AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian hard rock
band formed in Sydney,
Australia in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young.
Although the band are considered pioneers of hard rock
and heavy metal, its members have always classified
their music as "rock 'n' roll".
AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before
releasing their first album, High Voltage, in 1975. Membership remained
stable until bassist Cliff Williams replaced Mark Evans in 1977. In 1979, the band
recorded their highly successful album Highway to Hell. Lead singer and
co-songwriter Bon Scott
died on 19 February 1980, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption. The group
briefly considered disbanding, but soon ex-Geordie
singer Brian Johnson was selected as Scott's
replacement. Later that year, the band released their best selling album, Back in Black.
The band's next album, For Those About to Rock We Salute You,
was also highly successful and was their first album to reach number one in the
United States. AC/DC declined in popularity soon after the departure of drummer
Phil Rudd
in 1983. Poor record sales continued until the release of The Razors Edge in 1990. Phil Rudd
returned in 1994 and contributed to the band's 1995 album Ballbreaker.
Stiff Upper
Lip was released in 2000 and was well-received by critics. The
band's new album Black Ice was announced in 2004 and is set for
release on 20 October 2008.
AC/DC have sold more than 200 million albums
worldwide, including 69 million albums in the US. Back in Black
has sold an estimated 42 million units worldwide and 22 million in the US
alone, making it the fifth highest-selling album ever in the US. AC/DC ranked
fourth on VH1's
list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and the seventh
"Greatest Heavy Metal Band Of All Time" by MTV. In 2004, the band was
ranked number 72 in
the Rolling Stone
list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
History
Name and
background
Angus and Malcolm Young developed the idea for
the band's name after seeing a label with the acronym "AC/DC" on the
back of a sewing machine owned by their older sister,
Margaret Young. "AC/DC" is an abbreviation for "alternating current/direct
current", which indicates that the electricity is being
converted from alternating current (wall outlet) to direct current (sewing
machine). The brothers felt that this name symbolised the band's raw energy,
power-driven performances, and a love for their music. In some cultures,
"AC/DC" is a slang term for bisexuality;
the band have said that they were not aware of this usage until it was brought
to their attention by a taxi driver one night after a concert early in their
career. "AC/DC" is pronounced one letter at a time, though the band
is popularly known as "Acca Dacca" in Australia.
Brothers Angus, Malcolm, and George Young were born in Glasgow,
Scotland,
and moved to Sydney,
Australia with most of their family in 1963. George was the first to
learn to play the guitar.
He became a member of The Easybeats, Australia's most successful band
of the 1960s. In 1966, they became the first local rock act to have an international
hit, with the song "Friday on My
Mind". Malcolm followed in George's footsteps by playing with a
Newcastle, New South Wales band called The
Velvet Underground (not to be confused with the New York-based The Velvet Underground).
Early
years: 1973–1974 (the Dave Evans era)
In November 1973, Malcolm and Angus Young
formed AC/DC and recruited bassist Larry Van Kriedt, vocalist
Dave Evans, and Colin Burgess,
ex-The Masters Apprentices drummer.
The band played their first gig at a club named Chequers in Sydney on New
Year's Eve, 1973. They were later signed to the EMI-distributed Albert Productions label for Australia and New Zealand.
The early line-up of the band changed often; Colin Burgess
was the first member fired, and several bassists and drummers passed through
the band during the next year.
By this time, Angus Young had adopted his
characteristic school uniform stage outfit. The original
uniform was reputedly from his secondary school, Ashfield Boys High School in Sydney; the
idea was his sister Margaret's. Angus had tried other costumes, such as Spider-Man,
Zorro,
a gorilla,
and a parody of Superman,
named Super-Ang. In fact in its early days, most members of the band dressed in
some form of glam or satin outfit but this approach was abandoned when it was
discovered Melbourne band Skyhooks had already adopted this approach to their stage
presentation.
The Young brothers decided that Evans was not
a suitable frontman for the group, because they felt he was more of a glam rocker
like Gary Glitter.
On stage, Evans was occasionally replaced by the band's first manager,
Dennis Laughlin, who was the original lead singer with Sherbet
prior to Daryl Braithwaite joining the band. Evans had
interpersonal problems with Laughlin, which also contributed to the band's ill
feeling toward Evans. Meanwhile Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott, an
experienced vocalist and friend of George Young's, was interested in becoming
their vocalist.
The Bon
Scott era: 1974-1980
In September 1974, Bon Scott replaced Dave
Evans. The band had recorded only one single with Evans, "Can I Sit Next
to You" / "Rockin' in the Parlour", and "Can I Sit Next to
You" was eventually re-recorded with Bon Scott under the title "Can I Sit Next to You Girl".
