AC/DC Announce First Album Without Malcolm Young

[DetroitSkills]

Australian classic-rock greats AC/DC are one of the few bands of their vintage who aren’t relegated to the oldies circuit. Their last album, 2008′s Black Ice, sold an astonishing eight million copies, and it did it in the midst of an economic recession and during an era when people had stopped buying music. (I saw them on that tour, and holy motherfucking fuck, go see AC/DC if they come through your town.) The band has announced plans to follow up Black Ice with a new LP called Rock Or Bust. Unfortunately, though, it’ll be the first album they’ve made without guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder Malcolm Young.

Young founded AC/DC 41 years ago with his brother Angus, and he’s been hugely important to the development of the band’s sound. Earlier this year, the band announced that Malcolm was taking a break from the group, and with the announcement of the album, the band has also confirmed that Malcolm has left the band for good. Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Malcolm has been moved to full-time care in a Sydney nursing home. The nursing home specializes in dementia, and it’s sad to think that Young, only 61, could be suffering from it.

But this is a band who recorded a song called “Have A Drink On Me” immediately after their original singer drank himself to death. They will not stop, no matter what. And so they recorded Rock Or Bust in Vancouver this past spring, with Brendan O’Brien producing. They’ve licensed first single “Play Ball” to Major League Baseball to use in its postseason marketing, and you can hear a minute of it in the ad below.
Australian classic-rock greats AC/DC are one of the few bands of their vintage who aren’t relegated to the oldies circuit. Their last album, 2008′s Black Ice, sold an astonishing eight million copies, and it did it in the midst of an economic recession and during an era when people had stopped buying music. (I saw them on that tour, and holy motherfucking fuck, go see AC/DC if they come through your town.) The band has announced plans to follow up Black Ice with a new LP called Rock Or Bust. Unfortunately, though, it’ll be the first album they’ve made without guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder Malcolm Young.

Young founded AC/DC 41 years ago with his brother Angus, and he’s been hugely important to the development of the band’s sound. Earlier this year, the band announced that Malcolm was taking a break from the group, and with the announcement of the album, the band has also confirmed that Malcolm has left the band for good. Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Malcolm has been moved to full-time care in a Sydney nursing home. The nursing home specializes in dementia, and it’s sad to think that Young, only 61, could be suffering from it.

But this is a band who recorded a song called “Have A Drink On Me” immediately after their original singer drank himself to death. They will not stop, no matter what. And so they recorded Rock Or Bust in Vancouver this past spring, with Brendan O’Brien producing. They’ve licensed first single “Play Ball” to Major League Baseball to use in its postseason marketing, and you can hear a minute of it in the ad below.