Latest / DISGRACELAND / AC/DC Pt. 2 (Rewind): Dirty Deeds, Dead Friends, and Murder for Hire

Transcript

AC/DC Pt. 2 (Rewind): Dirty Deeds, Dead Friends, and Murder for Hire · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, we're dipping into the archive again, into
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: our ACDC story. This is part two. This was released
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: about a year ago, November of 2025, a couple of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: years after part one. I decided that there was more
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: left on the ACDC bone. ACDC is one of my
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: favorite bands of all time. And I really wanted to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: tell the story of Phil Rudd, their drummer, and the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: murder for hire saga that was going on. And I
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: wanted to get more into Malcolm Young as well, who
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: was really the engine behind ACDC, who passed away some
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: years ago. Just one of the greatest, greatest rock and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: roll guitarists of all time. Angus gets a lot of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the attention, but Malcolm was the engine. Anyways, this story
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: is crazy, as is the story of ACDC's manager and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: his murder. And of course, the whole Phil Rudd of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: it all. ACDC, still out there touring. Still out there
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: doing it. You ever seen ACDC? What do you think?
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: You seen him lately? Let me know. Let me know
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: what you think of the episode. Here's ACDC part two.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: In Disgraceland. Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: is a story about contract killings, death threats, drinking with ghosts, rock,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and roll. And a part two continuation of our story
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: on one of the greatest bands of all time, ACDC.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: A band that made great music. Yes, some of the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: greatest rock and roll music these years have ever heard.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: preset loop from my Mellotron called Jack and Bloke MK1.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: rights to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift. Then why
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of pre-Kelsey cheese?
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: song in America on November 16th, 2014. And that was
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the day ACDC's Phil Rudd was arrested on charges that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: would make the musician seem strangely alike one of the
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: murderous characters in one of the band's best songs, Dirty
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. On this episode, Concrete Shoes, Cyanide, Neckties, Contracts,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: High Voltage, and Part 2 ACBC's story. I'm Jake Brennan,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland. Chapter 1. Do anything you want
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: me to. To transmitters in Queensland and the Northern Territory,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: this is ABC.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Meet this honest John, the villain of the year. A
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: crummy crumb, a no-good bum who sports a sneaky sneer.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Watch the birdie.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: You think I was kidding when I said I'd be
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: glad to knock you off? I have some gorgonzola for
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: his little schnozola.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Shazmat. No, no, no, no. Angus and Malcolm Young of
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: ACDC never forgot where they came from. The working class.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: The kind of home where the television babysat the kids
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: because there was no other option. And they never forgot
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: what made them. Family. The two brothers launched their band
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: in the early 70s under the guidance of their older brother, George, who,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: along with his friend Harry Vanda, had already achieved pop
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: chart success with his band, The Easy Beats. The Easy
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Beats single, Friday on My Mind, reached number 16 on
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the Billboard Hot 100 in America in 1966 and was
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: covered by David Bowie on his album, Pin Ups, in 73.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: In the environment that Angus and Malcolm were raised in,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: hard work and disciplines were of utmost importance. It didn't
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: matter if you were mixing cement, as their father had done,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: or playing guitar in a band with your brother on
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: stage and your other brother behind the board. Concrete shoes, cyanide, neckties,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: contract killings, this kind of work, the dirty deeds, the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: kind that Dishonest John promised to deliver dirt cheap. Dishonest
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: John was a character from Angus' favorite cartoon growing up,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: The Beanie and Cecil Show. Even this type of work
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: required discipline. But for Angus and Malcolm, who in 1975
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: were putting together the lyrics with ACDC singer Bon Scott
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: for their third album, contract killings and the like were
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: just violent fantasy. Typical of the type of transgressions demonstrated
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: by the characters dreamed up by Bon. Men on the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: outer edge of society, thieves, broke-down dreamers, schemers, stalkers, and yes,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: even killers. Men on the Fringe, like the main character
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: in the title track from their forthcoming album, Dirty Deeds
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Done Dirt Cheap. A song inspired partly by Bond's vivid imagination,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: partly from Angus' childhood infatuation with the Dishonest John cartoon character,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and partly from those bad, bad men Humphrey Bogart portrayed
