.gif)
Black Ice (album)
Encyclopedia
Black Ice is the 15th Australian and 14th international studio album by the Australian hard rock
band AC/DC
. It was produced by Brendan O'Brien
and released internationally on 17 October 2008. Guitarists Angus Young
and Malcolm Young
got together in London in 2003 to start composing tracks. Delays to its development occurred due to an injury to bass guitarist Cliff Williams and a change of labels from Atlantic Records
to Sony Music. Recording occurred on March and April 2008 at The Warehouse Studio
in Canada, the same studio as the band's previous album Stiff Upper Lip
, the eight-year gap between them is their longest between successive studio albums. O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of the band's early work, as opposed to the blues
orientation of predecessors Ballbreaker
and Stiff Upper Lip, and made suggestions such as adding "soul
crooning
" to Brian Johnson
's singing. Black Ice has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio effort.
Black Ice was launched exclusively in physical formats, as the group does not sell its music digitally. Walmart
got exclusive rights for the North American distribution, and was released along with an extensive marketing campaign which included displays focusing on AC/DC memorabilia. Three singles were issued, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", "Big Jack
" and "Anything Goes
". Black Ice went to number-one in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was the second best-selling record of 2008, behind Coldplay
's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
, and had shipped 6 million copies worldwide by December. Critical reviews were generally positive, praising the music and resemblance to the classic AC/DC sound, although some critics found the work overly long and inconsistent. Black Ice was nominated for many awards, including the Grammy
, Brit, Juno
and ARIA Music Award
s; and was supported by a world tour
between 2008 and 2010.
in 2001, and resumed performing in 2003, with eight presentations that included AC/DC's induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
, and opening three concerts for The Rolling Stones
' A Bigger Bang Tour
. During those two years, guitarists Angus Young
and Malcolm Young
wrote music separately, and then met in a London studio to work on new songs.
The production of Black Ice was delayed for several reasons. AC/DC abandoned old label Atlantic Records
to sign a deal with Sony Music, and changed labels within Sony, from Epic Records
to Columbia Records
. Bass guitarist Cliff Williams
suffered an injury to his hand in 2005, and spent 18 months unable to play. During the time Williams was recovering, the Young brothers perfected the songs they had written. Angus revealed that there was no pressure from Sony for the band to put out a new album, as the label was releasing DVDs and remasters of the AC/DC catalogue, and thus the group "could afford to sit back and say we’ll do another album when we think we’ve got all the goods." In a 2004 interview, vocalist Brian Johnson
said that Angus had written harder riffs than those on Stiff Upper Lip. Johnson also stated that he would be writing song lyrics, for the first time since the band's 1988 album Blow Up Your Video
, but all tracks on Black Ice were credited to the Youngs. On January 2006, Malcolm revealed in an interview that the band was working on a new album.
When the Young brothers called Columbia Records' president Steve Barnett
to announce the making of a new album, Barnett recommended them producer Brendan O'Brien
. On 3 March 2008, recording started at The Warehouse Studio
in Vancouver
, British Columbia, the same studio where Stiff Upper Lip
was made, and lasted for eight weeks. Engineer Mike Fraser
, who has mixed all AC/DC albums since The Razors Edge
, said they recorded in batches of three songs to "keep things interesting" and avert overextended sessions. According to Fraser, the band had not rehearsed the songs prior to entering the studio. Despite "a couple of tweaks in the writing, sparkling up the choruses a bit better" during the recording, the compositions were mostly complete. Still, the Young brothers had new ideas during production, including the song "Anything Goes
", written as studio sessions were nearly finished.
