Back In Black
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''Back in Black'' is the seventh studio album by Australian
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...
, released on 25 July 1980, by
Albert Productions Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent record labels to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1963 by Ted Albert, wh ...
and
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
. It was the band's first album to feature
Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...
as lead singer, following the death of their previous vocalist
Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...
. After the commercial breakthrough of their 1979 album '' Highway to Hell'', AC/DC was planning to record a follow-up, but in February 1980, Scott died from alcohol poisoning after a drinking binge. The remaining members of the group considered disbanding, but ultimately chose to continue on and recruited Johnson, who had previously been the vocalist for
Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...
. The album was composed by Johnson and brothers
Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...
and
Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC ...
, and recorded over seven weeks in the
Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
from April to May 1980 with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who had also produced ''Highway to Hell''. Following its completion, the group mixed ''Back in Black'' at
Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The album's all-black cover was designed as a "sign of mourning" for Scott. ''Back in Black'' was an unprecedented commercial and critical success. It has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide, making it the second- best-selling album in music history. AC/DC supported the album with a yearlong world tour that cemented them among the most popular music acts of the early 1980s. It has since been included on numerous "greatest albums" lists. On 21 August 2024, the album was certified 27× Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA), making it the third best-selling album in the United States and the best-selling album that never reached the top spot on the American charts.


Background

Formed in 1973, AC/DC first broke into international markets in 1977 with their fourth album, '' Let There Be Rock'', and by 1979 they were poised for greater success with their sixth studio album, '' Highway to Hell''. Producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange helped to make the band's sound more catchy and accessible, and ''Highway to Hell'' became their first gold album in the United States, selling over 500,000 copies, while also peaking at number 17 on that country's pop charts and number eight in the United Kingdom. As the new decade approached, the group set off for the UK and France for the final leg of the Highway to Hell Tour, planning to begin recording their next album shortly after playing those dates. On 19 February 1980, vocalist
Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...
went on a drinking binge in a London pub that caused him to lose consciousness, so a friend let him rest in the back of his Renault 5 overnight. The next morning, Scott was found unresponsive and rushed to King's College Hospital, where medical personnel pronounced him dead on arrival. The
coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
ruled that
pulmonary aspiration Pulmonary aspiration is the entry of solid or liquid material such as pharyngeal secretions, food, drink, or stomach contents from the oropharynx or gastrointestinal tract, into the trachea and lungs. When pulmonary aspiration occurs during ea ...
of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, but the official cause was listed on the death certificate as "acute alcoholic poisoning" and classified as "
death by misadventure In the United Kingdom, death by misadventure is the recorded manner of death for an accidental death caused by a risk taken voluntarily. Misadventure in English law, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is ...
". Scott was cremated, and his ashes were inurned by his family at Fremantle Cemetery in
Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...
. The loss devastated the band, who considered breaking up, but friends and family (particularly Scott’s) persuaded them to carry on. After Scott's funeral on 1 March, the band immediately began auditions for a replacement frontman. At the advice of Lange, they brought in
Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...
singer
Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...
, who impressed the group. The band begrudgingly worked through the rest of the list of applicants in the following days, and then brought Johnson back for a second rehearsal. On 29 March, to Johnson's surprise,
Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC ...
called the singer to offer him the job.


