Tried And True Ac/Dc Has Maintained Its Popularity By Remaining Faithful To The Stuff That Made It A Legend

Admit it. When no one was around, you did it: You cranked up the stereo and shouted along with “Hells Bells,” “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” or “You Shook Me All Night Long.”

AC/DC music is a rite of passage; a boisterous beast that shows little sign of abating. The Australian band’s latest attack on good taste, “Ballbreaker,” bullied its way onto the Top 10 upon its release in September and has been certified platinum. Sample titles alone would cause Newt Gingrich to cover his ears in disgust: “Hard as a Rock,” “Cover You in Oil,” “Caught With Your Pants Down.”

The five-piece hard-rock band - led by Young brothers Angus (with trademark schoolboy threads and sneer) and Malcolm on guitars, plus lead screamer Brian Johnson, returning drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams - are on their Ballbreaker World Tour.

Expect to see and hear firing cannons, exploding pyrotechnics and endure plenty of familiar heavy metal thunder. As Led Zeppelin so aptly put it: “The Song Remains the Same.”

And that may well be the key to AC/DC’s longevity. Says Angus Young: “I always remember the cartoon from Bugs Bunny where Yosemite Sam says: ‘I paid to see the high diving act and I’m gonna see the high diving act!”’

Simply put, with AC/DC you know what you’re going to get. Since forming in 1974 in Sydney, Australia, the lads have churned out the same pile-driving music and salacious locker room, innuendo-laced lyrics that have worked since day one.

Forget trends.

Disco or light Southern California pop/rock may have flourished in the ‘70s, but so did AC/DC’s gnarly “Let There Be Rock” and “Highway to Hell” LPs.

When video-based bands of the ‘80s were atop the charts, AC/DC fought back with the pulverizing “Back in Black,” their biggest hit, at more than 10 million copies sold. Even currently trendy alternative rock hasn’t rendered AC/DC mute, judging by “Ballbreaker’s” quick acceptance.

The CD, the band’s 16th, is their first studio release since 1990’s “The Razors Edge.” “Ballbreaker” was produced by Rick Rubin, who has guided recent efforts by tamer artists Tom Petty, Mick Jagger and the defunct Jayhawks.

The band was after a dry, in-your-face sound and Rubin’s input fit the bill. Even with a high-profile producer, it was business as usual in the studio for the stalwart band, says Young, on the phone from Tampa, Fla., during rehearsals for the tour.

“We did the same thing (as always). We feed off each other and record all (at once). We don’t separate everyone (and multitrack). We try to get as live as possible (in the studio).”

Rubin first worked with AC/DC a few years ago on the single “Big Gun,” for the soundtrack to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s flop film, “The Last Action Hero.”

During the five-year gap between

“Razors” and “Ballbreaker,” a time when AC/DC toured, released a live set, rested and wrote music, such comparatively serene artists as Alison Krauss, Veruca Salt and Melissa Etheridge have gone on record as AC/DC fans.

Krauss, the bluegrass fiddle-playing prodigy, plays AC/DC music constantly, she says; Etheridge covers “You Shook Me All Night Long” in concert; and last year the alt-rockers Veruca Salt named their debut CD, “American Thighs,” after a line in that song.

Ask Young what these younger performers could learn from AC/DC and the diminutive Aussie chortles on the phone, “I don’t know about learning, maybe bad habits.” But then he sums up the secret to his band’s everlasting success.

“They could look at the way we’ve stuck to what we’ve always liked playing. We haven’t changed musical direction,” he says. “We still play rock ‘n’ roll music, whereas a lot of people tend to follow the fashion statements or jump on the bandwagon.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE BEST OF AC/DC AC/DC’s members may now be fortysomething but, hey, they’re still banging heads. Here’s a CD sampler of AC/ DC’s best: (Note: Atlantic has reissued remastered versions of the Atco CDs using original master tapes. These are marked as such on the packaging and boast much improved fidelity.)

“Highway to Hell” (1979, Atco) AC/DC’s final album with original vocalist Bon Scott, who died of an alcohol overdose shortly after it was made, is arguably their best. Scott leaves his mark on these lean, mean and aggressive tunes. Prior to “Highway’s” release, AC/DC had no problem crafting catchy riffs, but producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange helped focus the lads into writing actual songs.

“For Those About to Rock We Salute You” (1981, Atco) The title track, complete with firing cannons, is AC/ DC’s impossible-to-resist call to arms. This would become AC/DC’s last truly standout album and remains the band’s only No. 1 to date.

“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (recorded in 1976, released in 1981, Atco) An odds-‘n’-ends collection from the Bon Scott era; worth it for the title track, a snarky ode to a hit man for hire.

“AC/DC Live” (1992, Atco) Available as a truncated single CD, or a padded double disc, “Live” is the only place to get all of the band’s best in one spot. Still, the studio versions are better and gaps of silence between cuts stifle its energetic flow, but this is a more complete collection with better sound than AC/DC’s past live effort, 1978’s “If You Want Blood You’ve Got It.”