The Back In Black album has sold more than 50 million copies (AC/DC's biggest hit) and, of course, the title track has a lot to do with that. Leading lyric: "Sound of the drums / Beating in my heart / The thunder of guns / Tore me apart / You've been thunderstruck"įollowing the tragic death of Bon Scott, the Young brothers pulled off the biggest comeback in the history of rock'n'roll. Dropped in 1990 when the band were beginning to struggle with striking new hits, it brought them right back on the mark through its totally vicious nature. It's the most recent of their songs in our top ten, but its high ranking is faithful. Evidently building up suspense, it works well to introduce an outpouring of pounding chords and screeching vocals. As for the lyrics, it's just a single word, "Thunder", chanted for the first minute of the song. The starting point for this track was actually fright – you know that jumpy feeling when someone surprises you out the blue, but you're pleasantly into it? That's the vibe. Apparently, Angus Young created that distinctive beginning by taping up all of the strings on his guitar apart from B. Possibly the greatest opening to an AC/DC song, "Thunderstruck" instantly calls you in through its rolling riff – one that paves the way for a musicalised celebration of fun and freedom. Record players at the ready, our countdown to No1 is about to start rolling. So in honour of one of their most praised albums, Highway To Hell, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, we've dissected the band's entire discography and ranked their ten best songs. The death of original vocalist Bon Scott in 1979 was a tragedy for the founding Young brothers, but they then brought in Brian Johnson for "Back In Black", and across 40 years have continued to soundtrack their raw perceptions of life. That success stems from their openness to changing up members. It was a pure attack on past modes of sound and in less than seven years, it brought them world domination.Īs it now stands, AC/DC have sold more than 200 million records worldwide. They devoted themselves to rock'n'roll as though it were their religion and unlike other composers of the same style their songs screamed with controversial biblical references, backed by screeching guitar riffs and mega heavy drums. So what made AC/DC different? Well, their view of the genre.
Granted, they'd been absorbed by a fair few musicians in the Sixties too. Short for "alternating current/direct current", there was an immediate attraction to the power play of the AC/DC initials, and not long after, boom: they conceived the branding for a rock'n'roll band.ĪC/DC devoted themselves to rock'n'roll as though it were their religionīy this day and age, the words "rock'n'roll" feel a bit overused. On a normal day in their family home, they spotted some initials on their sister's sewing machine. The siblings had a natural flair for playing guitar (electric kind). They first formed in 1973, when two Scottish-born brothers – Malcolm and Angus Young – translated their cultural shift from Scotland to Australia into hardcore rock music.
AC/DC are a leading example in that category.
But some bands, though glorified by the pinnacle years from when they first "made it", have continued to compose against the grain of time. The Doors were the countercultural symbol of the late Sixties, The Clash were purveyors of punk in the Seventies and The Smiths, as the eulogists of independence in the disco-dominated Eighties. Record players at the ready, our countdown to No1 is about to start rolling.Ī lot of the world's greatest rock bands are defined by a decade. Forty years on from the album that birthed worldwide success for AC/DC, we've dissected the rock band's entire discography and ranked their ten best songs.
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