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In the beginning

Glasgow, Scotland, in the early 1960s was a rough, crowded industrial town whose depressed economy offered few options for working-class families. At the same time that much of Britain was experiencing economic hard times, a postwar boom was still in force in Australia. That underpopulated continent, bursting with natural resources but lacking sufficient population to fully exploit them, was particularly eager to encourage struggling Brits to emigrate to its shores. In addition, the Australian government had instituted a massive immigration program, which allowed immigrants to sail southward for a mere ten pounds a head.

So, in 1963, William and Margaret Young immigrated to Australia with eight of their nine children. They settled in Sydney, New South Wales.

When the Young family moved to Sydney, George formed The Easybeats with Johannes Jacob Hendrickus Vandenberg, better known as Harry Vanda. The quintet quickly made their mark on the Sydney scene and were to become Australia's biggest pop act during the mid-'60s. In 1966, the band headed to the UK and quickly established themselves in Britain. However, in 1970, The Easybeats disbanded; Vanda and Young returned to Sydney to work for Ted Albert in his newly formed Albert Productions organisation. But the success of The Easybeats was to have an enormous impact on George Young's brothers Malcolm and Angus.

Malcolm picked up the guitar first, graduating quickly from acoustic to electric. With ad hoc advice along the way from George he made rapid progress. Angus messed around with his older brother's guitars before his mother finally bought him his own.

Malcolm left school at 15 and found gainful employment as a machine maintenance engineer for a bra company (Berlei Bras). In 1971, he joined up with a band called Velvet Underground (no relation to the Lou Reed band). Ironically, the original singer in the band was called Brian Johnson.

In 1972, George invited Malcolm and Angus to join with his new band, the Marcus Hook Roll Band, for the recording sessions of his album 'Tales Of Old Granddaddy'. In fact, George and Harry didn't take the project very seriously so they thought it would be a good idea to include George's brothers to give them an idea of what recording was all about. That was the first thing Malcolm and Angus did before AC/DC.

At fourteen and nine months (the legal age you could leave school), Angus left and went to work for a soft porn magazine called Ribald as a printer. Meanwhile, Angus had already formed his own band, Tantrum, and had become proficient as a musician through playing along to any records he could find.

When the Velvet Underground fell apart in 1973, Malcolm determinded to put together a new one-guitar band with a keyboard player. But Malcolm changed his mind and decided he needed a second guitar player to fill out the sound and turned to Angus for help.

Malcolm's vision for his new band was a hard-edged boogie sound married to the in-vogue image of long hair and stack-heeled boots. For experience, Malcolm called on the services of drummer Colin Burgess, who had experience in several bands, bassist Larry Van Knedt and singer Dave Evans. Their name, AC/DC, came from the back of a vacuum cleaner. "AC/DC, it has something to do with electricity", Malcolm's sister Margaret said.

The abbreviation stands for Alternating Current/Direct Current in electrical parlance. However, in their naïvety the Young brothers were ignorant of the term's bisexual connotations, and the band were to spend the next few years vehemently insisting on their heterosexuality.

Their first performance was on New Year's Eve, 1973, in a small Sydney club called Chequers. They played a covers set of the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and the Beatles. AC/DC was born!

It's a long way to the top

In the next six months following their first concert, the AC/DC lineup changed a lot. Drummer Colin Burgess was successively replaced by Ron Carpenter, Russell Coleman and Peter Clack whilst Rob Bailey replaced Larry Van Knedt on bass.

In June 1974, AC/DC recorded their first single in Albert Studios, Sydney. The current lineup was then Malcolm Young, Angus Young, Dave Evans, Rob Bailey and Peter Clack. Two songs were recorded, 'Can I Sit Next To You Girl' and 'Rockin' In The Parlour', produced by Harry Vanda and George Young. The single was released in Australia during July on Albert Records and in New Zealand on Polydor. It became a minor regional hit in Perth and Adelaide.

Then began a heavy club tour across Australia. In Melbourne, they played at the Hard Rock Café which was owned by Michael Browning who became AC/DC's manager. Browning proved to be a shrewd choice as manager and was to make some vital decisions for the band during the next few years. His first and most important decision was the hiring of a driver to ferry t 13213j910n he band around, a guy called Ronald Belford Scott, known to all as 'Bon'. Bon Scott persuaded the Young brothers to give him a chance as drummer and then as singer. After they tried him out, Bon took Dave Evans' place as AC/DC's frontman.

In January 1975, AC/DC recorded their debut album called 'High Voltage' with the lineup Malcolm Young, Angus Young, Bon Scott, George Young (on bass) and Tony Kerrante (on drums). The record was cut in 10 days and came out in February 1975. 'High Voltage' was an immediate success in Australia. The album and its first single, 'Baby Please Don't Go', entered the Australian charts in March.

In June 1975, the band released a non-LP single, 'High Voltage' (originally written for the 'High Voltage' album but not completed in time). The single coincided with a show at Melbourne's Festival Hall. AC/DC's set was shot by a four-camera film crew, for the purpose of producing a promotional video clip to be used by management in its attempts to raise overseas record company interest in the band.

Finally, AC/DC found a stable lineup when Phil Rudd and Mark Evans came in on drums and bass. Their second album called 'T.N.T.' was released at the end on 1975. It was a huge success, selling more than 100,000 copies and AC/DC became by the way the biggest rock'n'roll band in Australia. But what does it mean on a worldwide level.

