What Does Ac/Dc Stand For Rock Band?

Is AC DC a hard rock band?

How AC/DC Became Australia’s Most Influential Heavy Metal Band AC/DC, the iconic Australian rock band, needs no introduction. The group was founded in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young and has achieved unparalleled success, selling over 200 million records worldwide.

Their music is often classified as hard rock, heavy metal, and blues rock, and their top hits like “Highway to Hell” and “Back in Black” have earned them a permanent place in music history.
In fact, the band’s popularity has even inspired an,
AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Steven Tyler, and they have entertained millions of fans throughout their career.

Whether you’re a long-time fan or just discovering their music, this article is perfect for those who want to learn more about their rise to glory.

Is ACDC a rock and roll band?

Consistency, thy name is AC/DC. Since 1975, the Australian band have churned out album after album full of scorched-earth, metallic hard rock which has rarely deviated from a template of headbanging-inducing guitar riffs, flashy drums and banshee-yell vocals.

What type of rock band is ACDC?

AC/DC, Australian heavy metal band whose theatrical high-energy shows placed them among the most popular stadium performers of the 1980s. The principal members were Angus Young (b. March 31, 1955, Glasgow, Scotland), Malcolm Young (b. January 6, 1953, Glasgow—d.

November 18, 2017, Sydney, Australia), Bon Scott (original name Ronald Belford Scott; b.
July 9, 1946, Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland—d.
February 21, 1980, London, England), Brian Johnson (b.
October 5, 1947, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England), Phil Rudd (original name Phillip Rudzevecuis; b.

May 19, 1954, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), and Cliff Williams (b. December 14, 1949, Romford, Essex, England). The Young brothers formed AC/DC in Sydney, Australia, in 1973 with Angus (famous for his schoolboy short-trousers outfit) on lead guitar and Malcolm on rhythm guitar.

The rest of the band’s lineup changed when the Youngs moved to Melbourne, and AC/DC’s blues -based records and live appearances made them favourites in Australia by the mid-1970s. The band relocated to London in 1976 and found success in Britain with Let There Be Rock (1977). After solidifying their lineup (with Scott as vocalist, Rudd on drums, Williams on bass, and the Youngs), the band recorded Highway to Hell (1979), which brought them international fame.

AC/DC’s rise was hampered by Scott’s alcohol-related death in February 1980, but replacement Johnson’s falsetto fit in well with the group’s tight, clean metal punch and their raucous bad-boy image. The band’s next album, Back in Black (1980), sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone, and For Those About to Rock (1981) was also a million-seller. Britannica Quiz 80s Music Quiz By the 1990s AC/DC found itself comfortably ensconced among the elder statesmen of heavy metal. The Razor’s Edge (1990) featured the hit singles “Thunderstruck” and “Moneytalks,” the latter of which reached number 23 on the Billboard chart, making it the group’s sole Top 40 single.

The band settled into a pattern of roughly two studio releases per decade, following The Razor’s Edge with Ballbreaker (1995), produced by Rick Rubin, and Stiff Upper Lip (2000), an album that attempted to capture the stadium-filling sound of the Back in Black era. After more than 30 years of producing some of the roughest and loudest head-banging anthems in heavy metal history, AC/DC scored its first Billboard number one album with Black Ice (2008).

The band reached another milestone in 2010 when it collected its first Grammy Award (in the category of best hard rock performance) for the single “War Machine.” Age began taking its toll on the band in subsequent years, leading to a series of lineup changes.

In 2014 AC/DC announced that founding member Malcolm Young had been diagnosed with dementia and had retired.
He was replaced by his nephew Stevie Young, whose first album with the band was Rock or Bust (2014), which achieved commercial success.
After Rudd’s 2014 arrest on drug and other charges, Chris Slade, who had earlier played with the band, took over as drummer.

Two years later Johnson was forced to stop touring because of hearing loss, and he was succeeded as vocalist by Guns N’ Roses front man Axl Rose, In 2016, after the Rock or Bust tour was completed, Williams announced his retirement. AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Who created the ACDC logo?

Here are 15 facts about the legendary AC/DC logo! – 1. When the band was founded in 1973, brothers Angus and Malcolm Young drew inspiration for their name from seeing the initials AC/DC on their sister’s sewing machine.2. Why AC/DC? The Young brothers felt it captured the energy of the music they wanted to create. 3. Their first album High Voltage (1975) was an Australia exclusive and featured Angus Young in his classic school uniform outfit front and center of the cover artwork. What it didn’t feature was the logo they’re known for. 4. The band went with a spray paint stencil look for TNT, their second album, but were still honing in on the idea of the high voltage sign splitting the lettering. 5. AC/DC’s third studio album, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976), took a different approach with the logo. Gone was the lightning and raw look of the previous albums, looking something more like it came straight out of the Miami Vice collection. 6. It wasn’t until their fourth studio album, Let There Be Rock, that the iconic AC/DC logo made its appearance. 7.25-year-old Gerard Huerta created the now-iconic design in April of 1977. He also designed the logo for High Voltage.8. The record label paid Huerta for a one-time commission for the band’s logo, never indicating that it would be used on a permanent basis.9. 11. The album’s title track “Let There Be Rock” was a biblical storytelling of how rock ‘n’ roll was born, inspiring Huerta’s design.12. AC/DC went away from the logo for their next album Powerage, This would be the last cover artwork on a studio album that didn’t feature their famous logo. 13. The logo has appeared on 12 covers total, featured on 11 straight albums for AC/DC. The coloring and outline has been modified for aesthetics, but the basis of the design is still Huerta’s Gutenburg Bible font.14. AC/DC merchandise is still a huge draw, and in 2016, the band filed a lawsuit to prevent bootleg products from being sold during their Rock or Bust tour, 15. AC/DC is the 10th-most selling music act in history, selling 72 million records throughout their illustrious career. That logo has been in the hands of many music lovers around the world over the 40-plus years they’ve been making music. You can check out all of AC/DC’s merchandise and vinyl records here,

What does kiss stand for in the rock band?

The letters didn’t stand for anything. KISS. We’re not that we’re smart but we’re not that smart. Right. Cuz the fans think that.

Is ACDC the biggest band in the world?

How AC/DC conquered the globe AC/DC have been on the road for more than two decades and, in record sales at least, can legitimately claim to be the biggest band in the world – beating U2 and catching up fast with The Beatles IN AN INTERVIEW with shock-jock Howard Stern last year, AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson let slip that the only band in the US to have sold more records than them in the past two decades has been The Beatles.

Strictly speaking, what he said was not what he meant.
AC/DC were not the second highest selling band in the US for that particular year.
He was referring, instead, to their astonishingly lucrative back catalogue.
Between 1991 and 2007, AC/DC sold 26.4 million copies of albums they had previously released in the US.

The title of best band in the world has been vacant since The Beatles split up in 1970. No band has come close to matching their creative or commercial success, not even U2, despite Bono’s hubris when he said they were reapplying for the “best band in the world job”.

Such presumption sits uneasily with the facts. The title of best band in the world is a matter of opinion. It is a fact, though, that AC/DC (180 million album sales) are a bigger band than U2 (140 million album sales) and probably the biggest selling band in the world. In the US last year, AC/DC’s new album Black Ice sold 784,000 copies in its first week of release, 300,000 copies more than U2’s No Line on the Horizon,

With these kind of figures there is no contest in what is probably the biggest music market in the world. Back in Black, the album AC/DC recorded in the immediate aftermath of the death of their first singer Bon Scott and the band’s finest achievement, is now the second biggest-selling album of all time after Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

AC/DC have managed to reach this elevated status by breaking every music convention and doing it all on their own terms.
They are rarely heard on the radio, they have never released a greatest hits collection and they are one of the few acts in the world who can reject iTunes and still sell millions of records.

They have stuck steadfastly to their riff-driven, fist-pumping sound, a stance which once seemed bloodyminded, but now looks like the secret to their longevity. They have also never espoused a cause, good or bad, make no pretentions to being anything other than a good-time rock and roll band and have no interest in “politics and all that s****,” as Johnson once said.

Fans who spotted the band’s elfin-like lead guitarist Angus Young outside the Four Seasons Hotel after their concert at the O2 in April, remarked at how most of the hotel guests passed by without recognising him.
In essence, AC/DC have succeeded in achieving megastardom without ever being megastars.
Tomorrow’s concert at Punchestown Racecourse, with a capacity of 70,000, will be the biggest AC/DC have played in Ireland.

For most in attendance it will be the gig of the year, following on from the other gig of the year, AC/DC’s barnstorming performance at the O2 in April which sold out in a couple of minutes. Playing to such a mass audience seemed unthinkable in 1996, the last time AC/DC toured Ireland before this year.

Concerts scheduled for Dublin and Belfast had to be amalgamated and even then The Point show was not a sell-out. It was around this time that the band reached a creative low. They struggled for two decades to live up to the brilliance of Back in Black, which was released in 1980. Many argue that the best thing the band did after touring their forgettable 2000 album Stiff Upper Lip was to disappear, save for a few dates as support to The Rolling Stones in 2003.

Like so many counter-intuitive things surrounding AC/DC, it proved to be their best career move. In the intervening years, their absence only added to their reputation. With no contemporary hard rock acts coming close to matching their power or consistency, a new generation was drawn to their music.

Their Live At Donnington DVD, released in 2003, is the most successful live DVD of all time and still their records keep selling. In 2007, seven years after their last album release, they sold 1.5 million copies in the US alone. Their comeback was perfectly timed. Black Ice has sold eight million copies and their world tour has been a sellout everywhere.

It helps that Black Ice is their best since Back in Black and a fine album in its own right. The band benefitted from the long hiatus and also from the attentions of Bruce Springsteen’s producer Brendan O’Brien who has given their music an edge it has lacked in recent decades.

AC/DC’s rise to world domination has happened under the radar of the music press and the industry itself, but it is no secret to their fans.
The crowd that will travel tomorrow will be overwhelmingly male and, for the most part, from rural Ireland.
They will come from every town and village and, the more off the beaten track, the bigger the turnout.

There is something about the escapism and lack of pretence in bands like AC/DC which appeals to small-town audiences. The more unfashionable the place it seems, the higher the head-banging head count. The same phenomenon occurred in the 1970s when Led Zeppelin were the biggest band in the world and the disdain of urban critics was at odds with the band’s mesmeric grip on small-town America.

It is not a coincidence that some of Britain’s finest metal acts like half of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest come from the deeply unfashionable West Midlands in England. Ultimately, AC/DC has grasped a fundamental truth about music. Other bands might strike a solemn, deep and meaningful pose, strive to save the planet and call their music art, but ultimately, as one of AC/DC’s songs go, “rock and roll is just rock and roll yeah”.

Tomorrow, there will be a train belching smoke, bells, cannons, a giant inflatable doll and a middle-aged man running around in shorts playing some of the most inspired riffs in the history of rock and roll. AC/DC do entertainment better than any other band.

How loud are ACDC?

AC/DC Concert – 130 dB.

Is Metallica heavy metal or rock?

What is Metallica known for? – Metallica is an American heavy metal band that developed the subgenre of speed metal in the early and mid-1980s. The band released their first album, Kill ‘Em All, in 1983, followed by Ride the Lightning in 1984. Heralded as a masterpiece by critics, Metallica’s third album, Master of Puppets (1986), sold more than three million copies.

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What band inspired ACDC?

Mainly Chuck Berry and other 70s blues and hard rock bands. Also, Angus and Malcolm’s older brother and future co-producer of AC/DC George, was in a relatively popular band called the Easybeats in the late 60s, so they probably looked upto him and wanted to one day be like their big brother.

