AC/DC: 'Fly On The Wall' | Is it Really That Bad?
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- AC/DC's 'Fly on the Wall' is an album that is unviverally panned by critics and fans alike. But is it really that bad?
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I absolutely love the album - it's heavy as fook. The songwriting is amazing - that & Flick of the switch are really underrated
When it came out in 85 I didn’t care for it much but now overall I like most it. My biggest problem with it is the low vocal mix of Brian Johnson. It’s definitely better than most people give it credit
It's a good album. I even had the feature film on VHS
Glad you’ve covered this. Production - awful, songs - love them actually. I think it’s is the last AC/DC album with pretty much wall to wall killer riffs. I’ve always prayed they’d remix it one day but its not the kind of thing they do I suppose.
There is a FOTS remix on youtube, sounds way better than the scratchy original.
It was one of my first AC/DC albums i heard, i bought it around '89 ( and I think Blow up your Video is a hell of an album, because it's quite different), i loved the comic album art, i loved the simple but amazing fun song (I was 13 at the time) and fell instantly in love with AC/DC, i still have the record and still listening to it . There is no BAD AC/DC album, there are just good and very good ones!
Aside from "Danger" (which makes me think of "Officer Friendly" visiting my grade school and talking about stranger danger), Fly On The Wall is my favorite Johnson era AC/DC album.
I don’t like the production but it doesn’t deserve the hate
I dig it. It’s been re-evaluated by my generation (born in 1978) and the consensus is that it’s much better than people who were in their teens when it came out said it was then. I always said it was AC/DC making their hair metal album which is kinda exactly what we would expect from a band trying to stay relevant at that time.
I never disliked this album but enjoy the raw sound of it. Brian sounds like he's been gargling razor blades but I love it and the songs are solid!!
Fly on the Wall was the only AC/DC album I purchased, until a couple of months ago. I liked it. 'Stand Up' is bloody brilliant.
I think it was a step down from the mighty Flick of the Switch but still has a few good tracks. I have more problems with Blow Up Your Video.
To me BUYV is one of their best. I even equal it to BIB. But thats just my taste.
For those about to rock (and to Funk) -
We salute you 🤘🏿🤘🏿
I was 13 when I bought the cassette tape of Fly on the Wall. My buddy hated it, and I liked it. The only two things that are off on Fly is the production and Brian’s vocals. The riffs are killer though. My favourites are the title track, Shake your foundations, First Blood, Sink the pink, Stand up and Back in business.
Honestly I usually rank this a bit lower when it comes to AC/DC albums but that’s not because I think it’s bad. I simply think it’s outclassed by AC/DC’s other albums. It’s not as memorable as some other albums, and I think the mixing is definitely the worst out of all their albums, it is quite hard to hear Brian at times, but I still had fun when I listened to it. I think there’s some great tracks on it that don’t get enough love, with some of my favorites being Stand Up, First Blood, Shake Your Foundations, Hell or High Water, and the title track. I’d give it like a 7/10. It’s good to me, but just kinda that, good. There’s better albums by the band but this one still I think doesn’t deserve all the hate entirely. I’m happy Sink The Pink and Shake Your Foundations were put on Who Made Who, they fixed the mixing and Brian is much more easier to understand and hear. I’m happy to have found it on vinyl at the store recently and it’s now happily part of my collection of records.
I think your analysis is absolutely on the mark. A remix could well show a total different sounding album.
Hi Barry. I remember liking it when it came out. It will never be my favourite album, but it has some great songs like the title track, Shake Your Foundations and Sink The Pink. Brian’s vocals are a bit buried but it’s better than most people say. The previous album Flick Of The Switch is awesome. Great video.
Your "Is it really that bad" series is quite good. Please continue.
There is reverb on the vocals, there is reverb on the drums, there is reverb on the guitars and reverb on the reverb. Looks like Mal and Angus were trying to chase the sound of 80's metal for some reason when their own original sound suits them much better. Half the songs feel about a step or two to slow and the lyrics are substandard.
And yes, I do listen to this band because of the lyrics, It's called the Bon Scott era
No, it is excellent.
I remember buying this when it first came out and being pretty disappointed with it. Loved the earlier stuff but FOTW and BUYV were pretty poor in my opinion. Just thought the song writing was lacking, it sounded like they had run out of ideas. Don't think I bought anymore DC albums after that. Still a fantastic live act, back in the day!
Who are DC?
@@PetraKann Led Zeppelin!
Since when was there hate towards this thing? This is my favourite album of theirs!!!
The reverb on the drums and vocals just remind me of Hysteria era Def Leppard, which is something I’d rather forget.
