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Jun 28, 20236 min read

ACϟDC — Fly on the Wall

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟  𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…


38 years ago today, ACϟDC released “Fly on the Wall”, an album that many critics “Loved to hate”, but I still find enjoyable today!



On this day (June 28) 1985, ACϟDC released their tenth full-length studio album, “Fly on the Wall” via Albert Productions, and Atlantic Records.



Background:

Although ACϟDC's 1983 album “Flick of the Switch” received mixed reviews from critics, the band remained one of the biggest Hard Rock acts in the world. In October 1984, Atlantic Records released the EP “'74 Jailbreak” in the United States, a collection of studio tracks previously unreleased outside Australia, taken mainly from the band's 1975 Australian debut “High Voltage”.



In January 1985, the band took three weeks off from recording what would become “Fly on the Wall” to headline two nights at the 10-day Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, appearing to over 250,000 people on January 19, 1985 with Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Ozzy Osbourne.



(ACϟDC at Rock in Rio '85)


The Recording & Release of “Fly on the Wall”:

The sessions for “Fly on the Wall” took place at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland in late October 1984. Released on June 28, 1985, it was ACϟDC's first album since the original Australian version of “High Voltage” not to include drummer Phil Rudd, who was replaced by Simon Wright (although Wright appeared in music videos for “Flick of the Switch” tracks), making it the first ACϟDC album with all band members born in the UK.



It was the second and last album to be produced by band members. But in contrast to the preceding “Flick of the Switch” – produced by the band as a whole – “Fly on the Wall” was produced by guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, who hoped to capture the rawness and simplicity of their early work in a time when Pop-oriented Glam Metal had become popular. In a 1985 interview with Sky Channel for the Monsters Of Rock show, Brian Johnson explained:

"In my experience, the lads went in with a producer, but they were still really telling the lad what they wanted, so in a round-about way all it is an extra pair of ears. An expensive extra pair of ears."

(Brian Johnson, circa '85)


The album was not well received by critics and its one million US sales paled beside those of “Back in Black” and “For Those About to Rock We Salute You”. The singles "Shake Your Foundations" and "Sink the Pink" are seen as standouts; both were later included on the band's soundtrack album “Who Made Who” for Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive.




The song "Danger" fell flat in concert and was banished from the set.



Some critics also complained that Johnson's vocals were difficult to decipher, and the band would indeed raise them in the mix for “Who Made Who”.


The album does, however, have at least one high-profile fan: singer/songwriter Ryan Adams, who said "I had an epiphany while I was running and some songs from “Fly on the Wall” came on. That's a record I could always put on my run mix and I don't have to leave any songs off."



A home video of ACϟDC performing five songs from the album was released in the summer of 1985. Also titled “Fly on the Wall”, it features the band playing "Fly on the Wall", "Danger", "Sink the Pink", "Stand Up", and "Shake Your Foundations" at a small bar in New York City named The Crystal Ballroom. At the bar, a photographer attempts to sneak in to take pictures of the band. New characters are introduced during each song, including three suit-clad men and two women during "Stand Up", and a lady dressed in pink during "Sink the Pink".



The cartoon fly depicted on the album cover is also seen. If nothing else, the video demonstrated the band's new commitment to the now powerful MTV by going beyond performance-based videos.



The Fly on the Wall Tour:

The “Fly on the Wall Tour” was marred by bad publicity when serial killer Richard Ramirez was arrested. Ramirez, nicknamed the "Night Stalker" by the press, told police that "Night Prowler" from the 1979 “Highway to Hell” album had driven him to commit murder. Police also claimed that Ramirez was wearing an ACϟDC shirt and left an ACϟDC hat at one of the crime scenes.



As Murray Engelheart observes in his book “ACϟDC: Maximum Rock & Roll”,

"It was just what the band's detractors had been waiting for and the media, especially in America, immediately seized on the case. Wild accusations that ACϟDC were, in fact, devil worshippers were bandied about... The lyrics of 'Night Prowler' were carefully analysed and some newspapers attempted to link Ramirez's Satanism with ACϟDC's name, somehow arriving at the conclusion that ACϟDC actually stood for Anti-Christ, Devil's Child."

The band maintained that the song had been given a murderous connotation by Ramírez, but is actually about a boy sneaking into his girlfriend's bedroom at night while her parents are asleep.



In a 2000 interview for the MuchMoreMusic documentary “The Story of ACϟDC”, Angus says wryly, "I can't remember the last black mass I attended."



The tour was marked by protests from some groups who claimed ACϟDC's music was connected to the Night Stalkermurders, which resulted in the Costa Mesa show on the North American leg being cancelled, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force was the opening act on this tour.




Re-issue:

The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the ACϟDC Remasters series.



Critical Reception:

In a sad turn of events, many critics slagged “Fly on the Wall” upon its release, stating that the album was mediocre at best. In the original Rolling Stone review of the album, Tim Holmes wrote, "You'd never guess how sexist and politically incorrect all this is if you didn't read the lyric sheet, because you sure can't make out a single word coming out of the dentist's-drill glottis of Brian Johnson (except maybe the song titles, which tend to be repeated like mantras). Angus Young is also in great form, playing the dumbest, most irresistibly repetitive chords in the lexicon."



According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, "Fly on the Wall” continues ACϟDC's descent into cookie-cutter mediocrity, with the leering humor of past glories seeming forced and uninspired, and the music remaining somewhat underdeveloped and directionless."


In his 1994 Bon Scott biography “Highway to Hell”, author Clinton Walker calls the album a "disaster".



Martin Popoff observed how “Fly on the Wall” "tries desperately to recapture wasted youth, yet the material for the most part is cookie-cutter ACϟDC" and remarked Brian Johnson's awkward vocals "mixed quite far back, possibly because he's sounding raspier and more incoherent than ever".


US gossip magazine People picked the LP as best album of 1985.



Album Charts & Certifications:

Despite the media critics harsh criticism of “Fly on the Wall”, the album peaked at No. 32 the US Billboard 200, No. 7 on the UK Albums Official Charts, No. 30 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart.



“Fly on the Wall” has also been certified Platinum by the The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of 1 million copies, and 3X Platinum by the ARIA in Australia.


(ACϟDC at New Haven Coliseum '85)


Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

Click this link to listen to “Fly on the Wall” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/fly-on-the-wall/574051054


Click this link to listen to “Fly on the Wall” via Spotify: Fly On the Wall https://open.spotify.com/album/0rOXa1wPbBrCNl6knMyDBW


Click this link to watch the official music video for “Fly on the Wall”: https://youtu.be/5BWJOETwIGc


Click this link to watch the official music video for “Sink the Pink”: https://youtu.be/Gp-PKmbcF7c


Click this link to watch the official music video for “Shake Your Foundations”: https://youtu.be/Bayek5lLZWY


Click this link to watch the official music video for “Danger”: https://youtu.be/Ckk_-Si0bvQ


Click this link to watch the official music video for “Stand Up”: https://youtu.be/l_lEqxF771Y


Click this link to follow the ACϟDC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acdc?mibextid=LQQJ4d



Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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