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10 August 2008
AC/DC vs. Bad Company? →[More:]
Miko and I have an *ahem* disagreement about the importance of AC/DC vs. Bad Company.
I believe AC/DC is the far better band, and Miko thinks AC/DC is a silly, silly band and Bad Company is the real deal.
I like both bands a lot. AC/DC can indeed be a little silly, but that's part of their appeal, a solid sense of humor. Bad Company had a terrific vocalist* (and a restrained one by hard rock standards), and they had a few excellent songs-'Can't Get Enough,' 'Running With The Pack.'
*Paul Rodgers, who did better work with his previous band, Free.
I'm back from the Brooklyn Cyclones game, we won 6-5 in extra innings. Sandy the Seagull was running around entertaining people. A little girl ran after him yell 'Oooh! Chicken!' There was a roughly 900-year old woman sitting across the aisle from us, I think she expected Roy Campanella to appear at any moment.
Then again, AC/DC's idea of a ballad is "She's Got The Jack".
Also, I was watching a 'Best Hard Rock bands Of All Time' thing on VH1 awhile back and when they got to Bad Co., Lita Ford said "I loved them. They were the more seductive, romantic side of hard rock..' and I've noticed that they're more popular with the ladies than most of their blooze-rock brethren. Something to do with the quality of Rodgers' voice. I have a recording of him doing a credibly soulful version of 'These Arms Of Mine' on the Willy & the Poor Boys one-off band for charity.
Angus & Co were more of a guys band. A great guys band, no question, but a guys band.
AC/DC, hands down. This is really a no brainer--Bon Scott died from choking on his own vomit in an alcoholic stupor checks Wikipedia ok, "acute alcohol poisoning". Point being, that's rock and roll. Puts him in the hall of "talented early deaths from too much booze/drugs" with Joplin, Hendrix, Morrison, Moon, etc. etc.
We're just in a weird mood out here tonight - doing weird stuff like comparing AC/DC to Bad Company, and who would get the first Broadway Musical, Journey or Guns N' Roses?
Feel free to talk freely on this topic as well.
Oh, and RUN JMC? My quest for truth involves a long beach, hundreds of dogs and the music of Bill Monroe. But Pips' opinion is good data on the present topic.
All I know is that one of my most fondly held memories of highschool age is a hot, sunny day in summer, blasting down a rural back road, riding shotgun in my buddy Matt's martinique blue 1978 Thunder Chicken, with the T-tops off and Back In Black blasting on the cassette.
Strangely, that memory has asserted primacy over memories of driving my own '79 Fiat X1/9 with the top off and "Mother's Milk" cranked loud.
Bad Company might be a technically more proficient band, but AC/DC is the better rock band. No contest.
Bad Company have some killer songs and really know their way around a good boogie blues riff, but they were really just an above average hard rock blues band with a good pedigree. Mick Ralphs was at his peak on those first Bad Company records, but it was Paul Roger's vocals that really made those songs go from average to above average. But after the singles and rock radio cuts, a lot of their stuff is forgettable (or at least hard to distinguish from many of their peers). And anything after Desolation Angels is worth ignoring.
AC/DC on the other hand took a basic rock formula and supersized everything, making it into a whole new monster. And they had fun doing it - and made sure you had fun too if you were willing to go along for the ride. Yes, they're cartoony and goofy, but that's part of the charm. They commit to that over-the-top style 100%, which is why it works so well. The fact that they took a formula that on paper should really only appeal to testosterone charged school boys and made it into something much bigger says a lot about their power. AC/DC made a few dog albums in the second half of the 80's, but for the most part every record is worth hearing.
And Bad Company never had a "Whole Lotta Rosie" or "Back In Black". Hell, they didn't even have a "Thunderstruck".
Bad Company gets half-marks for having the foresight to not include a reserved character in their name, thereby confounding the Mp3 filenaming and tagging efforts of fans three decades after they chose it.
It's AC/DC. It's not even close. I even thought the question might be a joke. AC/DC was in your face, and I can certainly see why someone might not like them, but they were the better band, more influential. They should have given up a while back, but they were incredible at one time, and Back in Black is better than the entire Bad Company catalogue.
