First yard party: ACDC in the ‘80s

The album "Who Made Who" by AC/DC that served as the soundtrack for the movie

"Maximum Overdrive". It contained original material and some of the band's hits.

Source: https://www.pyramidinternational.com/product/140-ac-dc-who-made-who

(may be subject to copyright)

“Ya you, shook me all night long!”

Those were the sounds when me and my friend Dave went to our first yard party in Grade 12, so fall of 1986 or maybe it was spring of 1987.

That song would follow me to university, and continue a connection with ACDC that spanned much of the 1980s.

Ball-room dance

It was another song that I did not quite believe what I heard.

“I’ve got big balls, I’ve got big balls, And they’re such big balls, Dirty big balls, And he’s got big balls, And she’s got big balls, But we’ve got the biggest balls of them all.”

It was junior high, and I heard one of my classmates, singing this song. Junior high boys can become a bit preoccupied by this part of their bodies, so I just brushed it off as him.

Then, at the next junior high dance, I actually heard that song.

Looking back, that was pretty bold because we went to Catholic school. If memory serves, at that point students still played the music on the school’s stereo.

Soon after, and I am not sure if there was a connection, the school started having a professional deejay come in, so there were no controversial songs.

Still, that was my first exposure – all pun intended – to AC/DC.

Head banging

As junior high progressed, the popularity of heavy metal music began to grow, and with it the advent of “head bangers”, the name given to its fans.

With heavy metal and the likes of bands Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Autograph, Helix and so many more bands, there was AC/DC.

Another song, hummed by an old friend who became a head banger was “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” I also heard this at a dance, and had to ask my friend what they were actually saying.

So, sporting his black AC/DC shirt with the three-quarter white sleeves, he enunciated what the words were.

I still have no idea what it actually means though.

You’ve got it backwards

There was another weird phenomenon in junior high that really defies description, and really could only find traction in a small town with a vocal religious population.

There were people who began to talk about how if you played records backwards you could hear words of devil worship. Some even said if you went to sleep with your music on, and you woke up with a song in your head, you were subconsciously worshipping the devil.

I remember having this conversation with my cousin Carl, who was an actual musician. I asked him how he could play records backwards, because I certainly didn’t have a reverse button on my record player.

He said he put the needle in the first groove and used his finger to spin the record backwards. That seemed like a lot of work, and the devil was usually pretty lazy.

Anyway, there were several bands that were singled out. One was Led Zeppelin, but guitar player Jimmy page actually did flirt with the occult. Same went for Black Sabbath, and their name gave credence to the accusation, as did he black hooded robes they wore on stage. There was also RUSH, with their “Starman” icon drawing attention from the religious zealots. And KISS, who they said was an acronym that stood for either Knights In Satan’s Service or Kings In Satan’s Service.

And, of course AC/DC was also drawn into this. After all, it was an acronym too, that stood for Anti Christ Devil’s Children. Having songs called, “Highway to Hell” and “Hell’s Bells” also did not help their cause.

It was all so contrived, and so alarmist. But, going to Catholic school, it did give me a scare for a few weeks, and I did shy away from AC/DC for a while.

Until high school.

Went to a yard party

It was the fall of 1986, I am pretty sure, that I went with my friend Dave to a yard party outside Coaldale after a high school football game. I recall the whole yard was lit up bright, and it was after 11 p.m. We walked around, said hi to some people, and then left again. Throughout our visit to our first bush or yard party, AC/DC was playing. “You Shook Me All Night Long” was my outstanding memory of that night.

But not the last time I would be up late at a party with that song playing.

Going to the fair

Every summer, one of the highlights was going to Whoop-Up Days in Lethbridge. The big attraction was the Midway, made up of rides, games, food, and all kinds of odd things you could buy such as posters, mirrors with the names of bands on them and shirts.

There was one booth that had all kinds of shirts, mostly of the black with white three quarter sleeve variety. One that caught my eye was Bon Scott on t-shirt of dead singers with Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Keith Moon and John Bonham.

It was only recently before that I had learned Bon Scott had been the lead singer of AC/DC before he died in 1980.

Movie music

It seemed everyone was recording a movie soundtrack in the '80s. AC/DC was no exception, contributing to the cause by recording “Who Made Who” for the movie “Maximum Overdrive”. The movie was essentially about inanimate objects that come to life. Based on a Stephen King novel, it was one of the least successful of the movies based on his books.

“Who Made Who” was the soundtrack for the movie and contained largely songs that had been previously released. One exception was the title track “Who Made Who” , which had some chart success, peaking at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Back at the dance

In the fall of 1987, I headed off to university in Edmonton. It was a life-altering experience, and one of the early highlights was the number of dances put on so we could mix, mingle and meet new people.

An MBA student named Doug was our floor coordinator and was a leader early on. Often when there was dead space, or a lull in conversation, he would recite a lyric of some song in his head.

One day, it was, “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean…”

I wasn’t at all sure what that was from – until our next dance. It was in the Lister Hall cafeteria and sure enough that was AC/DC and their song, “You Shook Me All Night Long”, which had been part of that yard party a few months earlier. I hadn't recognized it because Doug was not a gifted singer.

I recall dancing to that song, working up quite a sweat, and screaming those lyrics at the top of my lungs. No one heard though. My voice was drowned out by the loud music from the deejay.

Parting thoughts

For me, AC/DC lived up to their reputation as a party band. It was at parties – whether yard parties or school dances – that I came to know their music.

It really was another part of the soundtrack of my life, and every time I hear AC/DC, I am transported back to the gym at St. Joseph’s Elementary Junior High, a yard north of Coaldale, or the Lister Hall cafeteria.

And I can still hear, ringing in my ear, “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean, she was the best damn woman I had ever seen.”