[Today: AC/DC lay down the perfect soundtrack for quitting your job, partying the night away, or both...]
I gave two weeks notice at my lousy job today, and let me tell you, it felt AWESOME! I’ve been working in a creative slaughterhouse (ie, writing copy for a giant software manufacturer) for the last three and a half years, and it was definitely time to move on. Of course, it’s a beautiful Friday in the Bay Area, the birds are singing and the bees are buzzing, so after I dropped my notice I sat through a mind-numbing meeting and then left the office to get an early start on the rest of my life. I grabbed a six pack of beer on the way home, and immediately fired up Highway To Hell when I waltzed through the door at 3pm.
AC/DC was a staple band for me in high-school, and more than almost* every other group that I liked back then, they’ve stuck with me. In my opinion, the Bon Scott version of this group is the best hard rock band of all-time. Their lyrical content is pretty juvenile, but Bon was a belter second-to-none and Malcolm and Angus Young’s riffs were, are, and always will be capital-M Monster. It’s also to their credit that they weren’t serving up the typical wizards&demons metal that’s been so deftly parodied by the likes of Tenacious D.
The title of this album was generally misinterpreted to signify some sort of pact with the dark lord, but in reality it was just the band’s metaphor for the bone-wearying, non-stop grind of touring and promoting their albums. Highway To Hell would turn out to be their breakthrough album, but the group that worked up these songs was frayed and tired, and badly in need of a break.
Fellas, I know the feeling.
Listen: If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
*[Prince and INXS are the only other artists I can think of that I play with the same frequency now as I did back then, fyi]
