“AC/DC: The Thunder From Down Under”
Dr. Rox Remember When?
Article #170 April 2025
By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0
So recently my long time friend Mark E. called me up and asked me if I would like to attend an AC/DC concert in MPLS. I said sure. As I have been a pretty big fan since about 1979 hearing “Highway To Hell” on 8-Track with my West high school buddies Russ S. and Jeff P. riding around in a 70s Impala and a 60s Mercury. The songs that really grabbed me from that 8-Track were: “Walk All Over You” “Touch Too Much” “Beating Around The Bush” Now admittedly I was not a fan at all at first, initially I thought AC/DC was a ‘Punk Band’ because why on earth would anybody dress in a school boy outfit like Angus does? I thought it was ridiculous, it was very punk to me. Wow, was I wrong. Now back in 1978 I had a friend David B. who was introducing me to some new music, one I specifically remember was ‘Triumph’ as we ‘RUSH’ fans were waiting around for a new album in 1979. I vividly remember David showing me his copy of the US version of “High Voltage” though it had been released 2 years earlier it usually took some time for things to reach Sioux City, Iowa (Tommy Bolin once made the same comment in an interview in 1976). David was telling me how great this band was, I just could not believe it. I would not give them a fair listen.
I guess it was late 1979 when Russ and Jeff where really digging “Highway To Hell” (on 8-Track) and I was telling my Aunt Cat who was a another huge musical influence on me, about this “New” band AC/DC all I remember her saying was “you mean the band with the guy who has a guitar coming out of his pants?” Now I guess I had never really looked at the album cover close enough, so I was kind of surprised when I took a closer look and sure enough. So just as we were starting to get into AC/DC Bon Scott up and died. I remember breaking the news to Russ and Jeff in Bishops Cafeteria in downtown, strangely they didn’t seem to broken up about it.
So later in 1980 around September I would guess, I had just started the school year and I was in a very serious motorcycle accident where I ended up in the hospital for almost 2 weeks as I recall. Now the really cool thing about this hospital stay was my Aunt Laura convinced one of the great crushes in my life Teresa M. to come visit me there. I was in heaven, also Mindy B. (from Uncle John Recordstore) brought to me my very first vinyl bootlegs; The Beatles “Help” and “Get Back” containing one of my favorite unreleased Beatles songs “Teddy Boy” anyways, back to our story, while I was laid up the the hospital late one Friday (maybe Saturday, I was on morphine) night, on the show “Pop Clips” (created by Monkees: Michael Nesmith) I saw for sure 3 videos of the “New ” AC/DC “Hells Bells” “Back In Black” and “Honey What Do You Do For Money” (I am told “Rock N Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” was also aired, however I do not remember seeing that one that night). I was blown away, I could not believe the “New Singer” Brian Johnson was nearly as good as Bon, and the songs were great. I remember telling Russ and Jeff about the new AC/DC album, and they had no clue they were still stuck on “Highway To Hell” I was way ahead of the curve, little did I know I people would still be discovering this album 18 months later. About this time Rock N Roll merchandise was in its infancy, I like AC/DC so much so, that I made my own AC/DC hat, it was blue with a white logo, my Mom just hated it ….
Back then I was dating a French Foreign Exchange Student Solange one friday night we were hanging out and her foster brother was playing music from downstairs and this song came thundering up from downstairs, I found it quite catchy, and she starts dancing and jumping around singing T.N.T. she was having so much fun I had to ask “Do you know this song?” she replied “No, I just heard it now, but it’s so easy to sing along with” so I had to ask him “Hey who is this band?” he said “AC/DC”. A little later this year in our local recordshop “Uncle John” I saw on the wall, the Australian pressings of the first 3 AC/DC albums, now I was perplexed, as I had never seen an “Import” before I did not know what to think, these albums had different covers with some different songs and yet some of the same songs and they were 40% more than the usual albums, I didn’t buy them then, it wasn’t until many years later I obtained them. Smack dab in the middle on 1981 the song “Dirty Deeds” hit the airwaves, while I thought it was the best thing AC/DC ever released, I found it strange a song from an album recorded some 5 years earlier was just released in the USA, and with Bon Scott on Lead Vocals as he had been dead for 18 months by this point. Also being teens my peers (like Beavis and Butthead) and I got a real kick out of “Big Balls”
Back in the olden days, a person could go see a concert film in the movie theatres. I saw many like this. Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” Pink Floyd “The Wall” and once upon a time The Beatles “At Shea Stadium” well this is how I first saw AC/DC live The Orpheum ran the film “Let There Be Rock” my memory was how the guys in the band did not sound very intelligent when the were interviewed. And how Malcom changed into his stage clothes, taking off his light blue t-shirt and putting on his black stage t-shirt, I got a real laugh out of that. Now I am not sure it was left in the later versions of the film but there was a scene where Bon’s crotch blew out of his jeans. A few years after this I got a job at RecordShop #67 in Valley West Mall, I bet we sold a Cassette of “Back In Black” at least every single day of the week. so much so that almost every employee had the Catalog Number memorized Atl #16018, in the mid 80s you could not go anywhere and not hear the Cassette (no one used vinyl by this time) of “Back In Black” playing in the background. While working there I met a singer/ dancer Ron Duncan, at the time he was a Michael Jackson impersonator, but in the early 90s he had switched to Rap/Hip Hop as that was the music trend at the time, changing his stage name to Ronny D. in 1994 he demoed for me his newest single, which used a loop of the intro to “Back In Black” that he had written a rap over. I remember thinking at the time, “Wow, this is a home run, a Rap single with a Southside resident using Des Moines’s favorite song, this is sure to be a hit and blow up” sadly I don’t think Ronnie ever released it commercially.
