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Even diplomats just love to rock
Sir Christopher Meyer17 Apr 2009
I have worshipped at the shrine of AC/DC since waiting in my car for my son to emerge from a Putney barber shop. That was almost 30 years ago. I had the radio on and there it was, the perfect rock '*' roll song, Highway To Hell.
The genius of this Scottish-Australian band is they have taken simple ingredients - riff, hook, chorus, rasping vocals, guitars and a beat like thunder - and mixed and re-mixed them for 30 years to become the best rock and roll band around. That's why they have returned victorious to London this week.
They sing better than the Stones, they have stayed closer to their blues roots than Led Zeppelin, they are less pretentious than The Who.
ABy the way, don't put AC/DC in the same bag as Iron Maiden. Heavy metal is a hard rock derivative. A slick juggernaut Maiden may be but like most British heavy metal bands they are more a novelty act.
I was having one of those old farts' debates the other day about the greatest album ever made. My friend, a devotee of Van Morrison, unintentionally made the killer point: "But AC/DC always sound the same!" Exactly. Rock, like blues, is meant to be simple. Jazz-rock fusion? Ugh! Symphonic rock, art rock, psychedelic rock - get thee behind me, Pink Floyd and the rest of you poseurs. Give me Status Quo, any day!
Pretention and complexity are the enemies of rock. But so is the notion that it is the music of youthful rebellion. It deals across the generations in the three pillars of life: sex, alcohol and money. As Little Richard, sang in The Girl Can't Help It: "It makes Grandpa feel like 21."
AC/DC, led by Angus Young, have endured because they remain true to their blues-based roots. What they lack in sophistication, they gain in emotional impact. Their latest album, Black Ice, may not be their best but when they went out on stage to packed houses this week, it was a tribute not just to the band but to the appeal of hard rock.
* Sir Christopher Meyer was formerly UK ambassador to the USA and chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.
