KISS bassist Gene Simmons‘ decision to go to a small club in Los Angeles in the mid-’70s turned into a tremendous and unforgettable story that he would tell his family, friends, and music journalists over the years. The artist watched the famous rock band AC/DC‘s early performances there, and Simmons was surprised and admired the band members’ playing, especially the co-founder Angus Young’s unmatchable style as a guitarist.
From that moment, Simmons knew that Angus was the ultimate rock and roll star and needed to meet this musician who would hit the rock stage for decades. Thus, the bassist went backstage and started talking with Young; after their first meeting, the musician made some phone calls, creating an excellent opportunity for AC/DC members. Probably, Simmons knew that he couldn’t find any other band like that for the supporting acts.
AC/DC joined KISS for their Alive II Tour, which began on November 15, 1977, in Oklahoma City and ended on April 2, 1978, in Tokyo. The band performed some opening acts for KISS members along with Detective, Piper, Nantucket, and The Rockers. In addition to these crazy moments that they had, there’s no doubt that AC/DC has a special place in Simmons’ heart, along with an iconic album that he found impressive.
The AC/DC Record That Gene Simmons Admired The Most
AC/DC dropped their eighth studio album ‘For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)’ on November 20, 1981, in the United States and November 27, 1981, in the United Kingdom. The record received positive reviews from hard rock lovers and music critics thanks to the band members’ performances as songwriters and instrumentalists. It became popular and commercially successful, selling millions of copies in the US.
The album was AC/DC’s first and only number one record in America up to that date, so it can be understood from this data that ‘For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)’ became most fans’ favorite and influenced young generation musicians that wanted to be as successful as them. Besides the followers and newbie artists, a rock legend, Gene Simmons, reflected on his ideas about the famous album in his interview with Val Siebert.
Gene Simmons chose ‘For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)’ as his favorite AC/DC album by describing it as a call to arms and symbolic work. Moreover, the bassist admitted that ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ was their anthems, and the ‘Back in Black’ album probably had better songs than the eighth album. However, Simmons thought the album represented what AC/DC stood for, like a flag; being connected as a nation.
In Simmons’ words, he said:
“Bands have their anthems, ‘You Shook Me All Night Long,’ for AC/DC sure. ‘For Those About To Rock’ is the call to arms; it’s the definitive anthemic album. ‘Back In Black’ probably had better songs, but the band started to have a sense of itself because a band stands or should stand for something like when you have a country, you have a flag for that country.
But when a flag stands for something, it takes on a meaning of its own, and then people realize that the flag doesn’t just represent the country, but it represents what the country stands for, the platform, in our case, platform boots. So, ‘For Those About To Rock We Salute You‘ is what AC/DC is all about.
The graphics, that cannon, and the title, and it’s why they always end their set with it, is anthemic. ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ is probably the best song they’ve written, in my estimation, but it’s not an anthem. It’s because the lyrics aren’t on that same level. They aren’t big and bold. ‘For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)’ means something; it’s a connection. It’s like nationhood. Put your fist up in the air and say, ‘Yeah! This is what I believe in!’ ‘You Shook Me’ doesn’t have that; it’s just a rockin’ great song.”
You can listen to the album below.
