21 Super Cool AC/DC Facts, Members, Songs, And More

AC/DC is one of the most amazing hard rock bands from Australia.

Brothers Angus Young and Malcolm Young chose the band name after Margaret Young (older sister) spotted 'AC/DC' printed across a sewing machine. AC/DC stands for alternating current/direct current, which the brothers believed would signify the electric energy of their music.

In November 1973, Angus Young and Malcolm Young founded AC/DC and hired Dave Evans as lead singer, Larry Van Kriedt as bassist, and Colin Burgess as the drummer from Masters Apprentices. The legendary Australian roadman Ray Arnold and his partner Alan Kissack worked hard to make the group a raging success.

On New Year's Eve of 1973, the two men convinced Gene Pierson, Checkers' entertainment manager, to let the band play at a popular Sydney nightclub. The management filed a complaint against the band that it was too loud.

However, Pierson showed interest and continued to develop their stage shows. The band's initial line-up used to change frequently.

Colin Burgess was the first member to be fired, and several drummers and bassists joined the band the following year. Later on, Young Brothers decided not to keep Evans as the frontman for the band.

Instead, Gene Pierson brokered Bon Scott's arrangements to have him join as the lead singer. This shaped the overall sound of AC/DC.

AC/DC's first album was rejected by Rolling Stone magazine in 1976. 32 years later, in 2008, they appeared on the cover of the same Rolling Stone magazine.

AC/DC's last work with George Young was in 2000 when he produced the album' Stiff Upper Lip'. 'Stiff Upper Lip' is the 14th studio album by rock band AC/DC.

University of South Australia researchers who used music to help combat cancer found that playing the song 'Thunderstruck' during chemotherapy made the drug more effective. The vibrations of the song caused porous silicon microparticles to bounce within a polymer coating, improving the delivery of the chemo drug Camptothecin to cancer cells.

Brian Johnson is also an auto racing enthusiast who competes in American racing with his vintage cars while also taking part in retro and historical races. He has two vintage cars, one of them is a Royale RP – 4 and the other is a Pilbeam MP84.

In 2013, Australia Post gave AC/DC a postage stamp for the album cover of 'Black In Black'.

Angus tried many costumes, a few of them included Spider-Man, a gorilla, and Zorro, but Angus Young settled on a school uniform that became all the rage.

Australian fans gave AC/DC their own pronounced name, 'Acca-Dacca'.

There is a street in Melbourne named after AC/DC's and known as the ACDC lane.

Keep on reading to learn facts about AC/DC. Also, you can read our articles about Barak Obama and Albert Einstein facts.

AC/DC History

In the early days, Ronald Belford 'Bon' Scott replaced Dave Evans in September 1974. Bon was a veteran singer and friend of George Young. Scott was born in Scotland before immigrating to Australia as a child.

The band rewrote 'Can I Sit Next To You, Girl' and 'Rockin' in the Parlor', and Bon Scott was chosen to be in 'Can I Sit Next To You, Girl', and vocals were by Scott. In October 1974, the album 'High Voltage' was recorded in 10 days only for Australia.

The line-up of the band had stabilized within months, starring Scott, the Young brothers, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Mark Evans. They released the single later that year which became their eternal rock anthem, 'It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock' n' Roll)'.

Some of the fans were confused that 'High Voltage' was the title track for AC/DC's debut album since it was released as a single track before T.N.T.

was released. Still, these two albums didn't give AC/DC much exposure at the time.

Between 1974 and 1977, AC/DC on the nationally popular ABC television show, supported by regular appearances on Molly Meldrum's Countdown, became one of Australia's most popular and successful artists.

In 1976, they signed an international deal with Atlantic Records and toured throughout Europe, including their first UK tour, sponsored by Sounds magazine, called the 'Lock Up Your Daughters Summer Tour'. The band gained a lot of stadium experience.

AC/DC's first worldwide album was a 1976 compilation of songs by T.N.T. LPs and High Voltage.

The album, titled 'High Voltage' released on Atlantic Records, and three million copies have been sold worldwide to date, winning the band a following among the important British punk audience.

The next album by the band, 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap', was released in Australian and international versions that same year. 'Dirty Deeds' did not come out till 1981 in the United States.

At that time, the band was the most popular. After the 1977 recording of 'Let There Be Rock', Mark Evans was fired due to personal differences with Angus.

He was replaced by Cliff.

Mark Evans' autobiography released in 2011, 'DIRTY DEEDS: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC' that focuses on his time in AC/DC, including the influence of his firing on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands that arose in the late 1970s.

In 2007, critics noted that the band, along with Scorpions, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, and UFO, were the second generation of rising stars who stepped into the abyss as the old guard grew weak.

The first discovery of AC/DC in America was in 1977 on the Michigan AM 600 WTAC radio broadcast.