Dirty promises

While their popularity in Australia was growing at a faster rate than the band could have anticipated, AC/DC's attempts to achieve international recognition had thus far failed to bear fruit. But if the band was to make a significant long-term impression on overseas markets, it would need the support of a powerful record company with the experience and marketing clout to match the band's ambition. Michael Browning found that support in the London office of the US-based Atlantic Records. So, in the Spring of 1976, AC/DC signed a worldwide deal with Atlantic Records. They decided to relocate to the UK to further their career. They landed in Britain on April 1, 1976.

Meanwhile, AC/DC had recorded their third album in January 1976 in Australia. The first single taken from the album was 'Jailbreak' on the A-side and 'Fling Thing', a traditional Scottish folk song arranged by the Young brothers, on the B-side. The album itself came out in Australia in September and was titled 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'.

When they arrived in the UK, the Punk was sweeping the nation. AC/DC made their first live performances in the UK during April 1976 at the Red Cow pub in Hammersmith, West London, followed by other dates at small clubs across Britain. Before touring on a large scale, AC/DC made other debut appearances, opening for the Back Street Crawlers. The tour was a great success for AC/DC.

At the end of the tour, on May 14, Atlantic's British division issued 'High Voltage' in the UK. The British 'High Voltage' is a compilation of tracks from their first two Australian albums. All of Side One is taken from the 'T.N.T.' album, Side Two takes 'T.N.T.', 'Can I Sit Next To You Girl' and 'High Voltage' from 'T.N.T.', plus 'Little Lover' and 'She's Got Balls' from the Australian 'High Voltage' album.

With this first album now officially on the British market, a tour of twenty venues around Britain was set up, dubbed 'Lock Up Your Daughters'. AC/DC's fifty-minute live set was part of a program featuring a live DJ and film clips of other bands. The tour was a success even if some venues ran into low-attendance problems.

In July 1976, AC/DC got a weekly Monday residency at the Marquee Club in London. The gigs eventually attracted more than 1,000 people at a time while the official capacity of the club was not more than 700. The Marquee gigs firmly established AC/DC as virtually the only non-Punk band doing anything exciting in London in 1976.

This Marquee residency led to an offer to support Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow in Europe during August for a nineteen-date tour. It was preceded by three headlining gigs in Germany, where 'High Voltage' had sold 16,000 copies in its first week of release.

On August 29, AC/DC played their biggest show at England's Reading Rock Festival, in front of a crowd numbering fifty thousand. Unfortunately, AC/DC's set was something of a misfire, apparently due more to an unenthusiastic crowd than a substandard performance.

In December 1976, 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' was released in Britain. The British version of the album did not contain 'Jailbreak' and 'R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)'. They were replaced by 'Rocker' (from the 'T.N.T.' album) and the previously unreleased 'Love At First Feel' that the band would release as a single in Australia in January 1977.

In December, the band flew back to Australia. The Australian tour, which marked AC/DC's return home after an eight-month absence, saw the group welcomed as conquering heroes. After the tour, the band took a short break around Christmas. They remained in Australia during the first two months of 1977 to record their fourth album 'Let There Be Rock' at Albert Studios in Sydney.

After a few more gigs in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, AC/DC returned to the UK in February 1977 to begin a 26-date tour around the country from February 18 to March 1. The tour was immediately followed by a second European tour supporting Black Sabbath. AC/DC was widely reported to be blowing the headliners off the stage every night. Unfortunately, an altercation occurred between bassist Geezer Butler and Malcolm Young. AC/DC were kicked off the tour and returned to London.

At the end of June 1977, AC/DC and Mark Evans parted company. Within 24 hours of Evans telling the band that he was off, the name of Cliff Williams came to the fore. Michael Browning had heard about him from a mutual acquaintance, and immediately made contact. Cliff Williams walked into his audition and got the job.

The USA

The next step in AC/DC's conquest of the world was the conquest of the United States. Meanwhile, the British version of 'High Voltage' had been released in America during October 1976. 'Let There Be Rock' was to be released in the US in June, four months before Europe and three months after Australia.

AC/DC's first US tour started in the Southern part of the country during the Summer and ended in the Winter, taking them from Texas to Florida. In Florida, they played their first major US gig in front of 13,000 people at the outdoor Hollywood Spartatorium.

AC/DC's first trek across the States was a case of small clubs at one end and huge arenas, opening for REO Speedwagon, in the other. The US tour reached a peak at the Palladium and the CBGB's club in New York. At New York's Palladium, Angus used a cordless guitar for the first time.

On October 14, 'Let There Be Rock', recorded in January/February 1977, finally saw the light in Britain after lengthy delays. In November, the album reached No. 17 in the British charts. The US tour was broken in the Fall by a third tour of Europe and Britain in order to promote their new album. As expected, this time they toured Europe as headliners.

In November/December 1977, back in the States, AC/DC opened for Rush and Kiss. In New York, the band performed a show for radio broadcast at Atlantic's own recording studios on Broadway, on December 7. The set was sent out to radio DJ's as a 'For Promotional Use Only' LP titled 'Live From The Atlantic Studios'. These days very few copies of that limited edition record exist, but it has been released as different bootleg albums since then.

Riff raff

After the traditional New Year break in Sydney, AC/DC returned to Albert Studios with Harry Vanda and George Young to record their next album between February and March 1978. The album called 'Powerage' was released in the UK on April 28. A month later it reached No. 26 in the British charts.

The Powerage World Tour began on April 26 with 28 major venues in Britain. The UK tour finished on May 29 and AC/DC took flight for the United States once more for support slots with Rainbow, Savoy Brown, Alice Cooper, Journey, Aerosmith, Scorpions and UFO.

The band played nearly 100 shows during this period in the States, ranging from small clubs to an appearance at the prestigious Day On The Green outdoor festival in San Francisco during August. AC/DC's reputation was growing considerably in the States. By the end of the US tour, 'Powerage' had sold a quarter of a million copies in America.

The design of the Powerage tour brochure prefigured the cover for the band's long awaited live album. 'If You Want Blood You've Got It' was recorded during the earlier months of 1978 and released at the end of the US tour in October, a mere six months after the release of 'Powerage'. The album reached No. 13 in the UK charts and breached the US Top 50 for the first time. A maxi-single, available on both seven-inch and 12-inch format, was issued by Atlantic shortly after the album. It combined live rendition's of 'Whole Lotta Rosie' and 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be'.

AC/DC promoted the live album by heading straight out on tour in the UK during early November for a series of 16 dates in just 18 days. Extra nights were slotted in everywhere along the way, as the band literally exploded in popularity.

Highway To Stardom

'If You Want Blood You've Got It' closed the first stage of AC/DC's career. Atlantic suggested a change of producer. Eddie Kramer, who in the past had been associated with Jimi Hendrix, Kiss and Led Zeppelin, was the first choice to produce AC/DC's next album. But things just didn't work out. Eventually, Robert John 'Mutt' Lange was chosen to produce the album.

As well as changing producer, AC/DC also changed studios, moving into the Roundhouse Studios in Chalk Farm, London. Those changes were followed by a change in management, from Michael Browning to Peter Mensch of the powerful New York-based Leber and Krebs organization.

AC/DC had not previously recorded outside Australia and had never spent more than three weeks working on an album, spent six months in the Roundhouse Studios with 'Mutt' Lange working on the new record. Lange did an admirable job of refining and sharpening AC/DC's sound without losing the raw edge that was the source of the band's original appeal.

Released on July 27, 'Highway To Hell' quickly became the band's first UK Top Ten hit, peaking at No. 8, and their first US Top Twenty, reaching No. 17. It was even a hit in Australia, where it made it to No. 24, making it the first AC/DC album to chart there in nearly three years. 'Highway To Hell' received the most positive press of the band's career.

The band spent the remainder of 1979 touring in the United States and Britain, though still not in Australia, where the album was not released until November. In the States, AC/DC played a handful of headlining shows while opening other concerts for the likes of Cheap Trick, UFO and Ted Nugent. But not all headliners regarded the idea of sharing the stage with AC/DC with enthusiasm. In attempting to book the US Highway To Hell Tour, AC/DC was turned down by Foreigner, Van Halen and Sammy Hagar.

The British leg of the Highway To Hell tour took in dates in Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool, Stafford and London's Hammersmith Odeon, with Def Leppard as support act. It began on October 26 at the Mayfair in Newcastle and ended on November 9 at Leicester's De Monfort Hall.

On August 18, AC/DC played the biggest show of their career thus far in the UK. It was at Wembley Stadium in London, opening for The Who. Despite sound problems, AC/DC's set won excellent notice and was undoubtedly helpful in expanding the group's audience. The Wembley gig did a lot for AC/DC's credibility and confidence, and led to more outdoor dates with The Who in Europe.

Before the by-now-traditional Christmas break in Australia, the band made an extensive tour of Europe. AC/DC ended the year by playing a date in Paris which was filmed for a long-form video issued in 1980 and titled 'Let There Be Rock'.

In January 1980, the band flew to France for the annual Midem music-industry convention, at which they were presented with an armload of gold and silver discs for sales in France and Canada. They also played some dates in Newcastle and Southampton for shows cancelled on the last British tour and taped an appearance on British TV's 'Top of the Pops' to promote the current UK single 'Touch Too Much'.

On January 27, 1980, Bon Scott appeared for the last time onstage with the band...

Touch Too Much

On Tuesday, February 19, Bon Scott went to tour manager Ian Jeffrey's house for dinner, leaving at about 6.30 pm to go to the Music Machine in London. When the club closed up its bar at 3 am, Bon left with an old friend, Alisdair Kinnear. Kinnear drove Bon back to his flat at Ashley Court but upon arrival, he couldn't move Bon. He was then left with the one alternative of driving Bon back to his own pad in Dulwich. On arriving home, however, he still couldn't wake Bon. He tried to lift him out of the car, but was unable to. He eventually decided to leave him in the car for the night and went to bed.

Kinnear awoke early in the evening on the 20th, checked on Bon, and found him unconscious in the car. He rushed him to King's College Hospital, but by then it was too late to save Bon's life. Bon was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The autopsy was held on Friday, February 22. The verdict was 'Death by Misadventure - Acute Alcoholic Poisoning'. The coroner reported that Bon's stomach had been found to contain the equivalent of half a bottle of whiskey at the moment of death. Sometime during the night Bon, who had been lying in an awkward position with his neck twisted, had vomited and choked to death.

After the autopsy, Bon's body was flown out to Australia to be cremated by his family. Bon was cremated in Fremantle, on Friday, February 29, his ashes buried the following day in the Fremantle Cemetery's Memorial Garden.

Back in black

During the first weeks after Bon's death, the members of AC/DC didn't know what to do: whether to continue without Bon or split up. Of course, AC/DC could never be the same without Bon; when he died, something of AC/DC died with him. But Malcolm and Angus decided Bon would have wanted AC/DC to continue. So they pulled themselves together, and got down to the task of finding a new singer.

By the beginning of March, the media had lined up a number of likely candidates: former Easybeats vocalist Stevie Wright, an Australian called Alan Fryer (who was found too similar to Bon), and Londoner Gary Holton. Eventually a shortlist of two was drawn up: Terry Schlesher and Brian Johnson.

At the time, Brian Johnson was busy trying to get Geordie back together. But he took time out to audition, running through just two numbers with the band, namely 'Whole Lotta Rosie' and the Ike and Tina Turner 'Nutbush City Limits'. The following Saturday night, Malcolm called him and told him he had the job.

The recording sessions of AC/DC's eighth album took place at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, under the production guidance of Robert John 'Mutt' Lange. It was recorded during April and throughout May, over a period of six weeks. The album was completed by the end of May. On July 1, Brian Johnson made his debut appearance onstage with AC/DC at Namur in Belgium.

'Back In Black' was released on July 31. Within a couple of weeks, it was top of the UK charts and it stayed No. 1 for two weeks. In November, it reached No. 4 in the US charts and lingered in the top ten for over five months. In Australia, it went to No. 2. By now, Back In Black has sold over ten million copies worldwide, making it the biggest selling 'Heavy Metal' album of all times.

AC/DC hit the road for the first time with Brian Johnson in August. They toured in America for two months, then Britain through into November, and then in December finally returned to Australia. They toured in their home country for the first time since 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'. The year 1981 began with some more dates in Japan and Australia.

Demand for AC/DC grew to such a point in America that Atlantic finally released the initially rejected 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' album in May 1981. It went No. 3 in the US charts where it sat for four weeks (from May 23 to June 20) and even topped 'Back In Black'.

In June 1981, in the very first issue of Kerrang!, AC/DC were officially credited as having recorded the greatest Metal song of all times, when 'Whole Lotta Rosie' was voted top Heavy Metal song.

On August 22, 1981, AC/DC received the final confirmation that they were now one of the very biggest rock bands in the world. They were offered the chance to headline the second annual Castle Donington Monsters Of Rock festival.

For those about to rock

The recording of AC/DC's next album took place in Paris with 'Mutt' Lange. The task wasn't proving easy. The main cause of concern was the fact that Lange was apparently finding it very difficult to get the right kind of sound for the record. Lange solved the sound problems by hiring a mobile recording unit from England.

The album, titled 'For Those About To Rock We Salute You' was released in November 1981 and was immediately a worldwide commercial success. It climbed to No. 3 in the UK charts. Just prior to the release of their new album, no less than seven AC/DC albums appeared in Kerrang!'s All-Time Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums chart. In February 1982, 'Let's Get It Up' became the band's biggest hit single to date, making No. 13. Later in July, the title track itself made No. 15 in the UK charts.

In America, AC/DC were still increasing in fame. 'For Those About To Rock' became their first chart-topping album in the US. A huge tour of the States proved that they were attracting bigger audiences than ever.

The 'Cannon and Bell' tour reached the UK during late September. This time the band moved out of the halls and into the arenas, playing the likes of the Birmingham NEC and Wembley Arena in London.

By the end of 1982, AC/DC's position as the top rock band around was cemented when Kerrang! published the results of its readers' poll. AC/DC were voted 'Top Band', Angus was 'Top Guitarist', Cliff was 'Top Bassist', the band were voted as having produced the 'Best Live Gig' and 'For Those About To Rock' was the 'Best Single'. Brian was third top male vocalist, Phil was second best drummer, 'Let's Get It Up' finished sixth best single and Angus was amazingly second as 'Male Pin-Up'.

Flick

After touring most of 1982, the band took a long break. It was several months before AC/DC started working on their next album. The recording sessions took place at Compass Point Studios in Nassau.

Midway through the recording sessions, Phil Rudd was fired. At the time, no reasons were given for his sudden departure. But years later, with Phil's drug problems no longer a secret, the truth emerged. On the 'Cannon and Bell' tour, he was hallucinating about finding strangers in his room. To make matters worse, there were personal difficulties between Malcolm and Phil. Their relationship progressively deteriorated, to the point where a physical confrontation eventually took place. Two hours later Phil was flying home; he was out.

The new record was engineered and mixed by Tony Platt and produced by the band themselves. Released in August 1983, 'Flick Of The Switch' eventually reached No. 4 in the UK charts. But 'Flick Of The Switch' was a relative commercial slip. It only reached No. 15 in the US charts. In the 1984 Kerrang!'s readers' poll, AC/DC won no category, ending up as fifth top band and were also considered eighth biggest disappointment of the year.

Returning to London, the band desperately sought a replacement for Phil Rudd. Eventually an anonymous ad was placed in the music press: 'Heavy Rock drummer wanted. If you don't hit hard, don't apply'. After a number of trial runs, 20-year-old Simon Wright was given the job. By October 1983, Simon had made his live debut in Vancouver, Canada.

During the Winter, AC/DC toured through the States and Canada. On August 19, 1984 AC/DC became the first band to return as headliners at the fourth Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington. After Donington, the band undertook a series of dates in Europe, which included more 'Monsters Of Rock' festivals. However the biggest festival of all came in January when AC/DC joined in the very first Rock In Rio in Brazil. The band did two nights at the festival.

After Rio, the band took another lenghty break...

There's a fly on the wall

It wasn't until the Spring of 1985 that AC/DC regrouped to work on their new album at Mountain Studios near Montreux, in Switzerland. Happy with the raw sound they'd achieved with 'Flick Of The Switch', Malcolm and Angus decided again to produce by themselves.

'Fly On The Wall' was released on June 28. Despite the general critical thumbs-down, the album did reach No. 7 in the UK charts. The first single taken from the album, 'Danger', only made No. 48.

In addition to the album, there was a 28-minute long-form video titled 'Fly On The Wall', which featured five songs from the album. The concept was based around the band playing a gig in a small New York club full of shady characters.

The Fly On The Wall world tour began with another visit to the States. In January 1986, AC/DC played 6 shows in the UK and 18 more in Europe until mid-February.

On February 16, the band returned to London to start work on a video for their next single. During January, 'Shake Your Foundations' had become their most successful single since 'For Those About To Rock' when it reached No. 24 in the UK charts.

Who Made Who

During the 1985 American tour, AC/DC were approached by horror-writer Stephen King, a huge AC/DC fan, who'd asked whether he could use some old material for the soundtrack of his forthcoming movie 'Maximum Overdrive'. He also suggested the band record some new tracks exclusively for the film.

Recording took place at Compass Point Studios in Nassau when the US Tour had been completed. For the first time since 'If You Want Blood You've Got It', the new material was produced by Harry Vanda and George Young. In just two weeks they recorded three new songs: 'Who Made Who', 'D.T.' and 'Chase The Ace'. The video was filmed at the Brixton Academy in South London at the end of February.

On May 3, 'Who Made Who' was issued, becoming the band's biggest hit in years as it soared to No. 16 in the UK charts. A month later, the album reached No. 11 in Britain. In America, the album only reached No. 33.

On the back of the film's appearance in the US, AC/DC again took the road in July. Originally planned to finish in September, the demand for extra dates prolonged the US tour until November.

At the end of the tour, the band took a two-month break before beginning the recording sessions for their next album.

Someone blew up my video

After an extensive search for the right location, the studio chosen for recording the next album was Miraval in the South of France. Recording officially began in August. Harry Vanda and George Young came back to act as producers on a full album for the first time since 1978. No less than 19 songs were recorded for the new album, but when the tapes were shipped across to New York to be mixed during the autumn, only the strongest ten survived.

The first single from the album, entitled 'Heatseeker', was released on January 4, 1988. It quickly rose to No. 12 in the UK charts. The album itself, 'Blow Up Your Video', was released at the end of January and reached No. 2 in the UK charts, the best position since 'Back In Black'. Meanwhile, in the US it reached No. 12.

After three days of rehearsals at the Entertainment Center in Perth, Australia, the tour finally began on February 1. It was the first show AC/DC had done anywhere in over a year and the first show in Australia since 1981. And to make the occasion even more special, Isa and Chick Scott, Bon's parents, were present in the audience. The show was dominated by Bon Scott songs because in Australia, Bon Scott IS AC/DC.

After two nights in Perth, four at the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne, three at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, one at the Globe Derby in Adelaide and two at the Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, AC/DC had played to over 130,000 fans in three weeks.

After their successful return to Australia, the band headed to the UK. But they only played in two cities in the British Isles, Birmingham and London. After the run at Wembley Arena in London, the band headed out to Europe, before coming back to the UK to finish off this leg of the tour with a final date on April 13 at Wembley Arena.

But Malcolm Young would not be joining the band for the forthcoming US tour. Malcolm felt in desperate need of a rest from touring, principally to kick a drinking habit, which escalated during long tours. The official reason at the time of his departure was 'exhaustion'.

AC/DC called up another member of the Young family, nephew Stevie Young, and continued as if nothing had happened. Not only did Stevie know all of the AC/DC songs by heart, but he was Malcolm's double physically as well. Stevie's first show with the band was at the Cumberland Civic Center in Portland, Maine, on May 3.

The US tour proved to be an enormous success for AC/DC. The band sold out more or less everywhere they played. Within a matter of weeks 'Blow Up Your Video' had become AC/DC's biggest selling album since 'For Those About To Rock'. The tour ended at the end of the year.

Cutting Edge

Meanwhile back in Sydney, Malcolm was slowly recovering from his problems. In the first few months of 1989, he and Angus spent some time in London (at Malcolm's house) and in Holland (at Angus' house) working on basic riffs and melody lines for the next album.

When work began on the material for the next allbum, rumours spread that Brian Johnson had left the band. Brian hadn't in fact left, he was simply tied up in the States finalising his divorce and straightening out various legal problems. This was the reason why he was unable to get involved in the writing of the lyrics of the new songs. So Malcolm and Angus wrote the words for the first time without the band's singer.

But there was a line-up change on the horizon. Whilst Malcolm and Angus were busy working on material, Simon was approached by Ronnie James Dio to play on the next Dio album 'Lock Up The Wolves'. This was meant to be merely a session situation for Simon, to fill in time before AC/DC went back into the studio. But a few months later it was announced that Simon had been inducted as a full member of Dio's band.

Now without a drummer, AC/DC started rehearsals for the new album in a barn close to Brighton. In November 1989, they brought in Chris Slade on a purely temporary basis, at the suggestion of their management. But as work on the album progressed Chris was asked to join.

