Significant longplayers from yesteryear

25 July 2025

Australian hard rock champions AC/DC released their 7th LP,
named BACK IN BLACK on 25 July 1980, today 45 years ago
today.

It was the first album with vocalist Brian Johnson following the tragic death
of mad frontman Bon Scott in January 1980. After Scott‘s funeral on 1 March,
the band immediately began auditions for a replacement frontman

According to co-founder and guitarist Angus Young, the album’s all-black cover
was a “sign of mourning” for Scott. Atlantic Records (idiots) disliked the cover, but
accepted it, on the condition that the band put a grey outline around the AC/DC
logo.

By 2024, the blockbuster album has sold over 50 million
copies worldwide (27 million in the US). Historic numbers.

Pitchfork said: “The album didn’t signify any sort of change or cultural marker.
It instead proved the power of stasis, of doing something well, then doing it again
but louder and with more money. In a sense, the success of Back in Black helped
predict the current reboot moment: Give the people what they want, but more.

As ever, AC/DC were their own best messengers for this simple idea, laid bare in
the final moments of their most famous work: “Rock’n’roll ain’t no riddle, man.”

Young: “We’re a rock group. we’re noisy, rowdy, sensational and weird.”

Singles: You Shook Me All Night Long / Hells Bells / Back In Black

– HELLS BELLS –

– YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG –

– BACK IN BLACK –

ALBUM

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