The 1981 album Malcolm Young coudn’t stand recording with AC/DC: “It took us forever”
When AC/DC arrived on the rock scene they did so with the blunderbust of a canon aimed to the dome.
Any band that releases a blockbuster project usually falls prey to follow-up syndrome. It’s not a rare disorder, but the minute any act becomes the biggest thing since sliced bread, any musician is going to get that one nagging thought in their head that will hang around them for ages: “How the hell are we going to follow this up?”.
That question gets especially tricky when a group creates one of the best-selling albums ever made, and Malcolm Young went through massive headaches trying to get For Those About to Rock off the ground.
Part of the problem was that AC/DC had never really operated under that kind of pressure before. Their rise had been built on instinct, simplicity and a refusal to overthink what made them great in the first place. Suddenly, though, they were looking over their own shoulder, aware of expectations in a way that didn’t come naturally to a band whose entire identity was rooted in doing things the hard and loud way.
That shift in mindset can be dangerous for a group like AC/DC. The more you analyse a formula that once felt effortless, the easier it is to lose sight of why it worked at all. Instead of plugging in and letting the riffs do the talking, there’s a temptation to tinker, to refine, to chase something that can’t really be replicated. For a band that thrived on raw energy and conviction, that kind of second-guessing was always going to complicate the process.
At the same time, AC/DC wasn’t the kind of band known to have massive production behind them. Everything was in its right place whenever they made a record, but when Angus Young and Malcolm pound out the riffs, and Brian Johnson is screaming bloody murder across a song’s runtime, half of the hard work is already done.
Then again, Back in Black was always going to be a tough beast to outdo. It wasn’t only perfect from start to finish but also a tribute to Bon Scott’s memory, so any record that they put out afterwards wasn’t just going to have to be great. It would need to stand on its own and solidify the group as an act that can build off its momentum.
In fact, there are even a handful of works on For Those About to Rock that manage to outdo their predecessor. Say what you want about the ominous opening of ‘Hells Bells’, but the title track of the follow-up is one of the greatest pieces they have ever made. It starts with those quiet high notes and ramps it up to 11 by the time those gunshots ring out on the final verses.
But the headaches didn’t really come from the writing. The Young brothers could write those badass rock and roll riffs in their sleep half the time, but many of the pitfalls came down to overproduction. Since most of them were still looking at their last project and trying to beat it, they got bogged down by take after take trying to improve on their perfect formula.
According to Malcolm, only the title song survived those sessions unscathed, telling Louder, “It took us forever to make that record, and it sounds like it. It’s full of bits and pieces and it doesn’t flow properly like an AC/DC album should. There’s some good riffs on there, but there’s only one song we like, and that’s the title track. By the time we’d completed the album, it had taken so long, I don’t think anyone, neither the band nor the producer, could tell whether it sounded right or wrong. Everyone was fed up with the whole record.”
Granted, it’s not as much of a fireworks show as Back in Black is, but For Those About to Rock is still one of the better entries in the group’s catalogue. If anything, it seems to fit in that weird zone where there’s one massive hit and undiscovered deep cuts laced throughout the rest of the track listing that no one likes to talk about. Still, the long-awaited follow-up to Back in Black felt like the natural return to the swinging rock and roll tunes that most hardened AC/DC fans hadn’t seen since the likes of Powerage. The Aussie rockers had to fight tooth and nail to get there, but For Those About to Rock still managed to sound pretty damn effortless for how much labour they put into it.
