in any AC/DC album ever.

[Bolsters]

Re: Blow Up Your Video....I think you're missing out.  Nick of Time, Some Sin for Nothin and Meanstreak in particular are FANTASTIC AC/DC songs....not to mention the two fantastic singles Heatseeker and That's the Way I Wanna RNR.   

I remember liking Meanstreak a bit, but don't remember the others at all. I think the ship has well and truly sailed regarding my building an appreciation for it now, though. I listened to a few albums last week in response to reading this thread, but that was the first time in over a decade that I'd listened to an AC/DC album at all. I was a big fan in my early highschool days around 1998-2001, AC/DC were actually my first favourite band, where I went and got all of their albums. These days though I usually only listen to a couple of individual songs a year, at most.

On Ballbreaker, Hail Caesar and Caught With Your Pants Down are only songs I never really liked on it, so it's a very consistent album for me.