Five of AC/DC's Most Underrated Riffs

Malcolm Young's Gibson Gretsch guitar

With the recent passing of AC/DC's founder, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter, Malcolm Young, it's a good time to look back on the band's massive body of work and the riffs Malcolm came up with. With no less than 17 studio albums, the enduring Aussie rockers have a ton of high voltage tracks. But we're going to look at five of the most underrated riffs penned by Malcolm Young. Needless to say, there really isn't a bad riff in AC/DC's entire canon (just a few repetitions).

Bedlam in Belgium

Buried as the eighth song on the underrated Flick of the Switch record, "Bedlam in Belgium" has an absolutely swinging riff, which was a hallmark of Malcolm's writing. Like many AC/DC songs, it opens with one guitar playing the main riff, then a second joins in for the third bar and, boom it really kicks in. Of note: the lyrics are a true story from a 1977 concert in Belgium.

Given the Dog a Bone

Pretty much every song from 1980's Back in Black album is very good. However, "Given the Dog A Bone" is a track that may get glossed over, but it's actually a killer song with a killer riff that Malcolm wrote. The boogie of the main riff perfectly complements Brian Johnson's lascivious lyrics of receiving oral sex from a less than good looking woman ("She's no Mona Lisa, no, she's no Playboy star").

Send for the Man

Suffice it to say, the riff on "Send for the Man" is one of the band's heaviest. It's the final song on 1985's Fly on the Wall album and many teenagers were banging their heads to that record in the summer of '85. The opening riff on "Send for the Man" with its potent power chords is a tribute to how amazing Malcolm Young was because it's so simple, yet powerful.

Riff Raff

One of Malcolm's signature boogie riffs, the relentless "Riff Raff" is found on AC/DC's amazing Powerage album. The first minute of that song is the definition of what an AC/DC song is all about: the riff intro, the build up, then the foot-stomping release and boogie as the song gets going.

Go Down

It might be a misnomer to consider the opening track of 1977's Let There be Rock as underrated, but "Go Down" is one of those songs nobody ever talks about (and according to setlistfm.com, they've only played it once in concert, ever), yet it's the first song on one of their finest older albums. The riff is the epitome of AC/DC chord structure back then with a blues based influence made heavy and menacing with that trademark added boogie element.

Check out AC/DC's 5 most underrated songs with vocalist Brian Johnson

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Five Famous Rock Stars Killed by Alcohol

When we think of rocks stars dying young – people like Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Phil Lynott or Janis Joplin – it's usually because of hardcore drug use and it's a long, long list of those who departed. But many rock stars have died way too young because of their addiction to alcohol and drinking. Here are five famous rockers who died from the bottle

John Bonham

Led Zeppelin's drummer and resident fun guy, John Bonham died on Sept. 25, 1980 at the age of 32. Bonham was well-known for his drinking prowess, and ultimately, it cost him his life. With the band gathered at guitarist Jimmy Page's house for US tour rehearsals, Bonzo began binging early in the day on Sept. 24. He was still going into the evening until he finally passed out. He was put to bed by his and Page's assistant, but never woke up. The bands manager tried to wake him in the morning, but found no pulse. Bonham ended up choking on his own vomit and his death was ruled accidental. Reports showed he'd consumed the equivalent of 40 ounces of vodka in 12 hours. Bonham's death marked the end of Led Zeppelin.

Bon Scott

Just as AC/DC was reaching the top of the hard rock mountain in 1980, the band found itself without a singer after Bon Scott choked to death on his vomit on Feb. 19, 1980. The band was working on the Back in Black album in London. On the night of Feb. 18, he and Alistair Kinnear were drinking in a pub called the Music Machine. The story goes Scott passed out in Kinnear's car on the way home, so Kinnear left the singer in the vehicle. Scott threw up in his sleep and choked to death. The coroner deemed he died because of acute alcohol poisoning. He was 33 years old. Brian Johnson replaced him in AC/DC on April 1 and Back in Black was released in July, 1980.