Is ACDC heavy metal or classic rock?

AC/DC – AC/DC are an Australian hard rock band, formed in November 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, who have remained constant members. Commonly referred to as a hard rock or blues rock band, they are also considered pioneers of heavy metal and are sometimes classified as such, though they have always dubbed their music as simply “rock and roll”.

To date they are one of the highest-grossing bands of all time. AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, High Voltage, on 17 February 1975. Membership subsequently stabilised until bassist Mark Evans was replaced by Cliff Williams in 1977 for the album Powerage. Within months of recording the album Highway to Hell, lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott died on 19 February 1980 after a night of heavy alcohol consumption.

The group briefly considered disbanding, but buoyed by support from Scott’s parents, decided to continue and set about finding a new vocalist. Ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson was auditioned and selected to replace Scott. Later that year, the band released the new album, Back in Black, which was made as a tribute to Bon Scott.

The album launched them to new heights of success and became their all time best-seller, selling over 10,000 copies a day in its first week.
The band’s next album, For Those About to Rock We Salute You, was their first album to reach number one in the United States.
AC/DC declined in popularity soon after drummer Phil Rudd was fired in 1983 and was replaced by future Dio drummer Simon Wright.

The band experienced a resurgence in the early 1990s with the release of The Razors Edge. Phil Rudd returned in 1994 after Chris Slade, who was with the band from 1989 to 1994, was asked to leave in favour of him, and contributed to the band’s 1995 album Ballbreaker.

Since then, the band’s line-up has remained the same.
Stiff Upper Lip was released in 2000 and was well received by critics, and the band’s latest studio album, Black Ice, was released on 20 October 2008 and was the second-highest-selling album of that year.
It was their biggest hit on the charts since For Those About to Rock, eventually reaching No.1 on all charts worldwide.

As of 2010, AC/DC had sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 71 million albums in the United States alone, making them the fifth-best-selling band in the United States. Back in Black has sold an estimated 50 million units worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-selling album by any artist – and the third-highest-selling album by any band.

The album has sold 22 million units in the US alone, where it is the sixth-highest-selling album of all time.
AC/DC ranked fourth on VH1’s list of the “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” and were named the seventh “Greatest Heavy Metal Band of All Time” by MTV.
In 2004, AC/DC ranked No.72 on the Rolling Stone list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.

Legendary producer Rick Rubin, who wrote an essay on the band for the Rolling Stone list, referred to AC/DC as “the greatest rock and roll band of all time.” In 2010, AC/DC were ranked number 23 in the VH1 list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. | Dept. of Audio and Visual Arts – 31/03/2014

Is ACDC one of the best rock bands?

Is AC/DC one of the greatest rock bands of all time? When it comes to talking about the best rock bands of all time, AC/DC will undoubtedly find itself in that conversation. But does it really deserve that place? Probably yes. They are certainly no Rush, King Crimson or Pink Floyd, and when it comes to writing, instrumental and vocal prowess AC/DC finds itself beat on almost every single parameter by many other finer bands, such as Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, Van Halen, Scorpions, Queen etc.

But they have a certain quality in their music that few others have, and that is what has made them so famous over the years. In essence, AC/DC is simplicity in itself. Masters of structure. form and rhythm, AC/DC have a very simple formula, 4/4 beat, simple chords, catchy hooks, very basic riffs and blues base with heavy distortion accompanied by goblin like vocals.

They never go past the bare minimum and yet somehow they are able to innovate the most basic songs to sound the same, yet pack a different type of energy, and that is what draws people to AC/DC. But this simplicity is not bad in itself as the band embodies the true spirit of rock’n roll.

For all said, they are a true hard rock band who are only about rocking out, having fun and living out life in all its flavours. That may not appeal to music connoisseurs but it will certainly appeal to those looking for a big splash of fun and attitude in their music. Hell, almost every AC/DC album sounds the same, and overtime that can get weary over time, but there is a certain charm in AC/DC that almost can’t be beat.

It is simple, basic, repetitive, but nonetheless packs a good strength of its own. Great stage presence, massive energy, massive shows, theatrics, rock hard attitude, catchy rock numbers, AC/DC definitely tick all the right boxes for a true rock’n roll band, because what they do, they do very well with few others capable on standing on par with them.

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: Is AC/DC one of the greatest rock bands of all time?

Is Led Zeppelin hard rock?

Led Zeppelin, British rock band that was extremely popular in the 1970s. Although their musical style was diverse, they came to be well known for their influence on the development of heavy metal, The members were Jimmy Page (b. January 9, 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England), Robert Plant (b.

August 20, 1948, West Bromwich, West Midlands), John Paul Jones (original name John Baldwin; b.
January 3, 1946, Sidcup, Kent), and John Bonham (b.
May 31, 1948, Redditch, Hereford and Worcester—d.
September 25, 1980, Windsor, Berkshire).
Initially called the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page, the final lead guitarist for the legendary British blues band the Yardbirds,

Bassist and keyboard player Jones, like Page, was a veteran studio musician; vocalist Plant and drummer Bonham came from little-known provincial bands. The group was influenced by various kinds of music, including early rock and roll, psychedelic rock, blues, folk, Celtic, Indian, and Arabic music.

Although acoustic and folk-based music was part of the band’s repertoire from its inception, it was the bottom-heavy, loud, raw, and powerful electric style that gained them their following and notoriety early on; their first two albums included many of the songs that prompted Led Zeppelin’s categorization as a precursor of heavy metal.

The heaviness of songs such as “Dazed and Confused” and “Whole Lotta Love” was created by Bonham’s enormous drum sound and through Page’s production techniques, in which he emphasized drums and bass, resulting in a sonic spaciousness that has kept the records sounding fresh years after they were made.

Page and Jones also wrote most of the band’s music, while Plant contributed lyrics and some musical ideas.
Although Page was responsible for the majority of their signature riffs (the short, repeated musical ideas that often structure a song), Jones wrote the riff for the celebrated “Black Dog” and several other songs.

