Scotscub57 yrs“What I think AC/DC are going to do to heavy metal,” Sutcliffe wrote, “is crack it and tilt it sideways.” Describing AC/DC as “a completely physical rock’n’roll experience,” he stated: “The two Youngs’ music is like a forge in a black night beating heat and energy together into something almost beautiful it’s so strong. And Bon Scott’s lyrics, well, they got balls.”
In this feature there was also a comment from Bon that would become famous. “They say to me are you AC or DC?” Bon said. “And I say, ‘Neither, I’m the lightnin’ flash in the middle.’”
Phil Sutcliffe’s support for the band would prove hugely influential, and he, like so many others, was immediately drawn to Bon. As he recollected, “Bon was so eccentric and yet so down-to-earth. On stage he was like a pirate, sort of leathery and macho, but in a comic way. Wherever he was, he made people feel good. And he attracted girls because he was a load of fun – you could tell that girls thought, what a laugh it would be to roll around in bed with him.”
In seven months, the band had worked their way up from the Red Cow pub to the Reading Festival and the Hammersmith Odeon. When AC/DC finished their UK tour in Oxford on 15 November, it was mission accomplished.
AC/DC: For Those About to Rock by Paul Elliott (£25, Palazzo Editions) is out this month. The book is illustrated with more than 250 rare and unseen photographs. For more info: palazzoeditions.com
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