Recording and production

As AC/DC commenced writing new material for the followup to ''Highway to Hell'', vocalist Bon Scott, who began his career as a drummer with The Spektors, played the drums on demo recordings of "Let Me Put My Love into You" and "Have a Drink on Me". In a 2021 interview with '' Paste'',
Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-u ...
claimed this was the full extent of Scott's contributions to ''Back in Black'' (though, at this point, he said the demos on which Scott played drums were of " Hells Bells" and "Have a Drink on Me"). Three weeks of rehearsals for ''Back in Black'' were scheduled at London's E-Zee Hire Studios, but the rehearsals were cut to one week when an opening came up at
Compass Point Studios Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producers ...
in Nassau, in
the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...
. Although the band had wanted to record their next effort in the UK, there were no studios available, and the Bahamas presented a nice tax advantage, so ''Back in Black'' was recorded at Compass Point from mid-April to May 1980 with producer "Mutt" Lange. Johnson recalled that "It was hardly any kind of studio, we were in these little concrete cells, comfy mind, you had a bed and a chair. And this big old black lady ran the whole place. Oh, she was fearsome, she ruled that place with a rod of iron. We had to lock the doors at night because she'd warned us about these Haitians who'd come down at night and rob the place. So she bought us all these six-foot fishing spears to keep at the fucking door! It was a bit of a stretch from Newcastle, I can tell you." Around the time of the band's arrival in the Bahamas, the area was hit by several
tropical storms A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
, which wreaked havoc on the electricity at Compass Point. Johnson referenced the bad weather on the opening lines of "Hells Bells": "I'm rolling thunder, pourin' rain. I'm comin' on like a hurricane. My lightning's flashing across the sky. You're only young but you're gonna die." In addition, some of the group's equipment was initially held up by customs, while other gear was slowly freighted over from the UK. Having never recorded with the group, Johnson felt pressure during the process, and he also reported having trouble adjusting to the environment. Lange focused particular attention on Johnson's vocals, demanding perfection out of each take. The general attitude during recording was optimistic, though engineer Tony Platt was dismayed to find the rooms at Compass Point were not sonically complementary to the group's sound, which was designed to be very dry and compact. A humorous anecdote from the sessions involved a take being interrupted by a crab shuffling across the studio's wooden floor. Angus Young's particular guitar sound on the album was achieved, in part, through the use of the Schaffer–Vega diversity system, a wireless guitar device designed by Ken Schaffer that provided a signal boost and was reissued as a separate guitar effect in 2014. Near the end of the recording process, the band asked manager Ian Jeffery to find a bell to include on the album. Jeffery located a foundry to produce the bell, but, with seven weeks having already gone by, he suggested Platt instead record the bells of a nearby church. Platt did so, but these recordings did not suffice, due to the sound of a flurry of birds flying away that accompanied each peal of the bells. The foundry brought forward production on the bell, which turned out perfectly tuned, and it was recorded with Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio. Following the completion of recording, ''Back in Black'' was mixed at
Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. According to Angus Young, the album's all-black cover was a "sign of mourning" for Scott.
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
disliked the cover, but accepted it, on the condition that the band put a grey outline around the AC/DC logo.


Release and promotion

''Back in Black'' was first released in the United States on 25 July 1980. Its release in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe followed on 31 July, and it was released in Australia on 11 August. The album was an immediate commercial success, debuting at number one on the British albums chart and reaching number four on the American chart, which ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' called "an exceptional showing for a heavy-metal album". It topped the British chart for two weeks, and remained in the top 10 of the American chart for more than five months. In Australia, the album reached number one on the
ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
in March 1981. After ''Back in Black'' was released, AC/DC's previous records ''Highway to Hell'', '' If You Want Blood You've Got It'', and '' Let There Be Rock'' all re-entered the British charts, which made them the first band since
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
to have four albums in the British Top 100 simultaneously. ''Back in Black''s American success prompted
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
, the band's US record company, to release their 1976 album ''
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap ''Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'' is the third studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, originally released only in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in 1976. The album was not released in the United States until 1981, more than one year ...
'' for the first time in the US, and in May 1981 ''Dirty Deeds'' reached number three on the US chart, surpassing ''Back in Blacks peak position. To promote the album, music videos were filmed for "
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 soundtrack album ''Who Made Who''. It is AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson as the lea ...
", " Hells Bells", the title track, "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", "Let Me Put My Love into You", and "What Do You Do for Money Honey", though only the first four of those songs were released as singles. "
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 soundtrack album ''Who Made Who''. It is AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson as the lea ...
" became AC/DC's first Top 40 hit in the US, peaking at number 35 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On August 21, 2024, the album was certified 27×
multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
, denoting 27 million American sales. This placed it sixth on the list of the best-selling albums in the US. Worldwide, it has sold 50 million copies, leading Mark Beaumont of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' to call it "the biggest selling hard rock album ever made"; rock historian Brock Helander had previously called it "ostensibly the best-selling ..heavy-metal album in history".


