[Heeplist] AC/DC Call it quites

[Wayne Catalde]

>From The Orstrahyun: AC/DC R.I.P. - 1973-2014

AC/DC are ending their 41 year career on a terribly sad note.

Plans were underway for a new studio album, their first since 2008's 
monumental Black Ice, and a '40th Anniversary' world tour, 40 huge shows 
across the globe.

More than a month ago, founding member, rhythm guitarist, co-producer and 
co-songwriter Malcolm Young had a stroke, which left a blood clot on his 
brain.

When AC/DC reunited at the start of April to begin a month of rehearsals, in 
the lead-up to new album recording sessions, Malcolm discovered he couldn't 
play. At least, he couldn't play like he used to play.

Nothing has been officially confirmed, as of this writing, but friends and 
family members have been discussing what happened to Malcolm for the past 
couple of weeks. The blood clot, resulting from the stroke, is believed to 
be why Malcolm couldn't keep working.

Although friends have described Malcolm's condition as serious, it doesn't 
mean he won't recover. People do get better after strokes, and people do 
recover lost skills.

But friends and family of band members believe the decision was made last 
week to call it quits.

Media in Australia have gone ballistic today on rumours of The End Of AC/DC, 
and it appears the news got out ahead of a planned official announcement 
from the band and management.

Right now, that announcement is expected Wednesday, April 16, and a press 
conference has been scheduled.

AC/DC won't continue playing and recording without Malcolm. It can't be 
done.

While Angus Young is the more famous, and more recognisable, AC/DC is most 
definitely Malcolm Young's band, he started AC/DC, under the guidance of big 
brother George Young (ex-Easybeats, and co-producer) and encouraged his 
younger brother Angus to join him, and take on the world.

Malcolm Young has been the quiet motivator and boss of the band for four 
decades, co-writing nearly all of AC/DC's classics, and making sure nothing 
happened to harm or damage the band's reputation, or disappoint the fans 
who've stuck by them for decades.

His passion for the band and its music, and integrity, were so intense, back 
in the 1970s he used to have fistfights with his younger brother, Angus, in 
the studio, when disagreements about a sound or riff couldn't be resolved. 
Proper punch-ups, teeth were lost, blood was drawn.

So that's it. AC/DC are coming to an end.

But what a career. AC/DC set out to conquer the world, and they did it, 
multiple times. Even the death of singer Bon Scott barely slowed them down, 
and only slightly delayed recording sessions for Back In Black.

Back In Black is still one of the biggest-selling albums in rock history, 
and AC/DC have easily sold more than 180 million albums, and probably half 
as many singles and DVDs and videos and special edition packages. They've 
influenced pretty much every hard rock, heavy rock and heavy metal band that 
has followed in their wake, including Nirvana, Metallica, you name them, 
they probably grew up loving AC/DC. And AC/DC are still in the record books 
for one of the biggest live audiences in rock history, playing to more than 
1.6 million people in Moscow, in 1991. They were invited to play by the 
youth of Russia, who grew up on AC/DC bootlegs, after the fall of the Berlin 
Wall.