Steve Clark

Steve Clark was Def Leppard's guitarist and one of their main songwriters. He was a longtime alcoholic who had been trying to sober up when he died on Jan. 8, 1991 at the age of 30. At the time, he was on an official leave of absence from the band so he could get cleaned up. However, he would never play with Def Leppard again. Clark died in his Chelsea home after a night at the local pub. He died in his sleep and an autopsy confirmed the cause of death was compression of the brain stem - which caused respiratory failure - due to excessive alcohol mixed with anti-depressants and pain killers.

Jeff Hanneman

Like Steve Clark, Jeff Hanneman is another guitarist who died too young. The Slayer co-founder was 49 when he lost his life due to alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver, on May 2, 2013. But it was a spider bite which ultimately led to Hanneman's demise. A couple of years before he died, he developed necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease) in his arm. It was treated with antibiotics, but Hanneman simply couldn't play guitar the way he wanted to anymore. That led to him drinking more and more, going into a tailspin (he'd also been drinking heavily since his father died in 2008). Hanneman died in hospital.

Jani Lane

Many will remember Lane as the lead singer for 1980s metal band Warrant. August 11, 2011 from acute alcohol poisoning. The man who wrote "Cherry Pie" was found dead alone at a Comfort Inn in Woodlands, Calif., surrounded by bottles of booze and containers of prescription pills. He embraced alcohol and the rock lifestyle even long after the short-lived fame of his band, but did make attempts to sober up. He even went on the VH1 reality show Celebrity Fit Club 2. But he was never able to put down his demons. Lane was 47 years old.

Read about how former AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott got his distinctive voice

AC/DC's "Flick of the Switch": A Great Album Overlooked

For fans of AC/DC in the early 1980s, the release of Flick of the Switch took plenty of people by surprise, as well as a host of radio stations.

Gone was the polished, sharp sound found on its predecessor For Those About To Rock We Salute You, which shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts. Instead, fans heard a very raw, dry record with minimal depth in terms of the sound (guitars and drums especially).

But this is what the band wanted in 1983 – to get back to basics.

Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Brian Johnson and Co. were tired of working with uber-producer Mutt Lange (he did Highway to Hell, Back in Black and For Those About to Rock) and his constant knob twitching and endless takes.

So the band congregated at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, and hammered out Flick of the Switch in a month (For Those About to Rock took about five months), producing it themselves and damn how it sounded.

"There was a genuine desire to get back to the basics with Flick of the Switch," said engineer Tony Platt in the book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll. "There was a general kind of consensus that we needed to find some way of moving on a little bit. You know the Johnny Winter version of Muddy Waters' 'Mannish Boy?' Where they're all shouting in the background? Basically what Mal had said was that he wanted to try and get that feeling of being in a room with it all happening. I don't think it really worked entirely."

The album enjoyed a lukewarm reception, barely selling a million copies upon release in the U.S. and getting to No. 15 on the chart. Radio stations largely ignored it, especially when Atlantic Records barely promoted the record in America because they felt there were no singles in site.

However there are some great songs on the record. The title track is an AC/DC standout, while "Rising Power", "Badlands", "Guns for Hire" and "Bedlam in Belgium" are fantastic AC/DC songs. All in all, it's a solid album that doesn't sound as good as it could. But after waiting two years between records, hardcore fans of the band loved the record.

This Band is on Fire

AC/DC at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, 1983

But it was a time of turmoil for the Australian hard rockers.

After recording drums for the album, Phil Rudd would get kicked out of the band, a victim of drugs and alcohol.

According to AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, Rudd had been struggling for some time; tour manager Ian Jeffrey recalls getting a phone call from a strung-out Rudd at four in the morning when the band was playing in Nebraska during the Back in Black tour and finding the drummer in his hotel room in a state of disorientated agitation. Eventually Rudd broke down crying and begged Jeffery "Don't tell Malcolm." Jeffery also told that Malcolm punched the drummer after he showed up two hours late for the band's show at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum and was unable to play the last song of the encore.

