2 Gibson
AC/DC’s Back In Black: Then and Now
The band AC/DC changed the Rock and Roll world forever by releasing their Back In Black album forty years ago this year in 1980. Back In Black was an instant success and continues to be forty years later. This chapter will show how Back In Black was an instant success in 1980 and continues to be successful forty years later in 2020. This chapter will also cover reviews of the music in the album, a brief history of the talented members of AC/DC, and show how the album has continued to sell throughout its’ existence while becoming engrained in popular culture throughout the decades of its existence.
AC/DC first formed in Australia in 1973 with brothers Angus and Malcolm Young whom were both Scottish born (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). They were a guitar duo that first formed the band and have become legendary with their mastery of the guitar. Later Bon Scott who was also Scottish born and moved to Australia became their lead singer (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). As all good bands, they have an odd story about how they chose their name. They decided to name their band AC/DC after reading it on a label on the backside of Angus and Malcolm’s sisters sewing machine (Guitarworld Staff, 2011).
Their first album, High Voltage was released in Australia in 1974, followed by T.N.T. the next year in 1975 (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). Both of these albums saw great success in Australia with both albums quickly reaching platinum success in Australia (Guitarworld Staff, 2011).
With their achievement rocking out in the Australian continent they decided to start playing in Great Britain, quickly gaining a residency at the famous Marquee Club (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). Within the next year the band released Let There Be Rock, which was their first simultaneous world release (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). This was also their first album released that contained their famous logo on the album with the famous lightning bolt separating the letters “AC” and “DC” (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). AC/DC began playing stadiums and began rocking out on the American continent in 1977 (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). By 1978 AC/DC was one of the most popular bands to see in concert in the world, and in 1979 they released Highway To Hell which was their first album to break into the United States top 100 (Guitarworld Staff, 2011).
In February of 1980 their lead singer Bon Scott died at the young age of thirty-three in London (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). There are varying reports on how Scott died ranging from an overdose to asphyxiation. Either way he died too young and was just starting to see the fruits of his labor in the music world. The surviving members were in shock and decided to carry on their tradition (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). Their solution was Brian Johnson the former singer of a band named Geordie (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). Johnson ended up being the perfect replacement for Scott, as to the untrained ear (mine) it is hard to differentiate them apart from one another. In a 1980 Rolling Stone article written by David Fricke, he describes Johnson’s singing by writing “…a savage screamer who combines the breast-beating machismo of Led Zep’s Robert Plant, the operatic howl of Ian Gillan, and the tubercular rasp of Slade’s Noddy Holder into singular, nerve racking, Tarzan-type shouts (Fricke, 1980).” The end result of this change was their release of Back In Black in late 1980. Back In Black was an instant success and quickly hit number one in the United Kingdom and number four in the United States (Guitarworld Staff, 2011). Back In Black quickly propelled AC/DC into superstardom.
The Back In Black album is one of those rare albums where every song is an outstanding piece or artistry. While this album was released before I was born, I fell in love with it before I can even remember and it has been an important part of my life since. These songs are part of my childhood and I can remember me and my brother jamming out to these songs in the late 1980’s. I remember us riding in our father’s truck and being given the few chances to take control over the coveted radio. When an AC/DC song came on me and my brother would sing it together. We caught my dad humming along once or twice but, I am sure he would still deny that to this day. I remember in the 90’s watching Beavis and Butthead jamming out to their songs on television while Butthead wore his AC/DC logo shirt. I vividly remember seeing AC/DC in concert in Indianapolis in the late 1990’s, they were loud and even more impressive in person. It was at that point I truly realized not only were they a great band, but were also great showmen. They are the very definition of Rock and Roll music. AC/DC maintains their signature style in sound in every song, while keeping each song an individual masterpiece of itself. AC/DC has always had a distinct sound that can only be described as screaming guitar riffs combined with vocals of a guttural scream that is on the edge insanity but, completely comprehensible at the same time.
Perhaps the most famous or most recognizable song on this album is You Shook Me All Night Long. While this is not the signature song of the album, it is definitely one of the most recognizable songs from any AC/DC album. It’s one of those songs that when it is played everyone knows it and sings along weather you are a fan or not. David Fricke from Rolling Stone magazine described the song back in 1980 as “a surprisingly commercial romp with an intoxicating sing along chorus (Fricke, 1980).”
The signature song of the album titled Back in Black is a tribute to their former lead singer Bon Scott who had recently died a few months before the album was released. With lyrics in the song such as “forget the hearse cause I never die” the song is meant to show that even though Scott had passed on he would live on forever in his music (Songfacts, n.d.). This song has been used in many movies over the years including The Karate Kid in 2010 and School of Rock in 2003 (Songfacts, n.d.). American astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley also played this song on May 30th, 2020 while waiting to board their spacecraft as the first American astronauts to return to space since 2011 from the United States (Songfacts, n.d.). They truly were on a journey back into the blackness of space. AC/DC also was the first band to have its own expansion pack on the popular Rock Band video game in 2008 (Totilo, 2008). This proves that not only AC/DC but, their Back In Black album has been interwoven into popular culture even in recent decades even leading up to merely a few weeks ago.
One of the more interesting songs on Back in Black is Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution. This is a song about the strength of Rock and Roll. It’s about sticking it to the man and all of the naysayers that hate rock and roll! It’s about going against the corporate workplace establishment and rocking. The lyrics say it all “Throw away your fancy clothes, and while you’re out there sittin’ on a fence, so get off your ass and come down here.” It is a call for all corporate professionals to leave their lives behind and join the rock and roll movement. Perhaps an anthem calling for all to join the Rock and Roll movement.
The Back In Black album was a big success starting out. The album was released on July 25, 1980 (Wiederhorn, 2019). The album quickly made it to gold, then platinum status by October of 1980 (Childers, 2019). A mere three months after the album’s release it has sold over one million copies. Four years later in October of 1984 the album had sold five million copies being certified to five times platinum (Childers, 2019. In 1990 the album was diamond certified after it has sold ten million copies (Childers, 2019). Astonishingly it does not stop there! In June of 2004 Back In Black was certified twenty times platinum having sold twenty million copies (Childers, 2019). Most recently in December of 2019 Back In Black was certified twenty-five times platinum having sold over twenty-five million copies.
The continuing sales of the album show how it is still an important album even today. After forty years Back In Black is still selling and gaining more platinum status. It has certainly slowed down over the past decade or so but, that is normal for an album to slow down on sales as time goes on. What is not normal is for an album to continually pickup platinum status over four decades. This proves that Back In Black is still influential today. Perhaps because back when this album was released it was seen by many as heavy metal. Now days it is just viewed a good old classic that the whole family can enjoy.
In 2016 ultimateclassicrock.com named its top twenty-five classic rock albums of all time. AC/DC’s Back In Black came in at number five (Wilkening, 2016). The album was only beat out by Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Led Zeppelin’s untitled album, Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits, and The Eagles Greatest Hits (Wilkening, 2016). All of these albums were evaluated and ranked by their number of sales. As the author of the article Matthew Wilkening wrote about Back In Black “…the band came up with a set of anthemic rock songs that continue to dominate the airwaves to this day (Wilkening, 2016). Before anyone asks, Yes! AC/DC beat out the Beatles!
While some might say that AC/DC or the Back In Black album is ancient and outdated, I would argue that. While the album is definitely old, it has stood the test of time through sales and popularity. Not to mention the effect it still has on popular culture. Most of the newer generation does not listen to classic rock so its popularity will most likely die out within a generation or two. However, a few months ago, me and my son were driving and Hells Bells came on the radio. He said, “Dad turn it up!” While I grinned, I knew that there would be at least another generation that would have some enjoyment out of the Back In Black album.
References
Childers, C. (2019, December 9). AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ Certified 25 Times Platinum. Retrieved May 30, 2020, from https://loudwire.com/acdc-back-in-black-certified-25-times-platinum/
Fricke, D. (2018, June 25). Back In Black. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/back-in-black-5-185369/ (originally published 1980, November 27).
Songfacts. (n.d.). Back In Black by AC/DC – Songfacts. Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://www.songfacts.com/facts/ac-dc/back-in-black
Staff, G. W. (2011, June 21). AC/DC Biography. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from https://www.guitarworld.com/features/biography-acdc
Totilo, S. (2008, September 30). AC/DC ‘Rock Band’ Video Game Coming In November. Retrieved June 9, 2020, from http://www.mtv.com/news/1595911/acdc-rock-band-video-game-coming-in-november/
Wiederhorn, J. (2019, July 25). 39 Years Ago: AC/DC Overcome Tragedy With ‘Back in Black’. Retrieved May 30, 2020, from https://loudwire.com/acdc-back-in-black-anniversary/
Wilkening, M. (2016, February 17). Classic Rock’s 25 Best Selling Albums. Retrieved June 1, 2020, from https://ultimateclassicrock.com/biggest-selling-rock-albums/
Album cover image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_Black
Beavis and Butthead image from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105950/