Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~60 minutes
Release Date: 5 August 2024
AC/DC's Back in Black is one of those records that feels like it has always existed: a wall of riffs, a bell toll, and Brian Johnson howling over the top. In this episode Neil and Chris dive into how that seemingly simple rock album was born out of grief, lightning storms in Nassau and a Geordie who thought his best days were behind him. From Brian's near-poverty in Geordie to that cryptic phone call with “AC on the DC,” they trace the unlikely route that put him on a plane to the Bahamas with no lyrics written and the weight of Bon Scott's legacy on his shoulders.
They unpick why Back in Black still sounds unnervingly current for a record released in July 1980: the bone-dry drum sound, Gibson-into-Marshall clarity, and a mix that left space instead of sludge. Along the way they detour through Rockonteurs, car culture, studio nerdery, bell-casting in Loughborough and the sheer daftness of trying to record a church bell while pigeons explode out of the tower. It is equal parts love letter to AC/DC's resilience and a nerdy celebration of how much craft hides inside those “easy” riffs.
Across “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Hell's Bells,” “Back in Black” and “Shoot to Thrill,” the pair pull apart the riffs that built an empire. They show how Malcolm's right-hand economy, Cliff Williams' relentless quaver bass and Phil Rudd's unshowy pocket let Brian ride over the top without ever feeling cluttered. Those opening lines – from “She was a fast machine…” to “I'm rolling thunder, pouring rain…” – become case studies in how Johnson turned weather reports and car obsession into immortal hooks.
They also zoom out to the album's broader arc: the bell-tolling drama of “Hell's Bells,” the sleazy pop precision of “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and the way Back in Black quietly blurred hard rock and radio-ready songwriting. Chart stats, sales figures and stream counts (50 million copies, more than a billion plays) are brought in not as trivia, but as evidence of just how deeply these songs have embedded themselves in people's lives.
Back in Black is more than a collection of bar-band bangers. It is a study in resilience after loss, a masterclass in songcraft that proves simplicity is often the hardest thing to get right, and a benchmark for how rock records can feel both huge and intimate. Neil and Chris argue that its success – commercially and emotionally – comes from that tension: a band grieving their friend while refusing to wallow, locking into grooves that make you feel bulletproof even when life is anything but.
They also make the case for Back in Black as a kind of lingua franca of rock: a record that unites metal fans, classic rock dads, studio engineers, car nerds and kids discovering riffs through video games. Whether you are here for the history, the production chat or just to feel that bell hit you in the chest again, this episode treats a ubiquitous classic with the curiosity and respect it still deserves.
Perfect for: Anyone who has ever air-guitared the Back in Black riff, wondered how a “simple” rock record became a 50-million-selling benchmark, or just needs a loud, joyful reminder that grief and groove can coexist in the same four chords.