Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a
Speaker 1: story about contract killings, death threats, drinking with ghosts, rock
Speaker 1: and roll, and a part two continuation of our story
Speaker 1: on one of the greatest bands of all time, ACDC,
Speaker 1: A band that made great music. Yes, some of the
Speaker 1: greatest rock and roll music these ears have ever heard.
Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top
Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a
Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Jack and Bloke MK one.
Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
Speaker 1: rights to Shake it Off by Taylor Swift. Then why
Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of pre Kelsey Cheese?
Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one
Speaker 1: song in America on November sixteenth, twenty fourteen. Then that
Speaker 1: was the day a CDC's Phil Rudd was arrested on
Speaker 1: charges that would make the musicians seem strangely alike one
Speaker 1: of the murderous characters in one of the band's best songs,
Speaker 1: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. On this episode, concrete Shoes, Cyanide, neckties, contracts,
Speaker 1: high voltage. In Part two of our ACDC story, I'm
Speaker 1: Jake Brennan and this his disgrace.
Speaker 2: Land Chapter one.
Speaker 1: Do anything you want me to? We transmitters in Queensland
Speaker 1: and the Northern Territory. This is ab this honest John,
Speaker 1: the villain of the year. Call me come my no
Speaker 1: good mom. Who's worts?
Speaker 3: The Seeky's here?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I watched the Birdie.
Speaker 3: You'll think I was kidding when I said I'd be
Speaker 3: glad to knock you up. I have some Gorganzola for
Speaker 3: his little snazzola.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a shot. No Angus and Malcolm Young of a
Speaker 1: c DC never forgot where they came from, the working class,
Speaker 1: the kind of home where the television baby sat the
Speaker 1: kids because there was no other option, and they never
Speaker 1: forgot what made them family. The two brothers launched their
Speaker 1: band in the early seventies under the guidance of their
Speaker 1: older brother George, who, along with his friend Harry Vanda,
Speaker 1: had already achieve pop chart success with his band The
Speaker 1: Easy Beats. The Easy Beats single Friday on My Mind
Speaker 1: reached number sixteen on the Billboard Hot one hundred in
Speaker 1: America in nineteen sixty six and was covered by David
Speaker 1: Bowie on his album Pin Ups in seventy three. In
Speaker 1: the environment that Angus and Malcolm were raised in, hard
Speaker 1: work and discipline were of utmost importance. It didn't matter
Speaker 1: if you were mixing cement as their father had done,
Speaker 1: or playing guitar in a band with your brother on
Speaker 1: stage and your other brother behind the board. Concrete shoes, cyanide, neckties,
Speaker 1: contract killings. This kind of work the Dirty Deeds, the
Speaker 1: kind that Dishonest John promised to deliver Dirt Cheat. Dishonest
Speaker 1: John was a character from Angus's favorite cartoon growing up,
Speaker 1: The Beanie and Cecil Showy. Even this type of work
Speaker 1: required discipline, But for Angus and Malcolm, who in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy five were putting together the lyrics with ACDC singer
Speaker 1: Bond Scott for the third album, Contract Killings and the
Speaker 1: like were just violent fantasy, typical the type of transgressions
Speaker 1: demonstrated by the characters dreamed up by Bond. Men on
Speaker 1: the outer edge of society, thieves, broke down, dreamers, schemers, stalkers,
Speaker 1: and yes, even killers, Men on the fringe, like the
Speaker 1: main character and the title track from their forthcoming album,
Speaker 1: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheat, a song inspired partly by
Speaker 1: Bond's vivid imagination, and partly from Angus's childhood infatuation with
Speaker 1: the dishonest John cartoon character, and partly from those bad
Speaker 1: bad men Humphrey Bogart portrayed in his early films. The
Speaker 1: song Dirty Deeds was great, no doubt about it. Beneath
Speaker 1: the story of Bond's bad bad man hiring himself out
Speaker 1: to solve his customers problems with all manner of criminal violence,
Speaker 1: and in typical Bond humor, to do so cheaply. Beneath
Speaker 1: all of that, there was a killer riff and a
Speaker 1: rhythm that swung. ACDC is often categorized as being a
Speaker 1: hard rock band, but that couldn't be more untrue. ACDC
Speaker 1: is a rock and roll band. The rock part of
Speaker 1: the equation is the part that sounds hard, and the
Speaker 1: roll part is the part that's hard to do. It's
Speaker 1: the part that swings. Think of the rolling stones, hard
Speaker 1: riffs from Keith, but songs that feel good and make
Speaker 1: you want to dance because of Charlie. Because Charlie Watts
Speaker 1: knew how to swing. The swing is subtle. Most rock
Speaker 1: bands get it wrong, and well, they're not rock and
Speaker 1: roll bands. They're just rock bands. Malcolm Young was hell
Speaker 1: bent on being a rock and roll band. Being just
Speaker 1: a rock band wasn't good enough. You might as well
Speaker 1: be hauling concrete or watching cartoons. Being in a great
Speaker 1: rock and roll band was something that would last, and finally,
Speaker 1: on this album, on Dirty Deeds, Malcolm had what he wanted.