After rehearsals in Brighton, the band headed for Windmill Road Studios in Ireland to start work on the album proper. This time the band elected to work with Canadian producer Bruce Fairbairn. The album was completed within six weeks at Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver, Canada.

First release from the album was the single 'Thunderstruck', which reached No. 13 in the UK charts. The album, entitled 'The Razors Edge', was released through the band's new label Atco in September. The album proved to be a huge seller, reaching No. 4 in the UK charts and getting up to No. 2 in the US. 'The Razors Edge' took AC/DC's global album sales past 60 million copies. In addition, they also breached the Top 40 singles chart in Britain with 'Moneytalks' and 'Are You Ready".

Two long-form video collections were also released during this period, namely 'Who Made Who', featuring footage covering the years between 1980-1986, and 'Clipped', which included all of the promotional videos from 'Blow Up Your Video' and 'The Razors Edge'.

With a whole new stage-show, The Razors Edge world tour began in America. By March 20 AC/DC was starting their European tour in Helsinki. The British leg of the tour began at Wembley Arena on April 15. After Europe, AC/DC returned to the States in May for the third leg of the world tour.

In August, the band was back to Europe for Donington and a series of 20 Monsters Of Rock festivals across the continent in 18 cities. This included one free show at the Tushino Airfield in Moscow on September 29 that attracted an estimated 500,000 fans.

The Moscow concert was presented as a "celebration of democracy and freedom" staged as a gift to the Russian youth for their resistance against the recent failed military coup. The show was televised in Russia, filmed for a documentary by music-video director Wayne Isham and recorded for a projected live album. The Russian concert was particularly significant in light of the fact that most Western rock music was outlawed in the USSR until the rise of glasnost. Although AC/DC had long been popular among Soviet youth, the band's recordings could only be obtained on the black market.

Live

During The Razors Edge world tour, the band had recorded several shows. Among the shows recorded was the historic date in Moscow. And Donington was filmed by director David Mallet using no less than 22 cameras.

The release date for the first live album featuring Brian Johnson was set for October 29. It was simply titled 'Live'. The production was handled by Bruce Fairbairn. The album was released in various formats, a fourteen song single CD, a fourteen song single cassette, a specially packaged twenty-three song double CD and a specially packaged twenty-three song double cassette.

The album was preceded by a single, 'Highway To Hell (Live), on October 5. And in addition, the live video shot at Donington, titled 'AC/DC Live At Donington', came out at the end of the year. The video, shot on high-quality 35-millimeter film, did a good job of capturing the atmosphere of the AC/DC live experience, in a manner considerably more advanced than its predecessor 'Let There Be Rock'.

During the Summer of 1993, AC/DC recorded a new song, 'Big Gun', for the soundtrack of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie 'Last Action Hero'. The hugely expensive film proved to be a monumental flop, but its soundtrack album (also featuring tracks by Alice In Chains, Queensryche, Anthrax, Def Leppard, Megadeth, Tesla, Fishbone and Cypress Hill) was considerably more successful. 'Big Gun' was produced by Rick Rubin. It was released as a single by ATCO on June 28. The video for 'Big Gun' actually featured Schwarzenegger himself wearing a schoolboy uniform similar to that worn by Angus.

In addition, a long-form video titled 'For Those About To Rock We Salute You' was put out. It was an 84 minute documentation of the historic Moscow show, featuring footage from all the bands on the bill: AC/DC, Metallica, the Black Crowes, Pantera and E.S.T.

Breaking Balls

At the dawn of 1995, rumours spread that Phil Rudd was back in the band. At the end of The Razors Edge tour in 1991, Phil attended an AC/DC concert in Auckland, New Zealand and spent several hours backstage with the band after the show. It was the first time he saw the band since his departure from AC/DC in 1983.

In 1994, AC/DC began rehearsals for the new album in England. Around May, Malcolm gave Phil a call asking him to sit down on the drums for the recording of the new record and the world tour that would follow. Phil had to think about it seriously with his wife but eventually decided that his place was in AC/DC.

AC/DC began recording the new album in New York, but, unhappy with the sound they were getting, decided to move to Los Angeles in Ocean Way Studios where they found the kind of sound they were looking for. After the success of 'Big Gun', the band chose Rick Rubin to produce the new album.

In the first days of September 1995, the first single from the new album was released, called 'Hard As A Rock'. The album itself, 'Ballbreaker', was released on September 22. To accompany Ballbreaker's first single, the band shot another video, their seventh collaboration with director David Mallet. For the occasion, four hundred London-area AC/DC fans were driven by bus to a soundstage at Bray Studios in Windsor. Angus spent much of the shoot hanging in mid air on a giant demolition ball, on which he eventually came crashing through a window amidst a hail of candy-glass shrapnel and exploding fireworks.

The rehearsals for the world tour took place in London from November 20 to December 20, 1995 and in St. Petersburg from January 4 to January 10, 1996. The Ballbreaker tour began in the United States on January 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina, in front of 14,000 fans with The Poor as support act. Beginning with 'Back In Black', the set list was completely renewed including songs originally recorded with Bon Scott like 'Shot Down In Flames', 'Girls Got Rhythm', 'Dog Eat Dog', 'Down Payment Blues' as well as new songs from the Ballbreaker album. At each venue the band spent more than two hours on stage.

