The making of AC/DC's Back In Black | Classic Rock Magazine

Bon Scott was dead and it looked like AC/DC were finished. But within 6 weeks they had a new singer and would begin recording the biggest-selling rock album of all time. How a washed-up rock star helped AC/DC overcome Bon Scott’s death and make their masterpiece.
For more on Back In Black, listen to the Classic Rock podcast The 20 Million Club, about the biggest selling albums of all time. anchor.fm/20millionclub/episo...
--------------------------
For exclusive Classic Rock Magazine video content, click here to SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/ClassicRockMagSubscribe
Get Classic Rock Magazine - available for print, mobile and tablet: bit.ly/1s9kyYn
--------------------------
🎯FURTHER READING 🎯
AC/DC: The epic inside story of Back In Black www.loudersound.com/features/...
AC/DC Back In Black reviewed www.loudersound.com/reviews/a...
The story of the man who signed AC/DC and the greatest comeback in rock'n'roll www.loudersound.com/features/...
AC/DC: the story of the Hells Bell www.loudersound.com/features/...
How to sound like AC/DC's Malcolm Young www.loudersound.com/features/...
--------------------------
Connect with Classic Rock Magazine:
Facebook - / classicrockmagazine
Twitter - / classicrockmag
Official Website - www.classicrockmagazine.com/

[@bondoqbn7318]

Best Rock Album ever made. RIP Bon Scott

[@davidhawkins4051]

Yeah coz Bon one of the greatest rock poets of all time wrote the Lyrics!!😎

[@patrickbuglass973]

@@davidhawkins4051 Indeed, an Israelite in whom is no guile...

[@gahrie]

Both Black in Black (Johnson's first album) and Highway to Hell (Scott's last album) are among the greatest albums ever. Every song on both albums could be released as singles. There's not a "filler" song on either one.

[@Richard-1776]

because Bon Scott wrote them both....What happened after Back in Black? Nothing remotely close. Mediocrity as far as I'm concerned.

[@Kevin-pt4nw]

​@@Richard-1776 yea, I agree Bon Scott was the man but, for those about to rock was a great album too.

[@polarbear111000]

My best friend's older brother got the album. We were just 10 years old. Snuck it out of his room and played it....heads exploded....no going back....unforgettable.

[@latestplague3762]

What I'd like to know is how much of Scotts writing was used for albums after he passed. Johnson said when he was hired there was boxes of stuff Scott had been writing for yrs. They said he was always scribbling down lyrics on a pad or sheet of paper when he had an idea or heard something he liked. They would be partying and he'd be writing down stuff people said. Both singers were incredible in their own ways.

[@Richard-1776]

He wrote Back in Black...That is glaringly evident.

[@davidhawkins4051]

@@Richard-1776 BON wrote Back in Black and I think a large proportion of For those about to Rock and some of Flick of the Switch! after those albums the Lyrics dropped off a Cliff. Excuse the pun!!😉

[@drivingwheel9101]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6evZHmsjNSDa9U

[@GIBKEL]

Why doesn’t ‘High Voltage’ rate higher amongst fans. I played it the couple of weeks after 4 decades , and 35 years off my rotation. It sounded fresh as a new record comes. Killer tunes!

[@jamesbarrick3403]

You can personally like an album... but you cannot argue with success. BIB is the bands finest piece of work - and it is not even close. BIB reached way beyond "ACDC fans". I like several of the Bon albums as well... but I know they are all competing for 2nd place.

[@yowodup6094]

Pre-War well high voltage is a compilation of their earlier high voltage only released in Australia in 1975 and their second album T.N.T.

[@Kowasi]

High Voltage is cool... I only heard the international version though. I guess the reason that more fans don't know it might just be that it's not being promoted. As you say, it still sounds fresh, but the lead-off song, 'It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)', was 'retired' a while ago. When I was a teen, the gateway to AC/DC was when my mate gave me a cassette with Highway To Hell on the one side and Back In Black on the other. I knew nothing about the band, and just assumed that both sides had the same guy on it. I guess I woulda loved High Voltage just the same if one of the sides had had that on it instead of any of the others. Maybe a lot of fans just never listened to High Voltage in the first place and that's all...you pick up Back In Black or Highway to Hell or maybe a greatest hits compilation, and then maybe whichever album happens to have been released latest, and then that's it... someone has to really dig deep- or be lucky- to get to the earliest albums.

[@gryper1690]

All of their albums are timeless. They apply and are great in any year.

