Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of one the greatest rock and roll albums of all-time: AC/DC's classic Back in Black. Hope none of you mind I send this out one day early (the album was released July 25th, 1980), but it's Friday and I feel like paying tribute and rocking out now.
With the band already well-documented here in 11W TIMH, I have to pay homage and add their magnum opus to the list. I'm thinking most of you know the back story here, the band well in their prime as one of hard rock's best, only to lose their charismatic frontman in tragedy.
Within the weeks that followed, AC/DC decided to carry on, recruiting new vocalist Brian Johnson from the British glam rock group Geordie, and continued work on a follow-up to their 1979 breakthrough album Highway to Hell.
With legendary producer Mutt Lange aboard, the album was composed by Johnson, Young, and Young and recorded in the Bahamas from April to May 1980, then final mixing conducted at Electric Lady Studios in NYC ahead of a targeted July release.
The cover and title were hand in hand, simple lettering against an all-black layout - in tribute to the late Bon Scott.
And in the wake of their loss, the band found the strength to not only carry on - they created arguably the greatest rock album of all-time. The legacy stands tall to this day, an immediate international smash that has sold over 50,000,000 units to present.
As a middling fourth grader (to be) at the time, I only "visually" knew "hard" rock to that point. But Led Zeppelin and the Who were in flux, KISS was getting cartoonish, and I didn't "get" new wave. I didn't mourn disco, still a little young to be a punk, and too far away from the beginnings of hip-hop. Yet here was AC/DC, back...in black. I knew of them, I recall the passing of Bon Scott (and Johns Bonham and Lennon later in the year), but I can't say I remember listening to them much prior to BiB. I upped my musical game significantly with one record. I could say I picked a good one, but the truth is the record picked me...
By September I was back in school and scribbling AC/DC on notebooks, desks, bathrooms, bus seats, and the like. Had a few friends that also became "hard rock" aware as well, and we quickly formed that 'tude - that sense, that edge. Because AC/DC was so f'n badass to cut such a legendary record after their loss, and we realized it, we became f'n badass too (and didn't tell our parents).
Within a couple of years I moved onto the Crue and hair bands, and latched onto some punk and early hip-hop as well. I "discovered" music before my time that I realized was also very relevant in the world of rock (see: Sabbath, Black). But it was AC/DC in their time of loss, and their subsequent finest hour, that launched me seriously forward into a lifetime of appreciating and enjoying great musical creations - that holds true to this very day. The songs still sound strong, and there's not a weak track to be had.
Shake a leg. Shoot to Thrill. Have a drink on me. For those about to rock...
RIP, Bon and Malcolm.
Thank you, AC/DC - we salute you.
