AC/DC and the Economy

I'd like to thank my colleague Chris Auld for pointing me to this article. It turns out that AC/DC record sale are counter-cyclical... well, sort of. Basically, an article in the Guardian points out that when times are bad, AC/DC's sales are up. The reasoning is as follows:

AC/DC's appeal in unpredictable times is straightforward. People crave something uncomplicated and dependable in a time of uncertainty, and rock music has never produced a band so uncomplicated and dependable as AC/DC.

For 35 years, they have done exactly the same thing - which in guitarist Angus Young's case involves dressing like a naughty schoolboy - unaffected by changes in fashion or band personnel.

Not even the death of lead singer Bon Scott could stop AC/DC cranking out hard-edged, wilfully basic blues-rock, decorated with lyrics in which the phrase "rock 'n' roll" figures heavily, but not as heavily as sniggering innuendo about scrotums.

This makes my research look a little less silly.