“They’re rock solid”: The one iconic band Frank Zappa regretted not being able to sign
Somehow, Frank Zappa soberly made his way through the 1960s. His teetotal disposition may well have placed him in plentiful, tedious situations, but while his fellow rock stars drunkenly signed on any dotted line placed before them, the moustachioed maestro behind the Mothers of Invention got busy on the business side of music.
Before becoming a musician himself, Zappa worked in advertising. He knew that things needed to be sellable. Although he hated the increasing commerciality of music, he also knew that in the counterculture age, the art form had become 50% about image. So, he wondered whether there was a way he could swing this to his benefit—whether he could find genuinely great bands and use his knowledge to make them sellable, impacting culture and bringing in the bacon in one fell swoop.
So, he set up a dual record label, Bizarre and Straight. Over the years, he would identify and sign talents as eclectic as Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet being an old high school friend), Alice Cooper, and the GTOs. However, he also reconciled that he didn’t quite have the might to compete with the major labels, even if he could promise bands free creative license and just enough interference to make them a success.
So, when he was touring Australia with his family in the early 1970s, he became convinced that he had unearthed another gem perfect for his always colourful labels. AC/DC were struggling for airplay, and yet they were wowing crowds. The country was still practically in the midst of being constructed from scratch, so young workers would clock off after a tough day on the tools under the sun and relish rock ‘n’ roll, but the conservative radio stations just rattled off endless ballads.
Unable to bring in any degree of sustainable cash, the young band decided to shun their sensibilities and chase down a hit. “On our first album, High Voltage, we did a love song called ‘Love Song‘. That was very different for us. I didn’t know if we were trying to parody love songs of the time,“ Angus Young told Vulture. With lyrics like ‘When you smile I see stars in the sky / When you smile I see sunrise’ and an almost yacht-rock sound, it stands out in AC/DC’s back catalogue like a Guy Ritchie film about veganism.
Zappa figured he could save them from this unfortunate fate and make their heavy rocking mainstay easily marketable around the world. He became desperate to sign them. But the word had gotten out about the grubby youngsters from down under. “They ended up signing to Atlantic Records, but he wanted them for his own label because he thought they were great,“ Frank’s son Dweezil commented.
“I think he saw what everybody saw: they could play, they had a ton of energy, and they were authentic. It was blues-based and it had an attitude,“ and Frank Zappa adored both of those things. “The thing about AC/DC is they’ve carved a massive career out of playing one style that’s changed very, very little. That’s what people love – that consistency. They’re rock-solid and they have a great sound,” Dweezil told Classic Rock.
Sadly, AC/DC were also a group who had suffered a few hard knocks and barely had a dime to their name, so the perceived riches and security of a major label ensured that Atlantic won out. Over 200million record sales later, a figure that makes them one of the best-selling bands of all time, this is a decision that the Zappa family have sorely rued.
