High Voltage--the first, still so good

For awhile now, my car cd selection has been High Voltage only, over and deliriously over again. When I bought it in mid-December in those early days of my AC/DC infatuation, it was my number three choice after Highway to Hell and of course, Back in Black. Once I heard it, though, I kept coming back to it, cranked up to eleven, listening all the way through each time, eventually wondering why, why, and how Rolling Stone could label it “a new low in rock n roll.” Did that reviewer even listen to any of the tracks on the album? Or, is the evidence all too convincing? Rolling Stone has been an irrelevant rag ever since the mid 70’s. If rock n roll was ever about feeling good and saying it really loud, look no further than High Voltage. Far from a low, it’s a raucously joyous high of a ride through rock dreams and girl fantasies by guys that clearly won some, maybe lost quite a few, but those they won were memorable, possibly even for all parties involved.

Leave aside It’s a Long Way to the Top and The Jack—sure, go ahead try to ignore them—and focus on only five of the cuts: Rock n Roll Singer, Live Wire, Can I Sit Next to You Girl, TNT, and High Voltage (I’ll obsess over Little Lover another time, okay?) and you’ve got a straight on, kick ass, rock n roll set that—raw and ready--crashes the house down. We’re willing captives to a bunch of cocky, rowdy, rock band guys who, in their first album, no less, already know: “I got the devil in my blood, Tellin' me what to do (and I'm all ears). Gonna be a rock 'n' roll singer, gonna be a rock 'n' roll star.” They make no promises they can’t keep: “send you to heaven, take you to hell, I ain’t fooling, can’t you tell?” and play their hearts out night after night, no doubts in their collective mind that they are going to make it as rock stars and/or with all the girls they meet (on their rocking highway to hell): ‘cause I’m TNT, I’m dynamite. When Bon yells “stick this in your fuse box” and Angus lets it rip with his killer guitar solo, well, who can even think straight, much less question their creds? By that point, we desperately want to be or be with these guys--“hotter than a rollin’ dice. Wilder than a drunken fight.”

Moving on to a dive-y bar with a live band, admit it, who hasn’t wanted this exhilarating question on a Saturday night? “Can I sit next to you, girl?” Especially if it’s coming from the no name, kinda cute, wannabe rocker up there on the stage? If he had the guts to ask, could she say no? As listeners, we're outsiders getting an unforgettable and irresistable feel for the rock band life highs and lows, and we’re included as a necessary element of the total experience--so awesome! The crowning jewel among these rubies and pearls of rock gemstones is High Voltage. AC/DC is rarely given credit for lyrical styling, but High Voltage is a superb example of Bon Scott’s diamond in the rough, spot on writing gift. The cool hook is setting the song as a series of questions: from family, or (possibly) a girlfriend’s father, and maybe, one day, an interviewer: why I grow my hair, why I’m in a band, why I like to sing, why I like to play. Only one answer, one reason: the band does it for HIGH VOLTAGE ROCK AND ROLL!!! When Bon screams: wine, women and song, jeez, all the rock elements—words, drums, guitars--come together and the power the music gives the band washes over us mere mortals as we’re swept up in AC/DC’s pulsating rhytm and rush into complete abandon to the moment.

The free for all feel of the seamless collaboration between words and music so evocatively conjures up the band's--and our--rock n roll dreams and adventures, real or only wished-for, that today when we listen, we’re inexorably sucked into a dizzy, wild tumble of right here, right now lyrics with no subtle meanings to confuse or distract us, scorching, pure guts guitar breaks exquisitely laid over heart pounding drums and aggressively hard as a rock bass and rhythm guitars. Just give yourself up to the sweaty, driving, good-time energy and love it, love it, love it.

Whew…anybody for a cigarette? Before listening to High Voltage again…cranked up to eleven….