Simon Wright, who is not nearly as good a drummer as Rudd, was brought in and appears in the promotional videos for the album. He stayed with the band until Chris Slade joined in the 1989. Rudd then returned to the kit for 1995's Ballbreaker album.

The band also cleaned more house, purging manager Peter Mensch as well as de facto photographer Robert Ellis.

It really was back to basics, even down to the album cover a pencil drawn rendering of Angus pulling a switch against a stark, white background. It's a cover concept Atlantic Records apparently hated.

Check out why making For Those About to Rock was a tough slog for AC/DC

AC/DC's Most Underrated Songs with Brian Johnson

AC/DC's body of work with Brian Johnson on vocals is impressive, to say the least. With Johnson replacing Bon Scott after he died in 1980, and making his debut on the monster Back In Black album, the Aussie rockers have cranked out some huge hits,. However, it's not the hits we are looking at but the five of the most underrated tracks during the Johnson era featuring his distinct bluesy, raspy vocal style.

Flick of the Switch (1983)

The title track to the Flick of the Switch album is such a powerhouse song. Malcolm Young's riff carries things along at a solid pace, while Johnson's wailing vocals are perfect, as usual, although it's hard to decipher exactly what's he saying in the verses. The song was actually the second single from the record. It got some airplay and video play, but many critics panned it and the rest of the album because it didn't sound as refined as its predecessor, For Those About To Rock, which was produced by Mutt Lange. But the song embodies exactly what the Young brothers wanted the album to sound like: Big and Raw with no studio recording tricks.

Fly on the Wall (1985)

While hair metal was becoming all the rage in 1985, AC/DC were still doing their thing, cranking out great hard rock records. The title track to 1985's "Fly on the Wall" record is such an infectious song, you want to listen to it over and over again. Brian Johnson is an absolute force on this song (listen to him screaming the last chorus), and it's the first time fans heard a drummer (Simon Wright) other than Phil Rudd play on an AC/DC album after Rudd was fired after recording his parts on Flick of the Switch.

Have A Drink On Me (1980)

With lyrics penned by Brian Johnson, "Have A Drink On Me" can certainly be seen as an ode of sorts to Bon Scott who choked on his own vomit after drinking too much on the night of Feb. 19, 1980 at a London club. While some say the band shouldn't have celebrated booze so soon after Scott's death, you kind of know Scott would relish this song and "forget about the cheque, we'll get hell to pay". This romping, all-out celebration of alcohol is AC/DC at their typical, rocking best, with a cool, lurching kind of riff that sort of mimics a stumbling drunk.

Snowballed (1981)

An often overlooked track from the amazing For Those About To Rock album, "Snowballed" is one of AC/DC's most up-tempo songs, and Johnson's delivery during the verses is nothing short of amazing in the intensity he delivers to the lyrics. Then he's at his howling best as the song comes to a close. Certainly Angus Young gets most of the attention and kudos when it comes to AC/DC, but Johnson shows here why he was one of the best hard rock singers of all time.

Bedlam in Belgium (1983)

Another great track off the unheralded Flick of the Switch record, Bedlam in Belgium boasts a bouncy riff, a powerful chorus and lyrics based on a real-life event from back in the Bon Scott days when AC/DC played a one-off gig at Kontich, Belgium in 1977. There was a strict 10 pm curfew in the town, but the band was still rocking and a near riot erupted as police tried to stop the show. According to reports it was Angus who got cracked in the back by a cop as he duck-walked through the crowd after jumping off the stage after being told the show was over. Needless to say, it's a great story from the band's earlier days, and certainly an underrated AC/DC song.

Check out our look at the classic Powerage album

Memo To Angus Young: Don't Make AXL/DC

Angus sans uniform

TO: Angus Young (AC/DC founder and only remaining original member)

It has come to our attention that you are planning (according to unconfirmed rumours) on recording a new record with Axl Rose on vocals.

Don't do it. Please don't do it.

