[Daniel and Josh waiting for the truck to arrive…]
Bec gave me the hot tip, so I raced down to the Fremantle train station to witness a re-enactment of AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll). Way back in 1976, on this very day, 23rd of February, AC/DC shot a video clip of the song in downtown Melbourne. They travelled down Swanston Street on a flatbed truck, accumulating a small crowd along the way. The video clip, and the event, have become something of a local legend. A few years ago in Melbourne, a street called Corporation Lane was renamed AC/DC Lane as a memorial to this great moment in rock history.
I arrived just before noon. Small groups were starting to cluster around the station, hiding from the sun under shady trees, craning their necks this way and that in order to catch a first glimpse of the truck. I wandered over and took a photo of two eager young fans, Daniel and Josh. They’re only 16 years old. Daniel told me he’s been listening to AC/DC for four years now. He first became aware of their music while playing a video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The song T.N.T. appears as background music to this skateboarding game, and that’s how Daniel got hooked. He also told me a curious story about his “Pop” and Bon hanging out together. The two rascals once “borrowed” a hotted up Holden to go joyriding around Freo. That must have been sometime in the 1960s I guess. Daniel’s Pop is now 62 years old.
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