Back In Black is many things. With more than 50 million units shifted, it is the biggest selling rock album of all time. For many, it is also the greatest hard rock record ever made. It was the album that turned AC/DC into superstars, and it has been inspiration to countless rock bands for 40 years, from Def Leppard to Metallica, Guns N’ Roses to The Darkness.
Most remarkable of all is what Back In Black represents on a human level, for AC/DC’s greatest success followed their darkest hour: the death of their singer Bon Scott. Most bands would have been broken by such a loss. But with Back In Black – “our tribute to Bon,” as lead guitarist Angus Young called it – AC/DC pulled off the greatest comeback in rock history. It is, in the words of Slash, “One of the huge Cinderella stories of rock’n’roll.”
In January 1980, when Angus and his elder brother Malcolm, the band’s rhythm guitarist, first began work on the album with Bon Scott in London, they knew they were on to something big. In the seven years since AC/DC had formed in Sydney, Australia – with Angus, dressed for the stage in his old schoolboy uniform, an unlikely looking guitar hero – they had built up a strong international following via relentless touring and a series of brilliant, balls-out albums, including Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock and Powerage, the latter a favourite of Keith Richards. But it was with 1979’s Highway To Hell that they had a major breakthrough, their first million-seller. And in the new songs they demoed in London, with Bon playing drums, as he had done as a young man in his first groups back in Australia, there was such potential that Bon had told his mother Isa in a phone call: “This one is going to be it!”
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Denne historien er fra August 2020-utgaven av Total Guitar.
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"You Can Imagine a Song in a Completely Different Genre" - The mysterious Lord Phobos, guitarist for TWRP, has covered everything from disco to Def Leppard in his collaborations with tongue-in-cheek duo Ninja Sex Party.
The mysterious Lord Phobos, guitarist for TWRP, has covered everything from disco to Def Leppard in his collaborations with tongue-in-cheek duo Ninja Sex Party. He explains what makes a great cover version - and reveals the one guitar and the one pedal he couldn't live without...
Some Things You Want to Tweak and Make Your Own- How the Foos' Chris Shiflett reworked two rock classics on his recent solo EP
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Into the groove with Giacomo Turra, the Italian guitarist who made his name covering classics by Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars and more... Born in Milan, his funk guitar sensibility can be traced back to the dance studio where his mother taught, and the tunes he heard blasting out of her boombox. "I like to experiment with a lot of genres, but the really interesting thing for me is I really grew up on funk, and a little bit of jazz and fusion music," he says.
- Try out these creative tips and make your cover versions stand out
Try out these creative tips and make your cover versions stand out
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The most powerful amp modeller for its size, bar none
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