Speaker 1: That's because now, after a series of early releases with
Speaker 1: different bandmates, inconsistent repertoire, and distribution issues, ac DC seemed
Speaker 1: to finally be putting it all together on one great
Speaker 1: full length album that was bound to break the band
Speaker 1: in America. Malcolm knew what anyone who saw ACDC back
Speaker 1: in the seventies quickly learn. Ac DC was the greatest
Speaker 1: rock and roll band on the planet. Pete Townsend from
Speaker 1: the who saw them live and loved them to Trick
Speaker 1: found other brothers from down Under Kiss was intimidated by them,
Speaker 1: and Van Halen was afraid to follow them on stage.
Speaker 1: Ac DC was that good, and a big reason why
Speaker 1: was because, in addition to Angus's schoolboy guitar hero antics
Speaker 1: and Bond's bad boy soul strip and Malcolm's iron fist
Speaker 1: behind it all, ACDC had a drum who could swing,
Speaker 1: Phil Rudd. With Phil now behind the kid, Malcolm Young
Speaker 1: was on his way to building a band that was
Speaker 1: the rock and roll representation of raw, working class power,
Speaker 1: a machine that could withstand fame, addiction, death, and even murder.
Speaker 1: But Atlantic Records didn't hear a single, and Dirty Deeds
Speaker 1: Done Dirt Cheap was shelved in America, it disappeared into
Speaker 1: Limbo unreleased. Not until years later did American audiences get
Speaker 1: to hear it. For the time being, partly to prevent
Speaker 1: being dropped by their label, and partly as a giant
Speaker 1: fuck you to the label that clearly didn't believe in
Speaker 1: his band. Malcolm Young took ACDC back into the studio
Speaker 1: and created a masterpiece, nineteen seventy seven's Let There Be Rock.
Speaker 1: Let the label try to ignore this. They couldn't, neither
Speaker 1: could audiences. The band toured relentlessly through Europe and America.
Speaker 1: ACDC quickly followed Let There Be Rock with nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: eight's Powerridge quite literally the greatest rock and roll album
Speaker 1: of all time, by the way, but I'm not here
Speaker 1: to start arguments you can't win. I'm here to tell
Speaker 1: you a story about Dirty Deeds, so I'll just keep
Speaker 1: going with Poweradge came more touring and plans for another record,
Speaker 1: this one to hopefully do what others hadn't break the
Speaker 1: band in America. But touring was taking its toll. As
Speaker 1: touring does. People think that the lives of touring musicians
Speaker 1: are glamorous, and to some extent it is dancing girls
Speaker 1: and champagne on ice, as Bond Scott wants saying, but
Speaker 1: it's also incredibly taxing physically and mentally. It'll drive even
Speaker 1: the best of them crazy. And people also think that
Speaker 1: being in a band is being part of a brotherhood,
Speaker 1: and it most definitely is. But the part that often
Speaker 1: gets left out is what if one of your brothers
Speaker 1: goes shit house nuts every now and again? What then
Speaker 1: every band knows what I'm talking about. Bon Scott definitely
Speaker 1: knew about this, so much so that in nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: eight he took some time off from partying on the
Speaker 1: road to write a letter to his sister, Valerie. Bonn
Speaker 1: wrote on Hilton Stationary, well, as you can see Bond's
Speaker 1: in downtown Pittsburgh today, I've just come over from the
Speaker 1: West Coast, where I spent a couple of days in
Speaker 1: La doing midnight special Bond goes on, and you can
Speaker 1: feel the natural charm in his words and the sweetness
Speaker 1: he has in reserve for his sibling. You can also
Speaker 1: instantly feel his concern for a friend. Bonn is telling
Speaker 1: Valerie that he's scouting drummers to fill in for ac
Speaker 1: DC's Phil Rudd, saying quote, Phil had a bit of
Speaker 1: a nervous breakdown, and Bonn goes on to say that
Speaker 1: Phil had to spend a lot of time with a
Speaker 1: shrink and that it was real bad, but luckily he
Speaker 1: got over it quickly enough not to upset the band,
Speaker 1: and we had a tree with kid gloves for a bit.
