Album : POWER UP [12 SONGS | 41 MINUTES | NOV 13 2020]
Realize
Rejection
Shot In The Dark
Through The Mists Of Time
Kick You When You’re Down
Witch’s Spell
Demon Fire
Wild Reputation
No Man’s Land
Systems Down
Money Shot
Code Red
The seventeenth studio album by Australian rock group AC/DC, Power Up (abbreviated PWR/UP and stylized PWRŖUP), was released on November 13, 2020 by Columbia Records. Bassist Cliff Williams, drummer Phil Rudd, and singer Brian Johnson all rejoined AC/DC for Power Up after leaving the band prior to, during, and following the tour in support of their 2014 album Rock or Bust. According to his brother Angus, this is also the band’s first album released after co-founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young passed away in 2017. It is a memorial to him. The album peaked at number one in 21 countries and was largely well-received by music critics. The album lost to Foo Fighters’ Medicine at Midnight (2021) in the 64th Annual Grammy Awards’ Best Rock Album category. Globally, 1.4 million copies were sold.
Album : Rock or Bust [11 SONGS | 34 MINUTES | NOV 28 2014]
Rock or Bust
Play Ball
Rock the Blues Away
Miss Adventure
Dogs of War
Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder
Hard Times
Baptism By Fire
Rock the House
Sweet Candy
Emission Control
Australian rock group AC/DC’s sixteenth studio album, Rock or Bust, was made available on November 28, 2014. The band’s first album, Rock or Bust, marks the return of rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, who took over for founding member Malcolm Young, who had left the group earlier in the year owing to health issues. It is the band’s shortest studio album to date. It is two minutes shorter than their last album, Flick of the Switch, which came out in 1983, at about 35 minutes. Globally, 2.8 million copies were sold.
AC/DC Ringtones
Australian rock group AC/DC was founded in 1973. Malcolm Young, who plays rhythm guitar, and Angus Young, who plays lead guitar, established them. Angus, drummer Phil Rudd, lead vocalist Brian Johnson, bassist Cliff Williams, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young (Angus and Malcolm’s nephew), and lead singer Brian Johnson make up the current lineup. Although the band simply refers to their music as “rock and roll,” it has been categorized as heavy metal, blues rock, and hard rock. They are credited for helping to shape the current generation of British heavy metal acts, including Saxon and Iron Maiden. In 2003, AC/DC received their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A number of lineup changes before the release of AC/DC’s debut album, High Voltage (1975). Following the release of Let There Be Rock (1977), which featured lead vocals by the Young brothers Rudd, Williams, and Bon Scott, the group’s membership gradually stabilized. Scott passed away from alcohol poisoning seven months after Highway to Hell (1979) was released, and the other members discussed breaking up. But at Scott’s parents’ request, they kept going as a group and brought singer Johnson, who was born in England, on board as their new lead singer. Back in Black, their debut album with Johnson (1980), was devoted to Scott’s memory. It rose to become the all-time second-best-selling album.
For Those About to Rock (1981), the band’s eighth studio album, became their first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Rudd quit AC/DC before the release of Flick of the Switch (1983), and Simon Wright took his place. Slade was replaced by Chris Slade six years later. Release of The Razors Edge (1990) marked the beginning of AC/DC’s commercial comeback; it was the only album with Slade until Rudd’s return in 1994. Since then, Rudd and the band have collaborated on five more albums, the first of which was Ballbreaker (1995). Black Ice, their fifteenth studio album, was their biggest chart smash since For Those About to Rock and the second best-selling record of 2008. It eventually peaked at number one globally.
The lineup of the band was the same for twenty years until 2014, when Rudd got into legal issues and Malcolm retired due to early-onset dementia, from which he passed away three years later. Malcolm was replaced by Stevie, who made her debut on the 2014 album Rock or Bust. Rudd’s replacement on the accompanying tour was Slade. Due to a deteriorating hearing loss, Johnson was recommended to cease performing in 2016. Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose took over as the band’s front man for the remaining performances of that year. Following the conclusion of the 2016 tour, veteran bassist Williams announced his retirement, and the group took a two-year break. In September 2020, the band announced a comeback, and two months later, their seventeenth studio album, Power Up, was released. In October 2023, American drummer Matt Laug replaced Rudd at the Power Trip concert.
Australian pub rock is the foundation of the group’s sound and performance style, with the exception of an early experimentation with glam rock. Lobby Loyde of Billy Thorpe’s band the Aztecs in the early 1970s was the pioneer of that style. Vanda pointed out “the pub crowd as an audience demanded blood—’or else’.” He said he wanted to “recreate the real Australian pub sound—’not like that American sound, smooth and creamy, nicey, nicey.'” Their music was described as “rib-crushing, blood-curdling, brain damaging, no bulls***, thunder rock” by Glenn A. Baker.
