“This is the stuff that rockstars are made of. I dont know how many of you saw the entire footage of how the album “”Back in Black“” was made. It was featured on VH1 Channel. I saw this and instantly my entire opinion of the band AC/DC changed. For those of you who do not know about the band, read on.
Starting off from scratch with the smalltime pub scene, AC/DC pounded their way to the top with the lead singer Bon Scott. The band consisted of the guitarist brothers Angus Young and Malcolm Young. Both gods in their own right just waiting for the world to sit up and take notice. This was slated to happen in the end of 1975 when they were joined by a new bassist Mark Evans. On the drums was Phil Rudd. These five released a ground-breaking album called TNT. This threw AC/DC into the big league. Bon Scott became a name to reckon with as the front man. And people started to worship him and his unique high-pitched vocals.
With this started tours of England and Europe but they were yet to break into the USA. They released a couple of more albums and then came the big one. But before that Mark Evans was to leave the band due to his differences with the band members and was replaced by Cliff Richards. “”Highway to Hell”” is still considered as one of the best AC/DC records ever. Although I wouldn’t agree to that. After the success of Highway to Hell AC/DC were up and running all over the world.
They were to be stalled by the tragic death of the frontman Bon Scott who after drinking a bit too much choked on his own vomit. Strange, but true. The band went into a bit of mourning with the rude shock that they had got. But just 6 weeks later and with the permission from Bon Scott’s family they went ahead in search of a new vocalist. The outcome was the current vocalist Brian Johnson who was from Cleveland.
Back in Black was released as a tribute to Bon Scott. But as even he wouldnt have wanted it to be a meek and emotional album they came up with an album with power. An album that told the rest of the world that, look, we are invincible and nothing can stop us. Packed with trademark Angus Young guitar riffs and pounding drums by Phil Rudd came their first album with Brian Johnson as the vocalist. It became one of the most powerful hard rock albums ever and the best AC/DC record according to me. With songs like Hell’s Bells and Back in Black unleashing the juggernaut of the new AC/DC. Fans lapped up this album with more than 10,000 copies being sold everyday. This was to be the defining album in the history of Hard Rock. It became a Platinum album and their tours were packed with screaming rockers the world over.
This is the music that came from the heart with no hypocritical mourning and emotional bullshit dished out to people to show false emotions of “”yeah we are sad about the death of our vocalist””. Bon Scott was a part of them and like their brother. They did mourn his death. But in a way that Bon Scott would have himself wanted to do. This is the power of AC/DC. At this point I would like to reiterate what I said before. This is the stuff that rockstars are made of. This is how music is made. Straight from the heart.
UPDATE: Just found out that Back in Black is the 6th best selling album of all time, with over 30 million copies sold.”