AC/DC has been associated by the British press with the development of underground rock. However, their position found a way to contain the turmoil of the late 1970s.

The arrival of Powerage in 1978 marked the rise of bassist Cliff and followed the Let There Be Rock charts with heavier riffs. Powerage is the newest collection from Harry Wanda and George Young, which features lead vocals by Bon Scott and is considered the most underrated AC/DC collection.

Scott made 'Whole Lotta Rosie' a hit with his voice. The leap forward in the band's vocation occurred in collaboration with Mutt Lange in 1979.

The 'Highway to Hell' collection ushered AC/DC to the highest level of hard rock artistry.

Highway to Hell has lyrics that shift from a sloppy and goofy theme to a more focused rock theme, with a greater emphasis on sponsor vocals, but they incorporate AC/DC's unique sound, loud, simple, thumping riffs and cut to a rhythm.

The final song, 'Night Prowler', has two consecutive breaths at the beginning of the melody to create a tone of fear and contempt.

In the early 1980s, the band began working on another collection that would eventually become Back in Black, but Bon Scott would never see them again. The Back in Black tour was from 1980-1981.

On February 19, 1980, Scott got into a vehicle and returned to friend Alistair Kinnear's house after spending a night with alcohol at the Music Machine club in London. Kinnear took him to the hospital from his home, where Scott was pronounced dead.

The official cause of death was listed as 'acute alcohol poisoning'.

Scott's family buried him in Fremantle, Western Australia, the region they immigrated to when he was a child. AC/DC in March replaced Scott with Brian Johnson, who wrote the lyrics to 'You Shook Me All Night Long'.

In the United States, only the Back in Black album has sold more than 10 million copies. The band's heyday as a live band was from the early to mid-1980s. Then, there were several personnel changes.

With Flick of the Switch, AC/DC's advertising position began to decline, and they failed to reverse their skating on The Razor's Edge from 1990, which spawned the hit "Thunderstruck". Their 16th album, 'Ballbreaker' was released at the end of 1995. In early 2000, grasping the upper lip was followed by similar results.

AC/DC Members

Initial AC/DC band members were Bon Scott, who was the vocalist from 1974-1980, Mark Evans, who played bass guitar from 1973-1977, Simon Wright, who played drums from 1984-1989. Chris Slade, who played drums from 1989-1994.

Current members of the AC\DC band are Angus Young as lead guitarist from 1973, Malcolm Young playing rhythm guitar from 1973, Brian Johnson giving vocals from 1980, Phil Rudd playing drums from 1973-1983, 1994, and Cliff Williams as the bass guitarist from 1978.

AC/DC Songs

Here are the 10 greatest songs by the rock band AC/DC:

'Back In Black' is the title track from the 1980 album AC/DC. It was the band's first album with new vocalist Brian Johnson since Bon Scott's death.

Some songs cause a frenzy, like 'Thunderstruck'. It is known as one of the greatest intros in rock'n'roll history.

The song 'You Shook Me All Night' was released by Back in Black in the 1980s and was one of AC/DC's biggest hits.

'Hell's Bells' appeared on Back In Black and is one of AC/DC's most iconic songs. The legendary bell intro and its tracks are hugely popular at sporting events.

'T.N.T' is one of the band's most famous songs from the Bon Scott era.

'Moneytalks' was released in 1991 and is part of 'The Razor's Edge'. It was a commercial hit and also appeared on AC/DC Live, which was released in 1992.

'Rock N Roll Train' is probably the most popular song released by AC/DC this century. It was from the album Black Ice, their first single since 2008, and became a #1 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart.

'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' is the title track of the 1976 AC/DC release. The song was released on AC/DC Live in 1992 with Brian Johnson on vocals.

'If You Want Blood You've Got It' is from the live album Live at River Plate (1979)

'For Those About To Rock' was released in 1981.

When did AC/DC end?

Recently, it seemed like the end of the classic rock band. In 2014, the band's founder, Malcolm Young, had to leave the group because he was struggling with dementia. He later died in 2017.

He was succeeded by his nephew, Stevie Young. In 2014, drummer Phil Rudd left the band due to drug possession and other charges.

In 2016, singer Brian Johnson had to leave the band after suffering from severe hearing loss. Due to his health problems, bassist Cliff Williams also left. The continuous tragic deaths of the members of the band were one of the reasons for ending the band.

Two years later, Johnson had to cancel the tour due to hearing loss and was replaced by Axl Rose. Williams announced his retirement in 2016 after the Rock or Bust tour ended.

AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. The chaotic series of events left Angus Young and his nephew Stevie wondering if the band would ever reunite. They did soon reunite, and the band is touring even today, as of 2021!

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for AC/DC facts, then why not take a look at ABBA facts or Apollo 11 facts.