According to Angus, the title refers to gigs played during winter in the brothers' native country of Scotland. He said, "it rolled off the tongue" and it reminded him of "radio warnings up north of black ice
." The band considered using the working title Runaway Train.
and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
. He thought the two previous studio efforts, Ballbreaker
and Stiff Upper Lip, were more blues
-based. O'Brien encouraged the band to emphasise the "hooky, melodic side" of its song-writing, which Angus complimented, since he had "never been great with harmonies". Mike Fraser declared the band aimed "towards The Razors Edge era, a little bit more up-tempo stuff." O'Brien made suggestions about their performance, getting Angus to play slide guitar
on "Stormy May Day", and telling Johnson to swap some screaming for a spot of "soul
crooning
", as he was a soul singer and had to do what he needed to do. Johnson was worried that the rest of the band would think this did not suit their style of hard rock and roll, but the band was quite receptive. The highly demanding singing style led to Johnson only recording his vocals for one hour a day. The rhythm section continues the basic structure from other AC/DC records, with Cliff Williams playing bassline
s of eighth note
s, and Phil Rudd
's drumming being a consistent 4/4 time
, mostly on his snare
, kick drum and hi-hat cymbal
. Both musicians expressed contentment with their roles in the band; Rudd declared, "I'm not repressing skills. Most drummers are scared to try this", and Williams admitted he plays "the same thing in every song, for the most part", but added "[i]n AC/DC's music, the song is more important than any individual's bit in it".
Angus said that when composing with Malcolm they share ideas to make each track "work together" to form a complete album. With 15 songs which clock at over 55 minutes, Black Ice has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio record. Malcolm has declared that "about 60 or 70 song ideas" were developed, but Angus stated that most were discarded because of not being "representative of how we are". Most of the album's tracks are about rock and roll itself – Angus stated "Certain songs just seem to come to life when you add that phrase". However, other themes served as inspiration. "Money Made
" is a criticism on how, according to Angus, in the US "everything is money these days". "War Machine" was based on a documentary on Hannibal
, which led to the conclusion that the military has not changed since Ancient Rome. "Wheels" tells about Johnson's passion for motorcars. He described the release as the "best one we've done", he felt that while Back in Black was great for its time, Black Ice shows the band's "versatility".
as the title of the new AC/DC album, which would have a total of 15 songs. That same day, the band filmed the promotional video for its first single, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", in London. Three days later, Columbia Records announced that Black Ice would be released on 20 October in the US, and made pre-orders available. "Rock 'n' Roll Train", was issued on 28 August, with "Big Jack
" and "Anything Goes" following in some markets. The track, "Spoilin' For a Fight", was used by the World Wrestling Entertainment
as the theme song for its 2008 Survivor Series
event, and "War Machine" was later included in the soundtrack album
for Iron Man 2
.
The CD version was also available in a hard-cover, deluxe edition with a 30-page booklet containing exclusive new illustrations, studio and live photographs of the group as well as lyrics to the songs. A limited edition steel-box version, containing the CD, a 20-page colour booklet, a DVD featuring the "Rock 'n' Roll Train" video and a making of documentary, a large AC/DC flag, five stickers and a Gibson
guitar pick, was issued in Germany and the United Kingdom in December. It appeared as a vinyl LP on two 180-gram discs, in a heavy gate-fold package featuring the standard red lettering artwork on the front. The LP was sold through the official website and through independent record shops in the US. An unknown number of copies of the vinyl version were incorrectly pressed, side 1B had tracks from The Clash
's Live At Shea Stadium instead. Black Ice was not issued digitally, as the band refuses to sell their tracks separately. Angus declared, "If we were on iTunes
, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album - and we don't think that represents us musically." However, its entire content was leaked online two weeks early. Rumours spread that Sony Music tried to control leaks by releasing fake tracks on peer-to-peer
websites.
In North America, Walmart
made a deal for the exclusive distribution of Black Ice, though a few independent music shops managed to get copies by ordering them from foreign outlets. Angus declared that they picked Walmart since the company is the biggest physical music retailer in America, which they believed to be "the best alternative to iTunes". The retailer created over 3000 "Rock Again AC/DC Stores" with displays showcasing albums, clothing, the No Bull
DVD, the video game AC/DC Live: Rock Band, and products from sponsors. Gary Severson, a Walmart senior vice president, said that AC/DC was one of the rare artists whose loyal fan-base allowed to display other merchandise along with the music. In October, MTV
, Walmart and Columbia created "AC/DC Rock Band Stores" in cities without actual Walmart retail locations – New York's Times Square
, and Los Angeles. "Black Ice" trucks were dispatched on their streets after the release, playing tracks and making stops each day to sell merchandise. Advertising agency Arnold Worldwide
was awarded both Best Activity Generating Brand Volume by the Marketing Agencies Association, and Best Retail/Co-Marketing Campaign by Promo Magazine for Black Ices marketing campaign.
, which is "not obvious to the driver" and takes a while to be understood. There are four different covers, the standard edition with the red logo, the deluxe edition with a blue logo, and two variants to the regular design including using yellow or white-coloured logos. Many drawings were based on the working title Runaway Train, including the regular and the deluxe edition overall design resembling a train, "that travels around the world to spread the rock machine", according to Levy. Levy worked on the cover while travelling with Pearl Jam
on their 2008 tour. After doing the yellow version's artwork, Levy was requested to do two more in the same style, which became the red and white varieties. Then, during the promotional shoots, Levy made the deluxe edition art.
The centre of the standard, red logo artwork, has a watch behind the lightning of the AC/DC logo, representing a "temporal explosion", with the tribal motifs
representing a special tribe, the AC/DC fandom. Wings form clouds above the watch to represent "eternal time". Angus appears atop the watch "controlling time" and on the sides wearing a straitjacket
to "represent the folly of the group and the strength of his sound, this mix of guitars that makes you lose your footing". To fit the title Black Ice, the image was printed with lacquer
and varnish
to give an ice-like quality, and the AC/DC logo is filled with photographs of ice crystals
. The booklet and promotional photography were taken by music photographer Guido Karp
(who toured with AC/DC during their Stiff Upper Lip World Tour), in August 2008 in London.
considered Black Ice the most inspired AC/DC album since The Razors Edge, praising Brian Johnson's performance and saying the music sounds "harder, hungrier, and more relevant than anything on contemporary radio". The Village Voice
s Richard Bienstock complimented Brendan O'Brien's production, stating it restored a sonority
closer to the Vanda
-Young produced 1970s albums, as well as effective choruses like those with "Mutt" Lange. Spin
s reviewer David Marchese noted that while the music sounded the same as in other albums, the lyrical themes were darker and the band "reveals some new sonic tricks". The Observer
described Black Ice as "nearly Back in Black II", praising the tight and "laid back" sonority and saying the band "can still teach the kids a thing or two about rock'n'roll".
However, some reviewers found it inconsistent, overly long or formulaic. Entertainment Weekly
s reviewer Clark Collis complained that the songs were too similar, saying that "even 2000's fairly monochromatic Stiff Upper Lip had more varied material", and that the band's trademark groove "now seems in danger of becoming a rut". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
considered that after "Big Jack" the tracks went into a "too-comfortable groove, fueled by too-tight rhythms and guitars that sound loud but not beefy", and agreed it was overly long, "stretching out to 15 tracks when [the album] should be no longer than ten." Similarly, Robert Forster
of The Monthly
praised the first four songs and the title track, but felt that "tracks five through 14 are tough going", with a "numbing predictability" and lacking the "hooks and originality good AC/DC songs have". David Hiatt of Rolling Stone
said that the Young brothers composed "tunes worthy of their musical muscle – though not enough to fill an album", described Phil Rudd's performance as "inhumanly restrained", and considered that Black Ice "feels longer than its 55 minutes, thanks to a stretch of throwaway rockers".
began tracking sales data for Billboard in March 1991. It has been certified multi-platinum in fourteen countries, including the US, Australia, and Canada.[A] Additionally, it has achieved platinum status in four countries, including the UK,[B] and gold status in four other countries.[C] Black Ice was the second best-selling album worldwide in 2008, behind only Coldplay
's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
. As of December 2008, it had shipped 6 million copies worldwide.
On the first day of its US release (20 October), Black Ice sold upwards of 193,000 units. By 28 October, Black Ice debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200
albums chart, selling over 784,000 copies in its first week, the second highest one-week sales of an album in the US of 2008, behind Lil Wayne
's Tha Carter III
. It was AC/DC's second release to top the US charts, after their 1981's For Those About to Rock We Salute You
, and also became the biggest debut ever by a mainstream hard rock album. As of 31 December 2008, the album has sold just 1.915 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and was certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA
. Black Ice also debuted at number-one on the ARIA Album Charts
, with over 90,000 units sold, and the UK Album charts, with 110,000 copies sold. It was their first chart topper in the UK since Back in Black (1980). In Canada, Black Ice debuted at number-one and sold 119,000 copies in its first week, making it the best-selling album debut in Canada in 2008. The album held the top spot for three consecutive weeks before being knocked off by Taylor Swift
's Fearless
, selling over 200,000 copies in its first month in Canada. In Germany, Black Ice became the 14th best-selling album of the 2000s, selling 1 million copies and reaching 5× platinum.
, Black Ice won the ARIA Music Award
for Best Rock Album and Highest Selling Album; they were nominated for Album of the Year and Group of the Year. It was nominated for Best International Album at both the Juno Award
s and the Brit Awards
. Angus and Malcolm won the APRA Award
for Songwriters of the Year, and "Rock 'n' Roll Train" won Most Played Australian Work Overseas. At the Grammy Awards, "Rock 'n' Roll Train" was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
in 2009
, while in 2010
, Black Ice was nominated for Best Rock Album
and the track "War Machine" won the Best Hard Rock Performance
category.
Black Ice was ranked 41st on Rolling Stones Top 50 Albums of 2008 list, 29th on a similar list by Q magazine
, 17th on Kerrang!
s Top 20 Albums of the Year, and 3rd in UGO
's list of the 11 Best Albums of 2008.
on 28 October 2008 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
. Two days earlier, they held a dress rehearsal in the same city. The tour lasted 168 shows through 11 legs, with the last in Bilbao
, Spain on 28 June 2010.
The stage was designed by Mark Fisher
, who had worked on the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour. Inspired by the working title Runaway Train and the track "Rock 'n' Roll Train", the stage had a life-sized locomotive
, weighing 3500 kg, as its centrepiece. Five songs from Black Ice were included on the tour’s set list
, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", "Big Jack", "Black Ice", "War Machine", and "Anything Goes".
The Black Ice World Tour is AC/DC's most successful to date, grossing $441.6 million, making it the third highest-grossing concert tour of all-time. Three concerts in December 2009 at the River Plate Stadium in Argentina
were released as the DVD Live at River Plate
on 10 May 2011. A limited edition photo book
on the tour, AC/DC Black Ice World Tour 2008-2010, by Matteo Abruzzo, was published in Italy in 2010.
Production
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
. It was produced by Brendan O'Brien
Brendan O'Brien (music producer)
Brendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
and released internationally on 17 October 2008. Guitarists Angus Young
Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...
and Malcolm Young
Malcolm Young
Malcolm Young is a Scottish-born Australian guitarist, best known as a founding member, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, along with the other members of AC/DC...
got together in London in 2003 to start composing tracks. Delays to its development occurred due to an injury to bass guitarist Cliff Williams and a change of labels from Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
to Sony Music. Recording occurred on March and April 2008 at The Warehouse Studio
The Warehouse Studio
The Warehouse Studio is a music recording facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, owned by Bryan Adams.- The building :The Warehouse Studio is housed in the oldest brick building in Vancouver, which is located in present-day Gastown...
in Canada, the same studio as the band's previous album Stiff Upper Lip
Stiff Upper Lip
Stiff Upper Lip is the 14th Australian and 13th international studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC; it was released in 2000. The album was recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia and mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City. The album was produced by George...
, the eight-year gap between them is their longest between successive studio albums. O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of the band's early work, as opposed to the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
orientation of predecessors Ballbreaker
Ballbreaker
Ballbreaker is the 13th Australian and 12th international studio album by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in September 1995. It was the band's first studio album in five years, since The Razors Edge...
and Stiff Upper Lip, and made suggestions such as adding "soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
crooning
Crooner
Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of pop standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use...
" to Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson is an English singer and lyricist who has been the lead singer for the rock band AC/DC since 1980. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 along with the other members of the band....
's singing. Black Ice has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio effort.
Black Ice was launched exclusively in physical formats, as the group does not sell its music digitally. Walmart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
got exclusive rights for the North American distribution, and was released along with an extensive marketing campaign which included displays focusing on AC/DC memorabilia. Three singles were issued, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", "Big Jack
Big Jack (song)
"Big Jack" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the second single and the third track on the band's most recent album, Black Ice. This song was number 53 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008...
" and "Anything Goes
Anything Goes (AC/DC song)
"Anything Goes" is a song by the Australian hard rock group AC/DC. It is the fourth track from their latest album Black Ice. "Anything Goes" is one of five songs from the album that was played live on their Black Ice World Tour, however it was removed from the setlist on 25 October 2009 and has not...
". Black Ice went to number-one in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was the second best-selling record of 2008, behind Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, often referred to as simply Viva la Vida is the fourth studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released on 11 June 2008 on Parlophone. The album was named after a Spanish phrase that translates in English as "long live life"...
, and had shipped 6 million copies worldwide by December. Critical reviews were generally positive, praising the music and resemblance to the classic AC/DC sound, although some critics found the work overly long and inconsistent. Black Ice was nominated for many awards, including the Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, Brit, Juno
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
and ARIA Music Award
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
s; and was supported by a world tour
Black Ice World Tour
Black Ice World Tour was a 2008/2009/2010 concert tour by Australian rock band AC/DC in support of the group's 15th studio album, Black Ice, which was released in October 2008. The tour was the band's first since the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour in 2000/2001.The jaunt began in Wilkes-Barre,...
between 2008 and 2010.
Production
Black Ice marks AC/DC's sixteenth Australian issued studio album, and fifteenth internationally released. The band decided to take a break after finishing the Stiff Upper Lip World TourStiff Upper Lip World Tour
The Stiff Upper Lip World Tour was a concert tour by AC/DC in support of their first album made in the 21st century, Stiff Upper Lip. It was their first album since 1995's Ballbreaker. The stage show featured the Angus statue on the cover of Stiff Upper Lip, AC/DC nicknamed him "Junior"...
in 2001, and resumed performing in 2003, with eight presentations that included AC/DC's induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, and opening three concerts for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' A Bigger Bang Tour
A Bigger Bang Tour
A Bigger Bang Tour was a worldwide concert tour by The Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album A Bigger Bang...
. During those two years, guitarists Angus Young
Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...
and Malcolm Young
Malcolm Young
Malcolm Young is a Scottish-born Australian guitarist, best known as a founding member, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, along with the other members of AC/DC...
wrote music separately, and then met in a London studio to work on new songs.
The production of Black Ice was delayed for several reasons. AC/DC abandoned old label Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
to sign a deal with Sony Music, and changed labels within Sony, from Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. Bass guitarist Cliff Williams
Cliff Williams
Clifford Williams is an English bassist and backing vocalist, who has been a member of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC since mid-1977. He had started his professional music career in 1967 and was previously in the British groups Home and Bandit. His first studio album with AC/DC was Powerage...
suffered an injury to his hand in 2005, and spent 18 months unable to play. During the time Williams was recovering, the Young brothers perfected the songs they had written. Angus revealed that there was no pressure from Sony for the band to put out a new album, as the label was releasing DVDs and remasters of the AC/DC catalogue, and thus the group "could afford to sit back and say we’ll do another album when we think we’ve got all the goods." In a 2004 interview, vocalist Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson is an English singer and lyricist who has been the lead singer for the rock band AC/DC since 1980. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 along with the other members of the band....
said that Angus had written harder riffs than those on Stiff Upper Lip. Johnson also stated that he would be writing song lyrics, for the first time since the band's 1988 album Blow Up Your Video
Blow Up Your Video
Blow Up Your Video is the 11th Australian and 10th international studio album by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC, first released on 1988. It was later released in the US on 1 February 1988...
, but all tracks on Black Ice were credited to the Youngs. On January 2006, Malcolm revealed in an interview that the band was working on a new album.
When the Young brothers called Columbia Records' president Steve Barnett
Steve Barnett (music executive)
Steve Barnett is the Co-president of Columbia Records.-Life and career:Barnett began his music career as an agent in London in 1970, working for the Bron Agency [Gerry Bron] and dealing with legendary bands such as Colosseum and Uriah Heep...
to announce the making of a new album, Barnett recommended them producer Brendan O'Brien
Brendan O'Brien (music producer)
Brendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
. On 3 March 2008, recording started at The Warehouse Studio
The Warehouse Studio
The Warehouse Studio is a music recording facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, owned by Bryan Adams.- The building :The Warehouse Studio is housed in the oldest brick building in Vancouver, which is located in present-day Gastown...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia, the same studio where Stiff Upper Lip
Stiff Upper Lip
Stiff Upper Lip is the 14th Australian and 13th international studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC; it was released in 2000. The album was recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia and mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City. The album was produced by George...
was made, and lasted for eight weeks. Engineer Mike Fraser
Mike Fraser
Mike Fraser is a Canadian record producer, engineer, and mixer. Mike is best known for his work with AC/DC, Metallica, Aerosmith and Joe Satriani...
, who has mixed all AC/DC albums since The Razors Edge
The Razors Edge (album)
-Personnel:*Brian Johnson – lead vocals*Angus Young – lead guitar*Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals*Cliff Williams – bass, backing vocals*Chris Slade – drums, percussion-Tour:...
, said they recorded in batches of three songs to "keep things interesting" and avert overextended sessions. According to Fraser, the band had not rehearsed the songs prior to entering the studio. Despite "a couple of tweaks in the writing, sparkling up the choruses a bit better" during the recording, the compositions were mostly complete. Still, the Young brothers had new ideas during production, including the song "Anything Goes
Anything Goes (AC/DC song)
"Anything Goes" is a song by the Australian hard rock group AC/DC. It is the fourth track from their latest album Black Ice. "Anything Goes" is one of five songs from the album that was played live on their Black Ice World Tour, however it was removed from the setlist on 25 October 2009 and has not...
", written as studio sessions were nearly finished.
According to Angus, the title refers to gigs played during winter in the brothers' native country of Scotland. He said, "it rolled off the tongue" and it reminded him of "radio warnings up north of black ice
Black ice
Black ice, sometimes called glare ice or clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glazed ice on a surface.While not truly black, it is virtually transparent, allowing black asphalt/macadam roadways to be seen through it, hence the term "black ice"...
." The band considered using the working title Runaway Train.
Composition
With Black Ice, Brendan O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of their early work on albums such as Highway to HellHighway to Hell
Highway to Hell can refer to:*Highway to Hell , 1979 album by AC/DC**"Highway to Hell" , the title track from the album*Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell*Highway to Hell , a 1992 film starring Chad Lowe and Kristy Swanson...
and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is the third studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in 1976. All songs were written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott....
. He thought the two previous studio efforts, Ballbreaker
Ballbreaker
Ballbreaker is the 13th Australian and 12th international studio album by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in September 1995. It was the band's first studio album in five years, since The Razors Edge...
and Stiff Upper Lip, were more blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-based. O'Brien encouraged the band to emphasise the "hooky, melodic side" of its song-writing, which Angus complimented, since he had "never been great with harmonies". Mike Fraser declared the band aimed "towards The Razors Edge era, a little bit more up-tempo stuff." O'Brien made suggestions about their performance, getting Angus to play slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
on "Stormy May Day", and telling Johnson to swap some screaming for a spot of "soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
crooning
Crooner
Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of pop standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use...
", as he was a soul singer and had to do what he needed to do. Johnson was worried that the rest of the band would think this did not suit their style of hard rock and roll, but the band was quite receptive. The highly demanding singing style led to Johnson only recording his vocals for one hour a day. The rhythm section continues the basic structure from other AC/DC records, with Cliff Williams playing bassline
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
s of eighth note
Eighth note
thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....
s, and Phil Rudd
Phil Rudd
Phillip Hugh Norman Rudd is an Australian drummer. He is best known for his membership of rock band AC/DC from 1975 until 1983, and again from 1994 to present. After the 1977 departure of bass guitarist Mark Evans, he became the only Australian-born member of the band...
's drumming being a consistent 4/4 time
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
, mostly on his snare
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, kick drum and hi-hat cymbal
Hi-hat
A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
. Both musicians expressed contentment with their roles in the band; Rudd declared, "I'm not repressing skills. Most drummers are scared to try this", and Williams admitted he plays "the same thing in every song, for the most part", but added "[i]n AC/DC's music, the song is more important than any individual's bit in it".
Angus said that when composing with Malcolm they share ideas to make each track "work together" to form a complete album. With 15 songs which clock at over 55 minutes, Black Ice has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio record. Malcolm has declared that "about 60 or 70 song ideas" were developed, but Angus stated that most were discarded because of not being "representative of how we are". Most of the album's tracks are about rock and roll itself – Angus stated "Certain songs just seem to come to life when you add that phrase". However, other themes served as inspiration. "Money Made
Money Made
"Money Made" is the fourth single from Australian rock band AC/DC from their fifteenth studio album Black Ice. The song was released only through Radio airplay in Australia in July 2009, and in the UK as a CD along with "War Machine"...
" is a criticism on how, according to Angus, in the US "everything is money these days". "War Machine" was based on a documentary on Hannibal
Hannibal Barca
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca Hannibal's date of death is most commonly given as 183 BC, but there is a possibility it could have taken place in 182 BC. was a Carthaginian military commander and tactician. He is generally considered one of the greatest military commanders in history...
, which led to the conclusion that the military has not changed since Ancient Rome. "Wheels" tells about Johnson's passion for motorcars. He described the release as the "best one we've done", he felt that while Back in Black was great for its time, Black Ice shows the band's "versatility".
Release and promotion
On 15 August 2008, Black Ice was announced by Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
as the title of the new AC/DC album, which would have a total of 15 songs. That same day, the band filmed the promotional video for its first single, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", in London. Three days later, Columbia Records announced that Black Ice would be released on 20 October in the US, and made pre-orders available. "Rock 'n' Roll Train", was issued on 28 August, with "Big Jack
Big Jack (song)
"Big Jack" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the second single and the third track on the band's most recent album, Black Ice. This song was number 53 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008...
" and "Anything Goes" following in some markets. The track, "Spoilin' For a Fight", was used by the World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
as the theme song for its 2008 Survivor Series
Survivor Series (2008)
Survivor Series was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , took place on November 23, 2008 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts The Survivor Series was in Boston 15 years prior in 1993 in the now-demolished Boston Garden...
event, and "War Machine" was later included in the soundtrack album
Iron Man 2 (soundtrack)
Iron Man 2 is a compilation album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on 19 April 2010 as the soundtrack to Jon Favreau's movie of the same name...
for Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 is a 2010 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to 2008's Iron Man, the second film in a planned trilogy and is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Jon...
.