What killed the album, in my opinion, was Atlantic led with “Danger” as the first single, a song that was - compared to all the other songs, including the rest of the Fly On The Wall album - slightly more poppier than what came before it. Also, being Angus and Malcolm produced the album (something that Angus said that they would never do again), instead of getting George Young and Harry Vanda back played a role in it.
I was 25 when this was released in the summer of 1985. It’s not their best but it is a nice LP from the band’s malaise era. Enjoy it for what it is, temper your expectations snd enjoy. Grab a few beers while you’re at it. It makes the LP go down easier.
NO it is not bad! Never has been, and never will be! Awesome from beginning to end. I wouldn't change anything.
I'd love to hear this album with the Stiff Upper Lip sound & mix !
I've always loved this record, even though I'm a Bon Scott fan more than Brian Johnson, but it's full of killer riffs. Shake Your Foundations is classic AC/DC no matter what way you slice it.
This cd. Fly on the wall was my introduction to AC/DC and I fell in love with them and bought all of their whole catalog of tapes back in 1985 and they are still my fav. Band
This album to me has a unique sound to it for ac/dc, the bass has really been amped up.
Sink The Pink is my favorite AC/DC song of all time! PLAY LOUD
I recently managed to acquire the CD boxset of all the remastered albums, so delved into their catalogue with no knowledge of historical opinion, and judged this one as good overall and a regular repeat listen (not forgiving the dodgy production.) Donkey's years is a misquote of the old rhyming slang donkey's ears of course!
Shake your foundations is a classic, and overall the album is very good
The production is terrible, but I don't hate the album. I like it more now than I did then. I think it's better than "For Those About To Rock...", "Blow Up Your Video", or anything after it (until the newest record). Thanks for the video!
I think its a great album. It certainly could do with a good remix/remaster.
Fly On The Wall was my first AC/DC album! It's just as great as Highway- Back n Black to me! Thank You for this video!
Seen this band 3 times...helluva show EVERY time. One of the great live acts......
Bon Scott is a poetic bushranger and I'm not beating around the bush when I say ignore the riff raff.
A good point, well made. A Yes Tormato situation perhaps?
I like that album. It reminds me of a great party we had when it came out. Maybe a little too loud drum sound.
The tunes are solid. The production is not great but there`s nothing wrong with the songs.
I like it. Not their best but its better than alot that came after it . I think its underrated. Like the previous record, which may be my fav of the johnson era. Flick of the switch. Killer heavy lp
I love Flick of the Switch, my biggest problem with Fly on the Wall is no Phil Rudd. It just doesn’t have the same feel. It’s a bit like the Beatles without Ringo.
It often seems like an AC/DC album is an AC/DC album..fly on the wall has some great songs on it,but nothing to really write home about.I had it on cassette tape in 1985,at age 15..I saw them live in September 1985 at Oakland coliseum in oakland,California.. They rocked,as always! Yngwie malmsteens rising force opened the show
Same . Phoenix AZ
Love your take on the album, and I do like a few songs here. The title track and Sink the Pink are great. I think For those About to Rock was overproduced, with almost a focus on arena rock. On Flick of the Switch they stripped it down completely, and it sounds so raw and heavy! Fly On the Wall is neither here not there - they clearly spent time with the production, but it sounds rough and buried. I'm all for it - give us a remix of Fly on the Wall and Born Again any day now!
You're right it's mainly the bad mix. And imo Simon wright was hired to "hit the drums hard" and he did! The snare is more like a bass drum. (Not in a good way) but I do like some of the lesser known tracks, first blood, back in business and come hell or high water. Probably better than blow up your video imo. Thanks mate 😊👍
Your review is spot on
I got this album the week it came out when I was a teen in High School and loved it at the time. I also went to the concert that year and it was one of the best live AC/DC shows I've seen among many. In retrospect the album is definitely not their finest hour but agree with the review that it's treated unfairly. As for the ridiculous claims about being misogynistic and sexist, well, that's what was going on in the 80's. Has everyone forgotten what the glam/hair bands were singing about back then, not to mention some of the early Rap of the 80's? You'd be hard pressed to find any album (or movie or TV show) of that era that didn't have something that would be found objectionable today.
Pretty accurate review imo. It’s always been the production on this album that hurt it more than the songs themselves.
I bought it new when it was released.Very weak album and the big issue was the over compressed production.Sink the Pink was pretty good but this album was an awkward 1980,s thing that caught many bands out. I think Blow up your video was as bad overall.My previous DC albums were all well played but this as by comparrison was a bit like Iron Maidens SIT album.I will always prefer Scotts band but Back in Black was superb and For Those...was not bad. This album I must have played a couple of times? I also agree with Sabbaths Born Again.The production killed the sound.Glad you made this video.Even The Ramones were almost destroyed by over production and commerce at the same time.