Only two weeks after the beginning of the American tour, the band was forced to cancel four dates, because of the death of Brian Johnson's father. Brian left the tour in San Antonio on January 28 and immediately flew home to Britain to attend funeral services. Brian's father had been sick for quite a long time, so it did not come as a shock that he passed away. After a few days with his family, Brian flew back to the United States in time for the Oakland show on February 3. The American part of the Ballbreaker tour ended in Dallas on April 4 after fourty-nine concerts around the United States, Canada and Mexico.

On April 20, the European tour began in Oslo with the British band The Wildhearts opening for them. In July, the band played three nights in the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, Spain. The second show was filmed for a video project. Three days before the first concert in Madrid the band used the big inflatable Rosie in Lisbon, Portugal, for the first time on stage since 1991. It was to be used on the remaining open air European gigs in Spain and France. The European part of the Ballbreaker tour ended after almost three months and 46 concerts on July 13 in Bordeaux, France, with a small open air festival with the French band Silmarils, The Wildhearts and Brazilian trashers Sepultura.

Two weeks after the end of the European leg of the Ballbreaker tour, AC/DC was back in the United States to perform some songs on stage for a Howard Stern movie project called 'Private Parts'.

The second leg of the American Ballbreaker tour started in Wantagh, NY on August 1, 1996 for 30 dates across the North American continent. In October, AC/DC played two concerts in a Brazilian football stadium in Curitiba and Sao Paulo in front of 65,000 fans and left the South American continent after three more dates in Argentina and Chile.

As a tradition established during most of their latest world tours, the Ballbreaker tour was to end in Australia. The band played 13 concerts around Australia supported by a huge promotion. The last concerts of the tour took place in New Zealand at the end of November where they played two open air shows in Auckland and Christchurch.

After the Ballbreaker tour, all the members of AC/DC were exhausted. European promoters asked the band to come back to Europe to play in major Summer festivals but they had to decline the offer. So they took some holidays before beginning to work on a long awaited tribute box set project.

Mad In Madrid

During the 1996 Ballbreaker European tour, AC/DC did not only play concerts. They indeed took part in three different projects, namely a long-form video tape, a television broadcast and an American movie.

In the beginning of July AC/DC played two nights at the Palau San Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. The day after the second show the band took the plane and flew to London for a single day. They were asked by the British commercial television channel VH-1 to record some songs live in the studio for a special TV broadcast.

For the occasion the band listened to old material they hadn't played for a very long time. As Brian had never sung some of the songs originally recorded with Bon Scott, he had to read the lyrics while he was singing. But they also recorded other songs during the breaks just for fun.

In total 14 songs were recorded during the session. In addition to the songs played on stage during the Ballbreaker tour, the band recorded two songs they hadn't played since 1978, namely 'Riff Raff' and 'Gone Shootin', a song they never played on stage neither with Bon Scott nor with Brian Johnson, 'Go Down', and two cover songs, namely 'Mary Superstitious' from Stevie Wonder and 'I Feel Good' from James Brown.

The first 30 minute broadcast, 'Take It To The Bridge', took place on August 4, 1996 in an 'AC/DC Special' program. The set included four songs, namely 'Riff Raff', 'Down Payment Blues', 'Gone Shootin' and 'Go Down' and some short interviews with Malcolm and Angus Young.

On September 21 & 22, VH-1 broadcasted the "AC/DC Uncut" show. The set list of the show was made of 'Riff Raff', 'Go Down', 'You Shook Me All Night Long', 'Shoot To Thrill', 'Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution', 'Down Payment Blues', 'The Jack' and 'Whole Lotta Rosie'. The show ended with the 'For Those About To Rock' video clip.

After the recording at VH-1 Studios, AC/DC flew back to Portugal in order to perform in Lisbon on July 6. The next shows were to take place in Madrid, Spain. When the tickets were first put on sale, only one show was planed on July 4. Only two weeks after, no tickets were to be found on the market; this first Madrid show was then postponed to July 9 and a second show was added on July 10. Some weeks later tickets for a third show were put on sale.

Being in the same town for three concerts, AC/DC decided to record the second show at the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid for a long-form video tape. During the first concert on July 9, recorded by a Manor Mobile studio, director David Mallet came to see the show and to make lightning checks. The video was shot the day after using 14 cameras.

The video tape, entitled 'No Bull', was released through Warner Home Video on November 18, 1996. It features the 20 songs played during the concert. A limited edition single CD was joined to the first copies of the video tape including three songs recorded on July 9, namely 'Hard As A Rock', 'Hail Caesar' and 'Dog Eat Dog'.

After the end of the European leg of the Ballbreaker tour, AC/DC went to New York to meet Howard Stern. On July 27, AC/DC filmed three songs onstage for the movie, 'You Shook Me All Night Long', 'Highway To Hell' and 'The Jack'. The shooting took place in Bryant Park in New York in front of thousands of Stern fans.

The movie is based on Stern's first book, called "Private Parts", which describes how Howard Stern became a radio personality and worked for many different stations before he made it big. It follows his whole career from meeting his wife to finding his radio partner, Robin Quivers.

On July 29, Brian Johnson came on Howard Stern's radio show. He said that the whole band had a lot of fun there on the movie set. The movie was released in the United States in 1997. AC/DC only appears very quickly at the end of the movie playing 'You Shook Me All Night Long' on stage.

Bonfire

Around the middle of the 1996 Ballbreaker World Tour, rumours started circulating about a new AC/DC box set. In fact, the band owed the record company a box set as part of their record deal, but nobody knew what was to be included in it. The rumours told about a re-release of all of the singles B-sides, previously unreleased studio tracks and live concerts with Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, re-recordings of old material, radio and TV shows, etc...

