Twice live in Vienna

AC/DC: A compendium to get you in the mood for a concert

Brian Johnson and Angus Young are now graying in honor - the book "AC/DC - 50 Years" takes another in-depth look back at the history of one of the greatest rock bands.

(Bild: Hannibal Verlag, Christie Goodwin, Krone KREATIV)

In the lavishly illustrated hardcover book "AC/DC - 50 Years", music journalist and author Martin Popoff looks back in 50 chapters on the unique career of one of the biggest rock bands in the world. He doesn't hold back with partial criticism and interesting glimpses of little-examined side stories.

Yeah, gotcha. Of course, the 50th anniversary doesn't quite add up. When the two power brothers Malcolm and Angus Young founded AC/DC together with drummer Colin Burgess, bassist Larry Van Kriedt and singer Dave Evans in Sydney, Australia, it was November 1973, so the 50th anniversary was a few months ago, but this year we are at least celebrating the live return of the riff gods, which is why it is worth taking a quick look at the hardcover book "AC/DC - 50 Years", which was published last fall, even in light retrospect. The compendium was written by none other than Canadian author and music journalist Martin Popoff, who has already earned himself the status of a frequent contributor and has also squeezed 50 years of KISS between two book covers in parallel to this work.

Not as glamorous, but more successful
In terms of the basic layout, the writer-cobbler has stuck to his successful formula and proceeded identically for both bands: 50 years of band and music history are divided into 50 individual chapters, which are intended to provide a profound and comprehensive overview of the respective heroes. While KISS (finally?) retired live in their native New York last December, AC/DC are starting their umpteenth spring this spring. Fans have long since forgiven the lively guitar god Angus Young for being the last of the Mohicans after some initial squabbles. The history of AC/DC is a far less glamorous and much rougher one than that of KISS, but it is also a more successful one, because for a good 30 years it has been impossible to imagine the Australians outside of pompous stadiums.

Popoff may be closer to KISS personally than AC/DC - as you can tell from the direct comparison - but the author's heart and soul flows into every second here too. The showpiece of the oversized volume are rare and high-quality printed pictures of live concerts, tickets, tour posters and other brimborium, which will make truffle-sniffing rock fans' mouths water. The illustrations ensure that the retelling of a fairytale working-class career gets an extra push. Popoff hasn't used any special tricks for his historical narrative, but goes about his work in strict chronological order, which gives the goings-on a pleasant order and structure, but may seem a little too simple for long-time fans - and that will be the majority of readers.

Criticized and loved
It is almost impossible to tell the story of AC/DC in a few words. You learn that Angus Young didn't try his hand at being a schoolboy early on, but rather as Zorro or Gorilla, among other things, that the brothers were extremely strict but also rewarding when it came to success, and you get another insight into the incredible fact that after the tragic death from alcohol of legendary singer Bon Scott, of all people, the biggest success in the band's history was achieved with successor Brian Johnson and the album "Back In Black" in 1980. Early on in the band's history, alcoholic Malcolm and anti-alcoholic Angus persistently worked on the screws of success and created a rock'n'roll monster that was (wrongly) accused of compositional self-quotations throughout the decades, but which became so big that it shared the stage with the almighty Rolling Stones several times - literally and simultaneously.

However, Popoff does not spare the ambivalences and setbacks in his retrospective. The deaths of Scott and Malcolm Young may be well known in her narrative, but the author explains why the band lost its bite forever after the 1990 success "The Razors Edge" and why even the mediocre to rather questionable albums in the difficult 80s could not shake the band's rock god status with a mixture of coherent argumentation and passionate-personal perspective sharpening. To this end, he delves into the production and creation details of the studio and live albums and combines light reviews, which are of course strictly subjective. The fact that the author has also met musicians from the band in person here and there during his professional career flows pleasantly unpretentiously into the overall product, but gives the book an extra dose that would of course be missing from a pure Wikipedia transcription.

Delicacies are to be found
The special treats in the anniversary tome are those specially designated sub-chapters that really haven't been looked at that closely in the abundant literature on AC/DC. For example, you get detailed first-hand insights into how the legendary "Hells Bells" bell was made, or you can go back in time to follow Brian Johnson's already impressive career as the singer of the rough-and-tumble rockers from Geordie, through which he qualified for a position with the (then not yet) stadium rockers. As usual, AC/DC themselves had nothing to do with the book; the Young dynasty has always refused any collaboration or personal involvement in such projects. Of course, "AC/DC - 50 Years" will delight newcomers and hobby enthusiasts in particular, but even die-hard fans will be able to filter out one or two interesting stories. In any case, this is a worthy way to get in the mood for the live double in Vienna.

Twice live at the Happel Stadium
As part of their "Power Up" tour, AC/DC are coming to Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium for two "Krone" concerts on June 23 and 26. A few remaining tickets and all further information about the two mega-highlights of this concert summer are still available at www.oeticket.com.