Trivia / AC/DC

The rock band

• Career Resurrection: It's no secret that the band hit a bit of a slump in The '80s, with 1983's Flick of the Switch and 1985's Fly on the Wall considered the band's low point, with nothing in the way of hit singles (that said, both albums have retroactively gained some defenders). By the time 1990's The Razor's Edge came along, featuring the hit "Moneytalks" as well as one of their signature songs, "Thunderstruck," AC/DC had regained their footing commercially and artistically.
• Chart Displacement:
  • Their best performer on the Hot 100 is "Moneytalks", which isn't even the best-known song on its album (that would be "Thunderstruck", which remains on setlists ever since).
  • Their second biggest hit in Australia and the UK is the largely forgotten "Heatseeker".
  • They hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart five times, but with songs from 1993 to 2020, and thus not as known as their earlier material.
• Creator Backlash: Their set-lists lack anything from between For Those About to Rock We Salute You and The Razor's Edge, "Who Made Who" being the lone exception.
• Died During Production: Bon Scott's tenure with the band ended with his "death by misadventure" in February 1980. Though the group considered splitting up, Bon's parents convinced them to keep going, saying Bon would've wanted them to. Scott was ultimately replaced by Brian Johnson.
• Executive Meddling:
  • The first few albums were released in US with messed up track-lists. The international version of High Voltage is essentially a scaled-down T.N.T. (1975) with two songs from the Australian High Voltage. A handful of early AC/DC songs were never officially released outside of Australia for many decades, and the band wouldn't be able to release the same studio album with the same track listing and artwork worldwide until Powerage.
  • Eddie Kramer, the first producer for the Highway to Hell album, wanted them to make disco music of all things.
  • They were forced to rewrite the lyrics to "The Jack" for the studio recording because the originals were considered too explicit.
  • Atlantic Records initially refused to release their third album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap in the US, which created a lot of stress and tension in the band when it was released in other territories since they were trying to break into the American market around that time, and it nearly caused them to break up. As a final horribly cynical slap in the face, Atlantic only released the album five years later after the death of the album's vocalist in order to capitalize on the band's enormous success with Back in Black.
• No Export for You: The original High Voltage and T.N.T. (1975) albums never saw a release outside Australia.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: At the 1974 Sunbury Music Festival, they got into a brawl with members of Deep Purple, and were happy for the publicity.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Brian Johnson for Bon Scott
  • Cliff Williams for Mark Evans
  • Stevie Young for his uncle Malcolm Young
  • First Simon Wright and then Chris Slade for Phil Rudd
  • Axl Rose for Brian Johnson^note  who was initially only absent temporarily for the latter half of the 2016 Rock or Bust tour, but was officially replaced by Rose full-time at said tour's end, though his time would ultimately become brief when Johnson was confirmed to return to the band in 2020.
  • Paul Greg also subbed in for Cliff in a few 1991 concerts where he had a kidney infection.
• The Pete Best:
  • Dave Evans, their first singer, who was ousted along with the group's early Glam Rock style.
  • Every bassist and drummer before Mark Evans and Phil Rudd. Hell, Evans himself could qualify, given Cliff Williams' longevity and popularity.
• Production Posse: Nearly all of their studio albums from Stiff Upper Lip onwards have been recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver under producer Brendan O'Brien (except for Stiff Upper Lip, which was produced by George Young).
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Despite his own international rockstar status, here on AC/DC, Axl Rose is this, being a long time fan of the band who got to cover the vocalist role after Brian Johnson went on hiatus.
  • Brian Johnson qualifies as well, since prior to joining the band, his band Geordie would cover an AC/DC song or two live, and he's on record saying he was a fan before they asked him to become their new vocalist.
• Rarely Performed Song: "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Want To Rock and Roll)" hasn't been played live by the band since Bon Scott's death in 1980. Brian Johnson considered it Bon's signature song and refused to perform it out of respect for his memory.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Once Phil Rudd got arrested in 2014, his "predecessor" Chris Slade was brought back to the band. Rudd cleaned up his act enough to rejoin for 2020's Power Up.
• Short-Lived, Big Impact: Even after Bon Scott drank himself to death in 1980, he's still fondly remembered as one of hard rock's most popular vocalists.
• Similarly Named Works: Neil Buchanan of Art Attack fame's Liverpudlian heavy metal band had to be renamed from AC/DC to Marseille when the Australian band started to get big in the UK.
  • Narrowly avoided with "Rock and Roll Train", which had the Working Title of "Runaway Train", after the lyrics of the chorus, until the band realized just how many other times that song title had been used by other artists.
• Troubled Production:
  • Rock or Bust due to Phil Rudd, according to Angus and Cliff.
  • For Those About to Rock (the entire album) suffered from this as well. Malcolm Young summarized it bluntly to Metal CD's Mark Blake during their November 1992 interview:
    Malcolm: I don't think anyone, neither the band or the producer, could tell whether it sounded right or wrong. Everyone was fed up with the whole album.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Steven Adler was going to join in 1990 after Simon Wright left, but the offer was withdrawn after Axl revealed onstage exactly why he was fired from Guns.
  • According to some of Bon Scott's old friends, shortly before his death he was talking about possibly quitting the band and starting up another group.

The pinball machine

• Descended Creator: Designer Steve Ritchie provides the voice of the demonic announcer.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition:
  • Along with the basic "Pro" version, AC/DC was initially available in a Premium Edition, a "Back In Black" Limited Edition, and a "Let There Be Rock" LE. These added an "Underworld" mini-playfield below the main table, LED lights, a moving bell, animated band members in the backbox, and a premium sound system.
  • The Limited Editions also include a shaker motor, custom mirrored backglass art, and laser-cut metalwork. Only 200 "Let There Be Rock" and 300 "Back In Black" machines were produced.
  • And then there's the 2014 "Luci" Premium Edition, an updated release with new backglass and cabinet art.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Unsurprisingly, the machine features twelve AC/DC songs.

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