Tony Catterall of The Canberra Times gave T.N.T. a negative assessment, saying that “[they] wallow in the lumpen proletarianism that’s the home of punk rock” and contrasting them with competitors Buster Brown, who are “more imaginative and musically better”. Music journalist Ed Nimmervoll summarised, “If we tried to isolate what has characterised Australian rock and roll from the rest of the world’s it would be music that’s made to be played live, and gets right down to basics with a minimum of distraction… AC/DC captured that essence not long after it crystallised, and they have continued to carry that creed around the world as their own.”
Angus’s lead parts had “a clear architecture and even sort of swing, in a frenzied, half-demented way”; Malcolm’s “propulsive” yet nuanced rhythm guitar featured “little chuks, stutters and silences that give the monstrous riffs life”; and drummers Rudd, Wright, or Slade struck the kick drum on the first and third beat of every measure and the snare drum on the second and fourth beat. Bassist Williams consistently down-picked an eighth note.
Malcolm primarily used a Marshall Super Bass head to boost his rhythm guitar for studio recordings during his time with AC/DC. As heard on songs like “Let There Be Rock,” “Dirty Deeds,” “For Those About to Rock,” and “Thunderstruck,” Chris Gill of Guitar World claims that this amplifier helped define his signature guitar tone: “clean but as loud as possible to ride on the razor’s edge of power amp distortion and deliver the ideal combination of grind, twang, clang, and crunch, with no distorted preamp ‘hair,’ fizz, or compression.” A “slightly more distorted and dark” guitar tone may be heard on records from 1978 to 1980 that Malcolm recorded with a Marshall 2203 100-watt master volume head, according to Gill. These albums include Powerage and Back in Black.
Robert Christgau compared Scott to other AC/DC singers, praising his “blokelike croak” and “charm” while describing his frequent singing of sexual aggressiveness masquerading as pleasure: “Like Ian Hunter or Roger Chapman though without their panache, he has fun being a dirty young man.” He believed that Johnson projected the image of a “bloke as fantasy-fiction demigod” and had “three times the range and wattage” as a vocalist. When Johnson finally settled in with 1981’s For Those About to Rock We Salute You, Christgau, if less perceptively, claimed to have defined “an anthemic grandiosity more suitable to [the band’s] precious-metal status than [Scott]’s old-fashioned raunch”.
The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Billy Thorpe, the Easybeats, and Vanda & Young are some of AC/DC’s influences. Episode 4 of ABC-TV’s Long Way to the Top (2001) featured a documentary on the influence of Australian pub rock on AC/DC, titled “Berserk Warriors 1973-1981.” Regarding his playing style, Angus said, “It was nervous at first. George once taught me that you should draw attention to yourself when you play the guitar live on stage. I had to push myself ahead when I first started in the band because I was timid. When people would hurl beer cans, I would tell myself to “just keep moving,” and that’s how it all began.” Malcolm and Angus had been taught by George “how to play guitar and playing them classic rock and roll and blues records until that music was like blood in their veins.” The authors of “Berserk Warrior” stated that the challenges of the Australian route would culminate AC/DC’s training. [Scott] loved the way of life. He overcame his drug addiction in some way to become the best rock and roll front man.” Australian bands Rose Tattoo (1976) and the Angels (1976) were created following in the footsteps of AC/DC.
Many musicians have given credit to AC/DC for bringing hard rock back into the mainstream after it had lost it in the late 1970s to other musical genres. “Disco was huge, punk and new wave were ascendant, and along came this AC/DC record (Back in Black) which just destroyed everybody,” said Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. It restored hard rock music to its rightful place atop the music hierarchy.”
In part as a response to the demise of the early 1970s hard rock bands, the new wave of British heavy metal bands that arose in the late 1970s, like Saxon and Iron Maiden, were influenced by the music of AC/DC. Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions, Judas Priest, and AC/DC were all cited by critics in 2007 as part of “the second generation of rising stars ready to step into the breach as the old guard waned.” Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Eric Peterson of Testament, Dexter Holland of the Offspring, Brian Baker of Bad Religion, Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, and Junkyard, as well as bands like Metallica, Exodus, and the Living End are just a few of the well-known rock musicians who have acknowledged AC/DC as an influence over the years.
