{"id":975189,"date":"2020-02-19T14:49:55","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T21:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=955168"},"modified":"2020-02-19T14:49:55","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T21:49:55","slug":"flashback-bon-scott-owns-the-stage-with-ac-dc-in-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/flashback-bon-scott-owns-the-stage-with-ac-dc-in-1979\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback: Bon Scott Owns the Stage With AC\/DC in 1979"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Half a year before Bon Scott<\/a>\u2019s death, he was riding high with his AC\/DC<\/a> bandmates on the North American leg of their If You Want Blood Tour. On July 21st, 1979, that trek brought them to Oakland for an appearance at the megafestival Day on the Green, where they played the same day as Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, and Rush, among others. Judging by video of AC\/DC\u2019s appearance, though, Bon Scott had enough energy for the whole day.<\/p>\n

During \u201cLive Wire,\u201d he writhes about the stage and leans into the mic, posing for the front row. At the start of the second song, he rips off his blue-jean vest and says, \u201cHere\u2019s a \u2018Problem Child\u2019 for you.\u201d And midway through the set, he has the audacity to challenge the crowd with a new song from a record that isn\u2019t even out yet: \u201cHighway to Hell.\u201d As the Young brothers kick into the main riff, so fresh it sounds a little wobbly, Scott sells it so hard that you can see the front row clapping along and banging their fists as he sings, \u201cNo stop signs, speed limit, nobody\u2019s gonna slow me down.\u201d Among other numbers, the rest of the set features \u201cThe Jack,\u201d his steamy ode to STDs, and a hard-rocking rendition of Let There Be Rock\u2019<\/em>s \u201cDog Eat Dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While the Aussie group had made a name for itself internationally throughout most of the Seventies, they had yet to make a real impact in the U.S. After Highway to Hell <\/em>\u2014 less than a week after Day on the Green \u2014 they became superstars. The album contained the singles \u201cGirls Got Rhythm,\u201d \u201cTouch Too Much,\u201d and, of course, \u201cHighway to Hell,\u201d which made it up to Number 47 on the Hot 100 by December 1979. The LP made it up to Number 17 on the Billboard <\/em>200 and went gold by that Christmas and platinum by March 1980; it\u2019s since been certified seven times platinum.<\/p>\n

Scott never had the chance to enjoy AC\/DC\u2019s success fully. On February 19th, 1980, he attended a band rehearsal, played drums on a couple of songs that would appear on that year\u2019s Back in Black,<\/em> and later went out to a London club called Music Machine. That night he died of asphyxiation, choking on his own vomit after drinking too much. He was 33.<\/p>\n

AC\/DC recruited Geordie frontman Brian Johnson that April and finished up Back in Black <\/em>shortly thereafter, releasing it in July 1980. \u201cI was sad for Bon,\u201d Angus Young said in a 1980 interview with Rolling Stone<\/a>.<\/em> \u201cI didn\u2019t even think about the band. We\u2019d been with Bon all that time; we\u2019d seen more of him than his family did.\u201d Despite the sadness, Malcolm Young said he never thought about ending the band. \u201cI thought, \u2018Well, fuck this. I\u2019m not gonna sit around mopin\u2019 all fuckin\u2019 year,\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cSo I just rang up Angus and said, \u2018Do you wanna come back and rehearse?\u2019 This was about two days afterward.\u201d Angus countered, \u201cI\u2019m sure if it had been one of us, Bon would have done the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Black <\/em>went on to become one of the biggest-selling albums in history \u2014 it\u2019s since been certified double-diamond, recognizing more than 25 million copies sold. The sudden interest in AC\/DC, though, inspired a renaissance for Bon Scott. The American release of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap<\/em>, in 1981, was an immediate hit, making it up to Number Three on the Billboard <\/em>200. In 1997, the band put out a box set, Bonfire,<\/em> which contained previously unreleased recordings Scott made with the band. It was also a hit, eventually going platinum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember [Bon] as a real professional and conscientious guy when we worked in the studio,\u201d Angus once said<\/a>. \u201cHe looked at it as his art. If we had a couple of days off, then he might go out and get a bit crazy. He had a great constitution. He was always the first one out of bed and always looked fit and healthy. He was a guy who really enjoyed life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Half a year before Bon Scott\u2019s death, he was riding high with his AC\/DC bandmates on the North American leg of their If You Want Blood Tour. On July 21st, 1979, that trek brought them to Oakland for an appearance at the megafestival Day on the Green, where they played the same day as Ted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-975189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 20:11:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KFMU Solar Powered Radio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}