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: in his early films. The song, Dirty Deeds, was great,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: no doubt about it. Beneath the story of Bond's bad,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: bad man hiring himself out to solve his customers' problems
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: with all manner of criminal violence and in typical Bond
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: humor to do so cheaply, beneath all of that, there
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: was a killer riff and a rhythm that swung. ACDC
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: is often categorized as being a hard rock band, but
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: that couldn't be more untrue. ACDC is a rock and
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: roll band. The rock part of the equation is the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: part that sounds hard, and the roll part is the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: part that's hard to do. It's the part that swings.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Think of the Rolling Stones. Hard riffs from Keith, but
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: songs that feel good and make you want to dance
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: because of Charlie. Because Charlie Watts knew how to swing.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: The swing is subtle. Most rock bands get it wrong.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And well, they're not rock and roll bands. They're just
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: rock bands. Malcolm Young was... hell-bent on being a rock
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: and roll band. Being just a rock band wasn't good enough.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: You might as well be hauling concrete or watching cartoons.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Being in a great rock and roll band was something
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that would last. And finally, on this album, on Dirty Deeds,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Malcolm had what he wanted. That's because now, after a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: series of early releases with different bandmates, inconsistent repertoire and
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: distribution issues, ACDC seemed to finally be putting it all
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: together on one great full-length album that was bound to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: break the band in America. Malcolm knew what anyone who
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: saw ACDC back in the 70s quickly learned. ACDC was
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the greatest rock and roll band on the planet. Pete
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Townshend from The Who saw them live and loved them.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Cheap Trick found other brothers from Down Under. Kiss was
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: intimidated by them. And Van Halen was afraid to follow
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: them on stage. ACDC was that good. And a big
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: reason why was because in addition to Angus' schoolboy guitar
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: hero antics and Bond's bad boy soul strip and Malcolm's
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: iron fist behind it all, ACDC had a drummer who
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: could swing. Phil Rudd. With Phil now behind the kit,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Malcolm Young was on his way to building a band
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that was the rock and roll representation of raw, working-class power.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: A machine that could withstand fame, addiction, death, and even murder.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: But Atlantic Records didn't hear a single. And Dirty Deeds
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Done Dirt Cheap was shelved in America. It disappeared into limbo, unreleased.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Not until years later did American audiences get to hear it.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: For the time being, partly to prevent being dropped by
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: their label, and partly as a giant fuck you to
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: the label that clearly didn't believe in his band, Malcolm
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Young took ACDC back into the studio and created a masterpiece,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: 1977's Let There Be Rock. Let the label try to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: ignore this. They couldn't. Neither could audiences. The band toured
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: relentlessly through Europe and America. ACDC quickly followed Let There
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Be Rock with 1978's Powerage, quite literally the greatest rock
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and roll album of all time, by the way, but
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I'm not here to start arguments you can't win. I'm
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: here to tell you a story about dirty deeds, so
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I'll just keep going. With Power Ridge came more touring
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and plans for another record, this one to hopefully do
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: what others hadn't, break the band in America. But touring
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: was taking its toll, as touring does. People think that
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the lives of touring musicians are glamorous, and to some extent,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: It is dancing girls and champagne on ice, as Bon
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Scott once sang, but it's also incredibly taxing physically and mentally.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: It'll drive even the best of them crazy. And people
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: also think that being in a band is being part
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: of a brotherhood, and it most definitely is. But the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: part that often gets left out is, what if one
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: of your brothers goes shithouse nuts every now and again?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: What then? Every band knows what I'm talking about. Bon
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Scott definitely knew about this. So much so that in 1978,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: he took some time off from partying on the road
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: to write a letter to his sister. Valerie, Bon wrote
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: on Hilton Stationery. Well, as you can see, Bond's in
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: downtown Pittsburgh today. I've just come over from the West
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Coast where I spent a couple of days in L.A.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: doing Midnight Special. Bond goes on, and you can feel
