Punk rock and heavy metal were two genres that evolved over the ‘70s, but seemed to run parallel to each other, despite sharing common fashion, sounds, and attitudes. But then there are moments in history, where everybody plays together in the same sandbox. For example, the above remastered audio, which captures the Australian band AC/DC on their first American tour, playing New York’s CBGB, synonymous now with punk and new wave music.
The date is August 24, 1977, and AC/DC were on a cross-country trip that had taken in both club dates and arenas, where they supported—yes, hard to believe, I know—REO Speedwagon. Their album Let There Be Rock had just dropped in June. The band would be in the States until the winter.
This CBGB gig finds them on the same bill as Talking Heads and the Dead Boys, according to a poster from the time. And while there’s no video for this show, you can find a few photos that document the concert here. You can feel the muggy New York summer in these photos, but also the excitement of an unforgettable gig.
At 15 minutes, the set is short, but still three minutes longer than the Ramones’ first set at the same club three years earlier. That’s pretty metal, man.
Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on our site in 2016.
Related Content:
Listen to Patti Smith’s Glorious Three Hour Farewell to CBGB’s on Its Final Night
The Talking Heads Play CBGB, the New York Club That Shaped Their Sound (1975)
Watch an Episode of TV-CBGB, the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Sitcom Ever Aired on Cable TV (1981)
Ted Mills is a freelance writer on the arts.
I was there for the show! AC/DC had just played at the Academy of Music, third on the bill to The Dictators and some forgotten band. They put on a great show there: Somehow Angus jumped on Bon Scott’s back and ran all the way through the audience playing his guitar. Didn’t have a guitar cord, so there must have been some kind of radio transmission?
So I knew about their surprise gig (interviewed them for PUNK Magazine a few days later). Although I talked with Bon Scott for a long time at the CBGB bar, he didn’t remember me at all.
Anyway their gig was great! And you should know that AC/CD was being promoted as a punk/rock ’n’ roll band–NOT as heavy metal. That came later after Bon Scott died and was replaced.
ACDC has a Ghostwriter…
Everything between High Voltage 8 songs original 1975 and Powerage 1979 EVERYTHING IS BACKDATED AND ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ON MAY 22–23 1979 IN UCLA PICU, AS THE GHOSTWRITER WAS ONLY 14-YEARS-OLD AT THE TIME. HE WAS FACING A SURGERY THAT HAD A 100 % MORTALITY RATE, THE SONGS HE SUNG WHERE LITERALLY ON WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HIS DEATHBED !!
HOW DO I KNOW ?
IM THAT 14 YEAR OLD KID IN MAY 22–23 1979…
QUESTIONS ?? JUST ASK .
CR*************@***IL.COM
ACDC has a Ghostwriter…
Everything between High Voltage 8 songs original 1975 and Powerage 1979 EVERYTHING IS BACKDATED AND ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ON MAY 22–23 1979 IN UCLA PICU, AS THE GHOSTWRITER WAS ONLY 14-YEARS-OLD AT THE TIME. HE WAS FACING A SURGERY THAT HAD A 100 % MORTALITY RATE, THE SONGS HE SUNG WHERE LITERALLY ON WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HIS DEATHBED !!
HOW DO I KNOW ?
IM THAT 14 YEAR OLD KID IN MAY 22–23 1979…
QUESTIONS ?? JUST ASK .
CR*************@***IL.COM
There’s more, Back in Black Album is actually named after the color of my Balls after a swing accident in a creek 😳 Hence Back in Black I hit the sack !! Back in Black is a series of 10 albums, only one song was given to Joan Jett that song was I Hate Myself for Loving You off the Let Me Put My Love into You Album from the Back in Black Series. I still have the other undone albums.
Book in the works 💪.