Jones also contributed much to the arrangement of songs. Page’s guitar solos were based primarily on melodic ideas derived from the blues scale (“Heartbreaker” is a good example), and he is especially known for creating multiple, simultaneous guitar parts—a kind of guitar orchestra—in such songs as “Achilles Last Stand” and “The Song Remains the Same.” Page is considered one of rock’s guitar heroes, but, because he was more interested in creating a distinctive mood and sound on a recording than in displaying his virtuosity, he frequently chose not to include a guitar solo in Zeppelin songs. Britannica Quiz Rock Music and Rock ‘n’ Roll Plant’s voice rounded out Led Zeppelin’s sound. Exaggerating the vocal style and expressive palette of blues singers such as Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, Plant created the sound that has defined much hard rock and heavy metal singing: a high range, an abundance of distortion, loud volume, and emotional excess (“Whole Lotta Love” is a classic example).

Plant was, however, capable of a broader stylistic range, including tender ballads (“The Rain Song”) and songs showing the influence of Indian and Arabic vocal styles (“Kashmir”). Led Zeppelin’s best-known song is ” Stairway to Heaven”; its gentle acoustic beginning eventually builds to an exhilarating climax featuring a lengthy electric guitar solo.

This combination of acoustic and electric sections was typical for Page, who from the band’s beginning was interested in juxtaposing what he called “light and shade.” The song appeared on the band’s fourth and most famous album, released untitled, which showed only four runic symbols (intended to represent the band members) on the cover and had the mystical, mythological lyrics to “Stairway” printed on the inner sleeve.

The sense of mystery and ritual that this created became an important part of the band’s image. They kept their distance from the press and were uninterested in catering to the singles market. Moreover, “Stairway” and several other songs were of epic length by rock standards, and concert improvisations stretched some songs to triple the length of their studio versions.

Thanks in part to their manager, Peter Grant, the band enjoyed phenomenal commercial success throughout the 1970s. While Led Zeppelin never received the kind of critical acclaim or mainstream acceptance accorded the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, their influence on rock music has been prodigious.

They are regularly cited as the progenitors of both hard rock and heavy metal.
Their sound has been imitated by bands from Black Sabbath to Nirvana,
They also inspired hard rock bands to include acoustic elements in their music and were among the first to experiment with Indian and North African music,

Page’s style—both his solos and riffs—has served as an important model for most rock guitarists, and Bonham is often cited as the model for metal or hard rock drumming. Led Zeppelin disbanded in 1980 after Bonham’s accidental death. The group re-formed for short, one-off performances in 1985 (the Live Aid benefit), 1988 ( Atlantic Records ‘ 40th anniversary concert), and 1995 (the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ).

Much more momentous was the group’s full-blown concert in London in December 2007 to honour Atlantic’s cofounder Ahmet Ertegun, at which Bonham’s son, Jason, played the drums.
Although the Recording Academy had honoured Led Zeppelin with a lifetime achievement award in 2005, the group received its first Grammy Award in 2014 for Celebration Day (2012), a live album derived from the 2007 reunion show.

In 2012 Led Zeppelin was named a Kennedy Center honoree. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Susan Fast The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Who was first hard rock band?

First era (1970s) – In the 1970s, hard rock attained its identity. Led Zeppelin’s third album, Led Zeppelin III was more progressive rock-oriented than the group’s second, but the heavy aspects of their music remained. In 1970, Black Sabbath, released what is considered the first heavy metal album, Black Sabbath,

Black Sabbath’s music was revolutionary even for hard rock. It was typified by dark lyrics, hard riffs and a heavy atmosphere, transforming hard rock into to an early form of heavy metal. Deep Purple’s transformation of hard rock continued with their album, Machine Head, considered (along with “Black Sabbath”) as one of the first proto-metal albums.

The song “Highway Star,” which is on the album, is considered the first speed metal song. Deep Purple’s music lacks the darker, more Gothic, elements of Black Sabbath, and is generally considered hard rock rather than heavy metal. Another band, Nazareth, provided a blend of hard rock which commercialized the genre further with their best selling album, Hair of the Dog, which in turn, influenced numerous other bands.

During the 1970s, hard rock developed a variety of sub-genres. In 1972, Alice Cooper made the first shock rock album, School’s Out. The following year, Aerosmith, Queen, and Lynyrd Skynyrd released their eponymous debut albums, demonstrating the broadening directions of hard rock. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s featured “Free Bird,” the single that first gave the band national attention.

The song quickly became a staple for Lynyrd Skynyrd and is most recognized for its nearly five-minute triple guitar solo section that finishes it. In 1974, Bad Company released its debut album, which also influenced the hard rock genre. Also in 1974, Queen released its third album, Sheer Heart Attack, Queen used layered vocals and guitars and mixed hard rock with arena rock, glam rock, heavy metal, progressive rock, and occasionally, opera, Additionally, KISS furthered the shock rock concept when it released its first three albums, KISS, Hotter Than Hell, and Dressed To Kill, in a little over a year.

The band achieved their commercial breakthrough with their double live album, Alive.
With the death of Tommy Bolin in 1976, Deep Purple disbanded.
In 1977, the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ronnie Van Zant, died in a plane crash, disbanding Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A year later, The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, died in his sleep, having overdosed on Chlormethiazole.

With the rise of disco in the United States and punk rock in the United Kingdom, hard rock began to lose its popularity. Disco appealed to a more diverse group of people and punk rock seemed to take over the rebellious role that hard rock once held. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath moved away from the dark quality of their early work with albums such as Technical Ecstasy, Van Halen, another important group in hard rock, formed in 1978. Van Halen’s music was based mostly on the guitar skills of Eddie Van Halen, the lead guitarist. The song, “Eruption,” from the album Van Halen, demonstrated Eddie Van Halen’s technique and was very influential.

