Bigal Ranks the AC/DC Discography

[Bigal]

AC/DC were my first love in music, and remain my favourite band by a country mile. Maybe it's the fact that I've been listening to them more lately than I have in ages or the fact that I got tickets to their Glasgow gig in June, but I feel like giving my personal opinion on their albums. At first I was just going to do it chronologically, but I've decided to rank them in order of preference.

Probably hardly anybody will care, but hey, you never know, maybe I'll make someone a fan of the band or something. Meh, fuck it, I'll be posting this anyway >_>

So let's start with the first two albums in the list, which are of course the worst in AC/DC's discography:

#20 - Fly On The Wall (1985)

Track Listing

1. Fly On The Wall

2. Shake Your Foundations

3. First Blood

4. Danger

5. Sink The Pink

6. Playing With Girls

7. Stand Up

8. Hell or High Water

9. Back In Business

10. Send For The Man

Band Line-up

Vocals - Brian Johnson

Lead Guitar - Angus Young

Rhythm Guitar - Malcolm Young

Bass Guitar - Cliff Williams

Drums - Simon Wright

Produced by Angus Young and Malcolm Young

Fly on the Wall (incidentally the first AC/DC album not to be released a year after the previous one) was made at the height of the glam-rock era, and it’s very easy to see that the album was an attempt to go completely against the grain and stick to the hard rock roots of the band. Unfortunately, while the band concentrated on keeping its sound simple, it forgot to come up with any good songs or memorable riffs.

FOTW is far and away the worst AC/DC album. Really it’s only half-decent songs are the title track and Sink the Pink, and the latter is poor enough that I honestly can’t remember the riff off-hand. The production isn’t up to scratch (although I must confess to not having heard the remastered version of the album), and definitely the drums are lacking something without longtime drummer Phil Rudd, who left the band after a punch-up with Malcolm Young.

Even worse than their pretty poor previous album, AC/DC were in danger of being labelled as dinosaurs and out-of-touch in 1985. As you’ll see, they managed a revival with their next full-fledged studio album.

#19 - Who Made Who (1986)

Track Listing

1. Who Made Who

2. You Shook Me All Night Long

3. D.T.

4. Sink the Pink

5. Ride On

6. Hells Bells

7. Shake Your Foundations

8. Chase The Ace

9. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

Band Line-up

Various

Produced by Various

When Stephen King decided to make a movie of his book Maximum Overdrive, he asked AC/DC to supply the soundtrack. A huge fan of the band, King was delighted when the request was answered in the affirmative.

What followed was a compilation of various Brian Johnson songs and one song from the Bon Scott days (Ride On). The album only features three new tracks, both of which are instantly forgettable instrumentals. The title track, however, is probably the band’s best of the mid-80s (admittedly not saying much), and is notably different from most AC/DC songs. There’s some of the band’s very best songs on here, yet for some reason there’s two from Fly On The Wall. Maybe the budget was running out or something.

The album was basically a filler until the next big studio album, and while there’s some great songs on it, the fact that they’d already been released means I can’t rank Who Made Who any higher. Incidentally, don’t go looking for Maximum Overdrive; it’s fucking awful.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Bigal T

[Mick]

Fly on the Wall was NOT the worst AC/DC album, Bigal. They have at least 3 good songs on it (Sink the Pink, Shake the Foundations, and Playing with Girls). On top of that, I'm amazed that you rated Who Made Who below that. It has two songs from Back in Black on it, For Those About To Rock, and Ride On for the Bon Scott enthusiasts.

Really, you should've started the list with the REAL bottom of the shit can, that being Flick of the Switch, and followed it up with Blow Up Your Video.

[Bigal]

I'll accept Flick of the Switch, but Blow Up Your Video? I used to hate it, but it's now one of my favourites.

And I rated WMW so low because of the lack of original tracks, not its quality.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Bigal T

[ROC]

"D.T." was one of the original instrumentals, right? If so, come on, what a fucking awesome instrumental.

[JStarr]

Slightly off-topic, but yes, Maximum Overdrive was the drizzling shits. Mainly because it was based off a short story, not even a proper book. Two hours is a lot to get out of a short story, especially one that just involves people hiding from pissed-off mechanical devices.

