AC/DC Biography
This veteran Hard-Rock band was formed in 1973 in Sydney AUSTRALIA by
the Scottish brothers, guitarists Malcolm Young, 19 years old at
the time and only 14 Angus Young, he began performing live wearing
his school uniform on stage, after over three decades he continued to
perform with it. The original band line-up included singer Dave Evans;
they recorded the first single, "Can I Sit Next To You Girl",
which was produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, Malcolm and Angus'
older brother.
Their first album, "High Voltage", arrived one year later, when
the band acquired new lead singer Bon Scott; eventually the group moved
to Melbourne where drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Mark Evans was added
to the line-up.
Between 1975, 1976 AC/DC released two albums and began touring throughout
America and Europe, both "T.N.T." and the new version of "High
Voltage" included such Rock-radio staples as "It's A Long Way
To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)" and "The Jack";
in the meantime their first album became triple-gold in their homeland.
In late 1977, with Cliff Williams on bass, the band issued "Let There
Be Rock", the first album that cracked the U.S. Pop chart, it was
followed a year later by "Powerage" which included the U.K.
hit single "Rock 'N' Roll Damnation".
In 1978 producers Harry Vanda and George Young split from AC/DC after
releasing the sixth album, the live-set "If You Want Blood, You've
Got It", recorded in Glasgow.
The follow-up, "Highway To Hell", became gold-disc in America
and in Europe catapulted into the top 10 of the Official U.K. Albums chart
thanks to the transatlantic title-track smash single.
Tragically, on February 20, of 1980 Bon Scott died in London at the age
of 33 after a night of heavy drinking. When the band decided to continue,
Brian Johnson joined as new singer, AC/DC subsequently released their
all time best seller: 1980's "Back In Black"; the album went
straight to #1 in British and Australian charts, peaked at #4 on the Official
U.S. Pop Albums chart selling 5 million copies; it went on to sell nearly
20 million copies in America and gained platinum or gold status in over
30 countries worlwide; the album contained a series of memorable singles
like "You Shook Me All Night Long", "Back In Black",
"Hells Bells", "Shoot To Thrill" and more.
During 1981 the group re-issued in the U.S. "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt
Cheap", it peaked at #3 on the Pop Albums chart; they also recorded
"For Those About To Rock" which climbed to the top of the American
Top 200 LPs & Tapes chart; the title-track reached the #4 position
on The Mainstream Rock Tracks, "Let's Get It Up" hit #9 and
"Put The Finger On You" reached #38 on the same chart.
Their next album was released in the summer of 1983, but "Flick Of
The Switch" showed AC/DC declining with record sales, however it
peaked at #15 on The Billboard 200 chart producing two smaller-scale Mainstream
Rock hits with the title-track and "Guns For Hire". Rudd then
left the band to become a helicopter pilot in New Zealand, he was replaced
by drummer Simon Wright.
In the rest of the '80s they recorded three albums, 1985's "Fly On
The Wall" and 1986's "Who Made Who", both barely sneaked
into the top 40 in the U.S. chart, the latter yielded a new Mainstream
Rock top 30 hit with its title-song.
February 1988 saw the release of "Blow Up Your Video" that put
AC/DC back on the right track commercially, it peaked at #12 on The Billboard
Top 200 Albums chart; the driving album opener, "Heatseeker",
turned out to be a surprising top 10 single in the U.K. and climbed into
the top 20 of the U.S. Active Rock list; the follow-up single, "That's
The Way I Wanna Rock & Roll", reached the #26 spot on The Mainstream
Rock Tracks.
After the departure of Wright, which was replaced by drummer Chris Slade,
the band released their 13th studio-album, "The Razor's Edge",
in September 1990, the disc hit #4 in U.K. and #2 in U.S. while "Moneytalks"
shot to #3 on The Mainstream Rock list; "Thunderstruck" hit
#5 and "Are You Ready" peaked at #16 on the same chart.
AC/DC in 1993 released a single for "Last Action Hero" movie
soundtrack entitled "Big Gun" and after twenty years from their
foundation, the band reached for the first time the #1 spot on The Mainstream
Rock Tracks chart.
Two years later the group returned to action with Phil Rudd settled, after
eleven years, behind the drum kit and in September 1995 AC/DC unleashed
"Ballbreaker", the record blasted onto the top 5 of The Billboard
200 chart reachig in few weeks the platinum status; its main single, "Hard
As A Rock", was bulleted at #1 on The Mainstream Rock chart and "Cover
You In Oil" peaked #9.
In fall 1997, the band issued "Bonfire", a five-CD box set as
a tribute to Bon Scott.
The follow-up, 2000's "Stiff Upper Lip", proved their popularity
once again, in fact the album hit #7 on The Billboard Top 200 chart, spawning
four Active Rock radio top 40 hit singles: the title-track soared to the
#1 spot, "Satellite Blues" peaked at #7, "Meltdown"
reached #22 and "Safe In New York City" weighed in at #21.
In over 30 years, AC/DC never changed their minimalist, bone-crunching Hard-Rock; the band are ready to melt fans with their new album, "Black Ice" which includes the new single, "Rock 'n Roll Train".