Why is ACDC unique?

Ageless and Defiant, AC/DC Stays on Top Without Going Digital (Published 2008) Music The band members, above from left, Brian Johnson, Angus Young and Malcolm Young at the Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan. Credit. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times IN a tastefully luxurious suite at the Peninsula Hotel in New York, Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC, is crooning the opening lines of “It’s a Wonderful World” while he waits to have his picture taken.

Although he’s known for belting out AC/DC’s hard rock songs, he can also sing delicately about trees of green and red roses.
Suddenly he clears his nasal passages with a giant snort and cracks up laughing.
What’s green and goes backward at 100 miles an hour?” he asks in a northeastern English accent.

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Across the room the brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, the band’s guitarists, start laughing along with him. Even at their age — Angus is 53, Malcolm is 55 and Mr. Johnson is 61 — the members of AC/DC can’t resist a gross-out joke. The band’s music hasn’t matured much either, to the delight of its fans.

AC/DC has always delivered an aggressive take on rock’s raw essentials: slicing guitars, driving rhythms and lyrics about sex, drink and rock ‘n’ roll. Its new album, “Black Ice” (Columbia), which will be sold in the United States only at Wal-Mart starting Oct.20, is its most focused release in almost two decades, full of the fist-pumping riffs and shout-along choruses the band is known for.

And it is expected to be one of fall’s biggest rock releases. Gradually, and without getting much media attention, AC/DC has become the most popular currently active rock band in the country, to judge by albums sold. Since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan started tracking music sales, this Australian band has sold 26.4 million albums, second only to the Beatles in catalog sales, and more than the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin.

Over the past five years, as CD sales have cratered, AC/DC albums have sold just as well as or better than ever; the band sold more than 1.3 million CDs in the United States last year, even though it hasn’t put out any new music since 2000.
And with “Black Ice,” increased visibility for the band’s catalog at Wal-Mart and a tour that starts Oct.28, it’s possible that AC/DC could sell more CDs overall this year than any other act in pop music.

AC/DC’s commercial success flies in the face of conventional music industry wisdom. The band does not sell its music online and has never put out a greatest hits collection or allowed other musicians to sample its songs. At a time when most pop acts give fans the opportunity to have it their way by offering downloadable tracks and remixes, AC/DC gives listeners a different choice: its way or the highway.

You get very close to the albums,” said Angus, relaxing on a couch while sipping a cup of tea.
Without the schoolboy uniform he’s famous for wearing onstage, he comes off calm and soft-spoken in a black T-shirt, blue jeans and Converse Chuck Taylors.
Like his brother he’s short and slight, about 5 foot 3 and 110 pounds.

The AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, in his famous school uniform, at a 1983 concert in New York. AC/DC releases its new album, “Black Ice,” Oct.20. Credit. Doralba Picerno/Retna UK “It’s like an artist who does a painting,” he added. “If he thinks it’s a great piece of work, he protects it.

It’s the same thing: this is our work.” The band has said it does not want to break up its albums to sell individual songs as iTunes usually requires. AC/DC’s decision to focus on selling CDs has put it at the center of an industry debate about whether even superstar acts can continue to dictate the way their music is sold.

Although Kid Rock and Buckcherry had recent hits without iTunes, that online store is now the largest music retailer. The band’s reluctance to break up its albums may stem from a stubborn belief in their power. But AC/DC also has a reputation of being business savvy and a tendency of skipping an easy paycheck to preserve its long-term interests.

The band has also been reluctant to license its music for advertising. “They have a purist approach,” said Steve Barnett, the chairman of Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. (He also managed the band from 1982 to 1994.) “Their instinct was always to do the right thing for fans, think long term and not be influenced by financial rewards.” AC/DC’s insistence on selling albums has almost certainly helped keep its sales from declining.

And although many music executives believe that not selling tracks online leads fans to download music illegally, AC/DC’s music is downloaded from file-sharing sites less than that of Led Zeppelin, which does sell music digitally, according to BigChampagne, a company that monitors peer-to-peer services.

AC/DC gets less attention than many bands it outsells.
Its songs receive less airplay than those of Aerosmith, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.
Its members get less attention in gossip columns than the children of the Beatles.
And it has never been a critical favorite.
The band makes no pretense to art, and its lyrics often contain what might be called single entendres.

Wal-Mart has set up special areas devoted to AC/DC merchandise in each of its stores. Credit. Courtesy of Wal-Mart For this, and much else, Angus is unapologetic. “People say it’s juvenile music, but pardon me” — he speaks these last two words with exaggerated politeness — “I thought rock ‘n’ roll was supposed to be juvenile.

You sing what you know.
What am I going to write about — Rembrandt?” Much of AC/DC’s appeal lies in the group’s consistency, its unwavering focus on cranking up the rhythms of early rock into stadium-sized anthems.
Although AC/DC has fans of all ages, it is almost unique among ’70s bands in that it never tried to grow up with its audience.

The band never experimented with different genres, made an “unplugged” album or even recorded a ballad, and none of its songs sound rooted in a particular time. The group’s raw aggression is as relevant to teenagers who listen to its albums on iPods as they were to those who heard them on record players.

Back in Black,” which has sold 49 million copies worldwide since 1980, according to Columbia, could serve as a catchy soundtrack to teenage frustration for as long as it exists.
Like a blues song come to life, Angus Young is a seventh son.
His parents emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland, to Sydney, Australia, where his older brother George joined the Easybeats, the pioneering rock band known for “Friday on My Mind.” Obsessed with rockers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry, Angus and Malcolm formed AC/DC in 1973 when they were teenagers, and won a reputation for giving raucous concerts after their sister suggested that Angus perform in his school uniform.