While you no doubt want to make as much money as possible before hanging up your school uniform and putting your oldest SG into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, making a record with Axl Rose would tarnish the legacy of the band you helped create.

AC/DC has amassed more than 200 million worldwide albums sales. Surely that's enough?

Right now, there really is no AC/DC - the band. There's you, Angus, along with the name AC/DC. Your brother, Malcolm, was forced to quit because of health issues and has joined Bon Scott in Heaven, Brian Johnson had to leave because of hearing problems. Cliff Williams is retired. Phil Rudd has had some issues with the law. That leaves you, Angus. No band.

What would the ghost of Bon Scott say? Was Malcolm on board before he passed away?

Let's face it, Angus, you'll soon be 62 years old. That leaves you and your wife, Ellen, plenty of good years to sit back and enjoy retirement.

As a longtime AC/DC fan and being a Gun 'n Roses fan since 1988, I don't want two of the greatest rock bands' legacies to be tarnished with a money-grabbing album.

Let's face it, Angus. If money wasn't involved, you wouldn't make a record with Axl. Or, if you did make an album with Axl, you would do it under a different name than AC/DC.

See why making For Those About To Rock... was such a burden for AC/DC.

Angus Young Punks Guns N' Roses in Australia

Trust a guy who dresses in a school-boy uniform to pull a prank on Gun N' Roses.

As the band landed in Sydney, Australia, ahead of their concerts at ANZ Stadium there on Friday and Saturday (their first time in Sydney in 24 years), they were held up on the plane and not allowed to get off because of a "security check".

Turns out the real reason Gun N' Roses got held up was because of AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, who was sporting the orange vest of an airport employee.

Gunners' bassist Duff Mckagan tweeted about the incident:

Apparently Angus is in Sydney to visit his ailing brother, Malcolm, who is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and the rumour-mill is now buzzing that Angus may play with the Gunners for a couple of songs, most likely "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "Riff Raff".

Axl belting it out with AC/DC last year

Last year at Coachella, Angus joined Guns N' Roses onstage as they ripped through those two classic AC/DC tracks.

And Axl Rose made some extra cash last year filling in for former AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, who stepped away from the Aussie rockers because of hearing issues, for their live Rock Or Bust shows.

The future of AC/DC is up in the air after the departures of Johnson and bassist Cliff Williams – although Angus has said he feels “obligated” to keep the band going.

Hopefully Angus sees the light and shuts AC/DC down. As much as he is the face of AC/DC, a reinvented version of the band would simply come off as cheesy and insincere.

Five of the Greatest AC/DC Songs with Bon Scott

Let's face it, selecting five of the best songs from the AC/DC canon during the Bon Scott era is a tough task, especially considering they are all good tracks. Pretty much every song off those first six studio records is very good. Over time though, some songs, like "Highway To Hell" are overplayed to death. Others, like "It''s a Long Way to the Top (if you wanna rock 'n roll)" get kinda boring after all these years. As an AC/DC fan since 1984, these songs are five of the best they recorded with the great Bon Scott on vocals and writing the lyrics.

Gimme A Bullet

From the 1978 masterpiece Powerage record, "Gimme A Bullet" features a great groove and Bon Scott wailing about a lost love. The way the verses flow with the song is amazing: Don't need no drink, don't need no drugs. Don't need no sympathy. Sooner or later, send me the bill for what she's doing to me. Operator long distance lips on the telephone" are vintage Scott lyrics with this smooth delivery. An interesting aspect of this track is there's no guitar solo.

Down Payment Blues

Boasting one of Malcolm Young's finest riffs, "Down Payment Blues" is another stellar track off the Powerage album. Again, Scott delivers some classic lyrics like "I know I ain't doing much. Doing nothing means a lot to me. Living on a shoe string, a fifty cent millionaire. Open to charity. Rock 'n' roller welfare." But what makes it such a great song is the way it builds from verse to verse, then getting more and more intense after the middle break, until the final stanza features Scott wailing, while behind him, the band is absolutely cranking it out.

