AC/DC's arguable finest hour 25 years on

It was 25 years ago this year that AC/DC's sixth US release Back In Black was released.

Originally released in July of 1980 on Atlantic Records(re-released by Epic in 2003), the Back in Black album is a classic case of triumph over tragedy.

By early 1980, AC/DC were riding high on the success of their first US Top 20 Platinum selling album Highway to Hell and AC/DC(guitar slinging brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, bass player Cliff Williams, drummer Phil Rudd and lead singer Bon Scott) felt pressured to live up to the success of Highway to Hell. However on February 19, 1980 tragedy struck, frontman Bon Scott died from asphyxiaton after a long night of drinking. The band were faced at quitting. However at Bon's funeral, Bon's parents recommended the band soldier on. Then, the band returned to England and auditioned new singers and Welsh born Brian Johnson was chosen and AC/DC soldiered on.

The band decided to relocate to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas with Highway to Hell producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange and engineer Tony Platt to record their classic contribution to rock and roll history. Instead of going reggae or carribbean due to their choice of recording locales, AC/DC made Back in Black an album for Bon which celebrated the three fundamentals of rock and roll. Sex, drugs and rock n' roll and Brian screams like a man possessed rather than sings but does a damn good job!

The opening Hell's Bells is a masterpiece with Malcolm and Angus' classic guitar riff and Brian's lyrics which came to him during a thunderstorm. The bell at the intro came to the band during the mixing sessions whilst Malcolm was in the restroom and Tony Platt went to a bell foundry in England and recorded that classic bell intro. The bell hit was actually the bell AC/DC would bring on tour subsequently. Next is Shoot to Thrill which was inspired by the old Western movies and instead of guns, guitars are the weapons for the rock and roll outlaws. We follow with What Do You Do For Money Honey which was another great rocker and has a killer Angus solo. Given the Dog a Bone has alot of great raunch lyrical innuendo which would make all of these rappers look like baffoons. We close the first half with the classic Let Me Put My Love Into You which is a great rocker.

We begin the second half of Back in Black with the title track which became the band's second US Top 40 hit. The riff came about whilst Angus and Malcolm were fooling around with their guitars backstage on the Highway to Hell tour. Brian then wrote lyrics about being in a rock and roll band and what not. Next we have AC/DC's first US Top 40 hit You Shook Me All Night Long. This song is a classic the way it is with Brian's singing but during recording Mutt Lange wanted less words in the verses but AC/DC outvoted him. We then follow with Have A Drink On Me which came from a great riff from Angus and Malcolm and its lyrics are a send-off to Bon from Brian. Shake a Leg follows and is a great fast paced rocker. We then close with the classic closing rock and roll testament Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. The track is a kiss-off to the band's critics with a classic evangelist parody from Brian at the intro and a great bluesy riff.

When Back in Black was released, the album quickly hit #1 in the band's native UK and then by October of 1980 became AC/DC's first US Top 5 album(hitting #4 on the Billboard Top 200) and their biggest seller(20 million and counting in the US alone).

If you don't own this album already, go out and buy it IMMEDIATELY!

Highly recommended!

hate it. dont understand why everyone likes it

Most of the songs sond alike,and drag on and onand get extremly anoying.There are three good songs,which are Hells bells,shoot 2 thrill and shook me all night long.Get Bon Scott insteds of this album.

over rated

this cd is way over rated.everyone thinks this is the best ac dc cd;but i dont think.the only ones i like are hells bells;shoot to thrill and shook me all night long.i think the guitar in back in black is good; but the song just gets anoying.this is coming from a huge bon scott fan though;so iwould recomened high voltage and highway to hell before thisone.if your not a bon scott fan;then get the razors edge or something;but if your like everyone else;then youll love this album.

Rock N Roll is noise pollution!

Ac/Dc is only big because the MTV show "beavis and barfhead"

Other than that, ac/dc is nothing special. Anyone can do better than Angus Young's cheesy solos and the riffs are too pop-ish.

The Height of AC/DC

this album shows AC/DC at their height. the songs are complex and still rock. if you like rock n roll, or just like AC/DC; this is the album to buy..de facto. there is not one song on here i dont like. every solo on here fits perfectly; brians vocals are high and gritty. the rhythm section..mal phil and cliff are always on point and you can set your watch by phils drumming.





whoever said this isn't ac/dc's best album is full of dog poop. even the australian version of dirty deeds isnt close to their best album. highway to hell is close, but this is better :-)

YUCK

One star is being generous. This band's gimmick is loudness. Not musical skill (as in Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, ELO, Eric Clapton, or King Crimson), not well-written lyrics (as in John Lennon, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Don Henley, or Lou Reed), not a great voice (like Joan Baez, Cass Elliott, or Janis Joplin), not blue-collar appeal (as in some of the better country acts), but nose-picking, butt-scratching, play-to-the-lowest-denominator grossness. I bought this album a long time ago and after listening to it once, I put it away and didn't listen to it again for a number of years. The next time I listened to it, I wondered why I bought it. The lead singer's voice is distinctive, this is true. But not in a way that makes me want to listen to it. Their song lyrics are mediocre at best, and always seem to revolve around sex, or the pursuit of same. Even songs about sex get old after a while.



This band just doesn't make it. I know that might make its fans feel slighted that I didn't credit ACDC with inventing rock & roll, but I can't even credit them with PLAYING rock & roll. If you want metal, there are other options: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and even (shudder) any number of blond-haired, blue-eyed, high tenor lead vocal groups (Poison, Whitesnake, Queensryche, etc.). But ACDC just doesn't make it for me on ANY level. Sorry, nothing personal to their fans, but wasting my money on one of their albums was enough of a mistake.