“Most of the time I’m quiet, but when I put on that suit it gives me that kind of confidence,” Angus said. “I suppose the music sounds aggressive but I was never that guy, really.” AC/DC had its first big hit in the United States when the producer Robert John (Mutt) Lange gave its guitar riffs a pop shine on the 1979 album “Highway to Hell.” The next year, after the singer Bon Scott died in a misadventure with alcohol, the band recruited Mr.

Johnson. The group’s next album, “Back in Black,” has sold about 22 million copies in the United States, making it the fourth best-selling album in American history.
Angus onstage in the 1980s. Credit.
Doralba Picerno/Retna UK Since then AC/DC has lost its way (“Fly on the Wall,” 1985) and recaptured its old energy (“Razors Edge,” 1990).

But its catalog kept selling. “High school kids were discovering this band while they weren’t even doing anything,” Mr. Barnett said. In 2003, after the rights to AC/DC’s previous albums reverted to the band, Mr. Barnett acquired those rights for Sony. In 2006 he renewed that deal and acquired the rights to the album left on the group’s recording contract with Warner Music.

Under his direction Sony reissued the old albums in nicer packaging, negotiated to put the band’s music in movies like “School of Rock” and “Iron Man” and released several DVDs and DVD box sets. The most popular of these, “AC/DC Live at Donnington,” has sold more than 800,000 copies, making it the label’s best-selling DVD; it will provide the basis for an AC/DC edition of the video game “Rock Band.” These days the band’s members don’t spend much time together between albums.

The Young brothers split their time between London and Australia; the drummer Phil Rudd lives in New Zealand; and the bassist Cliff Williams and Mr. Johnson live about a half-hour apart in southwestern Florida. Mr. Johnson enjoys driving sports cars and recently came in third in an event at the Sebring International Raceway in central Florida.

Over the last several years Angus and Malcolm would come up with riffs and ideas on their own, then meet to work them into songs.
When they had enough material for an album, they called Mr.
Barnett, who recommended that they work with the producer Brendan O’Brien, who has also made albums with Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine.

“The AC/DC music that I remember most is ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Back in Black,’ which I view as pop songs done in a very heavy ferocious way,” Mr. O’Brien said. “Angus and Malcolm were writing songs that had a lot of hooks and my only job was to make a record that made people say, ‘I’ve missed AC/DC, and I’m glad they’re back.’ ” Columbia has high hopes for “Black Ice,” particularly since Wal-Mart aggressively promotes exclusive releases.

The album’s first single, “Rock N’ Roll Train,” is the most-played song on classic-rock radio stations, and many of the band’s concerts sold out the day tickets went on sale (AC/DC plays Madison Square Garden on Nov.12 and 13, and the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Nov.19.) AC/DC’s last album, “Stiff Upper Lip,” sold about 940,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, but it has been reported that Wal-Mart guaranteed it would sell 2.5 million copies of “Black Ice.” (Neither the label nor the retailer would comment.) Although AC/DC was criticized by religious groups in the ’80s for songs like “Highway to Hell” (which is actually about the difficulty of life on the road), the band is so popular at Wal-Mart that the chain was responsible for half the band’s sales last year, according to Columbia.

The retailer is setting up special areas devoted to AC/DC in each of its stores, where it will sell the band’s albums, DVDs and “Rock Band” game, as well as a selection of T-shirts and other clothing. At a time when music stores are closing, the band says the Wal-Mart deal makes sense.

At least for the near future stores will be the only place to find AC/DC albums.
Going back a few years, everyone was going digital but people were still buying our albums,” Angus said.
They said everything was going that way, then they came back to us and said, ‘You’re hanging in there.’ So what’s the rush?” A correction was made on : An article about AC/DC on Oct.12 attributed an erroneous distinction to the group.

It has been the No.2 seller of catalog albums — previously released records — since 1991; it is not the second highest seller of all albums. How we handle corrections : Ageless and Defiant, AC/DC Stays on Top Without Going Digital (Published 2008)

What does the lightning bolt mean in the AC DC?

The History and Meaning of the AC/DC Logo AC/DC are one of the most well-known and beloved rock bands of all time. Their simple, typeface logo emits the raw electric power that is present in the music and live performances. Speaking of electric power, the voltage icon used in the logo even captures the meaning of AC/DC, which refers to switching between two types of power: Alternating Current or Direct Current.

The AC/DC logo as seen on t-shirts everywhere today was designed by, who was in his early twenties and working as a typography designer for Atlantic Records.
It went through a few forms before reaching the iconic final evolution that we know and love today.
The original AC/DC logo appeared on the Australian edition of their debut album, High Voltage (1975).

This was the very first logo that they every used, presumably designed by the band or somebody close to them. It features basic stenciled lettering and the introduction of the high voltage () symbol that was included on almost every other iteration of the logo. Part of the High Voltage Australian release cover, showing the original AC/DC logo. AC/DC’s first two albums, High Voltage and T.N.T. (1976) earned them massive success in Australia, and eventually led to them being signed to an international deal with Atlantic Records. The original AC/DC logo, from their 1975 debut High Voltage (International Edition), Designed by Gerard Huerta. After the in international version of High Voltage (1976) came Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976). The Dirty Deeds AC/DC logo stuck with the typography element, but ditched the high voltage symbol in favor of a plain old slash. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was only released in Australia until 1981, when it was given an international release. This was before the internet, meaning that this logo was not widely seen outside of Australia until 1981, and by that time the main AC/DC logo had already been introduced on 1977’s Let There Be Rock, and therefore was set in stone.

As was the case with the High Voltage cover art, Huerta’s hand in the Let There Be Rock design was not some big creative aspiration. AC/DC had yet to become superstars (they would reach #1 in the U.S. with 1979’s Highway to Hell ), and he had no way of knowing that his logo design would become permanently etched into the global pop culture landscape.

