Blow Up Your Video
Blow Up Your Video | ||||
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Miraval (Correns) | ||||
Genre | Hard rock | |||
Length | 42:48 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | ||||
AC/DC chronology | ||||
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Singles from Blow Up Your Video | ||||
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Blow Up Your Video is the eleventh studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.
Recording
Writing sessions for Blow Up Your Video took place in London's Nomis Studio in July 1987, with the band convening at
In a 2008 Rolling Stone cover story, George Young admitted to David Fricke that the Blow Up Your Video session was when he realised his brother Malcolm, who had always been a heavy drinker, was in the grips of alcoholism: "I saw the signs. Malcolm had a problem. I said if he didn't get his act together, I was out of there. I don't recall it having any effect."
The band recorded 16 tracks during the sessions, including the unreleased songs "Let It Loose" and "Alright Tonight", as well as other versions of "Heatseeker", and "That's the Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll". Two additional songs, "Snake Eye" and "Borrowed Time", were recorded but not featured on the album. The song "Down on the Borderline" was recorded, but not released until 1990 as a B-side. All three of these songs were later included on Backtracks in 2009. Demo tracks for the songs "Let it Loose" and "Alright Tonight" were stolen and bootlegged, so they were omitted from the final album cut.
Blow Up Your Video is the last album to feature Brian Johnson as a lyricist/songwriter (all songs on subsequent albums were written by the Young brothers).
The title of the album was taken from a line in the song "That's The Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll". In 1988
Tour
The band began a world tour in Perth on 1 February, playing 16 dates in Australia for the first time in seven years. The band played live four tracks from Blow Up Your Video on the tour: "Heatseeker", "That's the Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll", "Nick of Time" and "Go Zone".
On the eve of the
By April 1988, Malcolm recognised he had a problem and, ever mindful of his former bandmate
After their last few albums underperformed commercially, this tour brought AC/DC back into the spotlight and their following album, The Razors Edge, proved to be a greater commercial success.
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
New Musical Express | 5/10[7] |
The Philadelphia Inquirer | [8] |
Rolling Stone | [9] |
The album was the band's biggest-selling album of new material since For Those About to Rock We Salute You, being certified Platinum in the US.[10] Blow Up Your Video reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 12 in the US. The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental in 1989. In the original Rolling Stone review, Jim Farber wrote, "Fortunately, the Young brothers continue to come up with enough inspired riffs to make the tunnel vision justifiable. In fact, the riffs here add up to the band's catchiest work since its classic album Back in Black."[9] Greg Prato of AllMusic called the album "unfocused" and "glutted with such throwaways as "Nick of Time"."[3] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff found the album "frustrating" and the band "looking too deeply for a new enigmatic direction".[5] Author Paul Stenning however described the album as, "the sound of a group remaining current but still defining the rock art form on their own terms."[11]
Modern reviews are less enthusiastic, being more on the negative side. Classic Rock magazine describes the album in a very unappealed way stating "Apart from those two songs it’s largely a slog through fairly pedestrian deep cuts. And that’s really the major difference between great AC/DC albums, and not-so great ones: the good ones are all killer, no filler, with every track a finely crafted morsel of hard-core rock’n’roll so tight and lethal it can’t be reasoned with, stacked two-sides high."[12] Ultimate Classic Rock agrees, pointing out that it while it has a couple good singles, "...for those momentary glimpses of excitement, there’s just not a lot there."[13]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Heatseeker" | 3:50 |
2. | "That's the Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll" | 3:45 |
3. | "Meanstreak" | 4:08 |
4. | "Go Zone" | 4:26 |
5. | "Kissin' Dynamite" | 3:58 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
6. | "Nick of Time" | 4:16 |
7. | "Some Sin for Nuthin'" | 4:11 |
8. | "Ruff Stuff" | 4:28 |
9. | "Two's Up" | 5:19 |
10. | "This Means War" | 4:21 |
Total length: | 42:48 |
- The additional songs "Snake Eye" and "Borrowed Time" were recorded but only released on the 12-inch single versions of "Heatseeker" and "That's the Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll", respectively. "Snake Eye" was also included on the 3-inch CD-single for "Heatseeker". The song "Down on the Borderline" was recorded, but not released until 1990, as the B-side of the Australian "Moneytalks" single in 7-inch, 12-inch and CD-single formats. All three of these songs were later released in 2009 on the Backtracks box set.
Personnel
- AC/DC
- Brian Johnson – lead vocals
- Angus Young – lead guitar
- Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Cliff Williams – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Simon Wright – drums, percussion
- Production
- Harry Vanda, George Young – producers
- Tom Swift – engineer
- Jean-Jacques Lemoine, Chuck Cavanagh – assistant engineers
- Roy Cicala – special assistance
- Sterling Sound, New York
- Gered Mankowitz, George Bodnar – photography
Charts
Chart (1988) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[14] | 2 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] | 15 |
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[16] | 3 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] | 26 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] | 1 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] | 4 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] | 4 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] | 3 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[22] | 4 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] | 4 |
UK Albums (OCC)[24] | 2 |
US Billboard 200[25] | 12 |
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[26] | 3× Platinum | 210,000^ |
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[27] | Gold | 37,844[27] |
Germany (BVMI)[28] | Gold | 250,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[29] | Gold | 7,500^ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[30] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[31] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[10] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
References
- ^ Saulnier, Jason (22 January 2009). "Simon Wright Interview". Music Legends. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ Grow, Kory (30 September 2014). "Malcolm Young's Family Confirms AC/DC Guitarist's Dementia". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ^ All Media Network. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 16 August 2020 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ ISBN 978-1894959315.
- ISBN 978-1-84609-856-7.
- New Musical Express. p. 28.
- ^ Tucker, Ken (24 March 1988). "Latest from Strait; eclectic jazz; a new reading of Beethoven". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 74 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ a b Farber, Jim (7 April 1988). "Blow up Your Video | Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ a b "American album certifications – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". Recording Industry Association of America.
- ISBN 1-84240-308-7
- ^ updated, Classic Rock last (26 November 2020). "Every AC/DC album ranked, from worst to best – the ultimate guide". louder. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ Staff, Ultimate Classic Rock StaffUltimate Classic Rock (17 June 2015). "AC/DC Albums Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ISBN 0-646-11917-6. n.b. The Kent Report chart was licensed by Australian Recording Industry Association(ARIA) from mid-1983 until 19 June 1988.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0952". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "AC/DC". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 9. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Charts.nz – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "AC/DC Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
- ^ Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (AC/DC; 'Blow Up Your Video')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
- ^ "New Zealand album certifications – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Blow Up Your Video')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ "British album certifications – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video". British Phonographic Industry.
External links
- Lyrics Archived 8 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine on AC/DC's official website