My childhood was, quite frankly, fucking terrible.

I was a bastard child when that meant something, my mum was unmarried and got knocked up by a guy who was engaged to another woman. My entire family threatened to disown her and it wasn’t until I was born and my Grandma – her mum – fell madly in love with me did she finally feel as if she would be alright. At least with them.

Elsewhere, people weren’t so kind. She was ostracised for having a child out of wedlock, and she turned to drink to help her cope, and trust me, my mum could drink. This led to a few dalliances with men who had a lot of time for a party girl, but not so much time for her bastard son, but she eventually met a man who was crazy about her and me. Unfortunately, he also became crazy about heroin, so that lasted about as long as you would’ve expected it to.

From here she met my stepdad and my life would change for the worse. This motherfucker hated me. He hated the fact that to be with my mum he had to deal with me as well and he did everything he could to try and get her to put me up for adoption, but my mum was stubborn so that was never on the cards. He was never abusive to me, his anger manifested itself in a seething, silent hatred, but he and my old dear used to drink a lot and when they did he slapped her about like a piñata. This was my life from age 5 to age 16 when he unceremoniously booted me out because the government stopped my child benefit.

I tell you this not to garner sympathy, that boat sailed years ago, but to demonstrate the importance music has played in my life, “but, how could that be?”. I hear you ask. Well, dear leader, allow me to explain.

I was close to my cousin growing up – until he turned into an epic bellend, which we may cover down the road – as there were about 3 years between us, and he was a huge fan of AC/DC. Now, I don’t have many memories from that time that don’t revolve around my stepdad and my mum beating the shite out of each other, but I do remember my cousin, showing up on my doorstep one day and just giving me all his AC/DC albums.

I don’t think he ever explained why, or if he did it’s been lost to the mists of time, but he had every record up to their newest release at the point, For Those About To Rock. Which dates me somewhat, but I was probably close to 10 when this happened.

I can remember taking them to my room and rifling through them and the one that caught my eye was If You Want Blood (You Got It)

I mean, how couldn’t it? Angus with a guitar jammed into his chest, blood pouring out, while Bon crouches behind him, still singing. I was fucking hypnotized. But not as much as I was when I put the damn thing on.

I have said and will always say that Riff Raff is the greatest opening track on any album, ever. There is nothing I have heard in my 50 years on this planet that comes even close. That guitar run that Angus does to open the show, the pounding rhythm that kicks in, Bon at his fucking best with lyrics about being a fucking outlaw, and Angus just being a fucking guitar god on a different level, this was the shit I needed in my very young life.

There isn’t a single moment of filler on the record. Every track hits hard, hits fast, and shoots to thrill. Even the slow-paced The Jack – which I knew nothing about but it sounded fucking awesome – was played so down and dirty that I could smell cigarette smoke coming out of the speaker, and the rest of the album similarly affected me.

It was an electric shock straight to my brain, an overload of pure, unadulterated rock and fucking roll, that shocked my 10-year-old mind to breaking point and made me realize that maybe, just maybe, life could have moments that weren’t 100% shit, 100% of the time.

Whenever my life got away from me back then, whenever they staggered back in drunk, after leaving me to look after my younger brothers while they went out on the piss, and the voices started yelling and the fists started flying, then I would lay in bed, plug in my headphones, and crank up If You Want Blood... until I imagined it was me on that stage with the audience screaming my name as I held my hand in the air, waiting to slam into the opening of Riff Raff.

AC/DC was the first band that opened my eyes and ears to a world I didn’t know existed, and it changed me at a primal level I wouldn’t understand, at least, not for a few years yet…