Classic Rock
Angus Young explains why the “Back In Black” album is so popular
AC/DC guitarist Angus Young was asked in an interview with Rolling Stone why he thinks “Back In Black” (1980) is such a popular album. The musician also asked which one is the best selling record of all time, since “Back In Black” is the second one.
Advertisement
Angus Young explains why the “Back In Black” album is so popular
“With Brian in the band, we were going into the unknown, so we didn’t know how it was going to be received. We knew the songs were strong, and we had Mutt Lange producing. We recorded it in the Bahamas, getting the best performances out of everyone. And after that, we didn’t know how it would be received.”
“I mean, it was even a struggle to try and get the cover for that album how we wanted it. We had to keep saying, ‘No, we want it black,’ black being the color of mourning. A lot of people thought that could be seen as very in a negative way, but we insisted, ‘No, that is how it should be.'”
“So when the album came out, there was a lot of positive results. And then we were actually touring on that album. And when we finished touring, it wasn’t really until after that tour was when I started to hear it’s doing really well. For us, that was a good thing.”
He continued, saying:
“But I didn’t know it would sell well. Because the people who were doing our management at the time told us, ‘You might sell a couple of million or something if you’re really prominent.’ And they were shocked that it had sold so much.”
“So I guess it’s just an album that grew on people. It just got bigger and bigger as it went along. But it never even got No. 1 in the U.S. at the time, which Malcolm thought was really good. He said, ‘If you get to No. 1, there’s only one other place you can go.’ [Laughs]”
