Fans Mark 30 Years Since Bon Scott's Death

As a teenager I kept an album filled with concert ticket stubs and clippings as a record of the various rock shows I'd attend with my Clifford friends. Looking through it today, I found a list of 'rock stars who have died in mishaps since the music began', beginning with Buddy Holly, and ending with the 1983 drowning death of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson.

Missing from the list is Bon Scott, the late lead singer of the Australian band AC/DC, who died of 'misadventure' February 19, 1980. I distinctly remember first listening to the band, that summer. (It took a while for things to find there way to Clifford - the FM signals didn't quite reach us and there were no nearby record stores.) The raucous and raunchy Bon Scott lead AC/DC was heavily played in the autumn of my teens.

Darryl Sterdan of QMI Agency must have been a fan too, as he has put together this Bon Scott 'Match the Lyrics' quiz to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death. I found it this week in the Brantford Expositor, and thought it represented too much work on Darryl's behalf to end up in the blue box. Whether you are an AC/DC fan or not, enjoy!

Fans mark 30 years

"I ain't too old to die," Bon Scott once sang, "but I sure am hard to beat."

He'll get no argument here. Or from the millions of AC/DC fans marking the 30th anniversary of the inimitable singer's tragic death this week on Friday.

On Feb. 19, 1980, the Scottish born singer had everything to live for. After years of struggling, he and the rest of the Australian rock crew -- guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd -- were finally enjoying the fruits of their labour

Their sixth album, Highway to Hell, produced by Mutt Lange, had finally pushed the underground heroes into the mainstream, going platinum in North America. Propelled by Scott's winkingly lascivious lyrics and leering screech, tracks such as Girls Got Rhythm, Walk All Over You, Touch Too Much and If You Want Blood (You Got it) were earning a place next to AC/DC's early classics such as Sin City, High Voltage, T.N.T., Let There Be Rock and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

They had slowly expanded their fan base by slogging it out on lengthy North American tours opening for Aerosmith and KISS, where Angus' schoolboy togs and hyperactive stage presence -- a contrast to Scott's bare-chested swagger and rooster-like strut -- made a memorable impression. Scott felt their next album, the band later said, would be "the crowning glory of his life."

So, when the newly minted 33-year-old rock star hit the town on Feb. 18, the night before he was due back in the studio with the band, he was in a celebratory mood. At a London club called The Music Machine, he spent the evening downing quadruple whiskeys with several friends, one of whom drove the passed-out Scott home that night and left him to sleep it off in the car. He never woke up. The next day, his friend discovered his lifeless body still in the vehicle. He had died from acute alcohol poisoning. Death by misadventure, the coroner ruled. Ten days later, Scott -- clad in his trademark jeans and white T-shirt-- was cremated in Australia, marking the final chapter in his journey.

But it was just the beginning for AC/DC. Within weeks, the band had regrouped and risen from the ashes, hiring singer Brian Johnson and heading into the studio to make Back in Black, the album that would serve both as a tribute to Scott and the cornerstone of the global success they enjoy to this day. But for many fans, AC/DC still isn't the same without Scott.

With that in mind, we threw together this little lyrical quiz to sing his praises. See if you can match Scott's words to the songs. And remember: It's still a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll.

LYRICS

1. Gettin' robbed, gettin' stoned / Gettin' beat up, broken boned

2. You can stick your nine to five livin' / And your collar and your tie / And stick your moral standards / 'Cause it's all a dirty lie

3. I'm as cool as a body on ice / Or hotter than a rollin' dice

4. Lock up your daughter, lock up your wife / Lock up your back door and run for your life

5. You ask me why I like to play / I got to get my kicks some way

6. I didn't know if you were legal tender / But I spent you just the same

7. Got slicked-back hair, skin tight jeans / Cadillac car and a teenage dream

8. I am hot / And when I'm not, I'm cold as ice

9. I ain't too old to die / But I sure am hard to beat

10. It's a eye for eye, tooth for tooth / It's a lie, that's the truth

11. The white man had the shmaltz / The black man had the blues / No one knew what they was gonna do / But Tchaikovsky had the news

12. On the day I was born the rain fell down / There was trouble brewing in my home town

13. She pours my beer, licks my ear / Brings out the devil in me

14. I got myself a Cadillac / But I can't afford the gasoline

15. Now I'm the kind of guy that keeps his big mouth shut / It don't bother me / Somebody kickin' me when I'm up / Leaves me in misery

16. Diamonds and dust / Poor man last, rich man first / Lamborghinis, caviar / Dry martinis, Shangri-la

17. I tied my baby to the railroad track / Cannonball down the line / Givin' that woman just one more chance to give it to me one more time

18. Feel the pressure rise / Hear the whistle blow / Bought a ticket of her own accord to I dunno

19. Hey Satan, paid my dues / Playing in a rocking band / Hey Momma, look at me I'm on my way to the promised land

20. Love me till I'm legless / Aching and sore / Enough to stop a freight train / Or start the Third World War

21. No one's gonna warn you / And no one's gonna yell 'Attack' / And you don't feel the steel / Till it's hanging out your back

22. All the cards were comin' from the bottom of the pack / And if I'd known what she was dealin' out, I'd have dealt it back

23. You had my picture on your bedroom wall next to Gary Glitter, I was standin' on the stage playing rock 'n' roll / I was a guitar picker

24. For a fee I'll be happy to be / Your back door man

25. She ain't exactly pretty, ain't exactly small / 42, 39, 56 -- You could say she's got it all

SONGS

A. What's Next to the Moon

B. Problem Child

C. Rock 'n'Roll Singer

D. Little Lover

E. Down Payment Blues

F. High Voltage

G. It's a Long Way to theTop (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)

H. Let There be Rock

I. Girls Got Rhythm

J. Whole Lotta Rosie

K. Riff Raff

L. Rocker

M. Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be

N. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

O. Highway to Hell

P. Live Wire

Q. Sin City

R. The Jack S.T.N.T.

T. Gone Shootin'

U. Love at First Feel

V. Dog Eat Dog

W. Night Prowler

X. Ride On

Y. Bad Boy Boogie

Answers

1-G; 2-C; 3-P; 4-S; 5-F; 6-U; 7-L; 8-B; 9-X; 10-V; 11-H; 12-Y; 13-M; 14-E; 15-K; 16-Q; 17-A; 18-T; 19-O; 20-I; 21-W; 22-R; 23-D; 24-N; 25-J

SCORE

1-10 = Riff Raff

11-20 = Problem Child

20-25 = Rocker

How did you rate?

Celebrating Our Past on Family Day

As Valentine's Day came to a close, so did My Thai, the last remaining business along a three block stretch of soon to be demolished Colborne Street in Brantford. Along with the sheriff lead removal of the last remaining resident (after living in the core for 56 years) the restaurant closure symbolizes the official end of an era in the history of the city.

Christopher Hume, in his Family Day Toronto Star article (ironically I remember February 15th being proposed as Heritage Day when I was a kid) expresses his dismay for the complacency Brantfordian's appear to have succumbed to in allowing the heritage of their community be slowly eroded.

I wasn't raised here, but have lived in Brantford long enough to be guilty of not taking an active enough role in celebrating the heritage of the city. On this day we should collectively remember the roots of the holiday and pledge to dig a little deeper and pay more attention to our personal histories, and celebrate and save them any way we can.