In the year 2000, “Wax Works” the record company I was with transferred me to St. Paul, about this time back in Des Moines my long time friend Chris W. formed the AC/DC Tribute “Big Balls” he called me frequently to join his band on Rhythm Guitar as their Malcolm, while I did not join his band I did sit in with his other band “Seven Hells” and performed several AC/DC songs such as “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” “Whole Lotta Rosie” “Sin City” “T.N.T” “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be”, which was the very first prompting to get me to return to playing “Live” music again after a 2 decade absence. Sometime in 2011 my friend Ed H. formed his AC/DC tribute band “Old Voltage” I went to see them several times, as I booked the bands for CRYPTICON MPLS from 2015 to 2020, I booked them for CRYPTICON 2019, they were by far the most attended show I booked for the convention, the 2nd biggest draw was GraveZig a “Misfits/ Danzi” tribute (the 3rd was my own band KISSin Time probably because we were able to play all-ages shows in 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019). A few months before I just saw AC/DC this time ’round I met 2 musicians from Scotland. One Craig S. and I delved into the discussion of is AC/DC “Australian or Scottish” as Both Malcolm, Angus and Stevie Young were all born in Scotland, as was Bon Scott. Drummer Phil Rudd was born in Australia. Their Bassist Cliff Williams was born in England, as was Brian Johnson. Their 1st Bassist Mark Evans was born in Australia. And 1st vocalist Dave Evans was born in Wales. Soooo, Craig explained to me that AC/DC is a shared pride between Australia and Scotland.
I have seen AC/DC now 4 times
(Missed Them: 6 Oct 1985 Des Moines @ Vets)
4 December 1990 Ames, Iowa @ Hilton Coliseum
2 September 2000 MPLS, MN. @ Target Ctr.
19 January 2009 St.Paul, MN. @ Xcel Ctr.
AC/DC Concert 10 April 2025 Setlist:
1. “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”
2. “Back in Black”
3. “Demon Fire”
4. “Shot Down in Flames”
5. “Thunderstruck”
6. “Have a Drink on Me”
7. “Hells Bells”
8. “Shot in the Dark”
9. “Stiff Upper Lip”
10. “Highway to Hell”
11. “Shoot to Thrill”
12. “Sin City”
13. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train”
14. “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
15. “High Voltage”
16. “Riff Raff”
17. “You Shook Me All Night Long”
18. “Whole Lotta Rosie”
19. “Let There Be Rock”
20. “T.N.T.”
21. “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”
Mr. Zer0’s PsychoGello Show Episode #29 Feb 2018
Love Song (Oh Jene)
Hail Rock N Roll
Jailbreak
Live Wire
Aint No Fun Waiting Round To Be A Millionaire
Dog Eat Dog
What’s Next To Moon
Tune into Mr. Zer0’s PsychoGello Show 2025 on Radi0 WDGY. Sundays 8am. AM740, Streaming, FM: 92.1, 103.7, 107.1. You can hear the last 90 Episodes at www.MrZeroS.Com -Podcast. Also you can hear Mr. Zer0’s Evolation Show of 32 Episodes and Hits And History Show w/ Rick B. for 17 Programs at www.MixCloud.Com.
So there you have it, fans, I guess in retrospect, I was/am a huge AC/DC fan, tune in next month for a new installment.
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