In 1979, few rock bands were hotter than Cheap Trick and AC/DC – and when they toured together in the US they got on like a house on fire.
It was tour that Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen remembered with great affection in an interview with Classic Rock in 2021.
“Cheap Trick did theatre shows with AC/DC all over the place,” he said. “East Coast, West Coast. We flip-flopped as headliners, because we were both on the way up at that time.
“When you’re on tour together, you’re birds of a feather, and there was a camaraderie between us. We loved their band and, well, they tolerated us, you know?”
Cheap Trick, from Rockford, Illinois, played hard rock with a strong pop sensibility inspired by The Beatles. Their 1978 live album At Budokan had been their commercial breakthrough, yielding a huge hit single with I Want You To Want Me.
AC/DC, from Sydney, Australia, played hard rock, full stop. No fancy stuff. And their 1979 album Highway To Hell would be their first million seller.
Nielsen recalled: “We toured with so many bands, but AC/DC was the only band I watched every night, every show, because they were so good. I liked everything about them. They were totally unique.
“I know I’m pretentious,” he admitted, “but there was nothing pretentious about AC/DC. They were straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll. Sure, they did [blues song] The Jack, but that was about the campiest thing they did. Otherwise it was just straight rock from start to end. There was no baloney.”
Nielsen remembered one occasion when Cheap Trick were joined on stage for their encore by AC/DC’s guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young and singer Bon Scott.
“We closed that show and Angus and Malcolm and Bon got up with us and we did Johnny B. Goode together.”
The roles were reversed some time later. “I got up with those guys in Germany when we were both opening for The Who,” Nielsen said. “They played Highway To Hell and there was me – jumping around with my checkerboard guitar! That was a real thrill.”
Nielsen had great admiration for Bon Scott, and enjoyed time with him away from the stage.
“I thought Bon was the ultimate frontman. He was like a rock ’n’ roll pirate. He seemed like he was ready to swab the deck!
“And he was the sweetest guy. I remember taking him to a Mexican restaurant one night. He’d never eaten Mexican food before, and he was the only guy I ever saw have a taco with a Scotch!
“I was a drinker too, I’d have a case of beer a day, but I never got into a competition with anyone, and Bon wasn’t the kind of guy to do that either.”
Tragically, on 19 February 1980 – just three weeks after AC/DC had played the last UK date on the Highway To Hell tour – Bon Scott died in London after a night of heavy drinking.
When news of Scott’s death reached Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick were on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, working on the album All Shook Up with the legendary ‘fifth Beatle’ George Martin in the producer’s chair.
“I was so shocked and sad when Bon died,” he said. “We were in Montserrat with George Martin, and I had my wife and kids with me out there.
“I got a call about my house back in Rockford, Illinois. It was being renovated and there had been an electrical fire and the house had burned down. And it was the very same day that I got the call telling me that Bon had died. When that hit me, I couldn’t have cared less about my house.
“That night, I wrote some lyrics about Bon, which became the song Love Comes A-Tumblin’ Down.”
This song was featured on the All Shook album.
Nielsen said of the song’s lyrics: “All that stuff about Johnny B. Goode and ‘the highway to hell’, I wrote it in memory of Bon.”
He added: “As a rock ’n’ roll singer and as a person, he was one of the best.”
