“AC/DC 1973-1980: The Bon Scott Years”, a new book about the Australian rockers by Jeff Apter, will be published on November 14 by Jawbone Press.
“To fans and critics alike, the years 1973 to 1980 - the Bon Scott era - are the most significant of AC/DC’s five-decade career,” reads an overview of the project. “In a prolific and frequently brilliant run, they recorded six studio albums, established a diehard fan base that stretched from Australia to the UK and Europe to North America, toured relentlessly, and created no small amount of controversy and chaos.
“At one low point in Australia, the band’s records were banned, their shows were cancelled, and they were hounded by the police - all because Angus Young dared bare his spotty backside at a press conference.”
“In the midst of the mayhem, however, they were building a body of work that remains unmatched in hard rock,” as many songs from the era are both fan favourites and staples of the band’s live sets forty years later.
Packed full of rare photographs and memorabilia, this large-format, full-colour book documents all the key events of this frenetic time, beginning with the band’s very first shows in the bloodhouses of suburban Sydney - even before the name AC/DC had been dreamed up by Margaret Young, Malcolm and Angus’s big sister - and culminating with 1979’s “Highway To Hell”, the album that paved the way for the mammoth success of “Back In Black” and all that was to follow, and the untimely death of Bon Scott, which prompted both an end and a new beginning for the band.
Scott passed away after a night of heavy drinking in London in early 1980 at the age of 33; AC/DC brought in former Geordie singer Brian Johnson to handle lead vocals and the group issued the best-selling hard rock album of all time, “Back In Black”, just five months later.
AC/DC have recently regrouped at a Vancouver recording studio to work on a new album that will reportedly feature unused recordings by late guitarist and band cofounder Malcolm Young, who passed away last November at the age of 64.
See also:
REPORT: New AC/DC album to feature unused recordings by Malcolm Young
AC/DC recording engineer spotted with band members at Vancouver studio
AC/DC album rumors grow as Angus Young photographed at Vancouver studio
AC/DC members photographed at Vancouver recording studio
Search AC/DC at hennemusic
