Lately as I watch American society rot at its bipartisan core, I hearken back to my sophomore year in high school when I freed myself from the comfort of “Top 40” music. It wasn’t my first rebellion, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be the last, but there are always times when one just has to give the finger to the polite veneer of the murder machine.
Back in 1980, after I tired of hearing Air Supply and Billy Joel played on a tight loop in my sophomore biology class, I discovered hard rock. Well, I mean I’d already known it was there but let us just say I finally succumbed to it. My first love was AC/DC, with occasional one-night stands with Judas Priest on the side. I was aroused from the dead with the release of Back in Black, but that was mostly a gateway drug to the old AC/DC of Bon Scott. I really got into the wit and flair of Bon Scott. I was so bored by the mute voices of comfortable music that I found lines like “feelin’ like a paper cup floatin’ down a storm drain” poetic. I also liked the raunchy, hilarious stuff like “for a fee, I’m happy to be your backdoor man.” I mean, I was 15, alright? But I still find the rough wit of Bon Scott alluring. At the time I hadn’t seen any AC/DC videos, so I had no idea just how magnificent a showman was Angus Young. I just loved their songs.
I wasn’t a problem child per se, though I was a bit resistant to forced conformity. I was faithfully religious, rather serious, and not about to start on sex, alcohol, tobacco, or any other recreational vice. Perhaps the right girl could have changed all that, but that particular girl didn’t get to me in time. All the more reason to rock, I suppose.
There was another Aussie band at the time whom I knew as Angel City. I only knew their name and a few of their songs. I didn’t even know they were Aussies. Somehow I never bought any of their albums. Perhaps their albums weren’t that easy to come by in a farm town in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley of California, and I couldn’t afford a large music collection. They never really made it in America. Looking back, I’m surprised I’d even heard of them.
Angel City was known as the Angels in Australia. The two songs of theirs that I really enjoyed were Marseilles and Face the Day.
Marseilles had been released in spring 1978, just weeks after AC/DC had released Powerage, my favorite AC/DC album. Powerage featured the track Sin City, which I suppose is about Las Vegas if it’s about anywhere. Yeah, probably it’s an allegory, right? (“No, it’s rock and roll!”) Marseilles falls into the same theme, only I think the Angels were really singing about the actual Vice Capital of the French Riviera. Video:
Here’s a sweatier, orange jumpsuit performance:
That’s a song that quickly got stuck in my head.
Face the Day is my favorite Angels track on most mornings. It’s got some strong lines, such as “one day of faceless living is twenty-four hours too long.” It’s a regular worker bee anthem. It is quite strange to me that it isn’t much better known. Hell, I can’t even find in on Apple Music. Here’s the video:
The glam metal band Great White covered this track. They didn’t butcher it, but their cover can’t touch the original.
Another great tune from 1978 is Take a Long Line. It might just as well have been titled Reel Him In. This proto-hardcore tune features the great line “I never existed you’ve been wasting your time!” Here’s a strong performance from 1983: