The brothers Malcolm (*1953) and Angus Young (*1959) moved from Glasgow
to Australia, more precisely to Sydney, in 1963. Their older brother George
was a co-founder of the Easybeats and gave them the feeling for rock music
and guitar-playing. He helped them found AC/DC in 1973. They were influenced
by Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. Born in Scotland in 1946, Ron Scott
took over the drums in March 1974. Soon, they were looking for new members,
especially a singer. Bon Scott surprisingly managed to impose himself as
their lead vocalist. Philipp Rudd (born in 1954 as Philipp Witschke), drums,
joined them as well as bassist Mark Evans (*1956).
They rapidly became an Australian club attraction and their albums High
Voltage and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap as well as their single
TNT
came on the market. Their sound, based on tough Rhythm & Blues was
first to be heard in Europe in 1976. AC/DC had their commercial breakthrough
with the album Let There Be Rock (UK charts number 28) in 1977.
Between 1979 and 1981, their albums reached platinum several times in the
USA. They sold several million copies of the album Highway To Hell
(1979), USA number 22, UK number 10. Their singles Rock 'n' Roll Ain't
Noise Pollution,
Let's Get It Up and For Those About To Rock
rose in the British charts up to numbers 18, 14 and 13 respectively.
In February 1980, their singer Bon Scott was found dead in his car (he
had a drinking problem). Brian Johnson, a former singer in the teenie-band
Geordie joined them. In April and May 1980, AC/DC recorded the album Back
in Black. They sold over 12 million copies of it worldwide (number
3 in UK, 6 in the USA).
Up to the year 2000, AC/DC have sold about 85 million albums worldwide. Their
last album Ballbreaker (1995) was a (minor) success too. The singles
Hard
As A Rock and Hail Caesar rose to numbers 33 and 56 in UK. Their
new album Stiff Upper Lip (2000) is their first studio album in
more than four years. Today, the band is composed by Brian Johnson, vocals, Angus Young, guitar,
Cliff Williams, bass, Malcolm Young, guitar and Phil Rudd, drums. They still rock hard and loud, with their distinctive
mix of rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll. Stiff Upper Lip is
a solid album, but as often with AC/DC, most of the songs sound more or
less the same. Their fans will still like most of the tracks. With Meltdown,
House
of Jazz, Give It Up, Safe in New York City and the title
song Stiff Upper Lip, almost half the album is above average, on
the level of the best songs from Ballbreaker.