When the Ballbreaker tour ended in New Zealand in November 1996, the band took some holidays. In March 1997, the band began to think seriously about the making of the box set. Initially, the record company planned to release a 4 CD box set with the best songs taken from the band's whole career. However, during the last tour many fans asked the band to officially release some of the old live tapes recorded with Bon Scott. The idea seduced the band and they eventually decided to make a tribute to Bon Scott through this long awaited box set.

While work began on the content of the box set, the band didn't have any unreleased songs with Bon Scott, only demos recorded in the studio before the final take. The making of the box set was mainly a research project in order to find the master tapes of old studio recordings and live shows. Malcolm and Angus Young spent a lot of time in the studio listening to the tapes and selecting the songs where Bon was at the top of his condition. They were helped in this by their older brother George who participated in the production of the band's first albums with Harry Vanda in the seventies.

Finished in September 1997, the box set, entitled 'Bonfire', was released on November 14, 1997 in Europe and four days later in the United States. 'Bonfire' was a title that Bon Scott used to joke about when he dreamt of being famous one day and make a solo album. The box set is made of 5 CD's including a live radio show recorded in 1977, one of last live performances with Bon Scott in 1979 on a double CD, a collection of unreleased demos and live songs with Bon Scott from 1977 to 1979 and the mutli platinum album, Back In Black.

'Live From The Atlantic Studios' was recorded at the end of the 1977 American tour in New York. At that time their record company - Atlantic Records - used to organise live radio performances for the bands signed on their label in their famous recording studios in New York. The concert was released in 1978 as a very limited edition promotional record in order to be broadcasted by a few associate American radio stations. But this show was also to be released as the first AC/DC bootleg record entitled '110/220' and later on various other bootleg vinyl records and CD's. The sound quality of the original tapes was enhanced thanks to a new production made by George Young from the master tapes.

'Let There Be Rock - The Movie - Live In Paris' is the full soundtrack from the film 'Let There Be Rock' released in 1980. This recording includes the complete concert recorded in Paris on December 9, 1979. It features the full version of the song 'Walk All Over You' and the missing track 'T.N.T.' that was dropped from the movie. The record even includes the movie introduction solo recorded by Angus Young during a soundcheck in Metz on December 6, 1979.

'Volts' presents 5 studio songs with Bon Scott that nobody had ever heard before. These songs, taken from the original studio tapes and produced by George Young, are in fact the first demo versions of songs published later on the 'Let There Be Rock' and 'Highway To Hell' albums. 'Volts' also includes rare live recordings and ends with songs released on the first three AC/DC Australian albums.

'Back In Black' is the last record of the Bonfire box set, depending on the country where it is released (not all countries have this last CD included). As the band declared during the promotional interviews they gave all around the world, 'Back In Black' was included in the box set because it was made as the band's tribute to Bon Scott at the time of its release. Released in a double carton embossed sleeve with all the original components of the vinyl release, this edition of 'Back In Black' is exclusive to Bonfire.

Bonfire also includes a 48-page booklet, a two sided-poster, AC/DC sticker, removable tattoo, guitar pick and a key chain/bottle opener. The booklet includes rare black & white and color photos of the band, a brief AC/DC history by Australian journalist Murray Engleheart, various quotes from AC/DC band members and Bon Scott hand written lyrics.

As Malcolm and Angus Young declared during the promotional interviews following the release of Bonfire, a new album should see the light during the second half of 1998. The next World Tour should begin at the dawn of 1999.

Stiff Upper Lip

Early 2000, and after the band have been rocking for over 26 years (!!!) they release the Stiff Upper Lip album. Produced by Young brother George, it again features a trademark stripped down bluesy sound ala "Powerage". Demand for the band hasn't waned, MTV had the band into the studio to talk to fans and perform a few select tracks live, the band made their first ever in store appearances to meet fans and in Spain they named a street in Madrid "AC/DC Street". This doesn't sound like a band on the way out or getting tired does it?

Sure as eggs is eggs, the band launched into a massive World Tour with the kind of gusto and vigor one might have expected 20 years earlier. Rave reviews, memorable performances and tens of thousands of happy fans are the norm for AC/DC and the schedule never seems to stop. No sooner have the band finished the USA tour and start the European leg, they announce dates in Australia and Japan. Japan is very significant as the band haven't been there for nearly 20 years!

One other new "phenomenon" for AC/DC is the Internet. From the mid 90's the band's activities have been followed, tracked, talked about and written about all over the Internet. For the first time on this album and tour has there been so much information available without having to rely on the radio or MTV. Let's face it, the band confess to not being media types so the Net is the perfect vehicle for them. Well....your reading this aren't you? Even though there is no official AC/DC website there are official WebPages hosted by the bands various record labels, East West, Alberts, EMI, etc..

The AC/DC Resource Centre (200 pages+ of content), Electric Shock and Rising Power sites are essential bookmarks for any fan. Each get over 150,000 visitors a year...that's not small fry is it? I bet you might even have seen pictures of this years stage set, I bet you might even know the set list or you've seen images of SUL merchandise or bought your AC/DC concert tickets online.

2001 will see the band return during the summer to play some very BIG open air festivals in the USA, Europe and god knows where else. Anyone who thinks this band are getting tired needs a head-check. I just can't wait to see what's coming in 2002!

Watch this space.....