AC/DC

Mick Wall penetrates the closed world of Aussie rock legends AC/DC.

AC/DC moved to Britain from Sydney in 1975, and soon set up a residency at London's Marquee Club. Their short hair (including the odd mullet), loud rock and attitude chimed well with the lingering pub rock and soon-to-be punk crowd. They weren't really a band for guitar solos, and singer Bon Scott was the original bike-riding, speed-snorting, fighting man. An ex-convict he lived life fast and short; he died in February 1980, just before Back In Black, their huge-selling album, took off and the second period of AC/DC (with Brian Johnson as lead vocalist) was ushered in.

Back In Black has gone on to sell 45 million copies worldwide, and as the band have become a global phenomenon so their reclusiveness has increased. Mick Wall, the don of heavy metal writing, seeks to penetrate the wall around the Young brothers, and write the first authoritative, in-depth critical account of AC/DC.

About the Author

Mick Wall was the founding editor of Classic Rock Magazine. He's the author of numerous music titles, including books on Iron Maiden, Don Arden and Black Sabbath. He ghosted XS All Areas: the autobiography of Status Quo, and is a former dj on Capital Radio. In the late eighties he was a regular guest on Andy Kershaw's Radio 1 show - it was then, one night at the BBC that he first bumped into John Peel. Peel helpfully showed him how to use the coffee machine.