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the natural charm in his words and the sweetness he
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: has in reserve for his sibling. You can also instantly
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: feel his concern for a friend. Bond is telling Valerie
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: that he's scouting drummers to fill in for ACDC's Phil Rudd, saying, quote,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Phil had a bit of a nervous breakdown. And Bond
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: goes on to say that Phil had to spend a
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: lot of time with the shrink, and that it was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: real bad, but luckily he got over it quickly enough
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: not to upset the band. And we had to treat
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: him with kid gloves for a bit, but he's okay now.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: According to Bond Scott, Phil Rudd had gone a bit
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: off the rails. A loose cannon drummer was exactly the
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: type of drummer a musician as serious-minded as Malcolm Young
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: could not abide. Yet Malcolm needed Phil. Malcolm had played
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: with other drummers, and other drummers were a dead end.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Phil swung in a special way, and Malcolm couldn't go
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: back to the way it was, to being just a
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: rock band. So Malcolm closed ranks, dealt with Phil's problem internally,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and kept trudging toward success in America with Phil behind
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the kit for the recording of the band's next album, again,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the one they hoped would break them in the States.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: But now the label was interfering once more, and for
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: this next record, ACDC would need to part ways with
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: their longtime producer, their brother, George Young, and work with
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: someone who better understood what American audiences were looking for.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: The meddling stung. Being forced to break the bond with
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: their older brother stung even worse. Atlantic suggested legendary producer
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Eddie Kramer, he of Jimi Hendrix fame. Eddie Kramer suggested
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Malcolm and Angus record the young rascals Good Lovin' as
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: their first single. Malcolm called his manager and told him
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to get Eddie Kramer the fuck out of the studio
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: and on the first thing smoking back to wherever the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: hell he came from. Atlantic then shipped in Mutt Lang,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: fresh off crafting a number one hit for the Boomtown Rats.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Mutt told Malcolm and Bond that the backing vocals on
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the demos needed to be sung in a certain way.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Malcolm told Mutt he wasn't no dirty Boomtown Rat singing
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: for the charts. Mutt then went in and sang the
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: suggested vocal part perfectly. Malcolm took the note, and so
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: did Bon. Mutt was on another level, and he understood
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: what made ACDC work. For the most part, he just
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: got out of the way and let them cook. What
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: emerged was a masterpiece, Highway to Hell. The album did
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: for the band what It and Atlantic had long hoped
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to achieve. It broke them in America. To date, the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: album has sold almost 8 million copies in the United
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: States and more than 15 million worldwide. But if ACDC
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: was going to be built to last, there was another
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: mile marker on the highway to pass. Even greater success.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: International success. Malcolm was relentless, a workhorse. He and Angus
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: wrote tirelessly for what they were certain would be an
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: album that would blow the rest of the world wide
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: open for ACDC. As 1980 progressed and high school kids
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: across the United States dug into the massive riffs on
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Highway to Hell, The band was already set to record
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a follow-up. Now it was Bon's turn. He looked up
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: from the notebook he was writing in and closed it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: It was February in London. Cold and dreary. But Bon
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: was feeling celebratory. He'd done it. He'd finished writing the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: lyrics for ACDC's next album. Finally. And so, it was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: time to get drunk. There are no handbooks in rock
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and roll. There's no index you can leaf through. No
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: dead singer section filed under D. Therefore, there were no
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: instructions for ACDC when they learned in February 1980 that
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: their singer, the inimitable and seemingly irreplaceable Bon Scott, had died.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: One of Bon's girlfriends at the time, Silver Smith, claims
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: that Bond finished writing the lyrics for ACDC's next album
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: in the London flat that he was renting and went
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: out afterward to celebrate with his friends from the band
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: UFO at a club called The Music Machine. Bond then
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: blacked out drunk in the back of a Renault 5,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: choked on his own vomit, and died senselessly. And now, Malcolm, Angus,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: and everyone else in the ACDC camp was trying to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: figure out how to get their dead singer back to Australia.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: From first class on the plane while they waited to
