AC/DC Is No. 1? Must Be a Recession

Forget complicated economic indicators—the surest sign that recession looms is that AC/DC is back on top of the charts after 28 years, writes Alexis Petridis in the Guardian. It seems that whenever the Aussie rockers have a best-selling album, at least in Britain, the economy's in the tank. See 1980’s Back in Black and 1990’s The Razor's Edge. Albums in rosier years did less well.

So what gives? “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," theorizes Petridis. As for the US, Portfolio points out that the group is selling the album (now No. 1 here, too) exclusively through discounters Wal-Mart and Sam's Club and that Neel Kashkari, the man running the feds' $700 billion bailout, is a big fan.
(More economy stories.)