Hard rock peers Kiss’ Gene Simmons once said, “A lot of people look the same, act the same, and do the same thing.” You occasionally come across a band like AC/DC. They are unlike anyone else. We like to think that makes us special as well.” “The greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ever, except for the Rolling Stones,” was how Guns N’ Roses’ Slash described them. Singer-songwriter and fellow Australian Nick Cave stated, “I always liked them.” “We had this TV show called Countdown and they were often on and they were always a riot and absolutely unique. They were a heavy rock band, but Bon Scott would go on Countdown dressed as a schoolgirl and stuff like that. They were always very anarchic and never took the thing too seriously.”
Though the band simply refers to their music as “rock and roll,” it has been categorized as heavy metal, blues rock, and hard rock. Malcolm remembered perfecting their craft: “We were performing at up to four shows per day. That was what truly formed the band. It was a combination of having fun, being pretty rough guys, and screw you, Jack. Melbourne served as the training ground.”
Rock journalist Joe S. Harrington felt that the band had moved further away from the blues-oriented rock of their earlier albums with the recording of Back in Black in 1980. Instead, the band adopted the “high-energy implications” of punk rock and transformed their hard rock/heavy metal songs into “more pop-oriented blasts.” For the rest of their career, the band would stick to this “impeccably ham-handed” sound: “the rhythm section provided the thunderhorse overdrive, the vocalist Johnson bellowed and brayed like the most unhinged practitioner of bluesy top-man dynamics since vintage Robert Plant,” and the guitars were compacted into a singular statement of rhythmic efficiency.”
They describe themselves as “a rock and roll band, nothing more, nothing less” on their website. They are “one of the defining acts of ’70s hard rock,” according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, and they were a backlash to the excesses of art rock and stadium music at that era. “AC/DC’s rock was minimalist – no matter how huge and bludgeoning their guitar chords were, there was a clear sense of space and restraint.” Their sound is described as “hard-edged, wilfully basic blues-rock” by Alexis Petridis, with lyrics about rock & roll and funny sexual innuendo. The band’s sound, according to music scholar Robert McParland, is characterized by the Young brothers’ hard rock guitar, layered power chords, and powerful vocals. “For some, AC/DC are the ultimate heavy metal act” , Tim Jonze said in the Guardian, “but for others, AC/DC aren’t a heavy metal act at all, they’re a classic rock band – and calling them heavy metal is an act of treachery.”
The band received a nomination for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group at the 1982 American Music Awards, their first-ever award show nomination. The ARIA Hall of Fame inducted AC/DC in 1988. On March 22, 2000, the town of Leganés, which is close to Madrid, renamed a street “Calle de AC/DC” (“AC/DC Street”) in honor of the band. Malcolm and Angus brought a large group of admirers to the inauguration. Since then, the official street plaque has been stolen multiple times, prompting the municipality of Leganés to start selling copies of the original.
Corporation Lane, a major avenue in the heart of Melbourne, was renamed ACDC Lane in honor of the band on October 1, 2004. The four letters were merged since the City of Melbourne prohibited the use of the slash character in street names. The band filmed the music video for their 1975 hit song “It’s a Long Way to the Top” on the back of a truck in the alley next to Swanston Street.
On March 10, 2003, AC/DC was admitted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The band played “Highway to Hell” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” during the ceremony, with emcee Steven Tyler of Aerosmith contributing a guest vocal. The power chords played by the band, according to him, are like “the thunder from down under that gives you the second most powerful surge that can flow through your body.” Johnson cited their 1977 song “Let There Be Rock” in his winning speech. At the 2003 APRA Music Awards, in May, the Young brothers accepted a Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Service to Australian Music. Malcolm gave a particular homage to Scott, who was also the recipient of the award.
Back in Black hit number 73 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, while Highway to Hell peaked at number 199. They were named the “greatest rock and roll band of all time” in an essay by American record producer Rick Rubin, and they were also voted number 72 on the list of the 100 best Artists of All Time. “Back in Black” peaked at number 187 on Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, while “Highway to Hell” peaked at number 254. They came in at number seven on MTV’s list of the Greatest Heavy Metal Band of All Time and number four on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2010 they came in at number twenty-three on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
They hadn’t put out a new album since 2000, but in 2007 they sold over 1.3 million CDs in the US. Furthermore, the band’s commercial success has endured for years despite their decision to forgo selling records in digital online formats. With RIAA US sales data as of 2023, the band sold 75 million albums, more than Pink Floyd and Mariah Carey combined, ranking them as the fifth-best-selling band and tenth-best-selling artist in US history. Additionally, Back in Black was certified by the RIAA as 25× Platinum (25 million) in US sales, making it the fourth best-selling album in US history. The group was admitted into the Music Victoria Awards 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame on November 20, 2015. In a statement, Angus said that being recognized in the tenth year of the Hall of Fame was “an absolute honour”.