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: fly out, you could see Bond's coffin coming down the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: baggage conveyor belt, mixed in with the rest of the luggage.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Fuck this. Angus wouldn't have it. He wasn't flying home
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: first class with his friend being hauled underneath the plane
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: with the rest of the cargo. The band moved back
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to coach and back to Australia. And Bond Scott was buried.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: And then the band moved on through their grief. Each
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: band member, Malcolm, Angus, Phil, and bassist Cliff Williams worked tirelessly.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: The first order of business was to find a replacement
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: for Bond, a task that seemed impossible, but somehow was
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: accomplished when they found Brian Johnson, a singer who once
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: impressed Bond and a singer who, as it's long been rumored,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: was recommended to ACDC by a fan. Next up, they
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: needed to complete the album they started putting together before
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Bond's death. When they emerged from the studio, they were
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: wielding a tribute to Bond called Back in Black, an
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: album that would sell ungodly amounts of records, largely on
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the strength of the band's new songs, songs that fit
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: their new singer perfectly, and also on the strength of
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the group's relentless touring. When all was said and done,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Back in Black did what Malcolm intended it to do,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: broke the band beyond America, throughout the rest of the world.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: It was a global smash. one that would go on
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: to sell 50 million copies and become the second biggest
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: selling full-length album of all time, behind only Michael Jackson's Thriller.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Back in Black's follow-up, For Those About to Rock, We
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Salute You, sold incredibly well also, deepening ACDC's connection with
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: American gearheads and FM radio listeners. They continued to tour
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and became, quite literally, the biggest band on the planet
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: before hunkering down to create their next album, Flick of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the Switch. And that's when the pressure of it all
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: started to grind the gears on Malcolm's well-oiled rock and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: roll machine. Phil Rudd, ACDC's drummer, the man who rolled
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and swung mightily, was coming apart again. He played nightly
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: to tens of thousands of adoring fans and did his
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: best to outrun the death of one of his best friends,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Bon Scott, all while enjoying the trappings of success Bond
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: always wanted but never achieved. It was a lot, and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the guilt was no doubt white hot. Phil cooled it
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: with alcohol, gallons and gallons of alcohol. Of course, in
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: rock and roll, drinking is not only tolerated, it's encouraged.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: But for a band leader like Malcolm Young, the only
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: thing that was sacred was your playing. If the drink
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: impacted the gig, then you could get fucked. Offstage in
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: a hotel room in Nebraska, Phil Rudd was drinking with ghosts.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: They were right there at the edge of his bed.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Who were these people pulling from the same bottle that
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: he was? Groupies, fans. Some spoke in adoring, kiss-ass tones.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Some taunted Phil. They talked of ACDC songs and fast cars,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: and all Phil heard was Bond's voice. When one of them,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: just a high school head, asked Phil for a light,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Phil heard Bon ask for a light. When the lady
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: with the dude who was icing her got frustrated and
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: wanted to know where the coke was, Phil heard Bon
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: question him. When two guys near the bathroom nearly came
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: to blows over a girl sitting on Phil's bed, Phil
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: heard Bon arguing with himself. Phil had a thought. Was
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: this it? Were the distractions, the gigs, the sessions, the responsibilities,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: were they no longer enough? Phil may have been pissed drunk,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: but he knew what this was. Unresolved grief finally coming
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to the surface, bleeding out all over the room in
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: ghostly white heat, filling the atmosphere within these four walls
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: with a pressure he'd never imagined. Manifest in the words
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: of the fans, his new fair-weather friends, speaking in Bon
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Scott's voice. and now increasingly in tongues. The sound of
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: it filled his head with dense pressure. It was intense,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: more intense than the pressure of being on stage in
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: front of tens of thousands, and more intense than staring
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: down Malcolm, stronger than the fear of letting Angus down.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: It was the pressure of admitting he was gone and
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: that there was nothing he or anyone else could do
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: about it. The bond was gone. And these fuckers in
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the room had to go next. But Phil was helpless.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: He called his road manager, Ian. Ian would know what
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: to do. Road managers always knew what to do. Ian
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: headed straight over to Phil's room to clear out the
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: groupies and the fans so that ACDC's drummer could get
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: some rest. But when Ian entered the room, It was empty.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Empty with the exception of Phil. And there were no groupies,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: no fans, only a ghost. Phil Rudd had tripped beyond
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: some invisible line. And things would not get better. Phil
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Rudd continued drinking with the ghost of Bon Scott. Until
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: on October 8th, 1983, Phil walked on stage in Uniondale,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: New York, wasted, sat down behind his kit, and bashed
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: away until he fell off his stool in a piss-drunk stupor.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: He recovered, sort of, and finished the set. Afterward, Malcolm
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Young walked up to his drummer backstage and walloped him
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: in the face with his fist. That was it. Phil
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: could fuck off. He was out of the group, and
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: ACDC was now just another rock band. We'll be right
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: back after this word, word, word. Chapter four, the high
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: school head. Who said you needed a swing? Plenty of
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: bands who merely rocked had enjoyed massive success. It was
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: 1990 and the billboard charts were peppered with rock bands
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: turning on teenage heads all over the world. Jon Bon
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Jovi made Jersey Girls swoon with Blaze of Glory, which
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: went to number one. Billy Idol rocked the Cradle of
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Love all the way up to number two. Faith No
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: More soared into the top ten at number nine with
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: their single, Epic. And in the same year, Nelson, Heart,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: and Skid Row all competed on the charts alongside ACDC's
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: single Thunderstruck, the band's biggest hit since You Shook Me
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: All Night Long, which drove their new album, The Razor's Edge,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to multi-platinum status. the band's best-selling record since Back in Black.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: All of these songs were rock. Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, Nelson, Heart,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Skid Row, etc. They weren't rock and roll. Thunderstruck by
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: ACDC wasn't rock and roll either. It's about as meat
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and potato as hard rock as you can get. It's great,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but it isn't Highway to Hell
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: or Let There Be Rock. It doesn't come anywhere near
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: the greatness the band achieved creatively when Phil Rudd was
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: in the band. Neither were the full-length recordings that preceded
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: The Razor's Edge, or followed the last album to feature Phil,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: which was Flick of the Switch. Those albums being Fly
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: on the Wall and Blow Up Your Video. Simon Wright
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: replaced Phil Rudd on those albums, and Chris Slade of
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: The Firm replaced Simon on The Razor's Edge. This was
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: a creative era of inconsistency for ACDC. Some fans, the purists,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: blame Bon Scott's replacement, singer Brian Johnson, for the band's
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: lackluster recordings during this time. Specifically fly on the wall
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: and blow up your video. But Brian wasn't the issue.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: The drumming was the issue. Sure, Malcolm made it work
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: with Thunderstruck, but deep down, I think he knew. They
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: weren't the same band without Phil Rudd. They weren't a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: rock and roll band. And something needed to change. And
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: that something was brought on by the dirtiest of deeds. Murder.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Chapter 5. We'll get round him. We'll have ourselves a ball. Christmas, 1983.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: ACDC is once again on top. One of the biggest
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: bands in the world. And their manager, Crispin Dye, had
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: many reasons to celebrate that evening in Sydney, Australia. There
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: was the success of the band he managed, and then
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: there was the joy he felt over releasing his own
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: debut album. So Crispin went out to hit the pubs.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Upon leaving one of those watering holes in the Darlinghurst neighborhood,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: he was attacked. Three men, or was it just one?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: It's doubtful Crispin ever saw the attack coming. The head
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: trauma likely came first from a blunt instrument, then the punches,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the kicks. When you fell, then your brain has been
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: so severely bashed that you can feel it loosening itself
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: from the inside of your skull. The hits to the
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: body don't really register. You're in shock, confused, and you
