96.7 KCMQ Classic Rock Mid-Missouri's Classic Rock
The 40th Anniversary of AC/DC‘s ‘Back In Black’ album is this Saturday, July, 25th. To celebrate, we have the top 5 facts you might not know about one of the greatest albums ever made!
Top 5 Facts You May Not Know About ‘Back In Black’
1. The Band Made Their Own Bell
The introduction to the album is “Hells Bells” which features a bell chime. The band had some difficulties recording the sound of a bell from a nearby church, so they commissioned their own 2,000-pound brass bell. The same bell had become a staple at their live shows.
2. Back In Black’s Riff Was a Warm-Up for Angus Young
The title track’s iconic riff was several years old by the time of the album’s release. Angus would use the riff as a way of warming up before gigs.
3. Tribute to the late Bon Scott
After the untimely death of lead singer Bon Scott, Angus and the rest of the band knew that he wouldn’t want them to stop playing. They hired Brian Johnson to take up the microphone and turned this album into a tribute to Scott, hence the ‘Black’ color to symbolize mourning.
4. The Album Was Not #1 in the U.S.
Despite the massive sales and the album reaching #1 in England, France, Canada, & Australia, it never reached that coveted spot in the U.S. The album peaked at #4 on the album charts and in re-released has never broken pass the #4 mark.
5. Black Hawk Down
In Somalia 1993, a pilot Michael Durant was shot down. Legs broken, shot, and struggling to survive behind enemy lines, his buddies strapped a loudspeaker to a helicopter and played it the “Hells Bells” while flying over the area where he went down. Durant heard the music and crawled to a window to flag down his rescue team.