[@FrancisTheBerd]

It's a solid album but I think that albums like powerage and the razors edge are better

[@ericchng6102]

Vacuum cleaner TV ad jingle never sounded so bloody GOOD!

[@TheStokes79]

...'Its a beautiful mover'.

[@muttleymatthews5200]

I was thinking the same myself!!😂

[@mattbakka8409]

I love how 11k people have watched this and there isn’t a single dislike.

[@true.2652]

Yes

[@rickj1983]

@Nibogen Cupcake 29 now.

[@bertblomsma196]

Rock fans are friendly people in general.

[@gryper1690]

46 now is all. ha

[@jamesdelaney3797]

It's against the law

[@australiantruckspotting8883]

My God, who’d have thought Brian sang in a Hoover commercial. And it’s unmistakably him !

[@Fultonfalcons86]

This album will forever and always be the greatest rock album of all time long live AC/DC.......

[@SimonRefaloGuitaristOfficial]

Wow, never heard of that 'Hoover story' what a classic. Definately my favourite album of all time!!

[@myturkishlife1777]

Still have my original album, I was 14 when it came out, great times , a good album but for me powerage is the best 😁👍

[@jasonh4853]

🤣

[@salkizar]

Yeah Powerage is my fav Bon album. Riff raff and gone shootin and whats next to the moon. 3 of Bons best!

[@theSword-]

I still have mine too. Still has the clear celophane on it with the price tag. I slit it open so I could play it, but it still looks like new. 👍👍

[@gryper1690]

The one album by them I never owned.

[@deanladue3151]

'Back In Black' was the big one, but 'Powerage' was the most kick ass album AC/DC ever made. ✊✊

[@bullshitumpire]

Terrific short video which packs a lot of interesting info. Great photos, and that Hoover ad!

[@classicrock]

Glad you enjoyed it. We walked around singing that Hoover ad for days ;-)

[@billkingston4402]

Dyson sucks

[@zamokvysoki4180]

Best band in the World!

[@flazo9152]

I agree !!!

[@timothya.olmeda7299]

Love the pic with Malcolm behind the drum kit. For me, nothing beats the Bon era. And I absolutely love the Brian era too. ⚡️

[@gryper1690]

It was nice to have had both of them. Double cool.

[@markfryer9880]

Hi, I am from Melbourne, Australia and I grew up listening to AC-DC on ABC TV AUSTRALIA Countdown. It all started in 75 when I was in Grade 5 Primary School buying singles like TNT and High Voltage and playing them on a suitcase portable record player. The fun part was playing with the RPM speed settings. Singles played at 45 RPM and the player could do 33, 45 and 75 RPM to suit albums, singles and old records. Take a single and play it at 33 and Bon Scott and the boys sang and played in Slow Motion. Turn it up to 75 RPM and it was AC-DC by the Chipmunks. 1980 rolls around, I'm in Year 10 and gutted by the death of Bon Scott. Later on when I first heard Back in Black I knew straight away that the boys were back as strong if not stronger than ever. That was 40 years ago, now I am 55 and whenever AC-DC comes on the radio at work or in the car, it gets cranked up and Air Guitars get a workout, to Hell what anybody else thinks it's what pumps my blood!

[@gryper1690]

When I first heard Back in Black at 12 years old in 1981, it totally changed my life and made me a metal head. Mal is still who I cite for my biggest influence. Greatest rhythm guitar player and songwriter, ever. I can only think of two others like that, Mustaine and Hetfield.

[@MerkinMuffly]

Holy shit, didn't realize this album was still going up the charts to be 2nd all-time album, last I checked I don't think it was in top 10

[@sunlion8866]

Back In Black is a Masterpiece. If you're one of the five people in the world who doesn't own it yet, find it and cherish it as BIB is one of the finest straight up Rock Albums Of All Time.

[@Kingofmetal606]

All I got to say this was amazing and awesome and cheers to the great bon Scott he will never be forgotten

[@glennvogt1194]

Saw AC/DC back in 1982 at the Lakeland Civic center. Still have the jersey.

[@frostcycle678]

Bon or Brian, it's ALL AC/DC to me!

[@grogu1986]

One of the greatest albums of all time! 🤘🤘

[@mark_beastpriest5539]

Thank you for getting the facts straight. I'm so sick of this Bullsh*t of Bon Scott writing the lyrics for "Back in Black". It doesn't even fit Bon's writing style.

[@patrickbuglass973]

It absolutely is Bon's writing style. Bon had a gift for putting together cliches and colloquialisms and making them cool. Back In Black-the track, You Shook Me All Night Long several others, rife with Bon's lyrical uniqueness. For Those About To Rock and subsequent albums reflect the loss of Scott and the dependence on Johnsons's new-found responsibility as the band's chief lyricist. He's done some great stuff but like the Atlantic meeting the Pacific you can see where the line divided and Bon's talents and efforts afforded Brian a grace period to adjust and carry on. Love them both but I think Scott's heirs suffered an unfairness.

[@todddegennaro9980]

One of the most recognizable hit ever written

[@turbine6338]

Remember Brian when we were in a band together well before Geordie and your fame. Brian you have never changed, Keep on Trucking Mate, us Georgies still love to mate.

[@ItsConstitutional]

It is said that all the tracks for Back-N-Black was already done by Bon Scott. But due to copy right, they just erased Bon Scott from the lyrics as writer. This would make sense with me anyways because Back-N-Black was Bon Scotts style all throughout the album, and "For those about to Rock" was Brian's style.

[@SuperMatrix59]

Back in Black one of the best comeback album ever made.

[@didds8869]

THE best

[@andrewcastillo9558]

Yeah the best lol

[@shaneburnette4762]

THE BEST, still!

[@jamesbarrick3403]

One of the best?... okay I will bite. NAme the others that stand up to this one.

[@jamesdelaney3797]

I don't think this is a comeback album. They were rolling strong before that

[@laureanovallenilla730]

Todavia tengo mis discos de acetato de AC/DC,tuve la suerte de verlos en tres continentes,Una vez con Bon Scott increíble show....

[@SilverM1y]

Back In Black descending upon the globe was like a sledgehammer crashing down upon an ant: We never stood a chance.

[@willthenismoman4854]

Bon definitely had a great influence on the album. Either way, it was a kickass album and Brian did an excellent job filling in.

[@ramjam2499]

Brian Johnson lo ha superado ampliamente. Incluso sus interpretaciones de los mejores temas de Bon lucen mejor.

[@omargomez9594]

@@ramjam2499 Toda su vida brian vivió bajo la sombra de Bon (los últimos 40 años y los que sigan). Bon alcanzaba notas más altas (brian canta como donal duck enojado o un chipmunk), Bon escribía grandes letras de canciones como las del álbum Powerage (brian sólo escribía letras tontas), Bon nunca hizo un mal álbum (brian es recordado por álbums decadentes y decepcionantes), gracias a Bon y sus canciones brian tuvo una carrera existosa. Estoy seguro que Bon escribió las letras del álbum Back in Black (después de ese álbum los álbums de AC DC tenían las letras tan decepcionantes) y Bon era más carismático que brian que sólo es un suplente y mentiroso nunca escribió ninguna canción del álbum Back in Black.

[@ramjam2499]

@@omargomez9594 no estoy de acuerdo pibe. Ni que Scott tuviera letras brillantes, dejate de joder. Igual es rock, no requiere de letras brillantes (o sí?). Sos Argentino? Seguramente te gusta Pappo, letras planas, textos sucios, eso es rock.. Escucha lo poco de Bon (4 años) entonces que claro que es bueno pero menos voz que yo, como sea, elijo a ambos pero prefiero a Brian lejos. Bay.

[@omargomez9594]

@@ramjam2499 Tu tienes más voz que Bon, Si claro..

[@ramjam2499]

@@omargomez9594 manejaba la combi loco, no era un crack entró porque Evans era un culo roto. A mí me gusta pero no es comparable con la carrera de Johnson.

[@wanodie]

Great video about the greatest album of the greatest band of all time!

[@barrygiddey9139]

Great video many thanks for putting that together ⚡

[@dash4191]

Best young yrs of my life when.. my mother knew I loved ac/dc I got a brand new vinyl back N black album for my 10th birthday i drove my mom mad that day cause all I did all day long was play the shit out of it in my room loud as it could go on my Marantz stero repeatedly over and over till 9pm bed time. 20yr later I went back home to visit old mom and caught my mom Jamin to them On the radio Lol🤣 she was never a fan back then I can tell yeah , but she let me be independent. She was a good loving mother. R.i.P mother.

[@dash4191]

@Matt the rat thanx

[@stusmithmmm]

The best album in the world. ! And don't bother sending me messages saying ... What about this album and what about that album.... Coz I ain't havin' it !!! This is the best album and that's that !! 👍👍👍👍😎

[@dsmithspecialisttransport2741]

Well said Stuart Smith from Stewart Smith 😉👍

[@andrewbalfour9373]

Good lad!

[@stusmithmmm]

@Liam Carter funny. Good lad

[@mikepalmer2219]

One of the greatest albums ever made.

[@fivestring65ify]

This is THE classic hard rock album.

[@DandyDoesIt]

I want to hear the demos Bon did.

[@petervonoven6295]

Great narration by Big Boy Bloater !

[@cuzz63]

I was in High School when all this was happening. I was aware of AC/DC before BIB but didnt own any of their albums or tapes. I read where Bon had passed away and figured that was the end of the band. Then when BIB came out and I heard them on the radio I bought the album and wore it out. Funny thing, I had heard or read years ago that Brian was a roadie or part of the crew or something and discovered. I had never heard this story about him.

[@MrJett1971]

No, he wasn’t a roadie at all. He sang with a band called Geordie, and Bon had seen them play a show. Brian had an attack of appendicitis on stage, and was screaming and writhing on the stage in pain, and Bon thought it was part of his act. Supposedly, he recommended him to the rest of the band as a vocalist, and they followed through after his death.

[@mauharley]

Bon was briefly a driver for the band before he became their lead singer.

[@cuzz63]

@Joe Roscoe So i confused Bon and Brian..

[@gryper1690]

That was Bon Scott. He roadied for them before they got rid of the old singer and hired Bon.

[@mwhitelaw8569]

Was just old enough to catch them in Seattle on tour. Delivered alot of papers for those tickets. But I'll never forget that night First indoor concert First time on mushrooms

[@hammerheadcycle3097]

My favorites are still Powerage and Let There Be Rock

[@random-ishgaming4429]

Gave me chills!

[@niklaslindblad9075]

Best album of them all and I mean all ever made!! \m/

[@GreasyBelcher]

Awesome

[@arieldelvalle9606]

La mejor banda del mudo lejos ...AC/DC💪🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷

[@georgewinn1]

Amazing

[@fredbortle5414]

The let there be rock album with whole Lotta Rosie, problem child, overdose,and others is also a kick ass album.

[@Kowasi]

Bad Boy Boogie! 'Let There Be Rock' is an album to treasure... the first AC/DC album with the word 'Hell' in a song title, and no mentions of 'Balls' in song titles unlike the two albums before it. Whole Lotta Rosie has enough sleaze value, I guess... maybe it was a middle finger up at Led Zeppelin. 'Whole Lotta Love? Nah... we can do better than that!'

[@frederickwestberry7895]

The very first song I ever heard frm AC/DC was Back in Black I thought that song was awesome I was hooked after that. Then I heard about Bon Scott and listened to him singing and liked it also.

[@Looking4lightning]

Where is the vh1 ultimate albums.I can't find it anymore. That's the definitive video on bnb.

[@lamchay7940]

Love you.

[@Sweethomemovers]

Awesowe video, keep it up. Sty cnnted :)

[@jorgeluizdaalmeidajunior9096]

Melhor 👻 banda AC ⚡ DC 🇧🇷

[@kkk951]

Back in black. ... All the others.

[@australiantruckspotting8883]

The sophistication in Back in Black could be felt in Highway to Hell

[@gkgkjghiguggg527]

The greatest rock n roll band ever!

[@fordfairlane662dr]

I have only 4 vinyl albums of AC\DC..Never ever been played

[@highcurrent1125]

Damn....thats one rockin' vacuum commercial!

[@wiihaiishka8376]

my first acdc album

[@PHILPOP2]

How legend's are made.

[@britneywanless5570]

I can't imagine what must've been like for everyone in the band when they found out Bon died 🥺

[@i3Dimi3]

anyone know that version of Hells Bells ? (3:01)

[@francispaulmarottikal1839]

Can someone help me in knowing, just how many albums, Back in black has been sold to date. Thanks🙏🙇

[@manipulatedworld5355]

Brian is an amazing performer and singer but we are supposed to believe Brian who never wrote a hit wrote the best rock Album of all time in two months.Bon was on fire lyrically then and the album was written in his tongue and cheek witty style.Brian said he wrote the lyrics coming on like A hurricane but on a rarities cd Bon is singing she come on like a hurricane on a unreleased song.Bon had just recycled the lyrics.Then Bons girlfriend In Miami had already Been shown you shook me all night long in Bons notebook full of lyrics that everyone around them knew he kept.In that song it was supposed to say chartreuse eyes but they changed the lyric to say sightless eyes (which makes no sense) then the lyric doubletime was his girlfriends horses name.It was Bons style to write songs about hell.Then there’s the little fact that Bons family gets royalty checks for the biggest rock album of all time but we are told Bon didn’t write it.I guess they were just being charitable, yeah right.