Speaker 1: But he's okay now. According to Bond Scott, Phil Rudd
Speaker 1: had gone a bit off the rails. A loose cannon
Speaker 1: drummer was exactly the type of drummer a musician as
Speaker 1: serious minded as Malcolm Young could not abide. Yet Malcolm
Speaker 1: needed Phil. Malcolm had played with other drummers, and other
Speaker 1: drummers were a dead end. Phil swung in a special
Speaker 1: way and Malcolm couldn't go back to the way it
Speaker 1: was to be in just a rock band. So Malcolm
Speaker 1: closed ranks, dealt with Phil's problem internally and kept trudging
Speaker 1: towards success in America, with Phil behind the kit for
Speaker 1: the recording of the band's next album, again the one
Speaker 1: they hope would break them in the States. But now
Speaker 1: the label was interfering once more, and for this next record,
Speaker 1: ACDC would need to part ways with their longtime producer,
Speaker 1: their brother George Young, and work with someone who better
Speaker 1: understood what American audiences were looking for. The meddling stung.
Speaker 1: Being forced to break the bond with their older brothers
Speaker 1: stung even worse. Atlantic suggested legendary producer Eddie Kramer, he
Speaker 1: of Jimmy Hendrick's fame. Eddie Kramer suggested Malcolm and Angus
Speaker 1: record the Young Rascals Good Loving as their first single.
Speaker 1: Malcolm called his manager and told him to get Eddie
Speaker 1: Kramer the fuck out of the studio and on the
Speaker 1: first thing smoking back to wherever the hell he came from.
Speaker 1: Atlantic then shipped in Mutt Lang, fresh off crafting a
Speaker 1: number one hit for the Boomtown Rats. Mutt told Malcolm
Speaker 1: and Bond that the backing vocals on the demos needed
Speaker 1: to be sung in a certain way. Malcolm told Mutt
Speaker 1: he wasn't no dirty Boomtown Rats. Singing for the charts,
Speaker 1: and Mutt then went in and sang the suggested vocal
Speaker 1: part perfectly. Malcolm took the note, and so did Bond. Mutt,
Speaker 1: who's on another level, and he understood what made ACDC work.
Speaker 1: For the most part, he just got out of the
Speaker 1: way and let them cook. What emerge was a masterpiece.
Speaker 1: Highway to Hell. The album did for the band what
Speaker 1: it in Atlantic had long hoped to achieve. It broke
Speaker 1: them in America. To date. The album that sold almost
Speaker 1: eight million copies in the United States and more than
Speaker 1: fifteen million worldwide. But if a CDC was going to
Speaker 1: be built to last, there was another mile marker on
Speaker 1: the highway to pass even greater success international success. Malcolm
Speaker 1: was relentless a workhorse. He and Angus wrote tirelessly for
Speaker 1: what they were certain would be an album that would
Speaker 1: blow the rest of the world wide open for ac DC.
Speaker 1: As nineteen eighty progressed and high school kids across the
Speaker 1: United States dug into the massive riffs on Highway to Hell,
Speaker 1: the band was already set to record a follow up.
Speaker 1: Now it was Bondstern. He looked up from the notebook
Speaker 1: he was writing in and closed it It was February
Speaker 1: in London, cold and dreary, but Bond was feeling celebratory.
Speaker 1: He'd done it. He'd finished writing the lyrics for acdc's
Speaker 1: next album finally, and so it was time to get drunk.
Speaker 1: Chapter two Neckties. There are no handbooks in rock and roll.
Speaker 1: There's no index you can leave through, no dead singer
Speaker 1: section filed under d and therefore there were no instructions
Speaker 1: for ACDC when they learned in February nineteen eighty that
Speaker 1: their singer, the inimitable and seemingly irreplaceable Bond Scott, had died.
Speaker 1: One of Bond's girlfriends at the time. Silver Smith claims
Speaker 1: that Bond finished writing the lyrics for acdc's next album
Speaker 1: in the London flat that he was renting, and went
Speaker 1: out afterward to celebrate with his friends from the band
Speaker 1: UFO at a club called the Music Machine. Bond then
Speaker 1: blacked out drunk in the back of it over No. Five,
Speaker 1: choked on his own vomit, and died senselessly. And now
Speaker 1: Malcolm Angus and everyone else in the ACDC camp was
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to get their dead singer
Speaker 1: back to Australia from first class on the plane. While
Speaker 1: they waited to fly out, you could see Bond's coffin
Speaker 1: coming down the baggage conveyor belt mixed in with the
Speaker 1: rest of the luggage. Fucked this, Angus wouldn't have it.
Speaker 1: He wasn't flying home first class with his friend being
Speaker 1: hauled underneath the plane with the rest of the cargo.