Back on topic, I'd probably agree to Mick's theory. Sure, the material was on other albums first, but at least most of it was kick-ass. But, of course, it's Bigal's list, not ours, and more power to him for putting it out there. But seriously, Bigal, "no one cares"? I could do one of these for Prince, and then you'd see the REAL definition of "no one cares." (Y)

[METALMAN]

Prince is awesome.

I would like to see a top three of Dirty Mind, Purple Rain and Sign O' The Times.

As for AC/DC, I don't know a great deal of their songs so thus far the only ones I know are on the compilation. However it's and interesting idea and I will be reading.

Edited January 29, 2009 by metalman

[Mick]

"D.T." was one of the original instrumentals, right? If so, come on, what a fucking awesome instrumental.

It is!

I wish AC/DC did more instrumentals. It's too bad the only other one is "Chase the Ace".

I'll accept Flick of the Switch, but Blow Up Your Video? I used to hate it, but it's now one of my favourites.

To be honest, I think I tried listening to Flick once; Christmas Night, 2000 (When I got it to complete my collection). Blow Up Your Video has two AWESOME songs, but sadly, the rest is pretty meh.

And to everyone, somehow find a way to listen to Playing With Girls. Trust me on this.

[Bigal]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rrENWd8E6c4

There.

And I don't see the big deal, tbh.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Bigal T

[Bigal]

#18 Flick of the Switch (1983)

Track Listing

1. Rising Power

2. This House Is On Fire

3. Flick Of The Switch

4. Nervous Shakedown

5. Landslide

6. Guns For Hire

7. Deep In The Hole

8. Bedlam In Belgium

9. Badlands

10. Brain Shake

Band Line-up

Vocals - Brian Johnson

Lead Guitar - Angus Young

Rhythm Guitar - Malcolm Young

Bass Guitar - Cliff Williams

Drums - Phil Rudd

Produced by AC/DC

As the three albums so far can attest, the mid-80s were a tough time for AC/DC. I’m of the opinion that the first two Brian Johnson albums are up there with anything released in the 70s, but this, the third, lacked any classic tracks and I would argue has only three very good or great tracks; the title track, Rising Power and Bedlam In Belgium.

Flick of the Switch is probably the last AC/DC album where Brian Johnson’s voice still had the raw power he once possessed, and his vocals are probably the best thing on here. The album is also notable for being longtime drummer Phil Rudd’s last for 13 years. In fact, the videos for the album’s single all feature his replacement, Simon Wright.

Not their worst album, Flick of the Switch is nevertheless one of the weakest AC/DC releases. As I said before, it was the beginning of a mid-80s lull, and it wasn’t until the end of the decade that they got their groove back.

#17 ‘74 Jailbreak (1984)

Track Listing

1. Jailbreak

2. You Ain’t Got A Hold On Me

3. Show Business

4. Soul Stripper

5. Baby, Please Don’t Go

Band Line-Up

Vocals - Bon Scott

Lead Guitar - Angus Young

Rhythm Guitar - Malcolm Young

Bass Guitar - Rob Bailey, Mark Evans, George Young

Drums - Tony Currenti, Peter Clack, Phil Rudd

Produced by Harry Vanda & George Young

‘74 Jailbreak was an EP of tracks previously unreleased outside of Australia. Basically, for reasons unknown to me, the first three or four AC/DC albums in Australia were released with different track listings in the rest of the world. High Voltage and T.N.T were released internationally as one album with a number of tracks dropped, and there were edits to Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and Let There Be Rock.

Anyway, two of the five tracks are excellent, and they are Jailbreak (which is now a staple of the live show) and Show Business. The other three are pretty forgettable, but they’re nothing offensive. Despite the two great tracks, though, there’s not enough on the EP to justify putting it any higher. I got it for about a fiver; I doubt it’s worth much more.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Bigal T

[METALMAN]

I love Flick of the Switch. The song that is.

I always get the AC/DC and Thin Lizzy Jailbreak mixed up.

[Turbo Yannis]

When are you going to do this?