The Most Successful Rock Album of All Time: Back in Black

It sold 2x as much as "Abbey Road!"

I was so excited to start writing about alternative rock. But the god of rock (devil?) visited me in a dream, and told me to take off my nerdy glasses and throw a 🤘 in the air.

“Nay,” she said, “The people need to hear about AC/DC.”

So strap in, crack a Fosters, wrestle a ‘croc, punch a ‘roo, lose a war to an emu, and spend a few minutes listening to Australia’s national heroes.

Why Should I Care?

This is literally the most commercially successful rock album of all time.

50 million sold. The people loved it. (And it’s great.) So shut up, Joey, you’ve barely touched your bloomin’ onion. Dig in and listen to some unadulterated ROCK.

It’s actually Bloomin’ Wednesday!

Press play.

Hells Bells

The album begins with ominous church bells. It reminds of Black Sabbath. The biblical, demonic, dark, dangerous nature of rock from its very birth. It’s the same energy in Elvis’ hips — it’s made to scare parents.

The lead guitar, played by Angus, hammers on upbeats as the ride cymbal marks the downbeats. They argue over which beat hold primacy.

And here he is. Angus Young:

His brother, Malcolm, is a vastly underrated rhythm guitarist (potentially the best true rock rhythm guitarist of all time? Come at me like a man down under!). He punctuates the rhythms in a surprisingly clean tone, inviting the listener in… it’s actually not too scary here. It’s funkay. But not too funkay.

The groove continues with Paul Rudd — sorry — Phil Rudd continuing a surprisingly slow, driving pace. The bassist, Cliff Williams, is nearly transparent here, just providing heft and pushing the simple driving beat forward. (Admission: I did have to Google Cliff’s name. Sorry, Cliff.)

The vocalist, Brian Johnson, tears through the mix, with a voice straight out of hell. And just when his voice is starting to grate, Malcom enters with his smooth, rounded background vocals until the band takes over again with a unabashedly simple and tight rock-dance-break.

Here’s the most iconic picture of the band:

Something about the scowl + the smile capture the energy of this goofy but dangerous group

Notice how guitars break their upbeat patterns in the pre-chorus (the part before they sing “Hells Bells”)? That creates tension. As those upbeats disappear, the grove becomes caveman-like, pushing you, driving you, towards a relief of the re-arrival of the chorus, of the upbeats. That prechorus from 1:45 to 2:02 is long, intentionally. It makes the payoff sweeter. It’s a technique from pop. And this album is nothing but popular!

And then the solo! Angus is like the Mozart of guitar solos. (Quote me on that, Bogan.)

I say this because he represents a synthesis. In that I mean, he takes all that came before him across every guitar solo prior, from Freebird to Stairway to Heaven, and like some sort of AI-based lead guitar superintelligence, recombines the riffs and licks into one slick solo.

It’s played cleaner than anything Jimmy Page ever played, but less intense than anything Jimi ever did. It works. It’s a masterclass in what rock lead guitar is.

That’s why every guitar student I’ve ever had that says, “I want to learn how to do a solo” learns some Angus.

Shoot to Thrill

While Hells Bells was dark like Black Sabbath, Shoot to Thrill is blues rock with a similar driving beat. There’s no swing here. It’s straight up. It’s a bar fight.

And its long, open chords are made for stadiums. Think hair metal without too much hair.

I got the gun at the ready, gonna fire at will, yeaaaaaah

It’s not complicated. But it’s not scared. It’s silly but it’s pissed off.

It’s like an NYC gang in the 1970s:

Warriors… come out to plaaaaay

Hear the pick scrapes? (The dramatic flourish at 2:26.)

Sick.

That’s just enough chaos to pull you in. AC/DC is a clean, almost perfectionist rock band with just the right dash of noise — like a splash of Jack Daniel’s in a coke. Their pick scrapes are like applying punctuation, mirroring the squeaks and squeals of the chaotic vocals in the guitars. In fact, that might be the reason why the band is so tight; they’re making room for the huge personalities of Brian Johnson and Angus when he steps into the spotlight for his (many) guitar solos. They’re framing the stars and keeping the groove.

Malcom lays down chords, dancing with the drums and bass. And speaking of bass, Cliff Williams steps out a bit, playing this song like a blues jam, with a more walking bassline that adds just enough chromaticism and movement to keep it grooving and interesting. The chord that plays at each turnaround — hear it at 2:55 (it’s a dominant seventh sharp ninth chord) — was Jimi Hendrix’s favorite chord. It’s a staple of blues rock, once again with just enough tension (the sharp 9) pushing the listener to the resolution at the next section. It keeps the train moving and the listener engaged.

What Do You Do for Money Honey?