It's definitely not their best, but it rocks. One thing I really liked about this record is the attempt to write better choruses instead of just repeating the song title over and over like on the title track and Sink The Pink.
I have to agree with you, not their best, but not their worst either. I love Shake Your Foundations and the title track.
I was 17 too when this album came out, I saw them on this tour and purchased the T-shirt then the album but can’t now recall actually listening to it…though obviously I must have. I agree 100% about a Born Again remix, that album is so muffled it sounds like you’re listening to it through a wall.
It seemed to be the beginning of the end for them. I thought Flick Of The Switch was the last great thing they did, with probably a double albums worth of decent stuff afterwards. "Send For The Man" remains a highlight from this. Saw this tour, in LA. Yngwie Malmsteen opened, doing one viking themed sonic wank after another. AC/DC, live, were still an ungodly force to be reckoned with.
Would love you to do album reviews on Manfred Mann’s Earthband probably the most underrated rock / prog band ever and the old boy Manfred is still touring at 82 ! You up for it ? 🤷♂️
Love Fly On The Wall, though it did take a while to grow on me. At this point, I like it much better than Blow Up Your Video, Flick of the Switch, and even Black Ice
When this came out, I played the hell out of it -- recorded album onto cassette tape, put in car stereo, left it there -- not knowing that it was being panned. It was surprising to learn that it was a supposedly "bad" album. But for Shake Your Foundations alone, it's worth it.
It's not a bad album, just a boring album like much of their 80's releases. You'd get the odd bangers like "Shake Your Foundations, "Sink The Pink" and even "First Blood" is enjoyable. But for each banger you got tons of cheesy filler like "Danger" (possibly my least favourite AC/DC song) and "Playing With Girls". Bad production does make it suffer more but I feel like the band struggled in the 80's to come up with good lyrics in a post Bon era even if the riffs were recognisably fun.
I have to think there is some truth to the conspiracy theories that Bon Scott's family were paid the royalties for the lyrics on most of Back In Black and to keep silent so they could keep moving forward without being trapped in Bon's shadow for their biggest release. Bon was telling people the next album would be their big hit, he was right but apparently never wrote a lyric on it. The only song I can believe Brian Johnson had a hand in was "Hell's Bells", he has a recollection of writing lyrics to that song during production rehearsals and it sounds a lot more like their future lyrics than anything else on Back In Black that has more in common with Bon's lyrics. I find it hard to believe they completely knocked it out of the park while rushing out an album after auditioning hundreds of singers between the death of Bon, the funeral and deciding to keep going but couldn't write anything much of note for the rest of the 80's with tired and cheesy efforts like this.
Saw this tour . Didn’t play much from the album that night stayed with the classics. Opened with the title track . Flick Of The Switch, FOTW, and Blow Up Your Video are in my opinion are albums that are largely ignored as far as songs played in concert.
its a great album, the guitars are brutal, Angus solos are outstanding. The songs are really good, but the production were wrong so its a very underreted album.
We loved it back in those days but it sounds horribly dated now. The songs are a bit lackluster but that gated reverb on the drums just wrecks it. I think they used the trendy production of the day in an attempt to stay relevant.
This album can only be considered weak if it is put up against the early albums. It is better than the latter albums and better than 98% of all other albums in the same genre.
I love the album and 100% agree with your review of it. Love your channel 🤘🏼
This video is an interesting critique with a great use of language and humour . It’s true, we don’t love AC/DC for the lyrics 😂
I might be a bit biased because I had it on vinyl as a 12 or 13 year old, but I still like this album. It's not their best album but it's decent enough.
Agreed. The mix/production are crap but I think the songs are there. Musically and lyrically it may not match up to earlier releases, and perhaps could have used some fine-tuning so to speak. Anyway, I enjoyed it back in the day and still do on rare occasions.
Another great AC/DC album
My wife just bought me the t-shirt last x-mas. Songs are not bad at all, but the soundmix is terrible. Stephen King used some songs for his film "Maximum overdrive". Maybe a good remix could level up the album a bit!
I like this album.
I didn't listen to any new AC/DC for 20 years after Bon died so when I finally pinned back my ears and dived in I found much to enjoy, not least FOTW. Killer title track and the only plodder is Danger. Love all the Johnno stuff now and this album does shake the foundations but I agree it's more authentic DC when Phil Rudd is behind the kit.
