The AC/DC cover Angus Young called “one of the most interesting”

The magical chemistry between the guitarists and brothers Malcolm and Angus Young is something that cannot truly be replicated. They were the backbone of AC/DC’s music, which, combined with incredible musicians such as Bon Scott, Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd, Mark Evans, and Cliff Williams, created one of the most unique sounding bands in the history of Rock and Roll.

There are thousands of AC/DC tribute bands all over the world, but curiously, there are not many well known cover versions of their songs. However, there is one that Angus Young himself praised, saying it was among the most interesting he had ever heard.

The AC/DC cover Angus Young called “one of the most interesting”

“One of the most interesting ones I heard, was a French band do a version of the tracks of ‘Dirty Deeds’, the song ‘Ride On’. Actually, I was in Paris when the guy played it to us, you know. It was certainly unusual, you know, to hear being sung in a foreign language,” Angus Young told Noise11 in 1993.

The track, originally released by AC/DC on “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (1976), was later covered by Trust on their self-titled 1979 debut album. Just a few months earlier, the band had been AC/DC’s opening act in France. The voice of their vocalist, Bernard “Bernie” Bonvoisin, has often been compared to Bon Scott’s.

Curiously, the song was played live by AC/DC only once, and it happened in France. The band performed the track in 2001 at the Stade de France football stadium. On that occasion, Angus Young and Brian Johnson were wearing shirts of the French national football team. But they decided to play the track in honor of John Lee Hooker, who had passed away the day before. Since the song was played live only that one time, Bon Scott, who is the vocalist on the original recording, never performed it live in concert.

Bon Scott’s final studio recording was with Trust

Bon Scott tragically passed away in 1980 at the age of 33, cutting short his brilliant career with AC/DC. Interestingly, his final recording was with the French band Trust when they were in London recording their second album “Repression”. At the time Bon was working with the vocalist Bernie Bonvoisin on an English translation of the record.

Since they had already covered “Ride On”, the band played the track in the studio as a jam session and Bon joined them on vocals. Although that performance wasn’t part of their record at the time, it ended up being the final time Bon Scott was recorded singing in the studio. The French band dedicated that album, released in 1980 and the 1981 hit single “Ton Dernier Acte” (Your Last Act) to Bon.

Trust’s vocalist recalled in an interview with Paris Match, that experience with Bon Scott in the studio. “February 1980, I’m in London with Bon Scott, singer of AC/DC. We were recording the album “Repression’. Bon Scott and I met up one day at the studio, we spent the afternoon together. When we first met in Paris, he promised to write the lyrics for an upcoming Trust album. I was very happy about that but as is often the case, I wasn’t 100% sure what he would do.”

He continued:

“In fact, he did a good job, he did some stuff. So I’m very pleasantly surprised (at the meeting in London). So we spent the whole afternoon together and (at one point we) were playing ‘Ride On’. In the middle of the song, Bon (enters) the studio, grabs the microphone and sings. The sound engineer had the presence of mind to record. (Once Bon leaves we record a demo of what would become) ‘Antisocial’ (their biggest hit, later covered by Anthrax).”

A few days later Bon Scott actually tried to visit Trust at their hotel. However, he didn’t find them there at the time and not long after that they heard about his death. “The news hit me like a ton of bricks. I cried, you spend several days like that with someone and then one morning you get up, you go downstairs and discover the guy is dead.

Bernie continued:

We were supposed to see each other that evening (before he died). He showed up but (for other reasons we couldn’t be there). I think about it often. I don’t know if you can call it fate or I don’t know what (would have happened if we had met that day),” Bernard “Bernie” Bonvoisin said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Another interesting fact about Trust is that two legendary Iron Maiden drummers were part of the group. Nicko McBrain was a member of the band at the time Trust opened for Iron Maiden, when Clive Burr was still Maiden’s drummer. After Burr was replaced by McBrain in 1983, he would briefly join Trust himself.

The meaning behind “Ride On”

The lyrics of the song talk about a man remembering the mistakes he made in a relationship while drinking. “(It is) about a guy who gets pissed around by chicks…can’t find what he wants,” Bon Scott told RAM magazine in 1976.

Besides “Ride On” and the title-track, the album “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” also had other praised songs like “Problem Child”, “Big Balls”, “Jailbreak” and “Ain’t No Fun (Waiting ‘Round to Be a Millionaire)”, which the famous horror author Stephen King said is one of his favorites.

The record was produced by Malcolm and Angus’ older brother George Young, alongside his Easybeats bandmate Harry Vanda. At the time AC/DC was also formed by Mark Evans on bass and Phil Rudd on drums.