In a new interview with Vulture, Angus Young was asked to name the “most regrettable AC/DC song” of all time. He responded: “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, because Bon [Scott, the band’s then-vocalist] wrote the lyrics. I don’t even remember what the words are. I remember that song because the guy who worked for us at our record label told us that’s what was on the local radio at the time — very soft music. His thought we should release that song, because it’ll probably get some airplay. I remember thinking, ‘Who in their right mind would want this to go out?’
“We were very fortunate, though, because all of the radio stations who had seen us live knew this was not who we were,” he continued. “So these stations started to flip the record over and play the other song, which was a cover of a blues standard called ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’. We actually scored a hit from the B-side. That was the one saving grace of the song.”
Scott was invited to join AC/DC by Glasgow-born brothers and founding members Angus and Malcolm Young in 1974, and achieved international stardom before his death at the age of 33 in 1980 from alcohol poisoning.
He sang on AC/DC‘s first six studio albums, including “High Voltage”, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, “Let There Be Rock” and “Highway To Hell”.
Angus told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that the band almost didn’t get past Scott‘s death. “Bon was the big… He was a full-on frontman, plus he had this great character, you know. I mean, he just lived that rock ‘n’ roll life. With Bon, what you saw was what you got, and, yeah, it was pretty, pretty tough.”
AC/DC‘s latest album, “Power Up”, recently hit the No. 1 spot in 18 countries, including in the U.S., where it sold over 117,000 copies in the first week.
AC/DC is the only Australian group in history to have had a No. 1 album in its home country across five decades: “Back In Black” (1980s), “Ballbreaker Live” (1990s), “Black Ice” (2000s), “Rock Or Bust” (2010s) and “Power Up” (2020s).
“Power Up” holds Germany’s biggest first week of 2020 and the biggest first week for an international act in four years, as well as being the U.K.’s fastest-selling album of 2020 and the biggest first week of the year. In the U.K., it opened with first-week sales of 62,000. 52,955 units of these were on a physical format (CD, vinyl, cassette).
“Power Up” was recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Brendan O’Brien, who also worked 2008’s “Black Ice” and 2014’s “Rock Or Bust”.
“Power Up” is a tribute to Malcolm, who died in 2017 from effects of dementia at age 64. Malcolm is credited as a writer on all 12 tracks on “Power Up”, along with Angus.
