Standing in line one day waiting for coffee, I overheard a girl in front of me talking to the guy behind the counter. "We were listening to AC-DC," she was saying, "and this guy walks by and says, "That stuff will rot your brain.'" It seemed to me that the girl was surprised at this unbidden criticism of the pleasures of her friends, enough so to share the anecdote with another friend, as if seeking commiseration to help with an affront. What's wrong with AC-DC, she seemed to want to know.
The answer is that there's nothing wrong with AC-DC. The guy who attempted to edify the youngsters with his admonition instead showed, as it were, his ass. AC-DC does what they do with expertise and imagination, which is all we can ultimately ask of artists. And hereby lays the point of this post: Ask if something is well done and done with imagination is a more useful critique than that which supposes a universal and perfect standard of "good" versus "bad," one which the scolding adult probably subscribes to. And I think this idea of a new critique justifies this little digression of Bookfly from books into music.
The girl's experience reminded me of one of my own. One day I was driving in my car listening to a classical music station. They were playing Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto," and I was enjoying it. I love Bach. When the piece ended and the station went to commercial, I hit a button to listen to something else, and landed on a Rock station playing AC-DC's song "Back In Black." I came in during the outro solo by lead guitarist Angus Young, which I particularly enjoy. I love AC-DC, too.
My brain did no double-take; I felt no lurching as I went from the 18th century Baroque composer to a 1980 four chord hard rock song made by a band from Australia, one member of which wears a schoolboy costume while performing. I enjoy both kinds of music equally. This is not to say they aren't different; even at the time I had to wonder why I didn't mind the switch. My conclusion was that it's because of imagination: both Bach and AC-DC, particularly guitarist Angus Young, are creative. Both work inside certain forms yet both somehow make music that surprises, that lasts and always sounds fresh.
Article comments
1 - alienboy
there's actually a long history of crossover interest between heavy rock and certain types of classical music
personally, i find both forms practically unlistenable in their bombast
help me out here: can one actually say "AC-DC does what they do"? isn't it an incorrect construction? long time since i did English but it just seems wrong...
2 - godoggo
Oh, the singular to plural thing, you mean. I'm pretty sure it's okey-dokey. Anyways, it reminds me of the definition of rock'n'roll given by one of the ACDCs after they'd been slagging on Eddie VH's guitar playing and Kiss's costuming as examples of things that it isn't: "Rock'n'roll is what we do."