With impeccable timing, AC/DC have just released their new album, Power Up. In honour of their decades of service to the global feelgood index, here are some of our favourite AC/DC moments from down through the years.
Melbourne 1976
No matter how daunting the day ahead, It's A Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) and its before-its-time promo will give you the attitude to get through just about any of life's mountains-out-of-molehills. We've first-hand experience - fifth year in secondary school was easier every morning thanks to this track.
London 1976
As someone once said about clothes, if you've the guts to wear it then chances are you can get away with it. It's wisdom that would've chimed with the late Bon Scott. Witness the tightness of those shorts - and wonder did he get on the plane from Oz in the same outfit. And what about that banana?!
London 1977
When you're talking about treasure, this show is 24-carat. It's a classic example of a band in full-on 'here we are and this is why' mode. Hungry, but knowing they're on the cusp of something huge. The chemistry between Bon Scott and Angus Young is incredible, and the feral intensity the band bring to this BBC TV showcase is a lesson to all young outfits.
Top of the Pops 1980
It took some kind of band to bring desperado menace into the playback domain of the Top of the Pops studio, but AC/DC served it up in spades here. This performance of A Touch Too Much aired on 7 February 1980 after the end of the Highway to Hell tour. Twelve days later, Bon Scott was dead.
Maryland 1981
Stand up and be counted for what you are about to receive... This pro-shot version of For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) is one of those tracks that if you watch it in a darkened room with the sound right up, you'll swear that you're actually there. And let's be honest, along with making you revel in the joy of the now, AC/DC's music is all about time travel - the youth you once had, or the better days that you hope are ahead. Still the most spine-tingling of intros after all these years.
Los Angeles 1983
If you're one of those fans who goes nuts for rehearsal footage, then fill your boots here. It's from backstage at the Forum and the band - with new drummer Simon Wright - are running through Messin' with the Kid. Oh to have been sitting on that floor.
Moscow 1991
This September 1991 Monsters of Rock show at Tushino Airfield saw the quintet joined on the bill by Metallica, Pantera and the Black Crowes. Unofficial figures put the attendance at 1.5 million. If you've ever seen any of the Metallica footage from the day, then you'll know that goings-on among the crowd were, to say the least, colourful. There's no audience footage in this performance of Hell's Bells, but there's something so spookily cool about seeing the fog on the breath of Brian Johnson and co as this Back in Black classic is belted out.
VH-1 Studios, London 1996
Even after all the stadiums, AC/DC's session for VH-1 in July 1996 showed that they still enjoyed nothing more than seeing the whites of the audience's eyes in a small room. How this set has still not been released as an album or DVD is a mystery.
River Plate 2009
It's the Black Ice tour, where Buenos Aires has welcomed the band like native sons. For all the joy in this performance, it's also very poignant, given that this was the last trek that no-fuss guitar great Malcolm Young did with AC/DC before his Alzheimer's diagnosis. New album Power Up is a tribute to the iconic rhythm guitarist, who passed away in 2017.
Arnhem 1979
The MC's shorts were already exciting enough, but this performance of Highway to Hell for the TV show Countdown (not the vowel and consonant one) is up there with the best. Bon Scott is at his raspiest; Angus and Malcom Young, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd are at their tightest, and you'll swear you can see sweat dripping off your screen.
