I wanted my first album review on this blog to be of the first album I ever bought. I first got into music in 8th grade, and what got me into music was AC/DC (which seems to be the universal favorite band of eighth graders).
Now I soon passed my AC/DC phase and it's been quite a while since I heard Back in Black in its entirety. Two thing surprised me: first, I remembered everything about it. And second, it's pretty solid.
More than any other band, AC/DC has the reputation for all of its songs sounding the same. This is pretty true, especially the deeper you get into their catalog. However, for one album, it's not so bad, and Back in Black is pretty diverse by AC/DC album standards, although by most standards, that's another story.
The album gets off to a great start, with "Hell's Bells," "Shoot to Thrill," and "What Do You Do For Money Honey." These are all good, heavy rockers, carried by Brian Johnson's voice (before his voice devolved into a horrendous caricature of itself). "Back in Black" is a great track too, especially if you forget the amount these songs have been overplayed over the years and concentrate on the songs themselves.
"Given the Dog a Bone" (apparently the misspelling was intentional) and "Let Me Put My Love into You" are the album's weakest tracks, especially the latter, with its horribly obvious double entendres and undeniable misogyny. And one can definitely debate the tact of including a song like "Have a Drink on Me" as a tribute to a bandmate who died of alcohol poisoning.
Not every album has to be some kind of grand statement. Some of them are great when you just want a few good rock songs. Back in Black isn't amazing-- nothing this band does can distinguish itself that much. But it's the best this style of music can be, and there's a lot to be said for that.
Grade: B
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