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AC/DC - "Shot In The Dark" Global Video Premiere - Review

Earlier today AC/DC unveiled their latest video in an exclusive online premiere, I watched it.

By Sabrina JohnsonPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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Angus Young, David Mallet, Brian Johnson, Josh Cheuse, and Cliff Williams appear virtually to promote the video for "Shot in the Dark"

It’s 7:20 in the morning and I'm in a virtual online waiting queue with 3,600 other people, we are waiting for AC/DC, Dave Mallet, and Josh Cheuse to introduce the new video for the band’s latest single, “Shot in the Dark” (check out my review of that single right here). The virtual chat is filled with anxious fans from all over the world offering up observations like “Can’t wait”, “Honestly I could listen to ACDC all day long”, “Bless me Angus I play guitar too”, and others just identifying where they’re watching from, “Finland” writes one, “North bay Canada”, writes another.

7:30 is upon us, this is when the show is set to begin, the live chat picks up speed, one viewer says “Rock will never die” and then the screen changes, it changes to a much larger timer, this one says 15:00, surprise ripples through the chat. After not too long, everything returns to a general sense of optimism - “This will be sheer class” and “Power up from Oregon”, the latter being a reference to the band’s forthcoming album PWR/UP.

After waiting a bunch we were graciously invited to wait some more.

AC/DC is a band that ideologically believe so much in the power of rock and roll, they are the kind of band that wants you to steal 50 quid from your mum's purse and drive all night in a van to see them play. It is admittedly inspiring to see these 3,000 plus fans who woke up and made time to watch the video release, for the most part they seem to believe in rock and roll as much as the band themselves.

By 7:45 it’s finally time, the first thing we see is Angus Young and Bryan Johnson trying to get the remote call software to work, Bryan notes that there is a delay. Overall the first few moments are very typical of any type of virtual panel like this. Within a minute everyone is settled, Bryan Johnson, Angus Young, Phil Rudd, Cliff Williams, Stevie Young, Dave Mallet and Josh Cheuse.

Cheuse is the associate design director for Sony Music, and AC/DC’s primary photographer, he serves as the panel’s moderator. Mallet is an iconic director who has worked on over 80 of the most prolific music videos of the last 50 years. He’s directed for everyone from Queen to Janet Jackson, and almost everyone in between, but for the past 35 years he has been the go-to guy for AC/DC.

The live chat remains active; one person simply adds “Eminem”.

Everyone is at home, Johnson comments on how he’s sitting on the same couch where he falls asleep watching sports. Williams and Cheuse have digital backgrounds inspired by PWR/UP, Angus Young is beside a Marshall stack.

Johnson, 73, streamed from the couch where he likes to watch sports and fall asleep.

The group of them get to talking and Cheuse quickly fades into the background, as the band and Mallett discuss some of their historic videos. Despite coming out 6 years apart “You Shook Me All Night Long'' and “Who Made Who” got videos the same year, 1986, and this was the beginning of the 19 video legacy that has made up their relationship. The group start by reflecting on the “You Shook Me All Night Long” shoot, a video that opens on Johnson in a tiny tub scrubbing his back in time with the music, apparently, it was just 3 days of grown men giggling, they’d had the time of their lives working on it, and while the end result is ever interlaced with the standard MTV flesh fare of half-naked women, it shows some thought, some humor, and most importantly you can tell that they had fun. They also touched on “Who Made Who” a video that remains eerie and thoughtful even to this day; the robed figures, the Angus-army....really a great video regardless of what time period you hold it up to.

Stills from "Who Made Who", 1986. Top: Strange alien characters analyze data about mankind. Bottom: an army of Angus Young beings play cut out silhouettes of the Gibson SG.