Love it. Been sinking the pink for decades........
This is good AC/DC album
Brought it when first came out.
Unfortunately it's let down by a bad mix and production.
Which is why it is not liked much.
But overall there's good album in their somewhere!
It's class...love it
There's tech out there now where people could rip this apart and remix it themselves.
To me it sounds like typical AC/DC, and I like Sink the Pink in particular.
Never got the hatred for it, I don’t personally think they’ve done a bad album. Yes some are not as good as others, but you know what your going to get with ac/dc although I don’t have their latest album.
I just like the cover
Greetings from Melbourne. Australians are very fond of the bon Scott period. It was always a big deal when they played on countdown
I wasn't fond of it when it came out. Haven't heard it in years. I rather liked Flick of the Switch. To be honest, I've always been more of a fan of the Bon Scott years. I was never a big of Brian. It was around this album that I began to lose interest in the band. Maybe I'll give it a new listen and see how I feel now.
Love that album. Best guitar riffs. Maybe the vocals are a bit to low and the drums are to high.
Ac/Dc are one of those bands I know are good but will never go out of my way to listen to, like Queen, Yes, Beatles, my wife seems to have gotten into Thunderstruck for some reason lol sounds bizarre mixed with all the other stuff she likes
I had this album and I do remember it being underwhelming and I couldn't understand anything that was being sung. When I looked on the back, I'm sure I noticed Mutt Lang was not the producer and that AC/DC were the producers, am I right? Is this the first album they did themselves? I think Flick of the Switch was pretty much the same, no one really liked it.
The biggest issue is the mix - too much reverb on the drums, and the tinny vocal sound for Brian - but the guitar tones are savage. I think it's one of the most underrated AC/DC albums and is better than many believe. It is like a lot of Brian's albums though, top heavy - it has a better side one than side two, in my opinion.
It's not terrible, however still at the back of my 'next to listen' of 'DC albums. It sounds flat and appears as a' will this do? ' release. As a Scott aficionado I'm biased, but the hate isn't particularly deserved. They released much worse.
In my opinion the worst part of this record is the production. There are some really good songs on it. Like the title track, Back in business, Shake your foundations, Sink the pink, First blood and Playing with girls. It is far from their best, but it is not as bad as a lot of people say.
One word: Reverb
It was aggressively overused, and it was EVERYWHERE. I believe this was Angus and Malcom's first and last attempt at producing their own album. It's a shame because the tunes were there, somewhere.
I've always liked it. I think Brian Johnson sounds great on it. There's some really good songs! It's better than Blow Up Your Video lol
I haven't cared about any of their albums since For Those About To Rock.
The production was brutal. Brian sounds like he’s being waterboarded in the next room.
7/10
above avg., but not by much. but also not deserving of any hate.
I liked it better than Flick of the Switch
As somebody who has been an AC/DC fan since 1980 and who used to own this album...yes, it's that fucking bad.
Blow up your video is their worst. They've been pretty consistent though. The production is what separates their albums from good to bad.
Stiff Upper Lip is way worse. Only one or two decent songs..
Never understood how an album could sound muddy, and tinny at the same time. The production really killed a promising album here.
Love it
Yup
This is the last AC/DC album that I liked from start to finish. Never understood the hate for it. Granted, the production isn't spectacular but I was in a weird cassette buying phase at that time so I really didn't notice. The songs were solid and at the end of the day that's what matters to me.
Simon Phillips and to a degree Chris Slade were functional drummers for the band but they were more on the jazz/progressive side that didn't quite groove with the band.
You mean Simon Wright?
@@Shadowman4710 My bad, yes Simon Wright. I still think Simon Phillips wouldn't quite gel with band though. HA!
Well!
Just given this album a first listen, it’s typical AC/DC to me.
Power cords, massive riffs, raspy vocals.
With an ounce of black Moroccan floating around the brain cells, it rocks like the rest of their three cord compositions.
Yes, Brian’s vocals are low in the mix, but apparently he’s worth around 50 million, so he probably doesn’t give a F*#k. Wouldn’t have made that singing with Geordie.
Being the worst AC/DC album is like being the worst team in the World Cup.
Really didn't like it when it came out but in hindsight the problem is the god awful production. Some great riffs on there. Love the simplicity and grunge behind send for the man.
No, it's really not that bad. The production leaves a bit to be desired and only "Shake Your Foundations" and "Sink the Pink" come close to reaching past glories,
but the playing is solid throughout and Angus was arguably at the top of his game as a guitar player during the early 80s.
It's not one of AC/DC's best albums, but it's certainly better than anything they released after The Razor's Edge.