Another Saturday another show. Oops…I’m slipping into my broadway mode when I should be getting into my rock n’ roll mode. It’s difficult to describe AC/DC and the cultural effect/shock they have had on my life. I was a teenager growing up in Ottawa, listening to Donny Osmond and Kiss when they knocked on my musical door. My best friend had a brother who listened to them at great volume (much to her father’s chagrin) and it was impossible to not be exposed to them whenever I was at her house. One day I went over and her brother was blasting Highway to Hell. Nobody was home and he was in full out air guitar mode. My poor ears. However, I went home with them jangling around in my brain. I found myself listening to them. I would tune into rock radio (goodbye CFRA, hello rock radio) and I even bought an album. I had to do this in secret because Donny was my man, and I was a shy teenager who hated rock n’ roll.
Over the years they got played more and more. Their music pounded out of stereos wherever I went. I’ll never forget defying my father and staying up late to watch them perform on Don Kirshner’s rock concert. (Parents were out and I was supposed to go to bed on time…but I didn’t…..hovering over the tv hoping they didn’t come home and catch me). I was then taken to see them perform at a show where there were lots of other bands performing. I was about 15 or 16.
Over the years, they have become part of the soundtrack of my life. Highway to Hell defined how I felt about school/Thunderstruck was the 80′s/Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap defines a Christmas I spent in New York and on and on. Now, my $7.50 tickets cost $100 and I can’t afford a t-shirt or program but at 60 Angus and the boys rock on.
Yep, another bunch of old guys still rocking me into middle age, when I first loved them as a teenager. Yeah Donny is still going too, but he’s a Vegas lounge lizard who subsidizes himself with cheap tv gigs. (No bitterness here at still trying to pay off the Vegas trip when he cancelled his appearance for the second time)!
I can’t wait till the show.