Critical reception

Reviewing the album for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' in 1980,
David Fricke David Fricke (born ) is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 ye ...
regarded it as "not only the best of AC/DC's six American albums", but also "the apex of heavy-metal art: the first LP since ''
Led Zeppelin II ''Led Zeppelin II'' is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 22 October 1969 in the United States and on 31 October 1969 in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place ...
'' that captures all the blood, sweat and arrogance of the genre." Red Starr of ''
Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...
'' was more critical, saying he found the songs indistinguishable from one another and marred by hypermasculine fantasies, rock music stock phrases, garish guitar, and dull rhythms, on "yet another triumph for lowest common denominator headbanging—the new thoroughly predictable, thoroughly dreadful AC/DC album", and gave ''Back in Black'' a score of 3 out of 10. In a retrospective review, ''Rolling Stone'' critic Christian Hoard praised the album as the band's greatest work, possibly "the leanest and meanest record of all time—balls-out
arena rock Arena rock (also known as stadium rock, pomp rock or corporate rock) is a style of rock music that became mainstream in the 1970s. It typically involves radio-friendly rock music that was designed to be played for large audiences. As hard rock ...
that punks could love." Barry Walters from ''Rolling Stone'' said ''Back in Black'' "still sounds thoroughly timeless, the essence of unrepentantly simple but savagely crafted hard rock" and called the album "a celebration of thrashing, animal sex", though he observed "mean-spirited sexism" on songs such as "What Do You Do for Money Honey" and "Given the Dog a Bone".
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
was less enthusiastic, writing in '' Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s'' (1990) that he found the band somewhat too "primitive" and their sexual imagery "unimaginative", and that, on the album, "Angus Young does come up with killer riffs, though not as consistently as a refined person like myself might hope, and lead singer Brian Johnson sings like there's a cattle prod at his scrotum, just the thing for fans who can't decide whether their newfound testosterone is agony or ecstasy." Writing in 2011, Kitty Empire of ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' admitted the album is "a preposterous, drongoid record ..built on casual sexism, eye-rolling double entendres, a highly questionable attitude to sexual consent ('Don't you struggle/ Don't you fight/ Don't you worry/ Cos it's your turn tonight') a penchant for firearms, and a crass celebration of the unthinking macho hedonism that killed the band's original singer", but, nonetheless, concurred with Fricke's original view of the album as a heavy metal masterpiece and named it her favourite album ever, "the obsessive soundtrack of my adolescence, the racy middle-brow thriller that spoke to me both as a tomboy who wanted to be one of the guys, and the increasingly female ingenue who needed to work out the world of men. Plus teenagers love death." The album is featured on many "best of" lists. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 26 on their 1989 list of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties", and number 73 on their 2003 list of "
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...
" (it was number 77 on the 2012 revised list and number 84 on the 2020 list), while the title track was ranked number 190 on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
ranked ''Back in Black'' number 82 on their 2001 list of the "Top 100 Albums", and the title track was ranked number 2 on their list of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs". '' Q'' ranked the album number 9 on their 2006 list of the "40 Best Albums of the '80s", ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' included it in their 2010 "All-TIME 100 Albums" list, and
Rolling Stone Australia ''Rolling Stone Australia'' is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
ranked it number one on their December 2021 list of the "200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time". In 2005, the album was included in the book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'', and it was listed at number 2 in the 2010 book '' 100 Best Australian Albums''.
Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
listed ''Back in Black'' as 90th pick for their 100 Best Albums list in 2024.


Lyrics controversy

Five months after Bon Scott's death, AC/DC finished the work they had begun with him; they released ''Back in Black'' as a tribute to him, but his name did not appear in the writing credits. The issue of whether Scott's lyrics were used, uncredited, on the album remains an enduring topic of debate. The Senior Vice President of
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in London from 1968 to 1985, Phil Carson, stated, " ohnsonwrote all the lyrics. It's fucking stupid to say anything else." The official credits on the album were and remain "Young/Young/Johnson". In 2022, Johnson released his autobiography, ''The Lives of Brian'', and denied Scott had written lyrics for ''Back in Black''. He stated, "The conspiracy theories are legion – usually started by people who think they know but weren't there... it was ''me'' at the end of the pen, writing every night and every morning, with only the title to work with. That's what happened. That's the truth and I really hope that settles it." Johnson made particular reference to writing the lyrics to "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Have a Drink on Me", "Hells Bells" and "Back in Black", and stated that he was given nothing more than a riff and a title to work with. He also said that the title of the song "Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" had come directly from a story Scott had told the rest of the band.