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: know something's happening to you, but you're not sure what.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: There's fear, yes, but that fear isn't of your attackers.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: It's deeper now. You can feel yourself slipping away. Holding
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: on is no longer a tangible challenge. It's metaphysical. and
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: you try to concentrate, but the hits keep on coming,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: and your mind is pulling you into a darkness you've
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: never known. A darkness with a promise of peace so
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: real you can feel it wrap itself around you and
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: shield you from the pain being inflicted upon your body.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: But there's a trade-off. Nothing's free. Slipping into that peace
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: means slipping into oblivion. So you fight. If not physically,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: then mentally. You will yourself to survive. But when they
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: find you, You're unconscious, bloodied, broken, lying in the street
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: like a Christian thrown to the lions. And they gather
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: up what's left of you, because remarkably you're still breathing.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: And they bring you to the hospital where you do
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: your best to hang on. But that pull towards something
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: better than what you've been given, it's too strong. So
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: you give in and succumb to your injuries the next day. Christmas,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the day you meet your maker at the age of
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: just 41. ACDC's manager, Crispin Dye, was murdered. They never
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: caught his killers. And this case is steeped in hate. First,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: there was the supposed eyewitness accusation that three Pacific Islanders
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: were seen standing over Crispin's body, a lead that went nowhere.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: And then there was the fact that Crispin was gay,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: walking late at night in an area known for its
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: gay nightlife. But the death was investigated as a robbery,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: not a hate crime. And nothing came of it. Until
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: in 2023, Thirty years later, it was revealed that the
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: forensic testing of Dye's bloodstained clothing had been botched by authorities.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: And when the forensics were run again, a DNA match
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: linked the crime to a violent convicted felon with a
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: criminal history, including a 1993 assault with an iron bar,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: a blunt instrument, and another attack of a tourist in Sydney.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: That convicted felon killed himself in 2002. then the case
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: of the murder of ACDC's manager remains unsolved. What isn't
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: a mystery, however, is what this murder, this unfortunate event,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: did for the band that Crispin Dye managed. At his funeral,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: members of ACDC, past and present, were in attendance. And
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: this was where Malcolm Young ran into Phil Rudd for
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the first time in years and was reminded of what
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: he'd been missing in ACDC. that dirty swing that only
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Phil was capable of bringing. You would think that a
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: guy in Malcolm Young's position in 1994 would be content.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: He was a guitarist in a massive band, a band
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: he built with his brothers. So it was more than
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: a band, it was a giant, successful family business. He'd
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: written and recorded iconic music that would outlive him for decades.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: He had the respect of his peers and heroes, the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Rolling Stones... They famously offered ACDC millions of dollars to
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: open up for them for one show, and Malcolm said no,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: because ACDC opened for no one, not even his heroes.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Malcolm's band made him more money than he'd ever be
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: able to spend, so why mess around with what was
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: clearly working? Because true artists never rest. There's always a
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: fear that if what you're making isn't great, then everything,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: all of it, will disappear. Malcolm Young from his earliest
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: days in ACDC wanted a band that could last, that
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: could not be toppled by an outside force. And that
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: meant staying true to what he and his brother believed
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: was the best version of rock and roll they grew
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: up on and set out to make. Thunderstruck wasn't enough
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: because Malcolm knew there was a version of ACDC that
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: was better. And that version had to include the wild
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: card Phil Rudd on drums. The encounter at the funeral
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: set off a chain of events that would end with
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Phil replacing Chris Slade and taking back his rightful seat
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: behind the kit in 1994, first with an informal jam
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: session with Angus and Malcolm, and then in rehearsals for
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the band's next album, Ballbreaker, produced with Rick Rubin. The
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: idea was that, with Phil back, Rubin would shepherd the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: band to its stripped-down 70s sound. But that didn't really
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: work out. Rick Rubin and Malcolm and Angus clashed creatively.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and the album suffered as a result. ACDC's real return