Cliff keeps the bass grooving on eighth notes here, but the guitars get funkier, punctuating a syncopated beat. Phil Rudd keeps plowing along. The chorus drops like a honkey tonk banger. The guitars are huge, but something about this song (probably the space created by the guitars not playing the whole time), makes it more intimate.

I guess it’s an intimate subject after all…

Giving the Dog a Bone

This is the blues without swing. It’s straight up, with punching, almost militant drums. A march. Another dose of the same formula. The people are loving it.

Let Me Put My Love Into You

This song has no business being this funky. The low notes hit like church bells, calling back to the opening track. But this one is a strut.

Let me cut your cake with my knife, oh

What a hilarious lyric.

Let me put my love into you, babe

Oh, that’s even funnier. No wonder hair metal was the next big thing.

Side note: This must have been so exhausting to sing.

Back in Black

After one of the silliest songs of all time, here’s one of rock’s greatest riffs. I remember the first time I nailed it. I felt like a rock god. It’s deceptively hard to sit in the pocket, to get the exact pull offs, the tone. It’s like a Rubik’s cube, simple but daunting.

Part of the allure of this song (and this band) is how they processed the passing of their lead singer, Bon Scott. It’s an intensely raw and brutal reality, that they somehow turned into inspiration, with the title track on this album specifically penned to celebrate Bon’s life through a rock ‘n’ roll celebration.

Brian Johnson recalled, “I remember Back in Black was particularly difficult because the boys were saying, ‘Listen we want this song in memory of Bon, but we don’t want it to be sad or maudlin, we want it to be a good thing, positive song.’”

So next time you’re at karaoke, pour one out for Bon and put this gem of a song on. I want to hear your best Brian Johnson squeal.

You Shook Me All Night Long

Another mandatory song for any guitar learner! It combines simple chords with strong rhythms against a steady (and once again) driving drum beat.

This album is TIGHT.

The chorus for the song erupts in 80s power. It’s gang vocals. A wall of sound that would pave the way for Def Leppard and a million copies.

And while AC/DC is a pretty derivative band themselves, they synthesized rock in a way others simply could not. They were Mozart.

(Though that said, I don’t love Mozart. Respect and enjoy, but don’t love. Shout out to Beethoven, Chopin, and Schubert. Schubert Doobert.)

Have a Drink on Me

This riff could just as well be a ZZ Top song. I think that’s one of my favorite things about this album. They managed to straighten out the blues. The rhythm is evenly subdivided, not swinging, but not robotic. It still grooves.

It’s masculine, but sorta in the same way that hyper-masculinity can be funny. It’s almost a parody of itself. But not quite. I think that’s the magic of this album. It lives on a knife’s edge, and it’s held together through impeccable musicianship, recording, and mixing. You can’t help but raise your Fosters into the air and say, “Have a drink on me!” A pub song for the stadium! Silly but dangerous!

Shake a Leg

Just when you think it’s about to swing. NO. Shake your leg up and down not side to side. You’re supposed to dance a very specific way to this. It’s stiff, but in a way, much of the 80s was pretty stiff.

Did this record pave the way for the primacy of the drum machine? I think so!

And the guitar lines (around 2 mins in) are kinda like Footloose. A harbringer of the type of linear guitar riffs to come!

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

This song employs hybrid picking. Hybrid picking is a right hand technique on the guitar, employing both a pick and your fingers. It lets you control the dynamics a little bit, making the strings a bit more or less distorted by how hard you strike them. The fingers bite less than the pick since they’re squishier.

This is partly why the intro feels so sentimental. The other reason is that it feels almost too slow. I’d imaging that’s the producer (John "Mutt" Lange) being the genius he is.

It’s swagger, but still pretty straight. At least to my ears. To be fair, I’m several Fosters deep at this point. (Just kidding, I can’t even finish this one.)

My favorite part of this song is the statement. It ties AC/DC into the whole past that they’re built on. (And all of the History of Rock posts I’ve done so far.)

Rock and roll is just rock and roll, yeah

Encore

So this next cut isn’t on Back in Black, but I can’t leave our section on AC/DC without sharing their most electric song with one of their most epic music videos. This comes ten years after the album, but the band is at its peak. I think it paints the picture.

Enjoy the thunder from down under:

Another fun comparison before we go is Chuck Berry’s stage presence with Angus Young. There’s definitely some similarity. Another through-line in the history of rock!

Maybe the rock gods will let me write about alt rock now. We’ll see.

Thanks for reading, internet friend,

Scoob.pizza

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P.S. If you’re so inclined, keep up with all the things Love Music More by subscribing to this Substack’s companion podcast. And be sure to read the other posts about the History of Rock!