During the last 5 years when most recording artists have experienced a drop in CD sales, AC/DC have been flourishing, last year selling 1.3 million CDs in the US alone. For a band that hasn’t released any new music for 8 years, never releases a ‘greatest hits’ album and does not sell any of its music online in digital format, this is pretty impressive.

That's because this is not a boy band nonsense!!!! Pound your instruments on the road like it is suppose to be!!!!

Go AC/DC

"going to kill music if they're not careful"

What a moron.  If millions are willing to "pirate" the music, how exactly is the music going to die?  If millions want it, that doesn't sound like death to me.  That sounds like a potential market, if morons like this can figure out how to tap it.  If not, screw 'em.  These clowns are singing the same song that's been sung for each new tech, records are going to kill radio (music,) tapes are going to kill music, recordable tape will end the music industry, CDs will kill the music, recordable CDs will kill the music, downloads will kill the music.  Ugh, enough already.  Get your heads out of your rears and take advantage of the tech to provide an experience worth paying for, and people will.  Piss and moan about how it's killing you instead of embracing it, and it will.

Reminds me..gotta fire up "Rock n Roll Train"

"If millions are willing to "pirate" the music, how exactly is the music going to die?"  Well, for one thing the good bands stop making enough to live on.  What the record companies are really worried are their ability to make a quick profit on some "formula" group they can create, pay pennies and throw away when their popularity starts to drop.  That's where they make their money, not off bands like AC/DC.  They do make money from AC/DC, but because AC/DC can dictate terms, they (record company executives) can't make as much, or control the content.  The record companies are a biger problem than iTunes, iTunes is a business that reacts to the marketpalce, they would much rather react to the demands of the buyer and the CREATORS than the Lawyers at the RIAA who, if they had their way would not prohibit any copying at all, but would require al CDs to self distruct in within a 6 months of being opened.  No more music collections for anyone!  Too many Lawyers and Executives are the problem, not iTunes.  They ARE trying to kill the music.

"Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless 'em, it's going to kill music if they're not careful,"

What kind of quote is that? I could blow up my kitchen if I'm not careful. I could stick a fork in my eyeball if I wasn't careful. That's not really saying much.

You know what I'm tired of hearing on the radio? The same old AC/DC songs they've been playing for the last five thousands years. You know who plays single songs and rarely if ever plays a whole album at a time? The radio. It's the radio format that made the single song popular after all.

Do me a favor AC/DC. Stay away from iTunes and stay away from the radio too if that's how you feel! If I want all the crappy filler songs I'll go buy the crappy filler songs. Just do your part and make sure the filler songs aren't so crappy. Agreed?

I'll tell you what will kill music: dynamic range compression, jacked up loudness, and lossy compression formats that remove even more dynamic range. The latest example of this can be heard on the new Metallica album Death Magnetic CD version. It it terrible to the extreme and you have to be near deaf not to hear the clipping, distortion, and lack of dynamic range it has. That is what is killing music. Funny thing is, when Lars Ulrich was confronted about it, he pretty much gave the proverbial middle finger to his fans. I wonder if the guy has been standing next to the amplifier to long to say that the CD sounds, "Smoking".

Just wanted to add, I haven't heard AC/DC's new album yet. I am sure it suffers from the same problems which I mentioned above. That, and all of their albums sounds about the same. Basically sounds like someone is gettings their testicles squeezed and trying to sing at the same time. Sorry, am not a big AC/DC fan.

Wow.  I wcould have figured out that you weren't a fan.  Because if you were, you would know that ACDC's shows are some of the best hands down.  They give 200% EVERY time.  And they don't feel the need to release a CD every 1,2,3,4,5,6 or 7 years. 

In closing, it saddens me that you're not a fan.  Because you're missing some of the best fun to be had.

I just have to say that I love AC/DC. Always have. I saw them at the SARStock Festival in Toronto on July 30, 2003. What a hot and sunny summer day. Naked boobies everywhere. AC/DC was, without a doubt, the best band that night. People started walking out on The Rolling Stones. I like the Stones, but they were just horrible. I felt like I was watching residents from a geriatric care facility.

Anyway, I have heard a song or two from AC/DC's new album and I was very disappointed. It sounded like their old stuff. I mean they just changed the words. So sad.

