The album Malcolm Young believed “summed up” AC/DC perfectly
AC/DC was never concerned with having the most eclectic discography in hard rock. They were the epitome of the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, and given how well fans flocked to albums like Power Up, it’s not like they were exactly suffering from writing the same song style every now and again. There were still many that stood out above all the rest, and during the group’s prime, Malcolm Young thought that everything AC/DC was all about could be summed up in the live album If You Want Blood You’ve Got It.
When looking through their discography, though, there wasn’t really much to miss out on when tearing through the Bon Scott period. Despite being considered disposable by the group, Scott was one of the most honest rock and rollers to walk the Earth, usually making the kind of lyrics that made you want to be his best mate when going out for drinks.
For all of the great music that they made on record, though, they were a completely different entity live. Regardless of how many bluesy licks they tore through on any given record, seeing Malcolm’s brother Angus lose his mind in his signature schoolboy somehow made sense when sitting next to Scott singing about being a whiskey-swigging rock and roll star.
While most artists talk about doing damage onstage, though, Malcolm wasn’t just talking that up as some publicity for the group. Looking back on his stage habits, he was known to get to the point where all of his picks would be crushed to powder by the time he was finished with any given set, usually having to go through a number of them during a show and said that he could smell the smoke in the air when one of them disintegrated.
So when they finally got to release a live record, If You Want Blood You’ve Got It is one of the most feral recordings any group made around that time. Every track might not be perfectly in tune or anything, but even in the biggest arenas in the world, they still managed to make it feel like being in a sweaty club playing the loudest blues you’ve ever heard.
The studio touches may be all well and good, but Malcolm knew that they were in their natural habitat onstage, telling Louder, “If You Want Blood was exactly where we were at that stage in our career. That record summed the band up perfectly, and it was recorded at one of the best gigs of that tour at the Glasgow Apollo. I haven’t actually listened to it for years, but I’ve seen clips of us on TV playing some of those songs and it reminded me of how good the band sounded at the time.”
Although times may have been going a bit too well after Scott was found dead of alcohol poisoning, that didn’t stop the group for a second. On the tour for Back in Black, Brian Johnson was more than worthy of filling Scott’s shoes, and Angus seemed even more energised than before running through tracks like ‘Hells Bells ’ in a live setting.
But there’s a certain magic to what Scott brought to these live tunes that will probably never be reproduced again. All AC/DC is about pure rock and roll fun, but as they were still on the rise, there’s still a sense of innocence listening to tunes like ‘Let There Be Rock’ in this setting.
