Friday, April 18, 2014

Breaking Up Down Under

Say it ain't so, Malcolm! Rumors are swirling, counterclockwise,  that AC/DC is calling it a day. Packing it in. Retiring. Shuffling off to Buffalo or someplace equally as desolate down under. It was reported that founding guitarist and songwriter Malcolm Young had returned to Australia with his family. “He is believed to be unable to continue playing, although there has not been any explanation why,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
It might have to do with all that incessant head-bobbing, or maybe an interest in getting out of that schoolboy's uniform that he's been wearing for the past forty-one years. No wait. That's his brother, Angus. He's the one you probably think of when you start to think of AC/DC. If you're thinking about the Australian rock and roll band, that is. If you're a fan, you probably know that Malcolm and his younger brother are the founding members of the band, and the only two who have stuck with this southern hemisphere Spinal Tap from its inception. Singers, bassists and drummers have cycled in and out, but the brothers Young have held down the ship, or whatever appropriate rock metaphor fits here.
Some or all of these guys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2003, a full decade ahead of Rush, essentially their polar opposites from the other side of the globe. The AC/DC catalog has been available on iTunes for a couple years now. Angus even had a part in "Lord of the Rings." There are no more mountains to climb. \
Especially if you have to climb them in orthopedic shoes. I'm certainly not going to insist that rock and roll is strictly a young man's game. Bruce Springsteen continues to tour as he twists the night away, seemingly blissfully unaware that he has passed the age of retirement. The Stones seem intent on using geologic time frames to describe their career, and The Who will continue to show up for any and all disaster benefit performances until there are none of them left. 
It's interesting to me, since the trend used to be that rockers died or disappeared before they were asked to fade away. If they were lucky, like Elvis and Jim Morrison, people would insist that they had never really died at all. Maybe that's what happened to Malcolm Young. Coming back from the dead would be a great way to sell a few more albums. It worked for Jesus, after all.

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