I’ve just finished reading a great book about the band AC/DC, and in amongst all the goal achievement tips, one in particular came thumping off the pages at me…
Theirs is a story of commitment, single minded focus, hard work, practice, setbacks, rejection, etc. all the kind of goal achievement tips I love. All they wanted was to play their music as loud as possible, in their own way.
They had little truck with the music industry, whether that was the media or the record companies, they were only interested in their fans and their music. It’s really a whole new article in itself, but it’s after they hit the real big time I noticed a story which reminded me of another article I wrote about being in the right place at the right time…
In that other article I wrote about how Joe Lynn Turner was singing in clubs when he got a phone call from someone claiming to be rock legend Richie Blackmore, asking him to audition for his new band.
You can read the rest of that article on my blog, but back to the AC/DC version…
Back in Black was the album that propelled AC/DC into the big league of rock, when their music was embraced by the mainstream media, and it truly ‘crossed over’ to people who would not normally listen to the genre.
Their relentless touring schedule continued at full pelt, with massive world tours to huge venues. Drummer Phil Rudd had been with band from an early stage, and was the engine behind the music, but alongside problems with drink and drugs, there was an incident involving him and a family member of Malcolm and Angus Young, the brothers who basically *are* AC/DC.
Interestingly the book doesn’t go into details about what happened, but he was sacked from the band with immediate effect. The brothers Young were not the type to hang around.
Their way of seeking a replacement was just as typically AC/DC. They simply took out a small advert in UK music paper Sounds, which read ‘hard hitting rock & roll drummer wanted – any other cr*p need not apply’.
Simon Wright was drumming with bands in clubs when he saw the advert. He turned up at the studio for his audition and played some rock with a producer and drum tech, then went home.
When he was called back to a second audition, he still didn’t know who the band was, and it was only when he saw the corridors of the studio filled with music flight cases with AC/DC stamped all over them, that he started to wonder to himself.
Sure enough, when he was sat behind the drums, in walked Malcolm and Angus Young! They thumped through some songs, had a chat, and that was that – Simon got a call saying he was now in one of the biggest bands on the planet, just shy of his 20th birthday!
Instead of playing to a few hundred in clubs, he was now playing to thousands in massive arenas and stadiums!
Was he lucky? Well, yes and no! It’s often been said that luck is when preparation meets opportunity, and it’s a goal achievement tip that can be seen time and time again. He was already a good enough drummer to get the job, but it was taking action to answer that simple advert that made the difference for him.
He was with the band for a few years, only leaving because the periods of downtime between the recording/touring cycle were too much for him, so he started playing with other people, and basically never came back.
Best known for those years with ACDC, he went on to play with Ronnie James Dio, and still plays today.
So, look to your own goal, and ask if you’re putting in the preparation, ask if you’re taking action which could possibly put *you* in the right place at the Wright time!
Do let me know what you think, I love the feedback!
‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Here’s that other article I mentioned about Rainbow – Do You Say ‘I Surrender’ To Your Goal Achievement Needs?”
Thanks for the tips. Just keep following up and something will shift for the good.
Hi Brook,
It’s a classic example of preparation combined with action to produce ‘luck’
Cheers,
Gordon
Just shows we can do all things with the right preparation and a determined spirit.
Yes Jo, he had seen the band in concert, and now found himself *in* the band – great story!
Cheers, Gordon
I loved the post, and see that what stops us as we get older, is in NOT following the pure thought in the moment, just living vicariously, and not going for what we want.
Hi Diane,
yes, it’s very easy to create a whole load of reasons to *not* do things, when in fact the easier thing is just to do them! Lots of drummers could have replied to the advert – Simon reaped the benefit of taking the action. Thanks for stopping by,
cheers, Gordon
Not been a big fan of AC/DC. (I actually was tempted to use the middle character on more than a few of their records…)
Interesting story.
Hi Roy,
so many people wish they were rock stars, and moan about never getting there, whereas he just did his thing, and wallop, ended up in one of the biggest. I didn’t have you down as an ACDC fan anyway, although you can’t judge books by their covers! Ha!
Cheers, Gordon
I’ve written about AC / DC before and this is a great new angle on the band.
I remember you writing about them, about why they don’t play jazz. In fact the band’s ethos is ripe for business and goal achievement angles, I have another one brewing! In fact your latest article about doing what you love has ACDC echoes.
cheers, Gordon
Great post Gordon! For me this is about showing up, being visible and as you say taking action. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
Indeed Harriet, how many people would read a story like Simon’s and think ‘oh, why can’t that happen to me!’ but if you then asked them how often they gigged for example, their answer might be ‘not a lot’, or ‘I prefer watching X Factor to gigging!’
Thanks for stopping by,
cheers,
Gordon
This story reminds me of a book by Malcolm Gladwell, which incidentally was what I had been thinking about this week. Can’t recall whether it is Tipping Point or Outlier. In it, he mentioned about 10k hours of training being the ‘tipping point’, I suppose that’s the book. When you hv achieved that amount of training hours, it puts you in a solid, expertise position because you should n truly know your stuffs by now.
And in Outlier, I now recall one particular eg he gave about basketball players. Parson me for not recalling exact details but something along the line.
Why certain birth month chaps (let say A) seems better than other birth month chaps (B,C,D) because those selected for the games were of those particular months (A). Researched statistic revealed the reason they were selected was simply because the audition was done in a particular month which put those in those ‘sacred’ months (A) a competitive advantage in terms of physique growth and hence playing better games over the others.
So is this consider right time, right place? Probably yes. More importantly, is that one got to be READY when opportunity knocks.
Interestingly, these 2 days I observed myself doing this. Yesterday, I was waiting to fetch my daughter from school. Earlier today, I was waiting for the train to arrive. Both times, I was standing steadily, with legs slightly apart, rooted firmly to the ground. And I told myself, ‘be always in the ready position’ and thought of making a post out of such readinness! And make sure to include, ‘it can be a tiring thing to always be in this ready position!’ Lol. That only means I wasn’t really ready ready in a sense of physical strength, posture etc . Simply because I wasn’t trained. It can be made possible with trainings.
Anyway,…. great post! Haha…
Hi Sandy,
Yes, those Malcolm Gladwell books are great!
Physical training is another example indeed, there is no way to go from being unfit to fit without going through the work – being a bit better, then a bit better still, then a bit better still.
When ACDC held the auditions, they didn’t want someone who was nearly good enough, they needed someone who was good enough right then, and Simon was in that position. Plus, he took action on the advert!
Thanks for stopping by as ever!
Gordon