Ten Albums "Everybody" Owned -- Except Me: Back in Black

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If you're keeping score, given that I'm not technically "counting down" this countdown (although I think the last album I post might surprise you, putting it at "#1" of sorts), this is the 7th of the ten albums that I bypassed at the record store. This one shouldn't surprise anyone...but yet, maybe it will. Back in Black - AC/DC I'm not a hard rock/light metal/however you describe AC/DC's music fan, but there was something about Bon Scott's voice. He didn't sound like anyone else, and nobody else sounded like him. And then, like all good hard-partying hard rockers....he died. (Bad year for hard-partying rockers...Led Zeppelin's John Bonham died later in 1980 from 40 vodka shots.) Instead of disbanding, the Young brothers found a "replacement." No, they got a sings-like-everybody-else singer (Brian Johnson). And, as AC/DC went from sounding like no one else to sounding like everyone else, their "requiem" for Bon Scott, Back in Black, took off. And off, and off, and off. It quickly and easily outsold every AC/DC album combined, and to date its estimated worldwide sales stand at nearly 50 million copies. While they picked up a bazillion fans, I left. Not that I was that big an AC/DC fan to begin with (I've never owned any of their albums), but there are just some lead singers who stand out so far and above everyone else that it's almost comical to put someone else in their place. Freddie Mercury is probably the obvious example. And, for me, Bon Scott was in that category, too. But there are a couple of generations of AC/DC fans who know nothing but Brian Johnson as lead singer; and, to them, "Bon Scott" is just a name affiliated with the band's past. With the death of Malcolm Young due to dementia and the retirement of Johnson due to hearing loss, it's not likely that AC/DC will continue. (If they do? With Axl Rose? Seriously????) This album launched them into superstardom. It just wasn't for me. Back in Black Recorded by AC/DC Produced by Mutt Lange Released in 1980 Overplayed, but given that I don't listen to FM rock anymore, I can hear this song and enjoy it occasionally: