AC/DC is an Austrailian rock cand that was formed in Sydney in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. The are commonly named hard rock and heavy metal, but they classified their music as "rock and roll."
AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before they released their first album, High Voltage, in 1975. There members remained regular until bassists Mark Evans was replaced by Cliff Williams in 1977. The band recorded their highly successful album, Highway To Hell in 1979. Lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott died on February 19th, 1980 due to drinking a heavy assumption of alcohol. The group thought about disbanding, but soon ex-singer Geordie Brian Johnson took the spot of Scott. Later that year, they released their most successful album, Back In Black.
The band's next album, Fo Those Who Are About To Rock We Salute You, was their first album to reach #1 in the US. AC/DC lost some popularity soon after their drummer Phil Rudd was fired in 1983 and was replaced by Dio's future drummer, Simon Wright. Phil Rudd returned in 1994, (after Chris Slade was asked to leave so Phil could take his place) and contributed to the band's 1995 album, Ballbreaker. They released Stiff Upper Lip in 2000 and was well recieved by critics. The band's newest album, Black Ice, was released on October 20th, 2006.
As of 2008, AC/DC has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 71 million in the US. Back In Black has sold an estimated 45 million copies worldwide, 22 million in the US alone, and in the US, it is the fifth highest selling album. AC/DC was #4 on VH1's list of the "One Hundred Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and #7 on MTV's "Greatest Heavy Metal Band of All Time." In 2004, in the Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All TIme", they were ranked #72.