I'm not a big fan of actors or musicians getting all political. We pay them to act or sing. If I want to hear a politician then I'll go see a politician. This is one guys opinion, to which he's entitled, but I'm not interested in what he has to say. Maybe he should STFU and spend his energy on making better music.

I like Brian Johnson, but let's face it - he's no Bon Scott.

** My name is DukeNukem, and I approve this message. **

That's true.  Brian Johnson is alive and well.  Bon Scott is dead and not so well.

I gotta give ACDC credit for standing up for the idea of the album.  My read on the article is that they feel Itunes is killing the album format (which it probably is).  Yes radio plays singles, however that used to drive people to buy the whole album.  Now with the advent of new technology, you only have to buy the singles.  Which means record companies aren't gearing towards albums anymore, just one hit wonders

He's an idiot,he's out of touch with reality and the common man,his voice is shot,he hasn't put out a good album since Mutt Lange stopped producing him. The new album which I downloaded for free has about 3 decent songs on it. The only good thing is it's mixed really well. It's not too loud, it breathes and has good punch and kick.

@JJJB

"The only good thing is it's mixed really well. It's not too loud, it breathes and has good punch and kick."

I am glad to hear that. The "loudness war" of today is taking the war to new highs, sorry no pun intended. Did you see a wave form of one of the songs?

I do think it's funny that people think that iTunes or the Radio could possibly be responsible for the death of the album format.  There's just no way it could be the crappy songs they put on the album that makes people more willing to get just a single?  If there's only one good song on the album, you can pretty much bet folks won't buy it.  And now that's not the fault of the stupid artists that produced the crap, it's somehow the fault of the consumer.  Nice.  Of course it seems to escape the brain trusts that if all of the songs on the album are good, and they utilized the technology to make the songs on the album sound better than downloads or have extra and unique content (packaging, liner notes, etc.) then people will either buy all the songs at inflated prices per song or buy the album and get the good stuff.  But that would require the effort of making all of the songs worth buying, and perhaps a little creative marketing, and that's just beyond what "artists" should have to do.  They'd rather cry about waht they aren't getting with the least effort.

Well, if it's on a Sony label I won't buy it new, I'll wait for it used - if it turns out to have more than 1 or 2 good songs. Rock n Roll Train doesn't sound badly compressed on the radio, so there's a chance it was mixed/mastered well. I also don't like the idea of available only at Wal Mart or Sam's Club (or their site). Another reason to wait for it used, though last I checked, Amazon was listing it for pre-order. I'm assuming it won't (doesn't) contain any "explicit lyrics"?

If it's political garbage I won't buy it either. So far, AC/DC hasn't pulled that crap. I hope this one doesn't change that.

As far as buying individual tracks, AC/DC used relase their hit singles for separate purchase didn't they? So just do that. Release the singles, but not all tracks for online purchase, or maybe allow purchase of the singles, or the whole album, but not the non-single individual tracks. And if you want to set a good new trend, release them in .wav or .flac! Then the only thing to go by the wayside is the inefficient physical distribution method.

As far as Metallica, Lars gave fans the middle finger when he had a hissy fit about Napster. That resulted in me selling all of my Metallica CDs to a used CD place. (There were already 5 or 6 used copies of each in inventory as it was). After all, they used to talk about how they'd sit around and make copies of all their favorite bands' albums to share with each other. These bands out to sue Metallica for infringement.

As far as the dynamic range compression and bass boosting, this is done to make it sound better on cheap stereos, and does work to a point. It just makes it sound like crap on a good system. Typical of the industry, pander to the lowest common denominator.

@dentman42

"It just makes it sound like crap on a good system. Typical of the industry, pander to the lowest common denominator"

It sounds awful on my PC speakers. I am like, "Who mastered this pathetic piece of ****???!!!" I looked at the wave form of the CD versus the Guitar Hero 3 version and woah what a difference. They pushed the boundaries on this album with dynamic range compression. The wave form looks absolutely terrible.

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

Lars Ulrich says, "

“Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality. It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I’ve heard that there are a few people complaining. But I’ve been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin’ smokin’."

Guess the guy has been doing too many drugs or something.

