The history of AC/DC began back in 1973. One decade earlier, in 1963, the Young family emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland, to Australia where brothers Angus and Malcolm Young started working more actively on music. After playing with various rock bands in the region, they decided to form their own band in November 1973. AC/DC were created under the line-up of the 2 brothers on guitars, Dave Evans on vocals, Larry Van Kriedt on bass and drummer Colin Burgess. The history wants their sister, Margaret Young, suggesting the name of the band when she saw it written on a label of a sewing machine. It was also her idea the classic appearance of Angus on stage in the school uniform (after he had tried several others).

With this line-up AC/DC performed their first gig at Chequers Club in Sydney in 1973, on New Year's Eve. Then, several changes in the line-up of the band followed. Eventually, the band signed its first contract with the Albert Records (distributed by EMI) and recorded its first single entitled "Can I Sit Next to You, Girl". In September 1973, Bon Scott replaced Dave Evans on vocals and the band re-recorded their first single.  In late 1974, AC/DC recorded their debut album entitled "High Voltage" which was released only in Australia. The recording process took only 10 days. The production of the record was done by Harry Vanda and George Young (the biggest brother of Angus and Malcolm), who both did the production of all the albums of the band until 1978. "High Voltage" was released in January 1975 and a few months later the band’s line-up stabilized with the addition of Mark Evans on bass and Phil Rudd on drums. In the same year they released only in Australia and New Zealand their second album "T.N.T.", which contains the classics "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", which was the single of the album, "T.N.T." and "High Voltage".

In 1976, AC/DC made a big step for their career and club moved to the capital of England, London. Within a short period of time, they managed to fill the Marquee during their gigs, a fact that did not get past by Atlantic Records, that offered them their first big contract and released the compilation album "High Voltage", which contains the best moments from the 2 previous albums. The band was determined to go on this way and, that year, they released their new album "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" in Australia, England and the rest of Europe.

But the record was released in the U.S. only much later, in 1981, when the band had reached the zenith of its career. The next album of AC/DC "Let There Be Rock" was released in June 1977 and it was followed by the tour with Black Sabbath, which helped them to become even more famous among the hard rock fans. After recording the album, bass player Mark Evans was removed from the band due to personal differences with Angus Young. His replacement was found in the person of Cliff Williams, who has been their bass player since then. His entrance to the band was more than great, as he co-operated perfectly with M. Young and P. Rudd and the rhythm section of the band sounded more solid than ever. With this line-up, the band released their album "Powerage" in 1978. Only one single named "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" was released from the album and this single gave them their highest position in the UK chart until then at # 24. The band went on through intensive touring and even recorded the live show at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow and thus released their first live album ever, entitled "If You Want Blood You've Got It".

But the major breakthrough in the career of AC/DC came in 1979. That year the band released “Highway to Hell", under the production of Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The album received good reviews and led the band for the first time the in the top 100 of the US charts reaching # 17 and # 8 in the UK. "Highway to Hell" is considered as their best album in the 70’s with which AC/DC established themselves as one of the best hard rock bands.

Unfortunately, the decade of the 80’s started with the worst possible way for the band. On 19^th of February, 1980, Bon Scott was found dead after a wild night of heavy drinking in London. Bon vomited in his sleep, but due to the way he was twisted as he slept he choked on his vomit. He was only 33 years old...

Bon's death was huge tragedy but AC/DC finally decided to continue and soon they found a suitable replacement. Brian Johnson who was singing before with Geordie became the new singer of the band. So, AC/DC, with Johnson on vocals and Robert John "Mutt" Lange again in charge of the production, recorded "Back in Black" in April 1980. "Back in Black", which was a tribute to Bon Scott, was released in July 1980 and was accepted with enthusiasm both by audience and critics. The album became platinum a year after its release and reached # 1 in the UK charts and # 4 in the US charts,  receiving huge success. Up to date, it has sold over 22 million copies only in the U.S.  and more than 44 million worldwide, which makes it the fifth highest-selling album ever in the US and the second highest-selling album ever worldwide.

In November 1981, AC/DC released the successor of "Back in Black", "For Those About to Rock We Salute You", which sold very well and received good reviews. The album reached # 3 in the UK charts and # 1 in the US charts and contained two of the most popular singles of the band,   "Let's Get It Up" and "For Those About to Rock". It is worth mentioning that this was the last album with Lange in production. Next year we have some major turn-ups, with Rudd leaving the band after recording their next album and being replaced by Simon Wright. In August 1983 "Flick of the Switch" was released with the band doing the production. The album, however, disappointed the audience and the critics and it was much less successful than the previous. The downward track of the band continued with "Fly on the Wall" being released in June 1985 and being produced again by the band, while it was even less successful than the previous. In 1987 "Who Made Who" was released, which contained 6 previously released songs and only 3 new, while it became the soundtrack for Stephen King's film "Maximum Overdrive".

1988 marks the return of AC/DC on the top. "Blow Up Your Video", produced by their original producers Harry Vanda and George Young, reaches # 2 in the UK charts and # 12 in the US charts. During the tour that followed, Malcolm Young leaves temporarily in order to recover from alcoholism and his nephew Stevie Young took his place for the rest of the tour. After the tour, the line-up of the band changed with Simon Wright leaving to join Dio. Chris Slade, who previously played in The Firm of Rodgers and Page, filled the gap behind the drums. Their next album "The Razors Edge" was released in September and it was produced by Bruce Fairbain. The album was a great success and with singles such as the classics "Thunderstruck" and "Moneytalks", it reached # 4 in the UK charts and # 2 in the US charts. Several shows of the tour that followed were recorded for their live album entitled "Live" which was released in 1992. A year later, the band recorded "Big Guns" for the soundtrack of the movie "Last Action Hero", which was the first single of the band that reached # 1 in the US Mainstream Rock chart. 1994 is another important year for the band. Drummer Phil Rudd returns to the band after 11 years, contributing to the reunion of the 1980-83 line-up. This leads to the recording of the album "Ballbreaker", which was released in 1995, with Rick Rubin doing the production, and reached good chart positions. It took the band no less than five years to release in 2000 their next record "Stiff Upper Lip", produced by George Young. The album received better reviews than the previous one and good reviews, while the title-track remained at # 1 in the US Mainstream Rock chart for 4 weeks.

In 2003, AC/DC were inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame which is one of the major prominences of the band. After that, we have the longest absence of the band from the discography, until 2008. In October 2008, AC/DC released their 15th studio album entitled "Black Ice". The album became immediately a huge success reaching # 1 in the UK and US charts and selling around 1,762,000 copies in its first week of release.

Ultimately, words are not enough to describe AC/DC and what they have done through their career. For more than 30 years, they have been and still are one of the greatest bands in the history of hard rock, significantly influencing many musicians and the evolution of the genre. This band is a living legend and it continues up to our days to amaze, to fascinate and to create good music.

...For Those About To Rock, We Salute You...