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| Cliff Williams, 1981 |
AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams announced his retirement from
the band with the conclusion of their recent Rock or Bust world tour.
And now AC/DC should break up.
Of course, they should have broken up when longtime vocalist
Brian Johnson was forced to retire due to hearing problems. Or they should have broken up when rhythm
guitarist and founding member, Malcolm Young, was diagnosed with dementia. Or
they should have broken up when Phil Rudd, the drummer on nearly all of their
classic albums, found himself in legal hot water for drug possession and
allegedly soliciting the services of a hit-man. Or maybe they should have broken
up decades ago when Bon Scott, the vocalist with whom they first found success,
died from asphyxiating on his own vomit after a drinking binge.
These are all things you'll hear coming from the peanut
gallery.
Rock fans are an opinionated bunch, aren't we? We always
have something to say about our favorite (and least favorite) bands, and we say
it loudly, regardless of our degree of knowledge or insight. Because of the
visceral qualities and intense impact of rock music, and the way we incorporate
it into our lives, fans feel a deep connection to musicians that they have
never met, and somehow feel qualified to pontificate about their art and
private lives.
I am frequently guilty of this myself. However, in the back
of my mind, I never really forget that I am full of crap.
Fans complain when a band breaks up, when a band doesn't
break up, when their new album isn't like their last one, and when their new
album is just a rehashing of their last one. Sometimes you can't win with these
people.
In the case of AC/DC, we are dealing with very specific, and
some quite tragic, circumstances. Just a
The first casualty was founding member Malcolm Young, rhythm
guitarist, co-writer of most of the band's material, and brother of Angus.
Since being diagnosed with dementia, he was reported as having a complete loss
of short term memory and unable to communicate. This is bad thing to happen to
a band mate, a worse thing to happen to a brother.
Brian Johnson's departure from the band due to hearing
problems (he was apparently warned by his doctor that another tour with the
band could result in total hearing loss) was another shock. Johnson had attributed
his hearing problem to car racing (who knew it got so loud in there?), and not
to decades of touring in a notably loud rock band. Still, the band replaced him
with Guns and Roses vocalist Axl Rose for their 2016 tour. Initial statements
from Johnson indicated that this was done very much against his will, and that
he was disappointed to be replaced before a second medical opinion declared his
hearing damage to be less severe than feared. He later made a statement
thanking his bandmates for their support. Quite a change of heart.
This reminded me of how Jon Anderson was unceremoniously
dismissed from Yes, the band he co-founded in 1968, while dealing with health
problems that prevented him from performing. Similarly, initial statements
expressed sadness, disappointment, and shock, only to be contradicted by later
statements in which he gave his support and approval to the rest of the band.
Was this another change of heart, or did someone get a call from the lawyers?
Perhaps this is baseless speculation (but as a rock fan,
that's what I do), but I have to wonder if Anderson and Johnson were approached
by management and cautioned again disparaging members of the band and damaging
the brand. Rock bands are also a business, after all.
This is the weird thing about bands. A lot bands started
with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood coming together, guys who knew each
other since they were twelve. These are often intense, volatile, and deeply
familial relationships. Bands are also a business. Even the smallest time music
ensemble requires management and at least one member with some business
acumen. The biggest bands are
organizations that employ dozens of people. Breaking up a band, or "dissolving
the partnership," often involves liquidating assets and can even include
severance packages for longtime employees. It must be weird being a top tier touring
act. You go from being a bunch of kids in a garage to being an organization
that is too big to fail. When fans say, "why don't they just quit?"
it doesn't take into consideration the future of the guy who has been on the
road crew for, say, the Rolling Stones, for the last twenty years.
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| The "classic" line-up in their last days |
It also doesn't take into consideration the specialized
skill set that these guys have. I am pretty sure that Angus doesn't have his
carpentry business to go back to. If anything, his family business was rock and
roll. Angus and Malcolm's older brother George was a member of the seminal Australian
band the Easybeats, and co-wrote their classic hit "Friday on My
Mind" before devoting his time and energy to fostering his brothers' ambitions,
guiding the early career of AC/DC and producing their early albums.
Can you blame Angus if he entertains the notion of
continuing the band all by himself? If you had one entity in your life which
was your livelihood, your passion, and
the ultimate mechanism for preservation of your youth, wouldn't you hold onto
it as long as you could? (AC/DC for all of their integrity and strengths is a
band that refused to mature, just look at Angus' stage outfit. He wears the
same schoolboy uniform that he did four decades ago.)
So hold off on your judgment if Angus Young doesn't
immediately declare the end of AC/DC after the departure of Cliff Williams. AC/DC
is his life and his legacy. And he's been through a lot in the last few years.
On the other hand, it would hypocritical of me to tell legions of rock
enthusiasts to hold their tongues. It's not I ever tried to. At any rate, this
is just my opinion. I will probably have a completely contradictory one
tomorrow.
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