Great piece! One pedantic note - in the subhead it should be “canon”. Cool to have found you on Substack almost 40 years (!) after we met working in the mailroom at IBM in Bethesda in the summer of 1986. You introduced me to the Ramones, WHFS, and maybe most notably AC/DC at 45 RPM. I’m really enjoying your writing here.
BTW I wrote a book about AC/DC's Highway to Hell in the 33 1/3 Series back in 2010, and I mention AC/DC on 45. So I was able to tun on some readers on to it, too!
Whoa, Jeff, that's you! Wow! I think about those fun afternoons we had there kicking it to the radio! You may not remember but you got me into Flick of the Switch, actually, which I'd ignored up to that point. And I also think of you every time Bon sings "Cop this" at the start of "Problem Child," ha, I remember you digging that moment, If you're on socials, hit me up!
Substack is my only social media these days. I bailed out of Twitter pre-Elon because it was too much of a time suck, and got off Instagram because I didn’t want to be involved with anything Facebook/Meta. I had seen the Flick of the Switch tour at the Cow Palace near SF during my first month at Stanford. Here’s the funny thing: I don’t know what I said then about Problem Child, but my current and (I thought) past take is that Bon says “Cut this” as if to say “This is the vocal that’s going to be on the record.” Memory is a funny thing - I was recounting some high school memories to classmates on email a couple years ago and had multiple people say that my memories were inaccurate. Go figure 🙃
Have seen a bunch of good shows there. Neil Young and Crazy Horse 1996 and 1991. The latter was during the Gulf War and featured giant mic stands with huge yellow ribbons in them. Always remember the thunderous version of Blowin’ in the Wind. Also Deep Purple reunion tour in 1984 - so good and so amazing that Ian Gillian could still hit *all* the notes. Also AC/DC again in 1990 on the Razors Edge tour. They were always worth seeing. I feel like I’m forgetting one or two others.
So is it established that Bon actually says “Cop this”?
Joe, I'm going to quote this in the essay I'm preparing about the Beatles:" Listening to the Beatles career from start to finish is nothing less than a crash course in cultural history, with the lesson-plan on fast-forward. Any class that begins with Kennedy and ends with Nixon will be engrossing;..." This is SOOOO true and can't be said too many times. Thanks for sharing your wonderful listening. There's something for everyone in Beatles songs, many to choose from. What is also significant about the Beatles is that their careers predated Kennedy because of their admiration for good old R 'n R, and the influence they had on bands after the breakup is still ongoing. Their history will never stop.
Thanks, Sibbie! Yeah, it's truly mind blowing how renewable and eternal their songs still are, especially considering the insane pressures and circumstances in which they produced them.
Awesome road trip diary! It reminds me of the days of the legendary "Beatle-Pod," which I created for my kids when they were little and only wanted to hear The Beatles. I took my old (too small) iPod and filled it up with only Beatles music, assembling one master playlist in chronological order just as you did, with a very similar selection of extras. The icing on the cake was having my friend digitize the counterfeit copy of The Beatles Christmas Album I had picked up when I was in high school. This allowed me to insert the appropriate Christmas fan club single to delineate the changing of the years. My wife suffered a little because she didn't (and still doesn't) "get" their British humor, but the kids loved it all!
Great piece! One pedantic note - in the subhead it should be “canon”. Cool to have found you on Substack almost 40 years (!) after we met working in the mailroom at IBM in Bethesda in the summer of 1986. You introduced me to the Ramones, WHFS, and maybe most notably AC/DC at 45 RPM. I’m really enjoying your writing here.
BTW I wrote a book about AC/DC's Highway to Hell in the 33 1/3 Series back in 2010, and I mention AC/DC on 45. So I was able to tun on some readers on to it, too!
Whoa, Jeff, that's you! Wow! I think about those fun afternoons we had there kicking it to the radio! You may not remember but you got me into Flick of the Switch, actually, which I'd ignored up to that point. And I also think of you every time Bon sings "Cop this" at the start of "Problem Child," ha, I remember you digging that moment, If you're on socials, hit me up!
And thanks for the correction! ;-)
Substack is my only social media these days. I bailed out of Twitter pre-Elon because it was too much of a time suck, and got off Instagram because I didn’t want to be involved with anything Facebook/Meta. I had seen the Flick of the Switch tour at the Cow Palace near SF during my first month at Stanford. Here’s the funny thing: I don’t know what I said then about Problem Child, but my current and (I thought) past take is that Bon says “Cut this” as if to say “This is the vocal that’s going to be on the record.” Memory is a funny thing - I was recounting some high school memories to classmates on email a couple years ago and had multiple people say that my memories were inaccurate. Go figure 🙃
No, that's exactly what I remember you saying, "Cut this." We were in a stock room area. I always hear that instead haha.
Cow Palace, wow
Have seen a bunch of good shows there. Neil Young and Crazy Horse 1996 and 1991. The latter was during the Gulf War and featured giant mic stands with huge yellow ribbons in them. Always remember the thunderous version of Blowin’ in the Wind. Also Deep Purple reunion tour in 1984 - so good and so amazing that Ian Gillian could still hit *all* the notes. Also AC/DC again in 1990 on the Razors Edge tour. They were always worth seeing. I feel like I’m forgetting one or two others.
So is it established that Bon actually says “Cop this”?
That's what the Genius lyrics site says, anyway.
I was surprised that the CP is still open. I've never seen ACDC live and I feel that the time's prolly passed.
Joe, I'm going to quote this in the essay I'm preparing about the Beatles:" Listening to the Beatles career from start to finish is nothing less than a crash course in cultural history, with the lesson-plan on fast-forward. Any class that begins with Kennedy and ends with Nixon will be engrossing;..." This is SOOOO true and can't be said too many times. Thanks for sharing your wonderful listening. There's something for everyone in Beatles songs, many to choose from. What is also significant about the Beatles is that their careers predated Kennedy because of their admiration for good old R 'n R, and the influence they had on bands after the breakup is still ongoing. Their history will never stop.
Thanks, Sibbie! Yeah, it's truly mind blowing how renewable and eternal their songs still are, especially considering the insane pressures and circumstances in which they produced them.
Awesome road trip diary! It reminds me of the days of the legendary "Beatle-Pod," which I created for my kids when they were little and only wanted to hear The Beatles. I took my old (too small) iPod and filled it up with only Beatles music, assembling one master playlist in chronological order just as you did, with a very similar selection of extras. The icing on the cake was having my friend digitize the counterfeit copy of The Beatles Christmas Album I had picked up when I was in high school. This allowed me to insert the appropriate Christmas fan club single to delineate the changing of the years. My wife suffered a little because she didn't (and still doesn't) "get" their British humor, but the kids loved it all!
Aw, I love that! Maybe I'll slot in a few Christmas singles!