#748 AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

AC/DC is possibly my least favorite band, so its no coincidence that this was the 101st album on Jeff Gold's list of 101 essential rock albums that I listened to. It's not just that the songs are unimaginative, not just that Bon Scott's sniveling is unbearable, not just that the riffs are caveman-simple without marshaling any particular energy, its their entire attitude, their whole sneering, defiantly-juvenile schtick. No wonder Agus Young rocks that schoolboy outfit, these are rock and roll songs a 12 year old would write, with as much wit and class and genuine swagger as a 12 year old could muster.

How many double entendres about balls can you come up with? Not just good ones, how many do you think you could come up with that work at all. Take all those, add some that don't work, and you've got Big Balls. A song called Rocker that talks about being good at rocking? Check. How about a song about murdering people, but not in a gritty way, one that just says "concrete shoes! cyanide! TNT!" in a crinkledup cryptkeeper voice, like a 12 year old voicing the villain in his imaginary playtime adventures.

And I guess its their schtick. You can't lose in rock and roll, because if you do something people don't like, say being an obnoxious manchild, well that's just you thumbing your nose at convention. It's good you don't like it, because that's the whole point! I do what I want! Rock and roll! I almost buy that. Almost. But eventually when you're past that you're left with the actual music, which involves some half-decent rock songs but nothing worth all the posturing. Not by a longshot. I cannot fathom how this insipid, unimaginative band got so big and has garnered any kind of respectability among the rock critic elite. I guess this preceded punk, so maybe its a matter of perspective. Maybe this kind of attitude was really groundbreaking. But when you're talking about letting the album speak for itself, there's no there there. Maybe I'm old, but keep these kids off my goddamned lawn.

That said, at least its rock. I still liked it better than some of the preposterous folk I struggled through in the name of checking my way down that list 2/5