AC/DC New album and Tour.

briany wrote: »

No doubt Gene and Paul are the business men behind KISS. In fact, with Gene you kind of get the feeling that music was just a gimmick to him that he could sell merch off of.

But in a way, he's honest in admitting it, and he discusses it, on this interview with Henry Rollins, from around the 9 minute mark, and at 11 minutes, how, in his opinion, a lot of bands in heavier genres contradict themselves when they criticise Kiss for their range of merchandise. (I used to swear to myself I'd never use the word genre!:D")

briany wrote: »

Speaking of Henry Rollins and KISS, his 'It's KISS!' story is hilarious. It's about him being talked into attended a KISS farewell tour show in San Bernardino California and rub shoulders with a bunch of crazy drug addled KISS fanatics.

But on topic of Gene. It's not his merch selling that should be a problem, but that the music is only really there to fuel that, or that's the impression he gives like it's an afterthought.

I must check out that story!

In the interview, and at around the 10 minute mark, Henry Rollins asks him what takes priority the music or the merchandising, and in his defence, Gene addresses it honestly!:)

In fairness to Kiss, they were probably one of the first bands to place emphasis on merchandising, and loads of others have followed their example, as Gene states with regard to bands selling t shirts. At most heavy rock or metal gigs now, you'll see t shirts at around 30 euros and hoodies around 50 euros and often they can be even more expensive.

From what I understand, Iron Maiden learned a lot about merchandising and stage presentation from Kiss, from when they toured together in 1980.

About 3 minutes in on this video, Rod Smallwood and Dave Murray discuss the success of their 1980 tour with Kiss. Dave mentions the impact that the theatrical presentation of the Kiss shows, had on them.



http://www.kissarmysweden.net/kiss-och-iron-maiden-unmasked-tour-1980

http://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/things-about-iron-maiden-that-annoy-you.28207/page-10

briany wrote: »

I respect Gene's honesty but I also think he's being somewhat hypocritical. He's also said that 'rock is dead', and laid the blame squarely at the door of illegal downloading. He neglected to mention the rise of corporate culture within the music industry as the 70s turned into 80s and the 'sell more units' philosophy, be it CDs or merch, which stifled creativity as record companies became less willing to take a bet on a new act than go for the tried and tested thing. Also 'the money goes up, sh*t comes down' structure became entrenched, meaning the CEO of Warner Brothers music and top execs make a packet while the artists could sometimes owing money on their contracts. So Gene on the one hand is open about his 'money first' philosophy, while failing to acknowledge how that philosophy has helped contribute to the decline of the record industry he's crying about.

But, on a slightly lighter note (:P), yes the Rollins story is awesome. All the Rollins stories are hilarious. His spoken word stuff is better than 95 percent of the stand up comedy out there and it's all real stories as far as I know.

Also check out Henry Rollins's two interviews with Nardwuar, in the first one, it's like he doesn't know what to make of, or how to respond to Nardwuar at all!:D

(Jello Biafra plays along much more in his Nardwuar interviews:))

horseburger wrote: »

Also check out Henry Rollins's two interviews with Nardwuar, in the first one, it's like he doesn't know what to make of, or how to respond to Nardwuar at all!:D

(Jello Biafra plays along much more in his Nardwuar interviews:))

Yeah, I love Nardwuar, he does some of the best interviews you'll see. Henry's just a crotchety character, really, although he's very animated and self-deprecating in his stand up. He knows what he's like and how he's perceived, but he doesn't seem bothered about changing it, although he doesn't mind making fun of it either.

A Nardwuar interview with AC/DC would be magic.

It seems play ball has leaked

jack presley wrote: »

It was hard to judge the quality of the song in the little snippet on the baseball ad but now that I've heard it in full, I actually like it. Of course it's typical AC/DC but if anyone's expecting something different they need their heads examined.

Yeap i liked it as well

Liking it, somewhat spoiled by the bit of Billy Idol at the the end, though

jack presley wrote: »

Was it 'leaked' though? It sounds like its actually been released to radios to play as opposed to it being leaked.

Well leaked is the wrong word, you get a download of it if you pre-order the album.

'Rock' in just the 4 of 11 song titles then

The boys working through a particularly creative period
Still, looking fwd to it. Play ball sounds good to me.

Grid. wrote: »

They could've made a better effort on the artwork.

Totally agree .... that looks like a dodgey knockoff

Artwork is muck.

Gotta love AB/CD though

jack presley wrote: »

Back in Black: pretty poor cover but one of the best selling albums of all time.

As long as the songs are good, I don't care if the album's released in a Tesco plastic bag.

The original vinyl cover was all black, with raised embossed lettering in black with a faint dark grey outline. It looked absolutely class. A great cover for a great title, befitting one of the best albums of all time.

Everything about BIB was great. Including the spine-chilling bell intro. They were completely back in business. On all levels.

briany wrote: »

You kind of wonder how they came back with such a strong effort. I mean, they would have already had the songs written probably, but just to sit down and work on it, to go out and hire a new singer and everything.

I have a theory based on the claim in Mick Wall's book that the Young brothers viewed Bon as being 'ultimately disposable' given his penchant for substances and booze (he dabbled with heroin early in his tenure with the band). The Young brothers had a quiet reputation amongst those who knew them personally as being fiercely ambitious in their plans for the band and they had probably already resolved to continue in the eventuality of Bon's death. Bon's dad told them they should continue, but I think they would have anyway.

McDave wrote: »

The original vinyl cover was all black, with raised embossed lettering in black with a faint dark grey outline. It looked absolutely class. A great cover for a great title, befitting one of the best albums of all time.

Everything about BIB was great. Including the spine-chilling bell intro. They were completely back in business. On all levels.

Am I right in thinking that there aren't any demo recordings of any of the songs from Back in Black, with Bon on vocals? Were all the songs written after he died?

Did they write songs according to how Brian or Bon would have sounded along with the music? For example I find that Back in Black has a much heavier sound than Highway to Hell.

I feel that there's a power and grittiness in Brian Johnson's voice that really suits songs from Back in Black like Hells Bells, Let Me Put My Love into You or Given The Dog A Bone.

I also really like Flick of the Switch, especially Brian's vocals on Landslide and Nervous Shakedown. I wonder would Bon Scott's vocals would have had the same impact on those type of songs on Back in Black and Flick of the Switch or stuff like Back in Business Again from Fly on the Wall. Then again, Fly on the Wall has quite a different sound on it compared to the earlier albums.

I guess we'll never know. It's a bit like wondering how Jimi Hendrix's career would have developed. Seemingly, in the year before he died, he wanted to do the showmanship burning his guitar type stuff less and less. I guess if he had lived, by now, he may well have released a duets album or two:) with Jimi re-recording Angel with Mariah Carey or something.:)

I must get the book by Mick Wall and the other one that was recommended, Maximum Rock n Roll by Murray Engleheart, http://www.acdcbook.com/

but there'd be a sadness reading it, in light of Malcolm Young's illness.