With about 10,000 other lunatics, I celebrated the ideological and adolescent fantasies of the rock-n-roll monster that is AC/DC. Arriving early, fearing the worse with the new paperless ticketing system designed to thwart scalpers, we had no problem getting through the gate and past the $35 t-shirts, to find our 10th row seats. After removing the opening act’s gear, the stage was set for one of the most popular and enduring bands in rock.
The lights dropped and a large video screen behind the stage displayed a cartoon of the rock-n-roll train engineered by a devilish imp likeness of Angus Young. Of course on this train trouble arrived in the form of scantily clad ladies who distracted the band in various lascivious ways. The antagonists of the intro video, disproportionately built young women, who would make every parent cringe and every young boy anxious, set the tone for the evening. As Angus reached for the guitar that would save the train, the stage exploded with pyro and the screen split in two, as a full-sized steam train rolled onto the stage along with the band launching into the lead single, “Rock N’ Roll Train,” from the new album. “Black Ice” (available exclusively at Wal-mart) was well represented throughout the night with 4 of the set’s 18 songs.
With lyrics work-horse lyrics about the holy trinity—sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll—AC/DC are not encouraging mass dissent or protest. In fact, their brand of escapism keeps us more firmly entrenched in the hegemonic, patriarchal ideology of global capitalism. The video accompanying the concert version of “War Machine,” depicts woman and guitars being dropped out of a bomber outfitted with devil horns and piloted by you know who. They played their hits from “Highway to Hell” to “Back in Black” with brutal volume, guitar mastery, and staging to keep all the ADHD kids enthralled. Which brings us to the idea of “fetishistic disavowal”; the idea of saying, “I know very well, but… .” “I know I should not shop at Wal-mart because it furthers the exploitation of the working class, but… .”
As it relates to AC/DC: “ I know I shouldn’t be enjoying the objectification of women, the reveling in drug use, and the deafening loudness of the music, but…it’s awesome!!!”
I am actually a very big fan of AC/DC and can probably quote every single one of their songs so this opinion is obviously very biased.
ReplyDeleteAC/DC is a band that many people do not grow to like but automatically grow to either love them or hate them. They have a very different attitude but the same view on the same concept that many rock bands from their age seem to follow which as stated was "The holy trinity".
The means that they chose to interpret it in such a way is not any different from the beliefs displayed by other artists in other genres of music. Their display on the way that they feel should not be frowned upon but glorified by the fact that they are brave enough to try something that most would not agree with for something that they truly believe in.