By January 1975, the Australia-only album High Voltage had been recorded.It was the
second album to Jailbreak. It took only ten days and was based on instrumental
songs written by the Young brothers, with lyrics added by Scott. Within a few
months, the band's line-up had stabilised, featuring Scott, the Young brothers,
bassist Mark Evans and drummer Phil Rudd.
Later that year they released the single "It's a Long
Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", which became
their perennial rock anthem. It was included on their second album, T.N.T.,
which was also released only in Australia and New Zealand. The album featured
another classic song, "High Voltage".
Between 1974 and 1977, aided by regular
appearances on Molly Meldrum's Countdown, a nationally broadcast pop
music television show, AC/DC became one of the most popular and successful acts
in Australia. Their performance on 3 April 1977 was their last live TV
appearance for over twenty years.
International
success: 1977–1980
In 1976, the band signed an international deal
with Atlantic Records, and toured extensively throughout Europe. They
gained invaluable experience of the stadium circuit, supporting leading hard
rock acts such as Aerosmith, Kiss,
Styx
and Blue Öyster Cult, and co-headlined with Cheap Trick.
The first AC/DC album to gain worldwide
distribution was a 1976 compilation of tracks taken from the High Voltage and
T.N.T. LPs. Also titled High Voltage, and released
on the Atlantic Records label, the album sold three million copies worldwide,
partly due to its popularity with a British punk audience. The track selection
was heavily weighted toward the more recent T.N.T., and included only two songs
from their first LP. The band's next album, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, was
released in the same year in both Australian-only and international
versions, like its predecessor. Track listings varied worldwide, and the
international version of the album also featured "Rocker" from T.N.T.
The original Australian version included "Jailbreak" (now more readily
available on the 1984 compilation EP '74 Jailbreak
or as a live version on the 1992 Live album). Dirty Deeds was not released in
the US until 1981, by which time the band were at the peak of their popularity.
Following the 1977 recording Let There Be Rock, bassist
Mark Evans was sacked due to personal differences with Angus Young. He was
replaced by Cliff Williams, who also provided backing
vocals alongside Malcolm Young. Neither of the Young brothers
has elaborated on the departure of Evans, though Richard Griffiths, the CEO of Epic Records
and a booking agent for AC/DC in the mid-1970s, later commented, "You knew
Mark wasn't going to last, he was just too much of a nice guy."
AC/DC were a formative influence on New Wave of British Heavy Metal
bands who emerged in the late 1970s, such as Saxon
and Iron Maiden,
in part as a reaction to the decline of traditional early 1970s heavy metal
bands. In 2007, critics noted that AC/DC, along with Thin Lizzy,
UFO,
Scorpions and Judas Priest,
were among "the second generation of rising stars ready to step into the
breach as the old guard waned."
AC/DC's first American exposure was through
the Michigan
radio station AM 600 WTAC in 1977. The station's manager, Peter C. Cavanaugh,
booked the band to play at Flint's
Capitol Theater. The supporting act was MC5, who had just briefly
reunited and agreed to play at the event. The band opened with their popular song
"Live Wire" and closed with "It's
a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)".
AC/DC came to be identified with the punk rock
movement by the British press. Their reputation, however, managed to survive
the punk upheavals of the late 1970s, and they maintained a cult
following in the UK throughout this time. Angus Young gained
notoriety for mooning
the audience during live performances.
The 1978 release of Powerage
marked the debut of bassist Cliff Williams, and with its harder riffs, followed the
blueprint set by Let There Be Rock. Only one single was released for Powerage,
"Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" and gave
AC/DC the highest mark at the time, reaching #24. An appearance at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow
during the Powerage tour was recorded and released as If You Want Blood You've Got It,
featuring such songs as "Whole Lotta
Rosie", "Problem Child",
and "Let There Be Rock", as well as
lesser-known album tracks like "Riff Raff". The album was the last
produced by Harry Vanda and George Young with Bon Scott on
vocals (although Vanda and Young later produced Blow Up Your Video) and is claimed to be
AC/DC's most underrated album.
The band's sixth album, Highway to Hell, was produced by Robert Lange
and released in 1979. It became the first AC/DC LP to break into the US top
100, eventually reaching #17, and it propelled AC/DC into the top ranks of hard
rock acts. Highway to Hell put increased emphasis on backing vocals but still
featured AC/DC's signature sound: loud, simple, pounding riffs and grooving
backbeats. The final track, "Night Prowler",
has two breaths in quick succession at the start of the song, intended to
create a tone of fear and loathing...
