AC/DC calling it quits.....
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SustainerPlayer
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Very sad. 
S
swarfrat
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Yeah. Wow. I've always said AC/DC rocked harder than the bazillion mush metal bands they inspired. Primarily because:
They knew how to make the holes louder!
Seriously. AC/DC is a blues band. It's a funk band, but where you move your head instead of your hips. It's a rock band. It's almost a rap band at times - tight couplets over sparse arrangements. The groove is big.
When you fill up all the holes with layers and layers and layers, and intricate subdivisions, you end up with the musical equivalent of an epileptic seizure - sure lots of activity is happening, but it's all firing at random and at odds with each other and you can't actually get anywhere. Big. Coordinated. Exaggerated. Steps. BAM.
Listen to the space they leave around the drummer in a lot of their big hits. A whole verse of vocal, drums, one guitar, waiting for the other shoe to drop. That is rock n roll done right folks.
They knew how to make the holes louder!
Seriously. AC/DC is a blues band. It's a funk band, but where you move your head instead of your hips. It's a rock band. It's almost a rap band at times - tight couplets over sparse arrangements. The groove is big.
When you fill up all the holes with layers and layers and layers, and intricate subdivisions, you end up with the musical equivalent of an epileptic seizure - sure lots of activity is happening, but it's all firing at random and at odds with each other and you can't actually get anywhere. Big. Coordinated. Exaggerated. Steps. BAM.
Listen to the space they leave around the drummer in a lot of their big hits. A whole verse of vocal, drums, one guitar, waiting for the other shoe to drop. That is rock n roll done right folks.
Cagey
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swarfrat said:
Couldn't agree more. You listen to some of the newer bands and it's like "We bought several keyboards with 256-voice polyphony and 36 spaces of racked SFX, and by God we're gonna use every one of those voices simultaneously at all times." Ends up sounding like pink noise with some inane lyrics overdubbed.
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swarfrat
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Aww don't stop now baggy britches, you were just gettin goin!
Jumble Jumble
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Cagey said:
Cagey
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Hehe! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a curmudgeon. But gimme a 3 or 4 piece rock band without all the trilly frills and I'm a happy camper. ZZ Top didn't/doesn't need a 64 piece orchestra behind them with enough reverb, multi-layered delay, aural exciters and flangers to drown an ocean liner.
DangerousR6
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Cagey said:
I like the best shred guitarists, if they're playing MUSIC, not exercises. I'd say Satriani and Paul Gilbert top my own personal list. BUT: there's a style of drumming that came up in the 80's called "blast beat." In looking it up I find started way back - in jazz! :laughing11: But metal bands looking for thump began using the blast beat first in the choruses and finales of songs, then more, then more, then... there are a couple of Paul Gilbert's newest albums that are just ruined by it, and there are some bands so overboard on it, blasting all through every movement of every song, it doesn't matter what else is going on, the sound of the band is just ruined. Why in the mane of dog would you want every single 32nd division of every single part of every song be whacked on by some clown blast-beating off all over the place?
Without soft music to set it up, there is no loud. Without rhythmic definition, there is no DRIVE. If a band wants to use swing in stages of their music, they damn sure better be able to play a tight straight time...
Even my teeny-boy guitar students can listen to Dragonforce and Black Veil Brides and tell what's wrong - there's no definition, the verses and choruses sound alike, there's no rhythm. AC/DC, Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers (especially the Allman Brothers), these guys could all swing like a howling mother.*
It goes right back to Elvis & Chuck Berry, mixing up a C&W straight time backing and playing/singing in dotted-eights R&B swing time on top. Kinda push-pull, tugging and pushing against itself... I would be willing to bet that another function of having 256 tracks that MUST ALL BE FILLED - and MIDI'd and locked to a time-clocking click track - I'd bet three paper towels and half a jar of peanut butter that all that anality kinda intimidates swing, too. :icon_thumright:
*(do your own visuals....)
Without soft music to set it up, there is no loud. Without rhythmic definition, there is no DRIVE. If a band wants to use swing in stages of their music, they damn sure better be able to play a tight straight time...
CoNtRAsT....
Even my teeny-boy guitar students can listen to Dragonforce and Black Veil Brides and tell what's wrong - there's no definition, the verses and choruses sound alike, there's no rhythm. AC/DC, Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers (especially the Allman Brothers), these guys could all swing like a howling mother.*
It goes right back to Elvis & Chuck Berry, mixing up a C&W straight time backing and playing/singing in dotted-eights R&B swing time on top. Kinda push-pull, tugging and pushing against itself... I would be willing to bet that another function of having 256 tracks that MUST ALL BE FILLED - and MIDI'd and locked to a time-clocking click track - I'd bet three paper towels and half a jar of peanut butter that all that anality kinda intimidates swing, too. :icon_thumright:
*(do your own visuals....)
