There's a Wal-Mart ad making the rounds at the moment that cites various gift bargains they're hawking that are all under $12. Among the items -– trussed up in a big pretty blue box with a bow –- are a pair of Batman pajamas and Black Ice, "the new album by AC/DC." This information is delivered by a wholesome, lilywhite voiceover that might as well be Florence Henderson or June Lockhart or Anita Bryant. Or your mom. Oh how the times have changed.
I realize that AC/DC recently signed a lucrative agreement with the big box store in question to sell their new album exclusively at Wal-Mart's retail outlets, but the marriage still seems like a wholly incongruous one. For a start, the imperiously "family-oriented" Wal-Mart's made headlines over the years for their practices of selling "sanitized" pop culture products (i.e. music, movies, etc.) that have been stripped of their arguably offensive content. Some call it "customer service." Others see it as censorship. Either way, it stinks.
AC/DC, meanwhile, seemingly used to stand for virtually everything that Wal-Mart opposes. Hell, the VERY NAME AC/DC -- be you the sort to think it's an allusion to bisexuality or an anagram for "Against Christ The Devil Comes" (in actuality, they took it from the back of a sewing machine) – used to strike fear and disgust in the hearts of purportedly moral, self-styled guardians of taste. AC/DC's music, while inarguably infectious, used to be renowned for its irreverence. Bawdy, lurid, rude and deliciously obnoxious, AC/DC's lyrics are steeped almost exclusively in just the sort of libidinous innuendo that makes straight-laced parents uneasy. How in the world does Wal-Mart rationalize espousing a gaggle of sneering, denim-clad cretins who've penned priapic paeans like "Big Balls," "Beating Around the Bush," "Whole Lotta Rosie" and the ultimate ode to venereal disease, "The Jack"?? How is it done?
Bums me out, it does.
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