“Hail Caesar” is also discussed and then they land on “Heatseeker”, a video that features Angus Young coming out of a heat-seeking missile. The chat was generally nostalgic and then came the moment everyone had been waiting for, Cheuse, reassuming his role as moderator, told the group that it was time to introduce the video. 3,700 of us waited on bated breath - the screen went to a loading icon....how awesome was it that the global debut was SO live that there is a momentary stall between the interview and the video...seconds mounted...soon it had been a whole minute….and soon the screen flipped back to the 15:00 minute countdown clock from the beginning. Suddenly the steady stream of the live chat started to ask questions, there are still alot of “AC/DC RULES!!!!” comments but now there are more “where’s the video???????????” and “Whats happening????” comments….and understandably so. I use the impromptu 15-minute break to live tweet about the impromptu 15-minute break. At the end of the countdown, we see the amp plug - toggle switch - tube buzz - sting that has preceded almost all of the promotional trailers for this single, then at long last….the interview started over...the exact same interview from 45 minutes ago, the entire interview plays through again, raising some serious questions as to when it was recorded in the first place. Finally, after over an hour of waiting, the tube - buzz- sting played again and led into the video.

By the time we got to see the video, we had sat through the same interview twice and 2 - 15-minute countdowns.

The video

We start out with the guys walking out to the world's shiniest stage, (love shiny thing pic later) in the pre-video interview Mallett discussed needing to have the stage polished between takes because footprints were so visible, unfortunately, I’m afraid that the shiny stage is my favorite part of this video. By the 20 second mark, you’ve seen them walk out to an audience of no one, intercut with 70,000 shots of the big neon AC/DC sign from the cover art, with odd stop motion silhouettes of each member being traced with a bead of neon light. I seriously wish that I was exaggerating when I say this, but that is the entire video.

These two stills, taken within 10-seconds of each other, represent ALL the imagery in the entire 3-minute and 15-second video.

The remaining 2 minutes and 50 seconds is made up of the band playing a concert for no one and then just hard cuts to stop motion versions of each band member that make this feel more like an Apple commercial than a music video. If you have read my original review of the track itself, you will recall a quote from Angus Young in which he posited that this album would be a tribute to Malcolm Young the way that Back in Black was a tribute to Bon Scott. Knowing this I can’t help wondering: these two brothers who risked it all for rock and roll; who LITERALLY chose a shot in the dark over a walk in the park - why wouldn’t they use THIS, the video for THE LEAD SINGLE, to commemorate and pay tribute to Malcolm?

Imagine, modern footage (heck, I’ll even take this shiny stage footage) blended with footage of the band with Malcolm over the years...let’s not forget that this 1 setting, ⅓ Apple ad, is directed by the man behind the “Who Made Who” video, a man who worked with the band for 35 YEARS, even if Angus was so ready to pass up on paying tribute, did Mallett never once suggest it. Or was there truly no conversation about what the identity of this album was? Because, I’ve only read interviews and I know this video doesn’t capture the spirit of the album….how do I know? Because this video fails to capture anything at all and is an insult to fans who have been catered such delicacies as "Heatseeker", "Hard As A Rock", "Satellite Blues", and "Who Made Who".

Angus Young riding a wrecking ball in the 1995 video for "Hard As A Rock"

In the end

This group has obviously had alot of fun making videos over the years but this event didn’t summarize that. Perhaps the two truly noteworthy moments of the video were Angus Young knocking off his hat (a mainstay in multiple AC/DC videos), and a very subtle nod to the “Thunderstruck” video when Mallett chose to employ the headstock-mounted camera system on Angus Young's guitar, this was a rig that was a pretty cutting edge setup when Mallett put it together in 1990, and it is kinda nice that it got a victory lap. Besides that, I think the very last comment in the live chat may have said it best - “aaiilomm” I’m not sure what it means but if it’s the sound of a yawn than I second it. In short, if I could do it all again. I’d stay in bed...it’s time to butter a bagel and drink the rest of this coffee.

To check out the new video for yourself click here

AC/DC, 1975, left to right: Phil Rudd, Malcolm Young, Paul Matters, Angus Young, and Bon Scott, 5 young guys ready to take a shot in the dark over a walk in the park (Jeff Apter)

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About the Creator

Sabrina Johnson

Music blogger, writer, just looking to be heard really, follow me on Twitter: @SabrinaJay19

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