The inspiration behind this special feature was Rock Candy Magazine’s recent article on “The Razor’s Edge” and more specifically the opinion of the great journalist Howard Johnson that the entire 80s era was essentially a bad and easily forgotten period for AC/DC. First of all, let me say that Howard Johnson is one of the most respected journalists who greatly influenced my way of thinking and writing through his texts in Kerrang. Secondly, his particular take is not far from the standard assessment of the albums AC/DC released after “For Those About To Rock” and up to “Blow Up Your Video”. In other words, most journalists and fans consider the 1983-1988 releases to be mediocre (and that’s an understatement). And while I personally agree with the above about “Flick of the Switch”, I hold a diametrically opposite opinion about “Fly On The Wall”, “Blow Up Your Video” and “Who Made Who” (kinda a compilation, to be frank). So, let’s submit a relatively unpopular opinion about these 2+1 albums of the Australian supergroup…
… starting with “Fly On The Wall”. In 1984 I wasn’t a fan of AC/DC. After all, I was only 9 years old. But two years later, when “Who Made Who” came out, I happened to buy it from a local record store – at the urging of my older brother – and I was impressed by the song “Sink the Pink” to the point of looking for “Fly on the Wall” to buy it. Many feel that the fact that the Young brothers took over the production took away from “Fly on the Wall” a sense of objectivity and…a cold look at the compositional field. I listen to this opinion but I completely disagree. The album features the title track, “Shake Your Foundations”, the aforementioned “Sink The Pink” and “Danger” just to name a few tracks that in my mind have all the characteristics of an AC/DC classic. Even the relatively unknown songs are of quality (prefaced by “Stand Up” and “Back in Business”). The fact that MTV played the video for “Shake Your Foundations” on a regular basis four years after its release says a lot.
I’ll never understand why people don’t like “Blow Up Your Video”! Just for “Heatseeker” and “That’s The Way I Wanna Rock N’ Roll” alone, it should be counted among AC/DC’s finest hours. And yet the opposite is true. Meanwhile the classic duo Vanda & Young returned to produce thus helping the album achieving platinum status mainly due to the video clips of the two aforementioned singles. The flirtation with the more melodic side with “Two’s Up” and the overlooked “Kissin’ Dynamite” paint a highly qualitative picture for this great album. Obviously in between we had “Who Made Who” – something like a compilation and a Maximum Overdrive soundtrack – which besides having one of the most iconic AC/DC cover sleeves includes the title track which (again) I never understood why the band ignored it on their subsequent tours.
Anyway…is the 1984-1988 period an overlooked era for AC/DC? In my eyes, definitely yes! Did it yield classic songs? And here the answer is “yes” but with the footnote that the…stamp of “classic” could have been done in a more pronounced ink! Of course we don’t go to the other extreme by claiming that these releases beat anything the Australians released up to 1981 but they certainly deserve a better fate. Let There Be Rock!
Sakis Nikas
