|
AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll: The Ultimate Story of the World's Greatest Rock-and-Roll Band | 
 enlarge | Authors: Murray Engleheart, Arnaud Durieux
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Category: Book
Buy New: $39.83
New (4) Used (3) from $39.83
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 579293
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0061133914
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421660922
EAN: 9780061133916
ASIN: 0061133914
Publication Date: January 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% GUARANTEED! Fast shipping on more than 1,000,000 Book, Video, Video Game & Music titles all in one location! Discover Your Entertainment at goHastings.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Over three decades and more than 150 million albums, AC/DC has established itself as much more than just a great rock band. For millions of fans spanning several generations across the world, they are an ear-bleedingly loud, sweat-soaked religion, courtesy of such classic albums as Highway to Hell and Back in Black. Now, in a book of astonishing breadth and scope, comes, for the very first time, the complete story of AC/DC. Everything you ever wanted to know and plenty more you never dreamt of is all here, the ultimate balls-out adventure, laced with sex, drunken escapades and brawls. It's a journey that started in the suburban Sydney, Australia, bedrooms of brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, boys who could wreak havoc with their guitars. Over their power chords were the lyrics and voice of Bon Scott, who would lead them higher and higher—until his tragic death in 1980. The bittersweet irony after his death was that not only did the Youngs manage to hold together without him, but the band's fortunes and status skyrocketed with his replacement, Brian Johnson, and the album Back in Black. Five long years in the making, AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll is sourced from more than 1,300 interviews the band has given over the past thirty years combined with in excess of 75 of the authors' own interviews with those who worked with AC/DC both in the studio and on the road—many of whom have never spoken about the band publicly. It's topped off with stunning, never-before-seen photos to create the ultimate portrait of the ultimate rock band.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 AC/DC fans should get this! January 15, 2007
Jinksyboy
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I have every AC/DC book ever published and this is probaly the most informative of them all. I'm a self confesed AC/DC FREAK and I 've read things in here that I never knew. One of the things I like about this book is the interviews with people that were in bands with Angus and Malcolm before they were in AC/DC. Some of the pictures in this book are rare. I like the one with Angus and Malcolm when they were kids on a rocking horse.. Also the pics of Bon and Brian when they young and the picture of Angus with Tantrum. Anyways, I would highly recomend this for every AC/DC fan out there.. Long Live AC/DC!!
Great story of one of rock's greatest bands ever February 28, 2007
Scott Hedegard (Fayetteville, AR USA)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
It'd be too easy to capitalize on the alleged mentality of an AC/DC fan's inabilitiy to actually read a book. That would be a joke on the snot nosed critics who used to delight in trashing the band only to be forced to deal with the fact that they have perservered over 30 years. Unlike flavors of the month, fashion statements rather than musicians and ditzy pop divas who die quick deaths after one or two years, hard rock and metal music enjoys life spans much longer thanks to love of the music and a sharp focus.
That focus is never more clear than with AC/DC, whom, as we read in "Maximum Rock And Roll" are far more complex, intelligent and talented than many folks realize or care to admit.
This book is a labor of love. Detractors and enemies need not waste their time. For those who value this gutsy loud great rock and roll band (they are NOT metal), the book is a great read, giving U.S. fans particularly a first hand look at the Australian rock culture and the trials and trevails of the Young brothers as they climb to the top, lose their charismatic singer Bon Scott, and then come back even more ferociously with the legendary "Back In Black".
Readers will have to accustom themselves to the British print, slang and puncuation, but that's a small point. The book is not just a definitive look into AC/DC, but one of the better books on any band or musician in quite some time. Listen to "Powerage" at migraine level while you read.
A Quality Read January 9, 2007
RED
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
At last, a very well written publication about AC/DC. It is highly informative & presented in easy to read language & format. It avoids regurgitating the now old & discredited myths & rumours about the band and instead provides an interesting analysis of the history and music of AC/DC and its musicians. It takes the reader on a well researched journey through 30+ years with the band. Thankfully, authors, Engleheart & Durieux, have taken great care to get the facts straight & have shown a particular undertanding & knowledge of the band's early history in Australia, their influences & the history of the Australian music scene. The photos are well selected & an added bonus. It is a book for fans who want fact rather than glitz.