You know what would get me to start buying CD's again? How about being an actual "artist" for a change and taking pride in not only how you came to make your music but also how it sounds during and after recording. Slap a sticker on the CD jewel case saying that, "The upmost care has been taken not to alter and to preserve the way the music is suppose to be heard." Or something similiar to that. Some of the best sounding CD's I have are Classical Music ones. It seems that the "loudness war" hasn't gone over to that genre and hopefully never will. Well, probably never happen but thought I would get my two cents in.

See the funny thing is that the music industry is getting more business from me now, than they were before single downloads were available. I refuse to buy a whole CD if I only like one or two songs from it. If you want me to buy the whole album...make it work my while...

If they played ACDC's new song on one of those 80's radio stations, I'd think it was one of their old ones. God I hate all those stupid 80's stations that keep playing the f**king 80's. Get over it, the 80's ended almost 20 years ago!

As for his comments, they're still stuck in the 80's, what do you expect?

AC/DC for life

@cd pirate

"God I hate all those stupid 80's stations that keep playing the f**king 80's. Get over it, the 80's ended almost 20 years ago!"

You are kidding right? You think the 80's music sucks compared to today's music? Man, are your ears ok because the crap they put out now days is either just awful or so transparent and artificial, really pathetic. Probably, why I haven't bought a cd in years.

@ cd pirate

"God I hate all those stupid 80's stations that keep playing the f**king 80's. Get over it, the 80's ended almost 20 years ago!"

Are you saying that because someone has a gun to your head? Are you being coerced? Should I call the cops?

That's the only reason I can think of for you to say such a crazy thing. Eighties music kicks 90s and 00s music to the curb, my friend. Maybe they're right, you *should* turn down the volume on your iPoop. If you can't hear the awesomeness of 80s music, then your hearing has obviously been damaged. Either that, or you're nuttier than squirrel shit.

@shaolin: What kind of speakers do you have on your PC? Some of this over-loud digital clipped crap sounds pretty good...on my laptop's speakers. Sounds like crap on real stereo. Maybe your PC speakers are too good for it. The idea is a crap system has no dynamic range, so you compress it to allow the worst systems to make the quiet stuff in a 100dB recording audible on the crap systems. I can believe it sounded good in the guy's car (well, as much as the album, however mastered, could ever sound good), probably on a factory system. Sad thing is it's getting tough to find good audio gear anymore - the midrange stuff has gotten so much better in the last 10-15 years that the high end market shrunk and few stores handle it any more. In car stereos the integration is making things tougher - it's expensive to swap out a factory system where the controls for climate control are on the same touch screen as the controls for the radio (and usually one module contains all the electronics for both). Plus, low end car stereo head units are now better than high end units of 10-15 years ago. Remember during an interview about Napster, he said within a 1-2 minute period, "It's not about the money....In America, everything's about the money."

 Lars is such an ID10T he made me lose respect for the entire band.

@duke: Hey, some 80's music sucked. It just wasn't the stuff that got the most airplay (well, until the late eighties anyway). Likewise, there was some good music in the 90's and 00's (RUSH released dseveral albums, though they're also guilty on the last couple of digital clipping). It's just that in the 90's and 00's the crap started getting the majority of the airplay.

I guess they just don't write 'em like that anymore...

@Duke

LMAO. Man I am still laughing....

@Dentman42

Got some Altec Lansings, 4.1 system. They are old and the dogs have chewed a few wires which have been spliced and put back together not including my daughter grabbing a speaker and slamming it on the floor. At least, the speakers, are still working ok. I really believe the crap they put out nowadays is made for those little ass earplug speakers that have no range whatsoever anyways. I wouldn't dare play Metallica's new CD on my home system,: Onkyo receiver, 4 speaker set Klipsch, SVS subwoofer with a 12" driver and an 320 RMS watt amp pushing it. That would be an insult to it.   Not the best system in the world but it is not bad.

Yea there was some 80's that sucked but I would bet you that there are more that sucked in the 90's and 00's. 

You like Rush? 2112, OMG, sounds great on my home system!

Had a chance to listen to Black Ice, CD version. It sounds ok but has some clipping issues. The cymbals sound washed out and the drums sound kind of lifeless. I can say it is not nearly as bad as Metallica's Death Magnetic.

Nothing is as bas as Death Magnetic.