Whole Lotta Rosie

A staple of AC/DC's live shows since it emerged on the Let There Be Rock record, "Whole Lotta Rosie" is a tour de force, especially the live version off If You Want Blood, You've Got It. The riff absolutely churns in a non-stop frenzy, while Scott stretches his vocal chops singing about sex with a larger woman. Face it, most of us have converted 19 stone to pounds (266 lb.).

Live Wire

"Live Wire" is probably one of the first AC/DC songs many people heard back in 1976, as it featured on their first international album release High Voltage, and was usually the opening track for all their shows during the Bon Scott era. It's a classic AC/DC song with the bass intro, slow riff opening, then it kicks into high gear when Phil Rudd's drums kick in. Naturally, Scott provides some hilarity in the lyrics: "Go stick this in your fuse box".

Love Hungry Man

Certainly one of the band's most unheralded songs (and probably the first time it made a "Best of List"), "Love Hungry Man" really shows the influence Highway To Hell producer Mutt Lange had on the band where the gang vocal on the chorus plays a prominent part in the song. It also showcases Scott's voice hitting the highest notes in his vocal range, especially in the final 40 seconds of the song, when Scott is literally screeching. In fact "Love Hungry Man" and "Night Prowler", the final two tracks on Highway To Hell, are two of the best on that album.

Check Out How Bon Scott got his raspy voice

A Look at Powerage - AC/DC's Most Underrated Album

With a vast catalogue of 17 studio albums, AC/DC's Powerage is a record that goes largely unnoticed. It certainly doesn't get the accolades of Highway To Hell or Back in Black, but when you look at the Aussie rockers' body of work, Powerage stands out in a big way.

In fact Powerage, released in 1978, is the record that made people, including AC/DC's record label, Atlantic, stand up and really pay attention to the grubby misfits. Because after Powerage gained the band more attention and sales in the U.S., Atlantic executives got AC/DC to bring in uber producer Mutt Lange for the follow-up, and we all know how good Highway To Hell is, thanks in large part to Lange's work in the studio.

For Powerage, which was hot on the heels of 1977's Let There Be Rock, the band used the same producers, Harry Vanda and George Young, older brother to Angus and Malcolm Young.

But, unlike its predecessor, which is a phenomenal, raw record, Powerage brings an entirely different feel to it - a warmer sound thanks to a better mix. The band spent three months in the studio (one more than they did for Let There Be Rock) recording and mixing, and the extra time really paid off.

Powerage was the first AC/DC album featuring bassist Cliff Williams, who replaced Mark Evans after he was fired in May, 1977. However, Evans has said publicly some of his bass playing is on the album.

AC/DC had vibe in studio on Powerage

Atlantic Records promo shot

According to Williams, a big reason why the album is so good is the vibe the band had recording it, which was pretty much live in studio.

"The guys had already been in the studio for a while and we went in to do what turned out to be the Powerage album. Great work environment. Albert Studios there in Sydney was a great little rock and roll room...Great producers," said Williams in a Bass Frontiers interview. "Obviously a lot of chemistry there being brothers. Just a real fiery, energetic work environment. It was really a tremendous experience."

The album opener, "Rock 'N' Roll Damnation" shows the band flexing their muscles in a new way with a heavy dose of maracas providing the extra feel.

Then there's "Gone Shootin'", a slower tempo track where the band lets the fantastic groove do the talking.

You'll notice "Up To My Neck in You" sounds more like the songs on "Let There Be Rock" and that's because it was started during those recording sessions.

"Gimme A Bullet" and "Down Payment Blues" are two of the best songs AC/DC have ever recorded, but like the rest of the album, they are definitely underrated in the canon of the band's legacy.

Heck, the album even got a ringing endorsement from Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards, who said it's his favourite AC/DC record.

Check Out how Bon Scott got his unique voice

Making For Those About To Rock ... A Burden to Bear For AC/DC

When you're tasked with following up one of the greatest rock records ever made, you know it won't be easy.

Such was the case for AC/DC as they got ready to enter the studio in Paris during the early summer of 1981, hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed blockbuster Back in Black album.

