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No one knows metal better than Lucas Aykroyd, author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book and reviewer for the Georgia Straight, Classic Rock, and Exclaim! Here he picks the five best pop-metal LPs from the decade time forgot Click to view Top 5 Eighties Heavy Metal LPs.
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Best For Air Guitar (AC/DC, Back in Black) |
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 AC/DC's Angus Young is famous for quipping that his band simply put out the same album over and over again. Don't believe him. The stunning guitar riffs on Back in Black put this 1980 recording, one of the bestselling albums of all time, way out in a class of its own. |
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However, 1980 didn't begin well for this classic Australian quintet. The band members would have to be truly resilient to create triumph out of tragedy.
Let's put things in context. AC/DC's popularity had grown rapidly since the mid-1970s. Its guitarists, brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, forged a raw, driving, bluesy sound that veered more and more toward heavy metal with each new album. 1979's Highway to Hell, produced by Robert John 'Mutt' Lange, became the band's American breakthrough, peaking at No 17 on the Billboard charts and selling more than six million copies worldwide. |
Hard Living |
| Although Angus Young's on-stage antics (such as doing the Chuck Berry "duck walk" in his traditional schoolboy uniform) played a major role in cementing the roguish AC/DC image, singer Bon Scott, below, provided the ideal voice: urgent, leering, and whisky-soaked. |
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 The tattooed Scottish-born vocalist was, quite frankly, the kind of guy who would probably have ended up in jail if he had not found his calling in rock and roll. His hard-living approach cost him his life on February 19, 1980, when he was found dead in a car in London after a night of heavy drinking. His death certificate records the cause as "acute alcoholic poisoning". Bon was gone, and the future of AC/DC was very much in doubt.
After some deliberation, the other band members concluded that their dead singer would have wanted them to keep the music alive. Auditions for a new frontman began. The chosen candidate was Newcastle native Brian Johnson, whose signature style included a cap pulled down over his eyes and, more importantly, a shrieking rasp of a voice that boasted more range than Scott's (although some hardcore fans would maintain that Scott had greater character). This proved to be one of the few unquestionably successful lead singer transplants in rock history.
With "Mutt" Lange on board again for production duties, AC/DC decided not to simply use the material they'd worked up with Scott for this all-important sequel to Highway to Hell. Instead, the writing process began anew, with Johnson collaborating with the Young brothers. The recording proceeded swiftly in the Bahamas. By July, Back in Black was unleashed upon the world, and air guitarists had a new LP to revere.
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Headbanging |
The album title clearly mingles a feeling of darkness and sorrow for a fallen comrade (Black) with the band's refusal to quit (Back). The classic opening track, "Hell's Bells", kicks off with an ominous bell tolling that leads into a dark, arpeggiated guitar part. Gradually, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams introduce a throbbing groove into the mix, and the Young brothers double up on a new, viciously crunching verse riff. Truly at the peak of his powers, Johnson screams out lyrics about a wicked soul collector. The chorus cleverly reintroduces the opening part, performed with a giant echoing quality, and the subsequent Angus solo is a masterpiece of aggressive bluesy flash. This track alone is enough to crack your neck if you're not an experienced headbanger, so to speak.
For sheer propulsive energy, the verse riff of "Shoot to Thrill" is tough to beat. This is the band's favorite kind of tough rock and roll, a down-to-the-floor bar boogie, as Johnson wails about his ability to solve the problems of "All you women who want a man of the street/But don't know which way you want to turn". The late-song breakdown, reminiscent of the synthesizer opening of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" is another highlight.
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 The title track features one of the most recognisable musical signatures in any genre, whether you're talking Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" or Beethoven's Fifth. Right at the start, eight deceptively low-key cymbal ticks are followed by a single, blunt E power chord, followed by a D triplet, and an A triplet. It's a riff that howls to be turned up and mimed all over your living room. Johnson's message of defiance and ecstatically screeching vocal interplay with that riff makes it even more powerful. "Back in Black" has been covered by non-heavy metal artists like the Hives and Shakira, and it's been sampled by rappers such as Eminem and the Beastie Boys.
"You Shook Me All Night Along" was the hit single from this album, reaching No 35 in the USA. While the lyrics are a thing of adolescent sexual fantasy, what makes this track is the hard-hitting verse riffs courtesy once more of the Youngs. The raw melodic arpeggiation of that let's-all-bawl-along chorus caps off the song's appeal. And the chorus riff of "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" has surely gotten some air guitarists into trouble as they stomp around on the floors of their apartments to the displeasure of the neighbours below.
Even album tracks like "Shake A Leg" and "Have A Drink On Me" are great fodder for six-string connoisseurs. Thanks in great part to Back in Black, AC/DC's rough and ready style has never gone out of fashion. Some 21 million copies of this album have been sold, and it appeals to both pop-metal lovers and more hardcore types. Even compared to later AC/DC successes such as For Those About To Rock We Salute You and The Razor's Edge, this one stands out in terms of its air guitar potential from start to finish. |
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