Bad Company? phshaw, it's almost a crime to mention them in the same sentence as Acca Dacca. Who can forget the raw emotion and unbridled energy of "It's a long way to the shop (if you want a sausage roll)".
Seriously, though, AC/DC wins hands down. Cheesy and stereotyped, sure, but just awesome anyway. Who cares why?
As far as importance is concerned, I would initally think more bands are influenced by Bad Company because there are a lot more boring bands out there than exciting ones. But then how do I know all those boring bands are imitating Bad Company?
AC/DC rock like a set of duckpin madmen. I have a soft spot for a few Bad Co. numbers, but compared to AC/DC, they might as well be the Moody Blues.
>Bad Company is about as exciting as Pearl Jam.
Man, you REALLY don't like Bad Company, do you? I had a brief internal debate when deciding whether or not to put any Bad Company on my MP3 player, since the BC songs I like most are the cheesy singles I loved growing up listening to WLS ("Rock and Roll Fantasy" and "Feel Like Making Love"). I never debated Pearl Jam going on my MP3 player - it is still a Pearl Jam free zone.
When I was a kid, I conflated "Rock and Roll Fantasy" by Bad Company and "Fantasy" by Aldo Nova, and wondered how the Eagles could grow up to be so cool.
Slack's right. Bad Co. have the edge over Pearl jam in that they really never had any pretensions to being anything other than a very good blooze-rock band.
And like I said earlier, the best thing about Bad Company was Rodgers' vocals. If you like those you should check out his work with Free, who featured a far more proficient (and more importantly, inspired) guitarist than Mick Ralphs. Free were kind of an unlucky band though, Paul Kossoff, the aforementioned guitartist OD'd and bassist (and songwriter, he penned 'All Right Now') Andy Fraser is living with AIDS.
they were really just an above average hard rock blues band with a good pedigree.
I would much, much rather listen to Bad Company all day than AC/DC all day. I find AC/DC fairly unlistenable, and I agree that I think of them as a guy band. I wouldn't praise Bad Company to the skies, but they were capable. Also, they get points for writing singable party songs that people can learn easily and enjoy jamming on. As a campfire guitar player, I know that playing the opening chords of "Shooting Star" or "Feel Like Makin' Love" will get everybody caterwauling. Which, to me, is a good thing.
And I think it really is only a matter of time before either Journey OR AC/DC has a broadway musical - the jukebox musical is likely to move in that direction. An AC/DC musical would do for the male middle-class Midwestern Tourist what "Movin' Out" and "Mamma Mia" did for his wife.
"Journey: The Musical" would appeal as well, but would necessarily be sappier and more balladlike. The story writes itself: Lights (scene setting); (Any Way You Want It, Feelin' That Way (boy meets girl, boy courts girl); Lovin' Touchin Squeezin' (boy gets girl); Wheel in the Sky/Who's Cryin' Now (boy loses girl); Don't Stop Believing (boy uses positive self-talk); Open Arms (boy gets girl back); Faithfully (forgiveness); Stone in Love (crazy finale). It will happen!
I didn't know about the connection with Free - thanks, jonmc. "All Right Now" is a great song.
really? I mean musically, it's fantastic for sure, but as critic Dave Marsh said, it's the epitome of macho cock rock. It's all about some swaggering stud picking up a woman. (of course, it was written by a man who has since come out, so there's multiple layers of...something going on). Anyways, wait till you hear 'Fire & Water,' intense piece of music.
Ooh, I want to read more about imaginary rock musicals. If you don't oblige me, I'll post a Youtube link to the Celine Dion cover of 'Shook Me All Night Long.'
We definitely weren't comparing them on the basis of alikeness. We just found it odd that for each of us, we each liked one and couldn't stand the other.
Bad Company are the featured band in one of my all time favorite movies. Therefore they are awesome. AC/DC, on the other hand, remind me uncomfortably of riding around in backwoods South Carolina in 1979 in a pickup with my horrible boyfriend, a couple other extremely stoned teenagers and a .22 with which we were planning to shoot at bottles. And of the time 20 years or so later that I gave my 12 year old son a copy of Highway to Hell and we cranked it up under the Christmas tree so the whole family could dance around and instead of sounding fearsome, rockin' and scary, it just sounded - quaint. Just like my tough teenage memory. Therefore I'm siding with Bad Company.
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