What they came out with, For Those About To Rock We Salute You, could be considered Back in Black's bastard son, since most people revere the latter, holding it in such high regard, while For Those About To Rock is more the forgotten son, and doesn't get that kind of love these days, even though it went to No. 1 in the U.S., something Back in Black never did.

Make no mistake, however, For Those About To Rock deserves plenty of kudos as a great album, but it was a massive weight to bare for the Aussie rockers at the time.

As with Back in Black and Highway to Hell before it, Angus Young and Co. decided on working with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange once again.

Sound Issues Impacted Early Recording Sessions

Brian Johnson in 1982

After rehearsing the songs for the album, the band headed into the EMI-Pathé Marconi Studios in early July, where they were ready to lay down basic tracks.

But after trying and trying, they just couldn't get the right sound, or a sound that Lange was happy with. Heck, the story goes they worked for three days just on the snare drum sound alone. Only the snare drum.

Singer Brian Johnson recalls "The studio came highly recommended, but we just couldn't get a good live sound. Mutt finally said 'This is hard work - we're missing the point.'"

So in August 1981, after trying (and not liking) several different studios around Paris, the uber rock producer found a solution to their recording problems: He’d simply moved the operation to a rehearsal space on the outskirts of Paris, and hired the Mobile One Studio from London to record the group. The sound was deemed solid, and recording began anew with basic tracks. Vocals and overdubs were completed at Family Sound Studio and overdubs at HIS Studios and recording was finished in September, ending a five-month process that included lots of tinkering by Lange. Back in Black was done in two months.

Malcolm Young would famously say, in a 1992 interview that "I don't think anyone, neither the band or the producer, could tell whether it sounded right or wrong. Everyone was fed up with the whole album."

Lange is a notorious perfectionist in the studio, and it's highly probably AC/DC were more than fed up with doing take after take, especially since it was their third time working with him.

So, it's not surprising For Those About To Rock was the last time the Aussie rockers worked with Lange.

While the album sounds very polished and crisp, their follow-up records, 1983's Flick of the Switch and 1985's Fly on the Wall were self-produced, with neither boasting exceptional sound, certainly nothing as sonic as found on the Lange-produced records. Neither Flick of the Switch nor Fly on the Wall sold particularly well.

How AC/DC's Bon Scott Got His Distinctive Voice

Bon Scott belting it out in studio

While former AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott left the world all too soon in 1980, he left AC/DC fans a musical legacy in recordings with the Australian hard rockers.

And his former wife believes his distinctive vocals are the result of a motorcycle crash in 1974.

Scott's ex-wife, Irene Thornton, noted in her book Bon Scott, his voice changed after the accident, where he suffered a neck injury, broken collarbone and a cut throat.

"Well I did feel that after he had the neck injury and broken collarbone and a cut in his throat, his voice didn’t sound the same," Irene said in the book. "He didn’t seem to be able to do the same thing - he was doing a lot of melodic singing before, had a beautiful tone in his voice, but I don’t think that (tone) was the voice he ended up with or that what he had (before) was the AC/DC voice everyone knows."

Scott was drunk on that night in May in the suburbs of Adelaide and just prior to the crash had been in a huge fight with bandmates from the Mount Lofty Rangers. The accident left him in a coma for three days and another 18 long days in hospital.

It was partly a blessing in disguise, that crash, as he was no longer a member of the Rangers and shortly thereafter joined Angus and Malcolm Young in AC/DC.

Thornton may be right that the motorcyle accident changed his voice, perhaps giving it that gravelly edge AC/DC fans instantly recognize.

Listening to the following clip from Mount Lofty Rangers' "Round and Round and Round", Scott still has that nasal sound to his voice, but it's not as gravelly.

Then when you take a track from AC/DC's amazing Powerage album, the production is way better and Scott's voice has a different tone to it:

Fans can ultimately decide for themselves if his voice is that much different.

Either way, Scott still had one of the best hard rock voices. Ever.