Legacy and influence

''Back in Black'' is considered by many contemporary critics to be an influential hard rock and heavy metal album. According to Tim Jonze of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', it has been hailed by some as "a high watermark" for heavy metal music. ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' regarded it as an important release in 1980s metal and heavy rock, naming it one of the 20 best metal albums of its decade, while ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' ranked it as one of the 20 greatest heavy metal albums of all time. Paul Brannigan of ''
Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...
'' cited it as one of the ten albums that helped reestablish the genre's global popularity in 1980, which he called "the greatest year for heavy metal". In 2005, it was ranked number one on '' Rock Hard'' list of the "500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time". According to rock journalist Joe S. Harrington, ''Back in Black'' was released at a time when heavy metal stood at a turning point between a decline and a revival, as most bands in the genre were playing slower tempos and longer guitar solos, while AC/DC and
Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
adopted punk rock's "high-energy implications" and "constricted their songs into more pop-oriented blasts". Harrington credited producer Lange for drawing AC/DC further away from the blues-oriented rock of their previous albums, and toward a more dynamic attack that concentrated and harmonized each element of the band: "the guitars were compacted into a singular statement of rhythmic efficiency, the rhythm section provided the thunderhorse overdrive, and vocalist Johnson belowed and brayed like the most unhinged practitioner of bluesy top-man dynamics since vintage
Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...
." The resulting music, along with contemporaneous records by
Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...
and
Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
, helped revitalize and reintroduce metal to a younger generation of listeners, "eventually resulting in the punk-metal crossover personified by
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
and others." In '' 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die'' (2008), Tom Moon said ''Back in Black''s "lean mean arena rock" and the production's "delicate balance of power and finesse ..defined the commercial side of heavy music for years after its release." Lange's production for the album has had an enduring impact in the music industry. Harrington wrote that "to this day, producers still use it as the de facto paint-by-numbers guidebook for how a hard-rock record should sound", and, in the years after its release, studios in Nashville would use it to check the acoustics of a room, while
Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...
would use it to tune their sound system. American
death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...
group Six Feet Under recorded a cover of the entire album under the title '' Graveyard Classics 2''.


Track listing

*According to the official AC/DC website and most worldwide releases, track four was originally "Given the Dog a Bone". On some albums, particular Australian releases, and also in the iTunes Store, it is sometimes shown as either "Giving the Dog a Bone" or "Givin the Dog a Bone". The band's official website later changed the title of the song to "Givin the Dog a Bone", with no apostrophe.


Personnel

AC/DC *
Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...
– lead vocals *
Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-u ...
– lead guitar *
Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC ...
– rhythm guitar, backing vocals *
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, backing vocals * Phil Rudd – drums Production * Robert John "Mutt" Langeproduction, backing vocals * Tony Platt
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
*Benji Armbrister – assistant engineering *Jack Newber – assistant engineering *Brad Samuelsohn – mixing *
Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...
mastering (original LP) *Barry Diament – mastering (original CD releases) *
Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...
– remastering (EMI/Atco reissue) *
George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
– remastering (Epic reissue) *Bob Defrin –
art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...
*Robert Ellis –
photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


See also

* List of 1980s albums considered the best *
List of best-selling albums This is a list of the world's best-selling albums of Comparison of recording media, recorded music in physical mediums, such as vinyl, audio cassettes or compact discs. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable so ...
* List of best-selling albums in Australia *
List of best-selling albums in France This is a list of the best-selling albums in France that have been certified by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). Diamond album certifications The SNEP provides "certifications" for album sales, similar to the RIAA certif ...
*
List of best-selling albums in the United States The following is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the ...
* List of diamond-certified albums in Canada * List of number-one albums in Australia during the 1980s * List of Top 25 albums for 1980 in Australia * List of Canadian number-one albums of 1981 * List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1980s


References


Bibliography

* * .


External links

* * {{Authority control 1980 albums AC/DC albums Albert Productions albums Albums produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange Albums recorded at Compass Point Studios Atlantic Records albums Albums in memory of deceased persons Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients