AC/DC

Ac/Dc is a hard rock band from Australia formed from 1973 to the now present day. Although many fans call them hard rock and heavy metal, the band themselves say they are Rock N Roll.
In 1966 the Young family moved to Sydney, Australia, where the 3 brothers George, Angus, and Malcolm learned to play guitar, George being the first. George joined a group called the Easybeats a succsessful band in Australia in the 1960's. Malcolm soon after joined a band from New South Wales called The Velvet Underground(not the group from New York).
In 1973 Angus and Malcolm formed their band recruiting Larry Kriedt for bassist, Dave Evans for vocalist, and Colin Bergus as precussion. They then named there band AC/DC after seeing that symbol on there sisters sewing machine, it stands for alternating current/direct current. The group thought the name would symbolize there raw energy and new music and so from there on they were AC/DC.
The group played their first gig on NewYearsEve, 1973. Later they were signed to EMI for Australia and New Zealand. There lineup on players changed frequently the first year, Burgess was the first member fired and after that they had several other drummers. Evans was not suitable for the band, thinking he was too glamorous then needed, he was fired also. Evans was replaced by their first manager Dennis Laughlin. Laughlin was later replaced in 1974 by Ronald Scott a good friend of George, who was with the band from 1974-1980. Their first single with Scott was "Can I Sit Next To You Girl"(http://youtube.com/watch?v=biaGJ_4rEzE). 1975 their first album "High Voltage" was recorded. Within a few months the groups lineup had stabalized with Scott, the bassist Mark Evans, drummer Phil Rudd, and the Young brothers. Later in the year they came out with the single "Its a Long Way to the Top(If You Wana Rock N Roll)" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=H1iR2Wi3u5o). Between 1974 and 1977 they were broadcasted on a T.V show called Countdown, their last performance on the show was April 3, 1977. In 1976 they signed an international deal with Atlantic Records and toured through Europe. Their first album to go worldwide had songs taken from "High Voltage" and "T.N.T", the album sold 3 million copys worldwide. Their next album "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" was released in the same year for Europe, and released in 1981 for the US. In 1977 Mark Evans was fired due to personal issues with Angus, he was replaced by Cliff Williams who was also backup vocals.
In 1978 they released Powerage with Williams there for the first time, and started Let There Be Rock, only one single was released with Powerage, "Rock N Roll Damnation"(http://youtube.com/watch?v=i__LRINO2oI). In the same year they released "If You Want Blood, You've Got It". In 1979 their sixth album Highway To Hell was released, it was number 17# out of 100# in the US, the final track "Night Prowler" was very popular intended to give that tone of feer and eeryness.(http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hruhe6n7Stk)
February 19, 1980 Scott died of heavy consumption of alcohol poisoning, his family buried him in Fremantle, Australia, where they moved when he was a child. The band considered quitting but after thinking that Scott would want them to go on. There were many auditions for his replacement, Brian Johnson sang Whole Lotta Rosie and Ike and Tina Turners "Nutbush City Limits", and few days later they hired him. With Johnson they finished recording there album they started with Scott "Back In Black". It became there biggest selling album with hits including "Hells Bells" and "You Shook Me All Night" where it reached #1 in the UK and #4 in the US. Also sold well there follow up album in 1981 For Those About To Rock We Salute You reached #13 in US and #15 in the UK.
Phil Rudd and Malcolm Young's dislike for each other got worse and worse which made them fight. Two hours after the fight Rudd was fired, although they recorded most of the drum track for their next album he was replaced by Simon Wright after an anonymous audition. Although their next two albums weren't as successful in 1988 they were put in the Australian Recording Industry Association's Hall of Fame. While on there worldwide tour in 1988 Malcolm announced he was taking time off touring to recover from his alcoholism, his younger brother Stevie Young took his place for that time. After the tour Wright left the group to work on the Dio album, and was replaced by Chris Slade. Johnson was unavaible while fianlising his divorce, which left the young brothers to right the songs for their next album. The next album, Razors Edge, was produced by Bruce Fairbairn(who recently worked with Aerosmith and Bon Jovi), and the album was released in 1990 which renewed their old popularity. The album featured UK's top twenty single "Heatseeker" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GP5Z999-8jQ). In 1991 AC/DC recorded Big Gun for the sountrack of the movie Last Action Hero starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was made number #1 single in the US.
In 1994 Rudd was invited back into the band replacing Slade who didnt do much for them. In 1995 with the old group back together again they release BallBreaker which was recorded in California. Through 1997-2000 they made a few singles for movies, and in 2000 their 16th album, Stiff Upper Lip, was released. The album reached #1 in Argentina and Germany including three others, #2 in Spain, Switzerland and France, #3 in Australia, and so on.
In 2002 the band signed a multi-album, long term deal with Sony Music, who then released a long series of remastered albums. In March 2003 AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, "In the beginning man didn't know about Rock N Roll show and all that jive. The white man had the schmaltz, the black man had the blues, but no one knew what they were gonna do but Tchaikovsky had the news, he said: 'let there be rock'". Malcolm announced Scott wrote that and in his name its a real honor to accept these awards. In May,2003 Malcolm Young recieved a Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Service to Australian Music at the Music Winners Award where he payed tribute to Bon Scott. On October 1, 2004 a central Melbourne thoroughfare, Corporation Lane was renamed in honor of the band where they recorded the video for the 1975 hit "Its a Long Way to the Top(If You Wana Rock N Roll)". Starting January 2006 the band will be recording a new album, with all new songs and footage. Malcolm says "its gotta be perfect". With the Young brothers working on the new lyrics for new songs the album should be out sooner or later. Latest thing to happen is October 2007 where Columbia Records released a DVD called Plug Me In. It consists of 5 hours of rare footage from their old days some even showing Bon Scott.
Many have been influenced from this band and some still are. I think their music is original even now as they're improving it. Although it's more older music I enjoy listening to more of there older albums although the newer ones are still great.