Speaker 1: The band moved back to coach and back to Australia
Speaker 1: on Scott was buried, and then the band moved on
Speaker 1: through their grief. Each band member, Malcolm, Angus, phil and
Speaker 1: bassist Cliff Williams worked tirelessly. The first order of business
Speaker 1: was to find a replacement for Bond, a task that
Speaker 1: seemed impossible but somehow was accomplished when they found Brian Johnson,
Speaker 1: a singer who once impressed Bond and a singer who,
Speaker 1: as it's long been rumored, was recommended to ac DC
Speaker 1: by a fan. Next up, they needed to complete the
Speaker 1: album they started putting together before Bond's death, but when
Speaker 1: they emerged from the studio they were wielding a tribute
Speaker 1: to Bond called Back in Black, an album that would
Speaker 1: sell ungodly amounts of records, largely on the strength of
Speaker 1: the band's new songs, songs that fit their new singer perfectly,
Speaker 1: and also on the strength of the group's relentless touring.
Speaker 1: When all was said and done, Back in Black did
Speaker 1: what Malcolm intended it to do, broke the band beyond
Speaker 1: America throughout the rest of the world. It was a
Speaker 1: global smash, one that would go on to sell fifty
Speaker 1: million copies and become the second biggest selling full length
Speaker 1: album of all time, behind only Michael Jackson's Thriller. Back
Speaker 1: in Black's follow up for Those About to Rock, We
Speaker 1: Salute You, sold incredibly well, also deepening ac DC's connection
Speaker 1: with American gearheads and FM radio listeners. They continued to
Speaker 1: tour and became quite literally the biggest band on the
Speaker 1: planet before hunkering down to create their next album, Flick
Speaker 1: of the Switch. And that's when the pressure of it
Speaker 1: all started to grind the gears on Malcolm's well oiled
Speaker 1: rock and roll machine. Chapter three, Pick up the Phone,
Speaker 1: Leave Her Alone. Phil Rudd, acdc's drummer, the man who
Speaker 1: rolled and swung mightily, was coming apart again. He played
Speaker 1: nightly to tens of thousands of adoring fans and did
Speaker 1: his best to outrun the death of one of his
Speaker 1: best friends, Bond Scott, all while enjoying the trappings of
Speaker 1: success Bond always wanted but never achieved. It was a lot.
Speaker 1: The guilt was, no doubt, white hot. Phil cooled it
Speaker 1: with alcohol, gallons and gallons of alcohol. Of course, in
Speaker 1: rock and roll, drinking is not only tolerated, it's encouraged.
Speaker 1: But for a band leader like Malcolm Young, the only
Speaker 1: thing that was sacred was you're playing. If the drink
Speaker 1: impacted the gig, then you could get fucked off stage.
Speaker 1: In a hotel room in Nebraska, Phil Rudd was drinking
Speaker 1: with ghosts. They were right there at the edge of
Speaker 1: his bed. Who were these people pulling from the same
Speaker 1: bottle that he was? Groupies fans, Some spoke and adoring
Speaker 1: kiss ass tones. Some taunted Phil. They talked of ACDC
Speaker 1: songs and fast cars, and all Phil heard was Bond's voice.
Speaker 1: When one of them, just a high school ahead, asked
Speaker 1: Phil flight bonn ask for a life. When the lady
Speaker 1: with the dude, who was icinger, got frustrated and wanted
Speaker 1: to know where the coke was, Phil heard Bond question him.
Speaker 1: When two guys near the bathroom nearly came to blows
Speaker 1: over a girl sitting on Phil's bed, Phil heard Bonn
Speaker 1: arguing with himself. Phil had a thought, was this It
Speaker 1: were the distractions, the gigs, the sessions, the responsibilities. Were
Speaker 1: they no longer enough? Phil may have been pissed, drunk,
Speaker 1: but he knew what this was. Unresolved grief finally coming
Speaker 1: to the surface, bleeding out all over the room in
Speaker 1: ghostly white heat, filling the atmosphere within these four walls
Speaker 1: with the pressure he never imagined, manifest in the words
Speaker 1: of the fans, his new Fairweather friends, speaking in bon
Speaker 1: Scott's voice and now increasingly in tongues. The sound of
Speaker 1: it filled his head with dense pressure. It was intense,
Speaker 1: more intense than the pressure of being on stage age
Speaker 1: in front of tens of thousands, and more intense than
Speaker 1: staring down Malcolm. Stronger than the fear of letting Angus down.
Speaker 1: It was the pressure of admitting he was gone and
Speaker 1: that there was nothing he or anyone else could do
Speaker 1: about it. Bond was gone, and these fuckers in the
Speaker 1: room had to go next. But Phil was helpless. He
Speaker 1: called his road manager, Ian. Ian would know what to do.
Speaker 1: Road managers always knew what to do. Ian headed straight
Speaker 1: over to Phil's room to clear out the groupies and
Speaker 1: the fans so that acdc's drummer could get some rest.
