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Back in Black

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Back in Black is the seventh studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in July 1980 (see 1980 in music). It is also AC/DC's sixth international studio album. All songs were written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Brian Johnson.

Back in Black was the first AC/DC album recorded without former lead singer Bon Scott, who died unexpectedly in February 1980. The band considered disbanding following Scott's death, but ultimately decided to continue and shortly thereafter hired Johnson as their new lead singer and lyricist. Though the Young brothers had begun work on their next studio album prior to Scott's death, and Scott had written lyrics for potential new songs, the decision was made to redo the album from scratch upon hiring Johnson. Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who previously worked with AC/DC on Highway to Hell, was again brought in to produce.

Designed as a tribute to Scott, and built on a theme of mortality and hedonism, the resulting album contained some of AC/DC's biggest hits, including the title track, "Hells Bells", "You Shook Me All Night Long," and many others. It went on to become AC/DC's most popular album and the second biggest selling album of all time, with more than 40 million copies sold worldwide. In 2005 Back in Black was certified by the RIAA as the fifth best-selling album in the United States, tying it with Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & II with 21 million copies sold.

The album was remastered and re-released three times. First in late 1994, then again in the Bonfire box set (1997), and as part of the AC/DC Remasters Series (2003). In addition, a Dualdisc version was released in 2005, featuring the album in enhanced LPCM Stereo format and the video documentary The Story of Back in Black.

Contents

Track listing

  1. "Hells Bells" – 5:12
  2. "Shoot to Thrill" – 5:17
  3. "What Do You Do for Money Honey" – 3:35
  4. "Givin' the Dog a Bone" – 3:31
  5. "Let Me Put My Love into You" – 4:15
  6. "Back in Black" – 4:15
  7. "You Shook Me All Night Long" – 3:30
  8. "Have a Drink on Me" – 3:58
  9. "Shake a Leg" – 4:05
  10. "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" – 4:16

Credits

Production

Chart positions

Australian album chart                         No. 1 [link]
United Kingdom album chart                     No. 1 [link]
Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album 
1980   Pop Albums                      No. 4
1990   The Billboard 200               No. 126
Billboard (North America) - singles 
1980    You Shook Me All Night Long     Pop Singles           No. 35
1981	Back in Black	                Mainstream Rock	      No. 51
1981	Hells Bells	                Mainstream Rock	      No. 50
1981	Shoot to Thrill	                Mainstream Rock	      No. 60
1981	Back in Black	                Pop Singles           No. 37

Tribute albums

There have been some interesting tribute albums released that have been entirely dedicated to Back in Black - one example being Back in Baroque... The String Tribute to AC/DC released in 2003. U.S. death metal outfit Six Feet Under released their second covers album Graveyard Classics 2 in 2004, which was also an entire remake of Back in Black.

Trivia

External links

 

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