''Who Made Who'' is a

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by Australian hard rock band

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, but the band calls it ...

. Released on 26 May 1986, the album is the soundtrack to the

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

film ''

Maximum Overdrive ''Maximum Overdrive'' is a 1986 American comedy horror film written and directed by Stephen King. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's sho ...

''. The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the ''AC/DC Remasters'' series.

Background

Three tracks on the album – " Who Made Who" and the instrumentals "D.T." and "Chase the Ace" – were newly written and recorded by AC/DC for the album. The remaining tracks were previously released by the band. Only one song, " Ride On", features previous lead vocalist

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotlan ...

, who died in 1980. All others feature his replacement,

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

. Along with the album, the band released a 73-minute videotape, which contained

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

s for the songs "Who Made Who", "

You Shook Me All Night Long "You Shook Me All Night Long" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, from the album '' Back in Black''. The song also reappeared on their later album ''Who Made Who''. It is AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson as the lead singer, rep ...

", "

Shake Your Foundations "Shake Your Foundations" is a song and single by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, written by Angus and Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson. The single was released in November 1985, taken from their 1985 album ''Fly on the Wall''. The track was re ...

" (remixed), " Hells Bells", and footage from a live performance of "

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is a song by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The song was first released on AC/DC's eighth studio album '' For Those About to Rock We Salute You'' in 1981, and later as a single in 1982. The single ...

", which was filmed in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

in 1983. The video for the title track, directed by David Mallet, was recorded at the Brixton Academy in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and features a theme of countless clones of AC/DC guitarist Angus Young. According to the book ''AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll'', these clones consisted of hundreds of fans who came from all over the UK, many of whom slept in the freezing cold in front of Brixton Academy for the opportunity to take part. This group was made up of approximately 300 members of the band's British fan club as well as others who had simply heard about the event on the radio.

Lyrics

The song "Who Made Who" was written for the Stephen King movie ''Maximum Overdrive'', whose theme was machines that came alive and began killing people. The lyrics explore the idea of the gadgets and devices created by mankind coming to rule over human beings instead of the other way around, the irony where humans become subservient to the technology they created.

Reception

The song "Who Made Who" became the band's most successful single in years, reaching No. 16 in the UK and No. 33 in the US.UK Singles chart - AC/DC
/ref> It was also voted second best track of 1986 by the readers of ''

Hit Parader ''Hit Parader'' was an American music magazine that operated between 1942 and 2008. A monthly publication, it focused on rock and pop music in general until the 1970s, when its focus began turning to hard rock and heavy metal. By the early 1980s ...

'' magazine. Following this, a re-issue of "You Shook Me All Night Long" was released from the album, peaking at #46 in the UK. The album has sold five million copies in the US.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

calls the album "a ripping AC/DC retrospective" and applauds the band "rescuing songs like 'Sink the Pink' from otherwise mediocre albums."

Track listing

Album

Video

A VHS titled "Who Made Who" was also released to support the album. #"Who Made Who" #"You Shook Me All Night Long" (alternate version, filmed in 1986 specifically to promote the "Who Made Who" album) #"Shake Your Foundations" #"Hells Bells" #"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" oe Louis Arena, Detroit - November 1983 * All five videos were re-released as part of the '' Family Jewels'' DVD set.

Personnel

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and only remaining original member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolbo ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its beginn ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

Cliff Williams Clifford Williams (born 14 December 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He started his professional music career in 1967 and had previously been in the English g ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, backing vocals * Simon Wright -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

- lead vocals on "Ride On" * Phil Rudd - drums on "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Ride On", "Hells Bells" and "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" * Mark Evans - bass guitar and backing vocals on "Ride On"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Lyrics
on AC/DC's official website *
Soundtracks for ''Maximum Overdrive''
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{Authority control Album chart usages for Billboard200 AC/DC compilation albums AC/DC soundtracks Film soundtracks Albums produced by George Young (rock musician) Albums produced by Harry Vanda Albums produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange 1986 soundtrack albums Atlantic Records soundtracks Albert Productions albums