AC/DC: Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be

In the late 1970s and early ’80s, AC/DC ruled the rock world, selling out arenas and staying on top of the charts with its highly praised albums Highway to Hell (1979) and Back in Black (1980). Drawing on interviews with friends and former employees of the band, previous articles and archival materials, acclaimed rock writer Wall (When Giants Walked the Earth) leads us on a raucous and rollicking journey through the ups and downs of this most enduring and popular rock band. With affection, respect, and blistering honesty, Wall traces the band from its early days in Australia—to which the brothers, George, Malcolm, and Angus Young, who formed AC/DC moved from their native Scotland—and the making of its first album, High Voltage (1974), to the death of its original lead singer, Bon Scott; its hiring and firing of various producers, including Mutt Lange and Rick Rubin; and the making of its 2008 album Black Ice. Wall says, “AC/DC was more a clan than a band; they didn’t need anybody outside the clan to tell them what to do or how to do it.” In spite of all the changes the band has endured, AC/DC still packs its shows, and “like their music, AC/DC go on forever, the great white shark of the music world... its hungry snout pushing ever forwards, whether you like it or not, mate.” Wall’s hard-to-put-down book stands alongside Murray Engelheart and Arnaud Durieux’s AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll (2006) to bring us the most complete portrait yet of this marauding band of rockers. (Nov.)