It was 25 years ago today, September 26th, 1995, when I skipped my morning classes at Canadore College and on hopped on a bus headed for the Northgate Mall in North Bay. I was stoked because this was going to be the first time I would be purchasing a new AC/DC album on release day as a hard core fan.
I know most people have stories of waiting in huge lines or going to special mid-night openings to be there for a major release. Not me. I arrived to a nearly empty mall at 8AM. I forgot how the mall would open, but the stores remained closed until 9. Typical me.
Luckily there was the food court. It was only a third full, mostly with old men sipping coffee, smoking cigarettes, taking up space. A great way to avoid the wife and read a complimentary newspaper or two. I found a table with an abandoned Toronto Sun but I was too excited concentrate on it.
I had already heard Ballbreaker’s first single, Hard As A Rock. I commanded the shared TV in the common area on the day Much Music was to debut the video. I had this special privilege because I owned its VCR. If they wanted to use it, they had to let me take over the TV from time to time. I think all they ever played on it was repeated viewings of Pulp Fiction and a lesbian porno called No Men For Miles.
When Hard as A Rock finally came on, each of my roomies wrote it off in about 20 seconds. “It’s just another another Thunderstruck”… OK… I admit… it wasn’t going to set the world on fire, but I didn’t think it sounded anything like Thunderstruck. Well, they were all into grunge anyway.
Back at the mall, I was the only first one through the doors at Music World. There was no special display or anything. Heck, they didn’t even have an AC/DC section. I grabbed one lowly copy of Ballbreaker sitting under the generic “A’s”. Man, grunge did a number on hard rock for a while.
After I paid for my CD, the cute girl behind the counter handed me my receipt and a double sided Ballbreaker poster!!!!
“Wow, I didn’t know I it was coming with a poster!”, I said.
I got a flat “Yep” for a response.
Well, no Sara Gilbert in High Fidelity moment for this guy.
Maybe I would have done better if I was buying Frogstomp.
Ballbreaker didn’t blow me away when I got it home. Maybe I needed to let it sink in after a few more spins. But that didn’t work. I had to admit, Ballbreaker was just… OK.
I think AC/DC had wanted two things for the album that conflicts with each other. One is to achieve a retro tone. To have a little less polish and go for a the raw sound they had on the albums before the making it big. I think this was a direct response to what was happening with rock music at the time.
But they also didn’t want to ignore the major success that was The Razors Edge from only five years prior. That album sported some slick production from Bruce Fairbairn, and was seen by many to as a comeback album of sorts.
Legendary producer Rick Rubin was hired to work on Ballbreaker but he kept them on the back burner, delaying the album for at least a year while his focus was on the new hotness, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. But only so much blame can be left at the feet of a producer. Honestly, the song writing is just not there.
Save for the album’s finale tune, Ballbreaker, Ballbreaker is sluggish, mid-tempo riffs strung together. It’s a funk that it can’t work its way out of. We were promised hard as a rock and instead we got limp as a sock.
As and AC/DC album: 2/5
Compared to the rest of music: 2.5/5
More AC/DC:
[Album Review] High Voltage (US)
[Album Review] Let There Be Rock (US)
[Album Review] Powerage
[Album Review] If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It!)
[Album Review] Highway To Hell
[Album Review] Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (INT)
[Album Review] For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
[Album Review] Flick of the Switch
[EP Review] ’74 Jailbreak
[Album Review] Fly On The Wall
[Album Review] Who Made Who
[Album Review] Blow Up Your Video
[Album Review] The Razors Edge
[Album Review] AC/DC Live
[Album Review] Ballbreaker
[Album Review] Stiff Upper Lip
[Album Review] Black Ice
[Album Review] Iron Man 2 (Deluxe Edition)
[Album Review] Rock Or Bust
[Album Review] Live At River Plate
[Album Review] Power Up
[Album Review] High Voltage (AUS)
[Album Review] T.N.T.