[@jasonh4853]

Bon is still alive. Just got tired of living on the road.

[@thorstenschmidt5159]

That's True greetings from Hamburg Germany 21Salute.

[@Kowasi]

3:20 I learned that 'What Do You Do For Money Honey' dates back to Powerage. Supernatural presence indeed...

[@get3freestocksandbuycrypto92]

Bon Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning, it's ironic how Back in Black was a tribute album to him, but one of the biggest hits on it was "Have a drink on me"

[@oskaveli662]

Brian Johnsons vacuum ad reminds me of Sponge Bob's pizza song.

[@danlah1303]

Wow, that Hoover commercial!

[@mikej7475]

I still remember we were all standing around partying and the radio DJ announced he was going to play a song from a new AC/DC album after the commercial and we all thought "WTF! This is either going to suck or it's a never released recording with Bon Scott...then he played "Hell's Bell's." Enough said.

[@haveaday1812]

That album is a masterpiece by anyones standards.

[@retrogamertdmjofvdjdhdbddo9335]

The first song they ever did in back in black was you shook me all night long Brian said it in an interview with howerd stern

[@FernandoRomero-of9jf]

0:13 song ?

[@alanhusband9422]

Truth is they used a lot of Bon's lyrics on that album...or so the theory goes.

[@diegomelgar2934]

Alguien sabe que quiere decir "gravitas"

[@billbobaggins801]

God lord what an album! Please forgive me for I have torn speakers and eardrums to hell from this album.

[@jamesfagan7823]

Best rock album I ever heard by a fucking mile

[@jamesfagan7823]

They never got into that love song bullshit that is a fucking sin to a real rock band

[@mattjeka5553]

Back in black what a masterpiece of an album.

[@lestatmacway892]

I wonder what direction the band would've toon if bon hadn't died.

[@gianluigidautilia6417]

Greatest rock record ever

[@markbarnes578]

BACK IN BLACK AND SKYNYRD'S PRONOUNCED ARE THE BEST TWO ALBUMS EVER!!!💜

[@tannrrsmiddy]

= awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! angus rules !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jamesdelaney3797]

Greatest album ever

[@Gratefulman1965]

When I started listening to AC/DC here in Oregon state in the 1970’s I felt like I was the only one who liked the band everybody else gave them the finger. They’d say stupid punk band or get a load of these idiots. And I was like you are the idiots. I played in bands as a kid emulating Judas Priest and sabbath and B.T.O. and I played bass and wrote songs. I was a fan of Bon from day one. He was my voice for rock-n-roll. Love the band, Miss Bon immensely here in the USA.

[@robertmccoy9901]

Hoover commercial kills!

[@Amber_xo_133]

His singing and speaking voices are so different

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales7218]

Bon Scott 09 07 1946 19 02 1980 33 años de edad

[@josefreitasoliveira4547]

😮👍🤩👏💯😷

[@robinsonzorrilla5379]

Dios no está muerto el vivo esta

[@The1pankz]

There should be movie 🎥 coming out AC ⚡ DC's "HIGHWAY TO HELL" Long live forever ❣️

[@stevenponte6655]

Always forget that Mutt Lange produced this masterpiece!!

[@SuperMika70]

😎

[@odilerosa6801]

Can someone traduce?,😅🤗

[@MajorTom6]

If You Want Blood.....the best live album ever made.

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales7218]

Angus Young 30 03 1955 66 años de edad

[@matthewronson5218]

33 years old...

[@iroshi73]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@parisgeorgiades6598]

The God for tje HOOVER!

[@neilmustow368]

Hmm Hoover ad sung by Brian

[@jonesy2111]

Should have been Rick James

[@spottedleaf8865]

The best album best of all yimr

[@concertfanatic3664]

April 1st i bet people thought it was an april fool joke lol

[@jamesbarrick3403]

I love Bon... and I love Brian both. I think I may be the only one. Sick and tired of hearing tone deaf clowns bashing Brian as if he was not a great song writer and performer. He was spectacular. Bon was really freaking good too. Both CAN COEXIST. And to you Bon fans... quit trying to rewrite history - Brian wrote most of the material for Back in Black. He wrote the biggest songs on the album. There is always several clowns in each comments section that tries to steal the credits.