Wednesday, February 22, 2006

A Tribute: Tragedy Of February 19

This post is a little late, but nevertheless, must be posted.

On February 19, 1980, Rock-N-Roll was forever changed. Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was found dead in London, in the back of a car where he had passed out the night before after a drinking binge. Bon was the legendary vocalist of AC/DC from between 1974 to 1979.

Scott, a Scot whose family moved to Australia (a move which the Young family made as well), was a pop star in Australia in the 1960s in the group The Valentines and followed by his stint in the band Fraternity. He saw AC/DC play in Adelaide in August 1974 when the band had its original singer Dave Evans. In September of that year, Scott had joined the group.

AC/DC would undergo several lineup changes in the 70s: Phil Rudd (drums)- 1975; Cliff Williams (bass)- 1977.

The supergroup had recorded 4 albums in 4 years between 1976 and 1979- (in order) High Voltage (the reason my other blog is called what it is), Let There Be Rock, Powerage, and Highway To Hell. The band had finally reached gold album status in the US in 1979 with Highway To Hell. Things were going AC/DC's way.

However, February 19, 1980 would shock the world. After Bon's untimely death, AC/DC would go back to work. On April 8, 1980, the band announced they had found a new singer- Brian Johnson of the band Geordie. Angus Young had said Bon had seen Brian once and liked him and if Bon liked him, he must have been good. Angus also added that he had never liked many people. Johnson would begin recording that year and AC/DC released its most popular album, Back In Black, later that year. Johnson and the band would also record many other albums throughout the 80s.

Scott attributed a great deal to AC/DC. Personally, my favorite album and the one I find most accomplishing of AC/DC's is Powerage. Every song is filled with raw emotion, blazing guitars, powerful singing, pounding drums, rythmic bass. This album not only showed the talent of the band, but was Bon Scott's best vocal performance.

Thanks for the music you left upon the world Bon Scott.

5 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

indeed, there was no better than Brian Johnson.

2/25/2006 2:03 PM  
Blogger Warren said...

The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.

2/25/2006 2:20 PM  
Blogger J.M. Seals said...

Not the biggest AC/DC fan, but Bon Scott rocked freaken hard that is for D#mn sure.

2/27/2006 6:01 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

elijah:

mutt produced the overall best of the AC/DC albums.

apparently, they are at it again in the studio. i heard a rumor on the radio back in January 2005, that Brian Johnson said that a new album would be out at the end of the year. it has been kept highly covert, but there have been a few details that are on the AC/DC message board. mutt might be back on board for this one, but nothing has been made certain, at least to the public.

"I just see them in the studio making the album, they must have had a big smile on their faces."

they probably did have a smile on their face, but i don't think that even they knew that 'Back In Black' was going to be such a monumentous album.

2/27/2006 8:33 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

f.b.:

welcome to the one-stop-shop-for-rock.

indeed, Bon was one of the best.

2/27/2006 8:36 PM  

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