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: to form didn't come until the next album, 2000's Stiff
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Upper Lip, produced by Malcolm and Angus' brother, George Young.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: After Atlantic Records forced George out before Highway to Hell,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: his reunion with the band was a reset Malcolm had
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: been waiting for. With Phil Rudd anchoring the rhythm and
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: George behind the board, ACDC once again sounded exactly as
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Malcolm always knew the band should. Stiff Upper Lip may
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: be an overlooked record from ACDC's catalog, but it's the
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: band's best record with Brian Johnson that's not named Back
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: in Black. And after nearly two decades of creative inconsistency,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the band was ready to charge into the new millennium
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: with the same white-hot intensity they'd owned in the 70s.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: But along the way, Malcolm would face challenges to that vision.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: And none of those challenges was more shocking than when
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Phil Rudd once again stopped drumming for ACDC and became
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: a real-life character ripped from the lyrics of Dirty Deeds
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Done Dirty. A true dishonest John. Time to do my
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: bad deeds for the day. We'll get back into this
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: story in a couple seconds, guys. But I wanted to
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: bring up what you may have heard me mention in
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: the last block. The fact that Bon Scott's girlfriend claimed
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: that he actually finished the lyrics for ACDC's next album
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: before he died. That would be the Back in Black album.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: But Bon Scott isn't credited as a lyricist or songwriter
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: on Back in Black. This controversy has been debated by
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: ACDC fans for years. Did Bon Scott actually write some
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: of the lyrics and for the massively successful Back in
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Black album. And was Brian Johnson credited instead? There's too
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: much to get into about the story in this full
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: episode of Disgraceland, but we do dive in more fully
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: in this week's accompanying mini episode, which Disgraceland All Access
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: members can hear in their Apple Podcasts or Patreon apps.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Go to disgracelandpod.com slash membership to become a member today
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: for just $ 5. 99. And we're going to get back to
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: our full ACDC story right now. Chapter 6. Just ring 362436. Hey,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I lead a life of crime. On April 16, 2014,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: ACDC issued a statement that read in part, After 40
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: years of life dedicated to ACDC, guitarist and founding member
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Malcolm Young is taking a break from the band due
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: to ill health. ACDC asked that Malcolm and his family's
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: privacy be respected during this time. The band will continue
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to make music. ACDC will get together in May in
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Vancouver to record. It seemed that not even Malcolm Young's
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: own sickness, which was revealed six months later in September
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: of 2014 to be dementia, could deny him of his
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: goal to keep ACDC moving forward. So it was no
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: surprise when a few months later, on November 6, 2014,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: that the band would pledge to continue on in the
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: face of even more unbelievable news from the ACDC camp.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: The drummer of the rock band ACDC is accused in
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: an alleged murder plot. Phil Rudd was charged in a
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: New Zealand court with attempting to hire a hitman to
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: kill two people. If convicted, Rudd could face 10 years
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: behind bars.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Drummer Phil Rudd. had just been arrested for offering a
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: hitman large amounts of cash to have two men taken out, murdered,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: a contract killing, by a real-life dishonest John. Phil was
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: also charged with possessing large amounts of methamphetamine and cannabis.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: The victims, the men the police were charging Phil Rudd
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: for threatening to kill, were supposed business associates. These men,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the identity of the victims has never been disclosed, were
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: allegedly responsible for the existence, and from Phil's point of view,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: the failure of his solo album, Head Job. The record bombed,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: and Phil was pissed, and most likely way high on meth,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: and that drug-induced thinking caused Phil Rudd to threaten to
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: kill the two men who had worked for him. On
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: the day of Phil Rudd's arrest, ACDC wasted no time.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: A statement was issued. It read, We've only become aware
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: of Phil's arrest as the news was breaking. We have
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: no further comment. Phil's absence will not affect the release
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: of our new album Rock or Bust, an upcoming tour
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: next year. Rock or Bust, indeed. There was nothing, not