Latest ... http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/acdc-lead-singer-brian-johnson-denies-band-is-breaking-up-set-to-record-in-may-20140416-36sj4.html
Also ...
Alex Young's son Stevie replaced Malcolm Young a few years back for a tour, and nobody knew the difference.
:rock-on:
Also ...
Alex Young's son Stevie replaced Malcolm Young a few years back for a tour, and nobody knew the difference.
:rock-on:
Re-Pete
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If AC/DC record new material it may sound different as Malcolm won't be there to rein in Angus.
Live, yeah, one of Malcolm's nephews did fill in for him for a few gigs when a tour got too much for him a few years back. But that rhythm part is one hell of a gig to do fulltime.
Lots of effort holding down the power chords & riffing under Angus - and Malcolm could do 2 hours solid of that stuff. The only other guys I have seen who could do that sort of grunt work so well, was Rick Parfitt of Status Quo & Mick Cocks of Rose Tattoo.
Malcolm was the band leader in so many ways, right from the start.
The music is straight from the pubs of Melbourne & Sydney from the mid 1970s, though I swear I hear an AC/DC styled riff starting up the EasyBeats song: Show Me The Way to St. Louis, which was written by elder brother George Young & Harry Vanda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKMGSj_j4lc
I have a heap of respect for Malcolm and his quiet achiever role, but I suspect the ravages of some hard living has caught up with him.
Live, yeah, one of Malcolm's nephews did fill in for him for a few gigs when a tour got too much for him a few years back. But that rhythm part is one hell of a gig to do fulltime.
Lots of effort holding down the power chords & riffing under Angus - and Malcolm could do 2 hours solid of that stuff. The only other guys I have seen who could do that sort of grunt work so well, was Rick Parfitt of Status Quo & Mick Cocks of Rose Tattoo.
Malcolm was the band leader in so many ways, right from the start.
The music is straight from the pubs of Melbourne & Sydney from the mid 1970s, though I swear I hear an AC/DC styled riff starting up the EasyBeats song: Show Me The Way to St. Louis, which was written by elder brother George Young & Harry Vanda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKMGSj_j4lc
I have a heap of respect for Malcolm and his quiet achiever role, but I suspect the ravages of some hard living has caught up with him.
Cagey
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Re-Pete said:
I've had the same thought. You watch the guy work, and the energy is just unnatural. Most people couldn't crank along like that for 3 minutes, let alone for a whole set. Guy's sweating like SRV, just pouring it out. Had to be pretty stimulated. I expected his heart to explode long ago.
TonyFlyingSquirrel
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He's been clean for years, but the early years and its damage, combined with age, excessive long hours & travel do indeed take their toll on an individual, and Mal is no spring chicken either.
Lots of respect, through, he's been one of the most consistent rhythm guitar players and songwriters for a very long time.
Lots of respect, through, he's been one of the most consistent rhythm guitar players and songwriters for a very long time.
S
swarfrat
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Living clean and sitting on your rear end at a computer has its own ravages. I don't think I'd be able to put on the animated show they do at 60.
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swarfrat said:
I play Malcolm in an AC/DC tribute band (see my avatar). I've spent more time than most studying Malcolm's rhythms, and I couldn't agree more.
There's an old adage that if you want a song to really groove you have to "give the 2 and the 4 to the drummer." Back in Black is a perfect example of that. There is enough space in that song for a whole 'nother song!
Re-Pete
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Well, it's been about a week or more since this announcement. Angus: I'm still waiting for your phone call to fill in for Malcolm. :redflag:
C'mon, I'm an Aussie guitar player. Grew up 'just down the road' from where you & Malcolm grew up and went to school. One of my ex- Brothers-in-Laws even went to High School with you, Angus! :headbang:
If you are reluctant for the personal call, you can sign on here & leave a DM if you like. :icon_thumright:
(Anything to get me out of this gawdforsakenjob I presently suffer)
C'mon, I'm an Aussie guitar player. Grew up 'just down the road' from where you & Malcolm grew up and went to school. One of my ex- Brothers-in-Laws even went to High School with you, Angus! :headbang:
If you are reluctant for the personal call, you can sign on here & leave a DM if you like. :icon_thumright:
(Anything to get me out of this gawdforsakenjob I presently suffer)