Speaker 1: But when Ian entered the room, it was empty, empty,
Speaker 1: with the exception of Phil, and there were no groupies
Speaker 1: and no fans, only a ghost. Phil Rudd had tripped
Speaker 1: beyond some invisible line and things would not get better.
Speaker 1: Phil Rudd continued drinking with the ghost of bon Scott
Speaker 1: until on October eighth, nineteen eighty three, Phil walked on
Speaker 1: stage in Uniondale, New York, wasted, sat down behind his
Speaker 1: kit and bashed away until he fell off his stool
Speaker 1: in a pissed drunk stupor. He recovered, sort of and
Speaker 1: finished the set. Afterward, Malcolm Young walked up to his
Speaker 1: drummer backstage and walloped him in the face with his fist,
Speaker 1: and that was it. Phil could fuck off. He was
Speaker 1: out of the group and ACDC was now just another
Speaker 1: rock band. We'll be right back after this.
Speaker 2: We're We're Where.
Speaker 1: Chapter four The high school head who said you needed
Speaker 1: a swing. Plenty of bands who merely rocked had enjoyed
Speaker 1: massive success. It was nineteen ninety and the billboard charts
Speaker 1: were peppered with rock bands turning on teenage heads all
Speaker 1: over the world. Jovi made Jersey girls swoon with Blaze
Speaker 1: of Glory, which went to number one. Billy Idol rocked
Speaker 1: the Cradle of Love all the way up to number two.
Speaker 1: Faith No More soared into the top ten at number
Speaker 1: nine with their single Epic, and in the same year, Nelson,
Speaker 1: Heart and skid Row all competed on the charts alongside
Speaker 1: ac DC's single Thunderstruck, the band's biggest hit since You
Speaker 1: Shook Me All Night Long, which drove their new album
Speaker 1: The Razor's Edge to multi platinum status, the band's best
Speaker 1: selling records since Back in Black. All of these songs
Speaker 1: were rock bon Jovi, Billy Idol, Nelson, Heart, skid Row, etc.
Speaker 1: They weren't rock and roll. Thunderstruck by ac DC wasn't
Speaker 1: rock and roll either. It's about as meat and potato
Speaker 1: as hard rock as you can get. It's great, don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, But it isn't Highway to Hell or
Speaker 1: Let There Be Rock. It doesn't come anywhere near the
Speaker 1: greatness the band achieved creatively when Phil Rubb was in
Speaker 1: the band. Neither were the full length recordings that preceded
Speaker 1: the Razor's Edge or followed the last the album to
Speaker 1: feature Phil, which was Flick at the Switch. Those albums
Speaker 1: being Fly on the Wall and Blow Up Your Video.
Speaker 1: Simon Wright replaced Phil Rudd on those albums, and Chris
Speaker 1: Slade of the Firm replaced Simon on the Razor's Edge.
Speaker 1: This was a creative era of inconsistency for ACDC. Some
Speaker 1: fans the purest blame Bond Scott's replacement singer Brian Johnson
Speaker 1: for the band's lackluster recordings during this time, specifically Fly
Speaker 1: on the Wall and Blow Up Your Video. But Brian
Speaker 1: wasn't the issue. The drumming was the issue. Sure, Malcolm
Speaker 1: made it work with Thunderstruck, but deep down I think
Speaker 1: he knew they weren't the same band without Phil Rudd.
Speaker 1: They weren't a rock and roll band and something needed
Speaker 1: to change. And that's something was brought on by the
Speaker 1: Dirtiest deads Murder Chapter five. We'll get round Him, We'll
Speaker 1: have Her sells a ball. Christmas nineteen eighty three, ACDC
Speaker 1: is once again on top, one of the biggest bands
Speaker 1: in the world, and their manager, Crispin Dy had many
Speaker 1: reasons to celebrate that evening. In Sydney, Australia. There was
Speaker 1: the success of the band he managed, and then there
Speaker 1: was the joy he felt over releasing his own debut album.
Speaker 1: So Crispin went out to hit the pubs. Upon leaving
Speaker 1: one of those watering holes in the Darlinghurst neighborhood, he
Speaker 1: was attacked three men or was it just one. It's
Speaker 1: doubtful Crispin ever saw the attack coming, and the head
Speaker 1: trauma likely came first from a blunt instrument, then the punches,
Speaker 1: the kicks. But when you felled and your brain has
Speaker 1: been so severely bashed that you could feel it loosening
Speaker 1: itself from the inside of your skull, the hits to
Speaker 1: the body don't really register. You're in shock, confused, and
Speaker 1: you know something's happening to you, but you're not sure what.
Speaker 1: There's fear, yes, but that fear isn't of your attackers.
