ac dc back in black

Back in Black was the first AC/DC album recorded without former lead singer Bon Scott, who died unexpectedly in February 1980. The band considered disbanding following Scott's death, but ultimately decided to continue and shortly thereafter hired Johnson as their new lead singer and lyricist. Though the Young brothers had begun work on their next studio album prior to Bon's death, and Bon Scott had written lyrics for potential new songs, the decision was made to redo the album from scratch upon hiring Johnson. Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who previously worked with AC/DC on Highway to Hell, was again brought in to produce.

Designed as a tribute to Scott, and built on a theme of mortality and hedonism, the resulting album contained some of AC/DC's biggest hits, including the title track, "Hells Bells", "You Shook Me All Night Long," and many others. It went on to become AC/DC's most popular album, the second biggest selling album of all time and the biggest selling album by a band of all time, with more than 40 million copies sold worldwide. In 2006 Back in Black was certified by the RIAA as the fourth best-selling album in the United States, tying it with Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & II with 21 million copies sold^[1] and is the second best selling album of all time.^[2]

The album was remastered and re-released first in late 1994, then again in the Bonfire box set in1997, and as part of the AC/DC Remasters Series in 2003. In addition, a Dualdisc version was released in 2005, featuring the album in enhanced LPCM Stereo format and the video documentary The Story of Back in Black.

Track listing

1. "Hells Bells" – 5:12
2. "Shoot to Thrill" – 5:17
3. "What Do You Do for Money Honey" – 3:35
4. "Givin' the Dog a Bone" – 3:31
5. "Let Me Put My Love into You" – 4:15
6. "Back in Black" – 4:15
7. "You Shook Me All Night Long" – 3:30
8. "Have a Drink on Me" – 3:58
9. "Shake a Leg" – 4:05
10. "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" – 4:16

• All songs written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Brian Johnson.

Personnel

• Brian Johnson — lead vocals
• Angus Young — lead guitar
• Malcolm Young — rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Cliff Williams — bass guitar, backing vocals
• Phil Rudd — drums

• Robert John "Mutt" Lange — Producer
• Benji Armbrister — Assistant Engineer
• Bob Defrin — Art Direction
• Robert Ellis — Photography
• Ted Jensen — Remastering
• Tony Platt — Engineer
• Brad Samuelsohn — Mixing
• Jack Newber — Assistant Engineer

Chart positions

Trivia

• There have been some interesting tribute albums released that have been entirely dedicated to Back in Black - one example being Back in Baroque... The String Tribute to AC/DC released in 2003. U.S. death metal outfit Six Feet Under released their second covers album Graveyard Classics 2 in 2004, which was also an entire remake of Back in Black.
• In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Back in Black the 82nd greatest album of all time.
• In 2006, VH1 featured Back in Black in the show Ultimate Albums
• In 2003, the album was ranked number 73 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
• The song "Back in Black" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.^[3]
• The song was also used as an entrance theme by professional wrestler Chris Candido during his days in ECW.
• Lewis Black's segment on The Daily Show is titled "Back In Black", and features a soundalike version of the song as it's theme.
• In 2004, the album took the number 14 spot on Much More Music's "Top 40 Albums from the past 25 Years".

References

Notes

External links

• Album lyrics
• Back in Black at MusicBrainz.com
• PopMatters' Adam Williams claims that Back in Black 's importance in the development of 1980s music cannot be "overstated"; the album revitalized popular music and helped make radio-friendly heavy metal and hard rock music possible.