Following the death of singer Bon Scott (through the untimely but very rock and roll death of alcohol poisoning), AC/DC replaced him with Brian Johnson, who has a characteristic Robert Plant-style scream of a voice. Which, to be honest, gets a bit wearing after an entire album – Scott at least had some variety to his singing.
The tunes, however, are a bit punchier even
while they remain largely driven by riffs like the title track Back In Black,
and the other big single, You Shook Me All Night Long. About the only track
with any kind of widdly-diddly guitar is Shake
A Leg, while Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution is an anthemic slow rocker
just made for punching the air to at concerts. The tolling bell at the start of
the album, leading into the track Hells Bells, gives a funereal feel, like a
lament for Bon Scott before going hell for leather with Brian Johnson.
The adolescent lyrics are still present,
such as the famous “she knocked me out with her American thighs” from You Shook
Me All Night Long (although, frankly, if former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman can get away with waxing lyrical about muscular-thighed sporty girls "furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun", why can't AC/DC?), with other tracks having titles like Givin The Dog A Bone
(neither 'g' *nor* apostrophe) and Let Me Put My Love Into You, which pretty much spell out
any double entendres to the blatantly obvious. But why not? I think the sense
of tongue-in-cheek knowingness is a bit more present than the first album so,
although by todays somewhat po-faced standards the objectification of women
throughout is a bit dated and uncomfortable, it doesn’t feel as aggressive as the debut
album. How you take it depends on your tolerance for humour like Benny Hill and Carry On... films.
The spirit of Spinal Tap lingers, however,
thinking of the Tap’s claim that the reason that their fans are mainly young
males is that any female fans are frightened off by the “armadillos in our
trousers”. And this album has a cover that’s so black, you have to ask how much
more black can it be? And the answer is none. None more black.
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