He simply collected his one-time pay for the project and moved on to the next one. Let There Be Rock (1977) While AC/DC had their iconic logo in the bag, perhaps they didn’t know it yet because they strayed away from the Let There Be Rock logo one final time on their follow-up release, 1978’s Powerage, This album was designed by Bob Defrin, Huerta’s boss at Atlantic, and it features an electrified version of the logo that simply doesn’t look as good. Powerage (1978) : The History and Meaning of the AC/DC Logo

Who owns AC DC now?

Sony Publishing to Rep AC/DC, Easybeats and More has struck a worldwide deal to administer the works of the Australian music company Alberts, which owns the complete song catalogs of and the songwriting and producing team Vanda, Young and Wright. The latter team included George Young, the older brother of, and who, with Harry Vanda, produced the group’s early recordings as well as writing many hits for the Easybeats and others.

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The deal includes such AC/DC classics as “Highway to Hell,” “Back in Black,” “Thunderstruck,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “TNT” and dozens more, since the Young brothers co-wrote nearly all of the group’s original songs; the deal brings the band’s publishing and recording rights together under the Sony banner for the first time.

The catalogs of the songwriting and producing team of Harry Vanda, George Young, and Stevie Wright include hits like the Easybeats’ “Friday on my Mind” (covered by David Bowie in 1973) and “Good Times” by the Easybeats, as well as “Love is in the Air,” “Yesterday’s Hero” and “Standing in the Rain” performed by John Paul Young.

David Albert, CEO, Alberts said, “We are looking forward to working with Sony Music Publishing and continuing to create opportunities to showcase these great catalogues.
We have built over a number of years a very close working relationship with Rob Stringer and the team at Columbia and were impressed with Damian Trotter and Jon Platt’s vision for the catalogues and the alignment with our approach to business.” Sony Music Publishing Chairman and CEO Jon Platt stated, “We are pleased to join forces with Alberts to deliver new opportunities for AC/DC and Vanda, Young and Wright.

David Albert and the Alberts team are leaders in shaping Australia’s modern music culture, and our shared ethos will be powerful in sustaining the global impact of these iconic catalogs.” Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer added, “We are so excited and honored at Sony Music Group to build on our long standing relationship with both Alberts and AC/DC through the representation of the Alberts song catalogue.

What does XO stand for?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Look up xoxo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Hugs and kisses, abbreviated in North America as XO or XOXO, is an informal term used for expressing sincerity, faith, love, or good friendship at the end of a written letter, email or text message. In the United Kingdom, the phrase ‘hugs and kisses’ is widely used but XO or XOXO are not – even though O, 00 etc. for ‘kisses’ is also used.

Why is KISS called KISS?

Behind the Meaning of the Band Name: KISS Is KISS a band? Of course, the answer is yes. But there is also much more to the idea.

KISS is a business, a retailer, a logo, a group of men who face paint, a comic book in real life, a movement, and, in many ways, a lifestyle. In other words, the group is as much a band as it is a brand and a money-making machine. Below, we’ll get into the history of all of that. But first, a song:

Origins KISS is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973. The group was started by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss. Even if you don’t know any of their music, their faces and black-and-white face paint are likely as recognizable as the midday sun.

The group rose to fame beginning in the late 1970s with its shocking stage performances (including fire breathing and other pyrotechnics), smoking guitars, blood-spitting, rockets, levitating drum kits, and much more.
Nicknames Though the band’s lineup has evolved over time, the core four members of the band—Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss—all have nicknames.

For Stanley, he’s known as Starchild. Simmons is known as the Demon. Frehley is known as either the Spaceman or Space Ace and Criss is Catman. Final Tour In September of 2018, KISS announced that, after nearly 50 years of recording and performing, the band would head out on its final tour, dubbed the “End of the Road World Tour.” That string of dates kicked off in 2019 but went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown, which began in 2020.

The band’s final tour is slated to conclude this year in 2022. But whether that tour will end as expected is another matter. KISS is one of the most influential rock bands of all time, largely because it is also one of the best-selling rock bands of all time. The group’s business savvy is second to none and may result in more dates down the line if fans demand them.

In total, the band has sold more than 100 million records. They have 30 Gold albums, which is the most of any band in the United States. They also have 14 Platinum albums, three of which have been certified multi-platinum. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Wicked Lester The origins of KISS have roots in the band Wicked Lester.
That group, which was also founded in New York City, was led by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
The group, though, only recorded one album and played only a handful of live shows.
Simmons and Stanley dropped Wicked Lester in 1972 to begin a new group.

After the dissolution of Wicked Lester, Simmons and Stanley saw an ad in Rolling Stone from Peter Criss, a drummer in the Big Apple who was looking for new bandmates. The two met Criss in a nightclub where he was playing drums. After hearing him sing, the two knew he was their guy.

In early 1973, the trio added guitarist Ace Frehley.
The Name: KISS According to legend, it was Paul Stanley who came up with the band name.
It occurred to him one day when he, Simmons, and Criss were driving around New York.
Criss said he’d been in a band called “Lips,” so, the story goes, Stanley said something like, “What about Kiss?” Not long after, Frehley created the now-well-known logo making the ending “SS” resemble lightning bolts.

He wrote the logo over a poster that had the name “Wicked Lester” on it outside a club where the group was slated to play. (Wicked Lester also used a lightning bolt in its name for the “S.”) Later, Stanley wrote the logo out with a Sharpie and a ruler and accidentally drew the two S’s nonparallel having done the image shorthand by eye.

When asked if he wanted to keep it that way, he said: “It got us this far, let’s leave well enough alone. Our number one rule has always been no rules.” Nazi Germany According to some, the letters in the KISS logo looked similar to the Nazi SS insignia, which was a symbol that is now outlawed in Germany.

However, Simmons and Stanley, who are both Jewish, have denied this association or any intentional likeness. Though, ever since 1979, most of the band’s album covers and merch in Germany have used a different logo. And that different logo is also used for products sold in Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania, Hungary, and Israel.