Speaker 1: It's deeper now. You can feel yourself slipping away. Holding
Speaker 1: on is no longer a tangible challenge. It's metaphysical that
Speaker 1: you try to concentrate, but the hits keep on coming,
Speaker 1: and your mind is pulling you into a darkness you've
Speaker 1: never known, a darkness with a promise of peace so
Speaker 1: real you can feel it wrap itself around you and
Speaker 1: shield you from the pain being inflicted upon your body.
Speaker 1: But there's a trade off. Nothing's free. Slipping into that
Speaker 1: piece means slipping into oblivion. So you fight, if not physically,
Speaker 1: then mentally, you will yourself to survive. But when they
Speaker 1: find you, you're unconscious, bloodied, broken, lying in the street
Speaker 1: like a Christian thrown to the lions, and they gather
Speaker 1: up what's left of you, because remarkably you're still breathing,
Speaker 1: and they bring you to the hospital where you do
Speaker 1: your best to hang on, but that pull towards something
Speaker 1: better than what you've been given it's too strong, so
Speaker 1: you give in and succumb to your injuries. The next day, Christmas,
Speaker 1: the day you meet your maker at the age, which
Speaker 1: is forty one, acdc's manager Crispinde was murdered. They never
Speaker 1: caught his killers, and this case is steeped in hate. First,
Speaker 1: there was a supposed eyewitness accusation of the three Pacific
Speaker 1: Islanders were seen standing over Crispin's body, a lead that
Speaker 1: went nowhere. And then there was the fact that Crispin
Speaker 1: was gay walking late at night in an area known
Speaker 1: for its gay night life, but the death was investigated
Speaker 1: as a robbery, not a hate crime, and nothing came
Speaker 1: of it until in twenty twenty three, thirty years later,
Speaker 1: it was revealed that the forensic testing of Die's blood
Speaker 1: stained clothing have been botched by authorities and when the
Speaker 1: forensics will run again. A DNA match linked the crime
Speaker 1: to a violent, convicted felon with a criminal history, including
Speaker 1: a nineteen ninety three assault with an iron bar, a
Speaker 1: blunt instrument and another attack of a tourist in Sydney.
Speaker 1: That convicted felon killed himself in two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: and the case of the murder of acdc's manager remains unsolved.
Speaker 1: What isn't a mystery, however, is what this murder, this
Speaker 1: unfortunate event, did for the band that Crispin Dye managed.
Speaker 1: At his funeral, members of ACDC passed and present were
Speaker 1: in attendance, and this was where Malcolm Young ran into
Speaker 1: Phil Rudd for the first time in years and was
Speaker 1: reminded of what he'd been missing in ACDC, that dirty
Speaker 1: swing that only Phil was capable of bringing. You would
Speaker 1: think that a guy in Malcolm Young's position in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety four would be content. He was a guitarist and
Speaker 1: a massive band, a band he built with his brothers,
Speaker 1: so it was more than a band. It was a giant,
Speaker 1: successful family business. He'd written and recorded iconic music that
Speaker 1: would outlive him for decades. He had the respect of
Speaker 1: his peers and heroes, the Rolling Stones. They famously offered
Speaker 1: ACDC millions of dollars to open up for them for
Speaker 1: one show, and Malcolm said no because ACDC opened for
Speaker 1: no one, not even his heroes. Malcolm's band made him
Speaker 1: more money than he'd ever be able to spend, so
Speaker 1: why mess around with what was clearly working? Because true
Speaker 1: artists never rest. There's always a fear that if what
Speaker 1: you're making isn't great, then everything, all of it, will disappear.
Speaker 1: Malcolm young from his earliest days and ac DC wanted
Speaker 1: a band that could last, that could not be toppled
Speaker 1: by an outside force, and that meant staying true to
Speaker 1: what he and his brother believed was the best version
Speaker 1: of rock and roll they grew up on and set
Speaker 1: out to make. Thunderstruck wasn't enough, because Malcolm knew there
Speaker 1: was a version of ACDC that was better, and that
Speaker 1: version had to include the wild card Phil Rudd on drums.
Speaker 1: The encounter at the funerals set off a chain of
Speaker 1: events that would end with Phil replacing Chris Slade and
Speaker 1: taking back his rightful seat behind the kit in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety four, first with an informal jam session with Angus
Speaker 1: and Malcolm, and then in rehearsals for the band's next album, Ballbreaker,
Speaker 1: produced with Rick Rubin. The idea was that with Phil back,
Speaker 1: Rubin would shepherd the band to its stripped down seventy sound.
Speaker 1: That didn't really work out. Rick Rubin and Malcolm and
Speaker 1: Angus clashed creatively, and the album suffered as a result.
