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 emigrated 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

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

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

Granddady'. In fact, George and Harry didn't take the project very seriously

so they though 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

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 determined 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 naivety 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!

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, Russel Coleman and Peter Clack whilst Rob Bailey replaced Larry

Van Knedt on bass.

In June 1974, AC/DC record 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 the band around,

a guy called Ronald Belford Scott, know 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

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

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

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)' that 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

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 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

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 DJs 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.

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 on 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, 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 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.

'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 which 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 October. 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 sounds

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 at 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 canceled 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...

"Body of 33-year old Bon Scott was found dead last night in a parked car in

Dulwich, South London"

On Tuesday, February 19, Bon Scott went to tour manager Ian Jeffrey's house

for dinner, leaving at about 6.30 p.m. 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 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.

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 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.

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 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

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 his 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'.

After touring the most of 1982, the band took a long break. It was several

months before AC/DC start 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'. 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 lengthy break...

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 six 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.

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

At the end of the tour, the band took a two-month break before beginning the

recording sessions for their next album.

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'. In the US,

meantime, 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

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

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 AC/DC

songs off 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 up at the end of the year.

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 the 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 were 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 28 that

The Moscow concert was presented as a "celebration of democracy and freedom"

staged as a gift to 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.

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 versions (a fourteen-song

single CD, a specially packaged twenty-three-song double CD and a

twenty-three-song 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 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 Atlantic 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 a 84-minute documentation of the historic Moscow

show, featuring footage from all the bands on the bill: AC/DC, Metallica,

At the dawn of 1995, rumours spread that Phil Rudd was back in the band. At

the end of the last tour, Malcolm and Angus met Phil Rudd in New Zealand.

Phil asked if there was any chance of playing with the band again. So, when

the band were rehearsing in England in early 1995, they asked him to sit

down on the drums.

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 find 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 midair 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 Ballbreaker world tour began in the States on January 12 in Greensboro,

North Carolina, with The Poor as support act. But only two weeks after the

beginning of the American tour, the band was forced to cancel four dates,

because of the unexpected 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. He was back for the Oakland show on February 3.

The American part of the Ballbreaker tour ended in Dallas on April 4. 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. The European part of the Ballbreaker tour ended on July

13 in Bordeaux, France, with a small festival with the French band

Silmarils, The Wildhearts and Brazilian trashers Sepultura.

For more details on AC/DC's history, have a look at the following books:

Hell Ain't No Bad Place To Be by Richard Bunton

Shock To The System by Mark Putterford

AC/DC - The world's most electrifying rock'n'roll band! by Malcolm Dome

AC/DC - The World's Heaviest Rock by Martin Huxley