I would recommend that this book be read in conjunction with Clinton Walker's book "Highway To Hell: The Life & Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott".
If You Want Blood ..YOUVE GOT IT February 5, 2007
D. Johnson (Hidden Vallley Lake, CA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Having become an AC/DC obsessive back in the late 70s/early 80's, I've eagerly devoured anything and everything I could find about the
band's colorful history and although some due credit must be given to a handful of prior attempts, nothing realy comes close to the caliber
of this new effort. Having read it twice now in the past few weeks, I'd have to say I've absorbed more credible and accurate history
than I've garnished from all other sources combined. Kudos to authors Engleheart and Durieux, a true labor of love.
With a thorough foundation laid for the Australian music scence in the late 60's/early 70s, the book takes the reader back to the bands
inception with perhaps the most colorful and accurate representation of what it must have been like during those early days of infancy.
Early photos of Malcolm and Angus in bands prior to AC/DC are classic and until now, unseen.
Unlike most other texts on the subject, the book avoids the rumor and innuendo surrounding Bon's death in early 80 and instead provides
a stark and somber look at those troubled days as the band struggled to rebound from the tragedy.
Without the usual bias for or against Brian, the text continues on with an extensive history of AC/DC's then-new frontman with the band as they
continued on to conquer the world with Back In Black and FTATR and onwards though the decades
If You want Blood, This Is It. Hands down, its the best book out there.
 Lots of Information Without Much Insight April 14, 2008
Joe Daly (San Diego, CA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
First off, AC/DC are my favorite band and have been for years. It took me some time to get around to reading this because it's unauthorized and the band are notoriously mum about what goes on behind the scenes. Still, other reviews gave this high marks, so I gave it a shot.
It's unclear to me at whom this book is aimed. It's a bit maddening because for someone to undertake a read of this size, they would most likely already be an established fan of the band. Therefore, a book that undertakes the history of AC/DC to this level of detail should deliver some new information, impressions, stories, themes, etc., that an existing fan might appreciate. Instead, it reads like an end-to-end string of Wikipedia articles, devoid of any personality, irony, or passion. Where the book falls short therefore, is in its dry exploration of facts that are well-known to most AC/DC fans. Some AC/DC fans will pick up a few bits of new info here and there, but for the most part, this is a clinical history of the band, interspersed with harmless anecdotes that don't give any new insight into the personality of the musicians.
Every once in awhile, the authors will hint at something interesting, or some insightful behind-the-scenes info, but they never deliver. They gloss over Phil Rudd's departure by simply mentioning there was an unspecified problem between him and an unnamed person in "the Youngs circle." Or halfway through the book, a point is made that Angus and Malcolm had a fiery relationship that wasn't always civil during the creative process. But he doesn't expound on how or why that tension existed. It is implied that Bon and possibly other members of the band battled substance abuse, which might have given a new depth to appreciating some of the lyrics and/or stories behind the records. However, such information is withheld or ignored. This is not to say that the book would be improved by the inclusion of lurid and embarrassing stories about the band. Quite the opposite, a respectful examination of such themes and events could deliver a stunning new appreciation of musicians of such high caliber.
For those readers who enjoyed the likes of rock biographies such as "No One Here Gets Out Alive," (Jim Morrison and The Doors), "Hammer of the Gods" (Led Zeppelin), or "The Dirt" (Motley Crue), due to the endless tales of drugs, sex, drugs, sex, drugs, sex, drugs and rock and roll, you will be disappointed. There is none of that here.
For those readers who are looking for a more respectful consideration of the band, this book will be overkill. Find a Mojo, Uncut, or Classic Rock magazine that has done a comprehensive piece on AC/DC and you will be just as satisfied.
I left this book feeling slightly more informed, but without much additional understanding or appreciation of AC/DC.
|
|
|
|
| |