Speaker 1: A CDC's real return to form didn't come until the
Speaker 1: next album two thousand, Stiff Upper Lip, produced by Malcolm
Speaker 1: and Angus's brother Georgia, after Atlantic Records forced George out
Speaker 1: before Highway to Hell. His reunion with the band was
Speaker 1: a reset Malcolm had been waiting for. With Phil Rudd
Speaker 1: anchoring the rhythm and George behind the board, ac DC
Speaker 1: once again sounded exactly as Malcolm always knew the band should.
Speaker 1: Stiff Upper Lip maybe an overlooked record from a CDC's catalog,
Speaker 1: but it's the band's best record with Brian Johnson, that's
Speaker 1: not named Back in Black, and after nearly two decades
Speaker 1: of creative inconsistency, the band was ready to charge into
Speaker 1: the new millennium with the same white hot intensity they'd
Speaker 1: owned in the seventies. But along the way, Malcolm would
Speaker 1: face challenges to that vision, and none of those challenges
Speaker 1: was more shocking than when Phil Rudd once again stopped
Speaker 1: drumming for a C d C and became a real
Speaker 1: life character written from the lyrics of dirty Deeds Done
Speaker 1: dirt Chy, a true dishonest John. We'll get back into
Speaker 1: this story in a couple seconds, guys, but I wanted
Speaker 1: to bring up what you may have heard me mention
Speaker 1: in the last block, the fact that bon Scott's girlfriend
Speaker 1: claimed that he actually finished the lyrics for acdc's next
Speaker 1: album before he died. That would be the Back in
Speaker 1: Black album. But bon Scott isn't credited as a lyricist
Speaker 1: or a songwriter on Back in Black. This controversy has
Speaker 1: been debated by ACDC fans for years. Did Bond Scott
Speaker 1: actually write some of the lyrics for the massively successful
Speaker 1: Back in Black album? And was Brian Johnson credited instead?
Speaker 1: There's too much to get into about the story in
Speaker 1: this full episode of Disgraceland, but we do dive in
Speaker 1: more fully in this week's accompanying mini episode, which Disgrace
Speaker 1: and All Access members can hear in their Apple podcasts
Speaker 1: or Patreon apps. Go to disgracelandpod dot com slash membership
Speaker 1: to become a member today for just five ninety nine,
Speaker 1: and we're going to get back to our full ACDC
Speaker 1: story right now, Chapter six. Just ring three six two
Speaker 1: four three six, Hey, I lead a life of crime.
Speaker 1: On April sixteenth, twenty fourteen, ACDC issued a statement that read,
Speaker 1: in part, after forty years of life dedicated to ac DC,
Speaker 1: guitarist and founding member Malcolm Young is taking a break
Speaker 1: from the band due to ill health. ACDC asks that
Speaker 1: Malcolm and his family's privacy be respected during this time.
Speaker 1: The band will continue to make music. Ac DC will
Speaker 1: get together in May and Vancouver to record. It seemed
Speaker 1: that not even Malcolm Young's own sickness, which was revealed
Speaker 1: six months later in September of twenty fourteen to be dementia,
Speaker 1: could deny him of his goal to keep ac DC
Speaker 1: moving forward. So it was no surprise when a few
Speaker 1: months later on November sixth, twenty fourteen, that the band
Speaker 1: would pledge to continue on in the face of even
Speaker 1: more unbelievable news from the ac DC camp.
Speaker 3: The drummer of the rock band ac DC is accused
Speaker 3: in an alleged murder plot. Phil Rudd was charged in
Speaker 3: a New Zealand court with attempting to hire a hitman
Speaker 3: to kill two people. If convicted, Rudd could face ten
Speaker 3: years behind bars.
Speaker 1: Drummer Phil Rudd had just been arrested for offering a
Speaker 1: hit man large amounts of cash to have two men
Speaker 1: taken out murdered, a contract killing by a real life
Speaker 1: dishonest John. Phil was also charged with possessing large amounts
Speaker 1: of meta amphetamine in cannabis. The victims, the men the
Speaker 1: police were charging Phil Rudd for threatening to kill, were
Speaker 1: supposed business associates. These men, the identity of the victims
Speaker 1: has never been disclosed, were allegedly responsible for the existence and,
Speaker 1: from Phil's point of view, the failure of his solo
Speaker 1: album head Job the Record, and Phil was pissed and
Speaker 1: most likely way high on meth and that drug induced
Speaker 1: thinking caused Phil Rudd to threaten to kill the two
Speaker 1: men who had worked for him. On the day of
Speaker 1: Phil Rudd's arrest, ACDC wasted no time a statement was issued.