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: the sickness of their band's founding and most influential member,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: not even the arrest of their drummer on a murder-for-hire charge,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: that could stop ACDC from moving forward. The show, as
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: they say, must go on. Two weeks after Phil's arrest,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Rock or Bust, an album he played on alongside Angus,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Brian Cliff, and Malcolm and Angus' nephew, Stevie Young, was released.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Five months later, on April 10th, 2015, at Coachella, ACDC
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: kicked off the band's latest tour with Chris Slade back
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: behind the kit in place of Phil. Again, Rock or Bust,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: not Rock and Roll or Bust. Ten days later, on
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: April 20th, halfway across the world in New Zealand, Phil
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Rudd went before the judge, and by then the murder-for-hire
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: charge had been dropped due to insufficient evidence, but the
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: death threats and drug charges stuck, and Phil pleaded guilty.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: He was released on bail to await sentencing, and the
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: judge noted Phil's fragile mental health and his drug addiction. Meanwhile,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: ACDC tore a path across the United States and Europe.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: On July 9, 2015, Phil Rudd went before the judge again,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: this time for his sentencing. He was given just eight
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: months of home detention in order to abstain from drugs
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: and undergo rehab. The judge warned that a breach of
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: these orders could land the drummer in jail. But the
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: judge was apparently as softy. Because just days after Phil
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: was confined to house arrest, he was arrested for associating
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: with prostitutes at his house. And the judge let him
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: off with a warning. There was no getting around the
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: house arrest, though. The entire eight-month sentence would have to
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: be served. Phil's lawyer argued this would mean that Phil
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: would miss ACDC's Japanese tour. His attorney voiced Malcolm Young's
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: point of view. Phil's drummer was integral to the band's sound.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Why should the band suffer because of Phil's actions? The
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: judge disagreed and replied that Queen replaced Freddie Mercury. Apparently,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: the judge wasn't aware that ACDC replaced Bon Scott. Everyone,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: even Malcolm Young, was replaceable. So Phil Rudd was sentenced
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: and out of the band, where he remains to this day,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: while the band continues to tour, even after Malcolm Young's
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: death in 2017. And of course, they're touring without their
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: best drummer, Phil Rudd, who lives out on the fringe.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Just like one of those characters his friend Bon Scott
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: used to write about in his songs, specifically in Dirty
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Like a real dishonest John, and
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: a true disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. Alright,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: thanks for listening to this episode of Disgraceland. If you
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: want to hear more about the controversy around Bon Scott
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: allegedly writing the lyrics for Back in Black, what? The
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: second biggest selling album of all time, you're going to
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: need to check out today's mini episode, okay? All access
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: and Apple subscribers already have it in their fees. Everyone else,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: head to DisgracelandPod.com and sign up for all access to
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: unlock mini episodes. Ad-free listening and uncensored music history you
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: will not get anywhere else. Here's the kicker. Bon Scott's
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: friends and girlfriends swore he finished writing the lyrics for
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Back in Black before he died. But the notebook he
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: wrote them in disappeared the night he was found dead.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: So where did it go? And why hasn't it ever resurfaced?
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: That's what we're digging into in the mini episode. Now,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: this week's question of the week. If Back in Black
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: is the greatest selling rock and roll record of all time,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: what's the one record you'd put above it? You can
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: only pick one. Is it Exile on Main Street? London Calling?
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Abbey Road? Something else? Maybe another ACDC record. Call me. 617-906-6638.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: Let me know. Leave a voicemail. Send me a text.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: You can also hit me on the socials at DisgracelandPod
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: or get me direct on the Patreon chat. Credits are
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: coming up right now. Disgraceland was created by yours truly
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: this episode can be found on the show notes page
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: at DisgracelandPod.com. Rate and review the show and follow us
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at DisgracelandPod and on
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: YouTube at YouTube.com slash at DisgracelandPod. Rock-a-rola.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: He's a bad, bad man.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, that's ACDC part two. Let me know
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: what you think. 617-906-6638, voicemail and text. Get at me
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: with your thoughts on this archive episode of Disgraceland.