Nearly 46 years since its release, AC/DC’s album Back in Black was just named the No. 1 album of the 1980s by Ultimate Classic Rock.
Back in Black was AC/DC’s first album after the death of the band’s frontman, Bon Scott, who passed from acute alcohol poisoning. He led the band in their classic Highway to Hell album, and Murray Engleheart recalled that AC/DC were on track “to be one of the biggest acts on the planet.”
“The next album was going to be the one that was really going to kick them over the goal posts,” Engleheart, author of AC/DC Maximum Rock and Roll, said.
However, Scott’s friends began to notice a change in his state of mind, ABC reported. He began drinking more, which ultimately led to his tragic death.
“Bon’s passing as he did, on his own, in a car in the freezing cold, after all his hard work and all his heartbreak getting there, was just an incredibly sad, lonely and unglamorous way to go out,” Engleheart said.
When it was announced that Brian Johnson would be replacing Scott, fans began to wonder if AC/DC could continue their momentum. They did with Back in Black.
“Johnson arrived with a dangerous rasp and a cool cap amid their reliable lyrical mix of sex and excess,” Ultimate Classic Rock wrote. “AC/DC somehow reached still greater heights.”
In an interview with AXS TV, Johnson recalled that joining the band was “beautifully scary.”
“It was scary,” Johnson said. “I was 32 years old. I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’”
Despite his fear, Back in Black went on to enter the Grammy Hall of Fame and has been certified Platinum 27 times by the RIAA. Since they formed 53 years ago, the band has sold over 200 million records worldwide, and they continue to climb the charts today.
Find Ultimate Classic Rock’s top 100 albums of the ‘80s here.