Hidden Meanings The band’s name has often been thought that it might be an acronym for something nefarious.
Rumors have swirled that it may stand for “Knights in Satan’s Service” or “Kinder SS” or “Kids in Satan’s Service.” Though the band members have denied all these associations.
Today While the band is getting to the “end of the road,” their image, music, and antics will likely live way past any of the band members.

With the face paint, pyrotechnics, and the inedible name KISS, the group is timeless. Kiss cover art: Ken Kelly : Behind the Meaning of the Band Name: KISS

Why do KISS wear makeup?

The definitive story behind Kiss’ iconic makeup The early 1970s was a crowded place among rock and roll bands. After The Beatles blew the doors open in the mid-1960s, scores of young musicians picked up electric instruments as they began to develop songs and styles.

As the decade progressed, rock music began to get harder and louder thanks to the influence of The Who and, Hard rock would go on to define the 1970s thanks to bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, but America would have its own pioneering group of hard rockers as well. Kiss was still an unknown entity at the start of 1973.

After breaking up their previous band, Wicked Lester, Paul Stanley, and Gene Simmons recruited drummer Peter Criss to begin rehearsing as a new group. The trio recruited Ace Frehley in January of 1973, and after a short time discussing previous band names, the members arrived at the name “Kiss”.

It was the beginning of what would become America’s most notorious and popular shock rockers. It didn’t take long for the band to implement gimmicks to stand out among the scores of other hard rock bands in New York. Kiss began experimenting with new approaches: Gene Simmons began teaching himself how to breathe fire, while smoke machines and lasers became an integral part of the band’s show.

But the most important development arrived shortly after their first gig at the Popcorn Club in Queens: the group started to wear stage makeup. “At the same time that we were forming in New York, there was a very big glitter scene, where boys were basically acting like girls and putting on makeup,” Simmons told the fanzine Porkchops & Applesauce in 1996.

Y’know, all the skinny little guys, hairless boys.
Well, we were more like football players; all of us were over 6 feet tall, and it just wasn’t convincing! The very first pictures we took when the band first got together, we looked like drag queens.
But we knew we wanted to get outlandish.” “We weren’t a Grateful Dead kind of band that would get onstage and look worse than the roadie delivering our stuff.

Which doesn’t negate what the Dead and other bands were doing; it just wasn’t us,” Simmons added. “Getting up onstage was almost a holy place for us, like church, so being onstage looking like a bum wasn’t my idea of respect. That’s where the makeup and dressing up came in.

It would have obviously been a lot easier to get up on stage in jeans and T-shirts and go, ‘OK, here we are—we’re the Ramones!’ And that would have been just as valid, but it would not have been honest.” It’s easy to forget, but the same “glitter scene” that birthed Kiss and Snyper – the latter of which featured a pre-fame Joey Ramone on vocals.

Kiss took those building blocks to the extreme, donning kabuki-inspired makeup that gave each member a unique persona. By the time Kiss took the stage ten days after their first gig, the makeup was in place, and the characters were established: the Star Child, the Demon, the Cat, and the Space Ace.

Except it wasn’t always that easy.
In their earliest days, Stanley couldn’t decide which design he wanted to use.
For early gigs and even some early press photos, he took on another guise: The Bandit.
The makeup design was suggested by the head of their record label, Casablanca Records, who thought that all the designs should be symmetrical.

After a few gigs and photo sessions, Stanley embraced the Star Child as his definitive persona. The early years of Kiss, before establishing their makeup style. (Credit: Alamy) Those original designs would remain consistent through the first decade of the band’s career, with some slight alterations.

Criss allowed a professional makeup artist to redesign his look for the cover of the band’s first album, resulting in a more elaborate design that was never replicated.
When Criss left the band in 1980, it was up to new drummer Eric Carr to conceive a new design.
His original vision for his character was The Hawk, featuring a makeup design that resembled Stanley’s Bandit design.

When Carr showed a work-in-progress design to his bandmates, they laughed him out of the room and informed him that he looked like Big Bird from Sesame Street, Eventually, Carr settled on his familiar persona of the Fox, although the cover for Creatures of the Night shows him without the brown-red eye filler that became part of his established design.

After Frehley left the group in 1982, new guitarist Vinnie Vincent was also required to get his own unique makeup design.
Vincent’s character was the Ankh Warrior, conceived by Stanley and featuring a large golden cross on his forehead.
By 1983’s Lick It Up, it was decided that the band no longer needed the famous makeup designs.

The band would continue throughout the next decade without the designs, although guitarist Bruce Kulick had a character in mind had the band decided to return to using the makeup: the Dog. In 1996, the band’s original lineup decided to reunite, bringing their iconic makeup designs out of retirement.

However, when Criss left the band for a second time in 2000, he relinquished the rights to his design. Criss returned for a year between 2002 and 2003, and even though he wore his familiar Cat design, he couldn’t stop the band from giving the design to their new drummer, Eric Singer. The same thing happened to Frehley, who traded away his Space Ace persona when he left the band in 2002.

Guitarist Tommy Thayer now sports the design, going under the persona of the Spaceman to avoid any titular connection with Frehley. Frehley has claimed that he simply loans out the design to the band, but all four original makeup designs are registered to Simmons and Stanley alone.

What is the meaning of DC?

Abbreviation for direct current : electrical current that always flows in one direction. Compare.

How many of AC DC are still alive?

List of AC/DC members Members of AC/DC performing live in 2009 (top) and 2015 (bottom). are an Australian band from, Formed in November 1973, the group originally consisted of vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist (his older brother), bassist and drummer,

Why is AC DC called ACCA Dacca?

It no doubt started as an attempt to pronounce the name – ‘Ac-Dac’. But that doesn’t roll off the tongue, so Australian slang quickly went to ‘Acca-Dac’ and then to ‘Acca-Dacca’, following the common practice of nicknaming in the diminutive. In the same way, as Tony Hyland says, McDonalds became ‘Maccas’.

What band inspired ACDC?

Rosemarie Basco