Ohhhh yeahhhh boiiiii
OK I felt that this take would deserve a grand introduction like that XD R.I.P VH1 Classic...
So, For Those About To Rock...
Released in November 23rd, 1981, it is AC/DC's eighth album released in Australia, and seventh released internationally. It came right after their successful hit "Back In Black", which was an album that marked the beginning of the Brian Johnson era. FTATR (that's just a shortened version of the long album name i'll use) was AC/DC's first and only # 1 album in the United States, till Black Ice came along in 2008. This album also sold past 4 million copies. In Australia, it peaked # 3 on music charts. Rolling Stone magazine considered it the best album made.
Track list for this album:
1. For Those About To Rock
2. I Put The Finger on You
3. Let's Get It Up
4. Inject The Venom
5. Snowballed
6. Evil Walks
7. C.O.D
8. Breaking The Rules
9. Night of The Long Knives
10. Spellbound.
Yes, AC/DC's trinity of sex, drugs, and rock n roll (or their way of saying it, as "wine, women and song") along with a little more spice to it. I'll let Angus Young do the explaining of some of the songs here:
"Evil Walks": "As the name says, evil walks. It's everywhere. Actually it's just a catchy title with a catchy tune. We were playing it at the beginning and I said, 'those chords sound dead evil.' And that's usually how we do it – just sitting around and nattering and thinking and jamming away, and someone says something like 'evil walks' and that's it. Some crud just sent me a letter – addressed to Bon too – sending us these stupid things. Some people are sick. If they want to go God-bothering they should go God-bother the Pope. He needs it. We don't...I had one idiot trying to blast away in my earhole. He started with 'Do you believe in God?' and I said 'I've no interest in it so leave me alone.' Their main beef is songs like 'Highway to Hell.' But they're just titles. It's only a song."
"C.O.D. (Care of the Devil)": Most people think C.O.D – cash on delivery. I was sitting around trying to come up with a better one and I came up with 'Care of the Devil.' We're not black magic Satanists or whatever you call it. I don't drink blood. I may wear black underwear now and again but that's it."
"Let's Get It Up": You can take it one of two ways. Let's get it up, meaning musically up, or..."
"Snowballed": "Meaning you've been conned, fooled again. And we figured we'd been tricked enough in our time, so we came out with that. It could be the woman you're paying alimony to, anything."
"Put The Finger On You": "That's basically a gangster line like they do in the movies...We're not putting the finger on anyone in particular. It's always been the other fucking way around."
"Inject The Venom": "That's a power thing like 'For Those About To Rock.' It just means, have it hot."
"Night Of The Long Knives": "It's like a horror movie. Another power thing. It just sounded nice."
"Breaking The Rules": "It's like when somebody says 'you can't do that,' at school or whatever. They were always saying that to me at school."
That was all said in a 1982 interview, now found on www.thequietus.com
Unlike all other AC/DC albums, there are no promotional videos for FTATR. Just live videos from their tour promoting the album, such as the one I posted at the top of this take. 1981 was also their first time of doing an arena tour, so they wanted to make the best of it. The AC/DC guys included their mighty cannons to shoot off near the end of the performance of their title track.
Just imagine people's reactions when AC/DC had to cross country borders with those cannons XD
FTATR was recorded in Paris, France with producer "Mutt" Lange, who's also worked with other bands such as Def Leppard. They were pretty unhappy with the sound at their first recording place, so they decided to record in an old warehouse instead. Brian's vocals were recorded at a separate place and were later added to the music.The album name was Angus's creation. He was inspired to create it after reading a book about Roman gladiators, called "For Those About To Die We Salute You". He made one little change to the title, and there ya go.
Supposedly this was the last AC/DC album that had major success. Some people consider the album that came after this one, Flick of The switch, a musical turn going downward.
At Christmas day 2015 was when I got For Those About To Rock. It was a present from my dad, along with Powerage, and other music stuff (even my first amplifier!). I had this album on a wish list all December. I was around 10 years old when I first heard anything from this album, and the one thing I always heard was the title track. I remember it gave me goosebumps when I heard it. Still does! It just gives you that sense of total power... a sense of ultimate badassery. The song has been referenced a lot in movies and other songs, such as in the movie "The School of Rock" (recommended for any rocker or metalhead) Jack Black says to his students "We roll tonight... to the guitar bite... and for those about to rock, we salute you".
There was one thing he also said in the movie that definitely is the truth 'bout rock n roll...
I'd say for sure that this album is a perfect example of sticking it to the man XD
Besides my copy of FTATR on CD, my dad also gave me his copy on vinyl from his huge record collection. Really my small (yet soon to grow) record collection is stuff he gave me that was once his. The vinyl copy of this album I have is the only bit of vinyl I have that isn't an original pressing. I have it on display, along with a HUGE shirt design that was cut off from the front and hung it up on a wall in my room at a spot where I practice and store my guitars. To be honest I'm kinda surprised my parents even let me get the shirt, because its pretty suggestive. It has a picture of a cartoon bulldog (think of the bulldog from Tom & Jerry) standing on hind legs, except that his lower half is replaced by the picture of the cannon. So yeahh.. you know what I'm talking about when I say what they made that cannon really look like on the dog. Target actually has another version of the shirt, pictured below. (sorry its blurry).
Highway To Hell and Back In Black are 2 favorite AC/DC albums of mine, but For Those About To Rock ranks quite high too. I just love the way it has its raw power... and that KICK ASS anthem. I'd say the title track is the best song out of any in the album. However I love nearly all the other songs on it. A year ago I learned how to play Malcolm Young's part of the title track, and its fun as hell lol. before considering Metallica as another favorite band of mine, AC/DC was the # 1 thing for me. These days one band isn't more # 1 than the other, I love them equally.
AC/DC is awesome, fun rock n roll. What could be better than that?
And so, for those about to rock, and for those who have always rocked, I salute you \m/
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