Forty Years Since The Thunder's Greatest Album

AC/DC have long been one of the pioneers of heavy metal, and in the early 1980s, their popularity soared to levels unseen. Tragedy quickly became triumph with the release of their seventh album, Back in Black, exactly 40 years ago today.
ACDC Back in Black.png

Bon Scott's death

On the evening of February 18, 1980, Scott went out drinking with some friends at a London bar. The following morning he was found unresponsive and so was rushed to a local hospital. Shortly after being brought in for an exam, staff at the hospital officially pronounced him dead as a result of alchoholic poisoning. 

Since then the remaining quartet of AC/DC: the founding Young brothers (Angus and the late Malcolm), bass player Cliff Williams, and drummer Phil Rudd began auditioning for a new singer. Per advice of Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who was responsible for producing their 1979 breakthrough Highway to Hell, the band recruited Brian Johnston - formerly of the British glam rock band Geordie.

Highway to Hell, their breakthrough

1979's Highway to Hell was the first AC/Dc album to feature more radio-friendly hits such as the title track thanks to the works of Robert John Lange. Lange himself has produced many hits of the late 70s and early 80s and worked with other big names as well such as Foreigner and Huey Lewis & the News, just to name a few.

Scott's death came towards the end of the European leg of AC/DC's supporting tour for Highway to Hell.

So what about THIS album?

Back in Black spawned four singles and is meant as a tribute to Scott. In fact, in many Western cultures, black is the modern day color for mourning. 

Despite the tragedy, Back in Black sold 50 million copies worldwide, and as of December 2019, it is certified 25X Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Through 1981, it topped charts in the UK, France, Canada, and their native Aussie, and became a top 10 album in the US and several other countires. The 1980/81 world tour was also a massive success.

The first of four singles, You Shook me All Night Long, became a top 10 hit in Australia and the US, and a top 20 hit in Ireland. In my opinion, it is AC/DC's signature song. The follow-up single, Hells Bells, was Platinum in the US and Gold in Canada. The opening sound of the funeral bell is a recording of a bronze bell manufactured by John Taylor Bellfounders in Loughborough, Lanceshire. Many critics compared this opening to the opening of Pink Floyd's Time. The title track, released just before Christmas 1980, is known for its memorable beat and riff and has been adopted in many school marching bands and the like. Although the initial single issue just brushed the top 40 in the US, digital downloads did much better and by 2012, the single was in the top 20

An interesting fact, the Beastie Boys (illegally) sampled the title track for their 1984 hit, Rock Hard. The song didn't make the cut for their greatest hits package fifteen years later. As Angus Young put it, AC/DC does not endorse sampling. It got used AGAIN in a remix for the song Work  It by Nelly and Justin Timberlake. 

The fourth single, Rock'n'Roll Ain't Noise Pollution, is something of a protest as according to MalcolmYoung, the band were rehearsing in London and the staff at the Marquee Club were complaining of noise pollution and it was in environmental health news a lot. The single hit #15 in both the UK and Ireland, but didn't chart anywhere else. All four of these singles had videos, which were some of the first shown on MTV after its launch in 1981. 

They kept rising

AC/DC made their peak with the Who Made Who soundtrack and For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), AC/DC rebounded in 1990 The Razors Edge featuring Moneytalks and Thunderstruck. 

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