Riding out of the sunset

First on any list of Australian bands (particularly if the list is in alphabetical order) is AC/DC.



If at some point you decide that you need some AC/DC in your life, you should realize a handful of things about them.

1) Your first guess is that the albums are kind of interchangeable, so you might just try to pick up a greatest hits album. Unfortunately, AC/DC have never released a greatest hits album.

2) So you might decide to just download a few tracks from iTunes. Unfortunately, AC/DC songs are not available on iTunes. According to Angus, "we're an album band, not a singles band".

3) So you give up and try to find a regular album. Most people agree that the Bon Scott era (1973-1979) is stronger than the Brian Johnson era (1980-present). Those who don't agree, don't know what they're talking about, even though the first post-Bon album Back In Black is pretty good, and was fairly successfull saleswise.

4) Given this, the two essential albums are High Voltage and Highway To Hell.

5) Upon its release in 1976, respectable rock critic Billy Altman gave High Voltage a zero star review in Rolling Stone, calling it an "all time low" for the hard rock genre. He's probably been wanting that review back every single day for the last 33 years.