The group Ozzy Osbourne called one of the greatest rock bands ever: “I love them all”
Ozzy Osbourne never considered himself a snob when it came to heavy metal. Since Black Sabbath wasn’t even a proper version of what constituted a ‘metal’ act in the first place, ‘The Prince of Darkness’ usually just saw himself as the frontman of a bluesy hard rock act that happened to have some scary tunes in their repertoire. Whereas Sabbath got there by scaring everyone to death, AC/DC was the kind of snotty rock and roll that anyone could fall in love with from the first few chords.
Then again, listening to AC/DC is not reinventing the wheel by any stretch of the imagination. The Young Brothers never claimed to do anything other than what it says on the tin as rock and roll artists, and the lion’s share of their best songs are normally just bluesy tunes played with some of the brattiest deliveries possible.
However, there is a little overlap between The Young Brothers and Osbourne’s musical upbringing. Both of them had grown up listening to the blues, but whereas Osbourne did enjoy acts like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, albums like Highway to Hell sounded like the Australian rockers took the basis of rock and roll that Chuck Berry started off with and never bothered to change it.
Does that make them a one-trick pony? Technically, yes, but in this case, that’s hardly a drawback. Going through their entire career, AC/DC have mapped out the exact equation to making a perfect track. Whether that’s the massive open chords on ‘Highway to Hell’ or the quick stabs of ‘Back in Black’, every one of their records has at least one moment where that rock and roll attitude is at its best.
Even when going through their entire discography, Osbourne couldn’t even pretend to pick out the best track from any of their records, saying, “I don’t have a favourite AC/DC song… because I love them all. AC/DC is one of the greatest rock bands ever, period.” For a group that’s been going too long, though, AC/DC have also carved out a certain niche for playing the most simplistic music possible.
After a casual guitar lesson learning basic chords, most people could get many of Malcolm Young’s guitar parts under their belt. Take ‘TNT’, for instance. The track is one of the most timeless pieces of music they made and has swagger virtually dripping off of it, but throughout the entire track, all that someone needs to know is just three chords to get them through everything.
That’s not a mark against them by any means, though. If anything, it’s a testament to their songwriting abilities that they can still make the fundamental pieces sound exciting for people. And while it’s easy to jam along at home, actually putting that kind of guitar part down with a band is one of the most deceptively challenging things any musician can do.
It’s simple on the surface, but if someone can’t get those chords to swing in just the right way, they have already lost half the battle with AC/DC. Sure, they’re simple, but they need to groove the right way to get any of the pieces to work.