Speaker 1: It read We've only become aware of Phil's arrest as
Speaker 1: the news was breaking. We have no further comment. Phil's
Speaker 1: absence will not affect the release of our new album,
Speaker 1: Rock or Bust and upcoming tour next year Rock or Bust. Indeed,
Speaker 1: there was nothing, not the sickness of their band's founding
Speaker 1: and most influential member, not even the arrest of their
Speaker 1: drummer on a murder for higher charge, that could stop
Speaker 1: ac DC from moving forward. The show, as they say,
Speaker 1: must go on. Two weeks after Phil's arrest, Rock or Bust,
Speaker 1: an album he played on alongside Angus, Brian Cliff and
Speaker 1: Malcolm and Angus's nephew Stevie Young, was released. Five months later.
Speaker 1: On April tenth, twenty fifteen, at Coachella, ACDC kicked off
Speaker 1: the band's latest tour, with Chris Slade back behind the
Speaker 1: kit in place of Phil again, Rock or Bust, not
Speaker 1: Rock and Roll or Bust. Ten days later, on April twentieth,
Speaker 1: halfway across the world in New Zealand, Phil Rudd went
Speaker 1: before the judge and by then the murder for higher
Speaker 1: charge had been dropped due to insufficient evidence, but the
Speaker 1: death threats and drug charges stuck and Phil pleaded guilty.
Speaker 1: He was released on bail to await sentencing, and the
Speaker 1: judge noted Phil's fragile mental health in his drug addiction. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: ACDC tore a path across the United States and Europe.
Speaker 1: On July ninth, twenty fifteen, Phil Rudd went before the
Speaker 1: judge again, this time for his sentencing. He was given
Speaker 1: just eight months of home detention in order to abstain
Speaker 1: from drugs and undergo rehab, and the judge warned that
Speaker 1: a breach of these orders could land the drummer in jail.
Speaker 1: But the judge was apparently as softy because just days
Speaker 1: after Phil was confined to house arrest, he was arrested
Speaker 1: for associating with prostitutes at his house, and the judge
Speaker 1: let him off with a warning there was no getting
Speaker 1: around the house arrest. Though the entire eight month sentence
Speaker 1: would have to be served. Phil's lawyer argued this would
Speaker 1: mean that Phil would miss a CDC's Japanese tour. His
Speaker 1: attorney voiced Malcolm Young's point of view. Phil's drummer was
Speaker 1: integral to the band's sound. Why should the band suffer
Speaker 1: because of Phil's actions? The judge disagreed and replied that
Speaker 1: Queen replaced Freddy Mercury. Apparently the judge wasn't aware that
Speaker 1: ACDC replaced Bond Scott. Everyone, even Malcolm Young, was replaceable.
Speaker 1: So Phil Rudd was sentenced and out of the band,
Speaker 1: where he remains to this day. While the band continues
Speaker 1: to tour even after Malcolm Young's death in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: And of course they're touring without their best drummer, Phil Rudd,
Speaker 1: who lives out on the fringe, just like one of
Speaker 1: those characters his friend Bon Scott used to write about
Speaker 1: in his songs, specifically in Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
Speaker 1: It's like a real dishonest John and a true disgrace.
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this this Disgraceland. All right, thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to this episode of Disgraceland. If you want
Speaker 1: to hear more about the controversy around Bond Scott allegedly
Speaker 1: writing the lyrics for Back in Black, what the second
Speaker 1: biggest selling album of all time, you're gonna need to
Speaker 1: check out today's mini episode. Okay, all Access and Apple
Speaker 1: subscribers already have it in their fees. Everyone else had
Speaker 1: to disgraceland pod dot com and sign up for all
Speaker 1: Access to unlock many episodes, add free listening in uncensored
Speaker 1: music history you will not get anywhere else. Here's the kicker. Bond.
Speaker 1: Scott's friends and girlfriends swore he finished writing the lyrics
Speaker 1: for Back in Black before he died, But the notebook
Speaker 1: he wrote them and disappeared the night he was found dead.
Speaker 1: So where did it go? And why hasn't it ever resurface?
Speaker 1: That's what we're digging into in the mini episode. Now,
Speaker 1: this week's question of the week. If Back in Black
Speaker 1: is the greatest selling rock and roll record of all time,
Speaker 1: what's the one record you put above it? You can
Speaker 1: only pick one? Is it Exile on Main Street London?
Speaker 1: Calling Abbey Road? Something else? Maybe another ACDC record? Call
Speaker 1: me six one seven nine oh six six six three
Speaker 1: eight Let me know, leave a voicemail, send me a text.
Speaker 1: You can also hit me on the socials at disgracelamppod
Speaker 1: or get me direct on the Patreon Chat. Credits are
Speaker 1: coming up right now. Disgraceland was created by yours truly
Speaker 1: and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for
Speaker 1: this episode can be found on the show notes page
Speaker 1: at disgracelampod dot com. Rate and review the show and
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelamdpod
Speaker 1: and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgracelampod.
Speaker 1: Rock a Roller.
Speaker 3: He's a bad down man.