[Boxset Review] Bonfire
[Boxset Review] Backtracks (Deluxe Edition)
[DVD] Review] Stiff Upper Lip Live
[DVD] Review] Family Jewels
[DVD] Review] Plug Me In
[Blu-ray Review] Live At Donington
[Blu-ray Review] No Bull | The Director’s Cut
[Blu-ray Review] Live At River Plate
[Book Review] Bon: The Last Highway | Jesse Fink
They say the title is the first chance to ‘hook’ the reader – with a post, I sometimes see the tags before the title, and in this case, I simply had to read on to see what ‘limp socks’ had to do with ACDC.
And although the album wasn’t all that great, the post about its acquisition was. Nice one, Kevin!
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Thanks Geoff! It is nice to know that someone reads the tags!
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Great story. Way better than this album. Not one I ever got in to. You are right, by the time this came out, rock was not a big draw anymore. I think I only stood in line for a midnight drop once in my release day buying. Now I just hope Amazon delivers it on release day.
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I think Judas Priest Firepower was the last album I bought on release day. Now I just wait for a sale. There is no need for me with a back catalogue to keep me busy.
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Great backstory Kev!
I purchased this a few days after it had been out. When Thunderstruck dropped 5 years earlier it grabbed you by the neck and made you take notice.
Hard As A Rock didn’t do that as a first single. Fair rating really that you have given it. The title track though is phenomenal.
I read Fairbairn was in line to do this album but couldn’t as he was producing VH. Then AC/DC wanted to use him for Stiff Upper Lip and Bruce died. I always wondered how Ballbreaker would have turned out with Bruce behind the dials. If anything Bruce would have been in the studio more than Rubin that’s for sure.
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We can only wonder what Bruce would have done with this album. It feels like the tempo just needs to be jacked up one of a few of these. Oh, well. They can’t all be winners. The final track is awesome though. It is definitely the one that stands out.
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End of the album Gems as I call em! What a driving tune. So good.
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I smell a new series…
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I don’t think Hard as a Rock sounds at all like Thunderstruck. It’s not the same tempo at all. I guess the videos have similarities.
Yep this is fair. You didn’t rake them over the coals as much as you could have. I mean, Cover You in Oil? I didn’t wanna hear that.
I was working at the Record Store. I remember a review a trade magazine said “You don’t so much as review an AC/DC album as announce its arrival and get out of the way.” But it sold sluggishly all year and when I heard it, only the title track stood out. Hail Caesar.
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I remember having to look up what “Cover You in Oil” meant. I never heard of the expression before. Even now when I listen to it there are only a few moments of approval.
So much of it could have been better.
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Before Ballbreaker, Rick Rubin seemed infallible.
Then I realized all he does is lay on couches.
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He half assed this one. I think the label just wanted to slap his name on the promotional material and he was willing to take the paycheck. He did much better with them on Big Gun.
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Yeah agreed on that. It had a sharper, more immediate sound.
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I’ll admit some of the songs on that album just sounded blah to me, especially “Caught You with Your Pants Down,” like how the hell did they come up with that title?!?! I think “Thunderstruck” and “Hard as a Rock” sound a little similar since it’s the same three chords, but a lot of AC/DC songs sound similar so. While I don’t agree with all of your points, I thought the “limp as a sock” part was hilarious!
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Agreeing that I’m funny is by far more important than this silly album.
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Just wait and see what happens when I review the album, that won’t be for a while, but we’ll talk then!
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Oh boy!
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Great post. Fun read! Nice job.
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I caught em live during this tour and they only played three songs, the two singles and the title track. The songs worked well mixed in with the other live songs.
I read that because of the success of The Razors Edge album and how the Young brothers wrote all those songs without any involvement from Johnson, they took a more iron fist approach to the songwriting on this album and all other contributions from others were rejected.
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I can see that.
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Like the history with the record Mars. I have this one but havent listened to it much. Guess it’s time to blow off the dust for a spin.
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Yeah, it isn’t terrible. I bought it twice on CD and vinyl, so that must say something. The last tune is the best.
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That’s one of the tunes i remember. They are always in the ballpark. All that matters Mars is your like button.
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