![]() This was at odds with my metal/mental cosmology. And neither was probably his "real" self because they were just parts of things he could do to make a living and maybe have some fun. Because Bon was now a real person with a real past, where he had worked his way through his chosen profession as real people do. Puffy sleeves, harmless smile, Bay City Rollers haircut, doing the second vocal on one of the most harmless songs ever with The Valentines. Then the other day I see him in this video. But none of that march toward mediocrity involved Bon Scott. Years passed, the spookiness subsided, I saw AC/DC live and realized they weren't evil, just noisy, Brian Johnson sounded sort of like Scott and wore a hat all the time for some reason, they kept making albums that got steadily worse, and now they tour with portly Axl Rose on vocals. HE MUST HAVE RIDDEN ON THE ACTUAL HIGHWAY TO HELL TO GET THERE. He was probably seated at Satan's right hand even at that moment. ![]() He had died with all the potentially evil laughing secrets. ![]() Then, the person who brought the album, let's just say it was Greg Sherman (Greg! Email me!), told us all that Bon Scott was dead. Being the heaviest band was, in real-world terms, like being the President or the richest person on Earth. With AC/DC, there were serious conversations about how this is the heaviest heavy metal you've ever heard. So all we had to go on about a band were articles in Hit Parader, Creem or Rolling Stone (which many of us lacked the means and permission to acquire) and album covers. MTV had not quite happened yet, let alone YouTube and social media. So actual danger, the danger we were stupid enough to carry in our pockets, was not a big deal because we understood what knives were. Far from being hauled into the office or expelled or arrested, these kids would at most be told by teachers to put those things away. Now, all this was happening at a time and at a school where a lot of the boys would regularly bring knives to school - jackknives mostly, but other types as well - to display to classmates but also to stick in things, cut things, and occasionally whittle(!) during down time. About Satan! And these professional recording artists are so stupid and naïve that they would unwittingly loose Hell's fury upon us all! I had to conclude that one of two things was going on that day: either this band were legit actual Satanists and Bon Scott was laughing about how the Dark Lord would reap souls whilst mewling mortals fruitlessly wailed OR they were all JUST KIDDING. And here was probably Greg Sherman just bringing this to class. As children, we had to be on guard against Satan. Satan wasn't an antiquated theological construct, Satan was real and evil and constantly looking to claim your soul and drag you to hell (Satan would replaced as an omnipresent threat a few years later by Drugs). Back then, in the aftermath of The Exorcist and toward the dawning of an era of religious conservatism, people were terrified of the Devil. I'd like to say that I became metal that day but I was too nervous a child and instead I was just scared. ![]() Highway to Hell! Left to right, we have Malcolm Young looking like every friend of my older brother, bassist Cliff Williams getting forgotten in back, what looks like a stoned Phil Rudd, Angus Young with devil horns, a devil tail, and a Mick Jagger sneer, and then Bon Scott THINKING THIS IS ALL HILARIOUS. ![]()
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