The CD version was also available in a hard-cover, deluxe edition with a 30-page booklet containing exclusive new illustrations, studio and live photographs of the group as well as lyrics to the songs. A limited edition steel-box version, containing the CD, a 20-page colour booklet, a DVD featuring the "Rock 'n' Roll Train" video and a making of documentary, a large AC/DC flag, five stickers and a Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...
guitar pick, was issued in Germany and the United Kingdom in December. It appeared as a vinyl LP on two 180-gram discs, in a heavy gate-fold package featuring the standard red lettering artwork on the front. The LP was sold through the official website and through independent record shops in the US. An unknown number of copies of the vinyl version were incorrectly pressed, side 1B had tracks from The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
's Live At Shea Stadium instead. Black Ice was not issued digitally, as the band refuses to sell their tracks separately. Angus declared, "If we were on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album - and we don't think that represents us musically." However, its entire content was leaked online two weeks early. Rumours spread that Sony Music tried to control leaks by releasing fake tracks on peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
websites.
In North America, Walmart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
made a deal for the exclusive distribution of Black Ice, though a few independent music shops managed to get copies by ordering them from foreign outlets. Angus declared that they picked Walmart since the company is the biggest physical music retailer in America, which they believed to be "the best alternative to iTunes". The retailer created over 3000 "Rock Again AC/DC Stores" with displays showcasing albums, clothing, the No Bull
No Bull
No Bull is a live video released by AC/DC in November 1996, filmed on Super 16mm at Madrid's Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas on 10 July 1996 during the Ballbreaker world tour...
DVD, the video game AC/DC Live: Rock Band, and products from sponsors. Gary Severson, a Walmart senior vice president, said that AC/DC was one of the rare artists whose loyal fan-base allowed to display other merchandise along with the music. In October, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, Walmart and Columbia created "AC/DC Rock Band Stores" in cities without actual Walmart retail locations – New York's Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, and Los Angeles. "Black Ice" trucks were dispatched on their streets after the release, playing tracks and making stops each day to sell merchandise. Advertising agency Arnold Worldwide
Arnold Worldwide
Arnold Worldwide is an advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency has 15 offices in 12 countries, including Amsterdam, Boston, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, New York, Prague, São Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto and Washington DC...
was awarded both Best Activity Generating Brand Volume by the Marketing Agencies Association, and Best Retail/Co-Marketing Campaign by Promo Magazine for Black Ices marketing campaign.
Packaging
The cover of Black Ice was drawn by Joshua Marc Levy, art director for Columbia and a long time fan. In an interview with a fansite, Levy compared his enigmatic design to a road covered with black iceBlack ice
Black ice, sometimes called glare ice or clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glazed ice on a surface.While not truly black, it is virtually transparent, allowing black asphalt/macadam roadways to be seen through it, hence the term "black ice"...
, which is "not obvious to the driver" and takes a while to be understood. There are four different covers, the standard edition with the red logo, the deluxe edition with a blue logo, and two variants to the regular design including using yellow or white-coloured logos. Many drawings were based on the working title Runaway Train, including the regular and the deluxe edition overall design resembling a train, "that travels around the world to spread the rock machine", according to Levy. Levy worked on the cover while travelling with Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
on their 2008 tour. After doing the yellow version's artwork, Levy was requested to do two more in the same style, which became the red and white varieties. Then, during the promotional shoots, Levy made the deluxe edition art.
The centre of the standard, red logo artwork, has a watch behind the lightning of the AC/DC logo, representing a "temporal explosion", with the tribal motifs
Tribal art
Tribal art is an umbrella term used to describe visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as Ethnographic art, or, controversially, Primitive Art, tribal arts have historically been collected by Western anthropologists, private collectors, and museums, particularly...
representing a special tribe, the AC/DC fandom. Wings form clouds above the watch to represent "eternal time". Angus appears atop the watch "controlling time" and on the sides wearing a straitjacket
Straitjacket
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...
to "represent the folly of the group and the strength of his sound, this mix of guitars that makes you lose your footing". To fit the title Black Ice, the image was printed with lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
and varnish
Varnish
Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss...
to give an ice-like quality, and the AC/DC logo is filled with photographs of ice crystals
Ice crystals
Ice crystals are a small crystalline form of ice including hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust. The highly symmetric shapes are due to depositional growth, namely, direct deposition of water vapour onto the ice crystal...
. The booklet and promotional photography were taken by music photographer Guido Karp
Guido Karp
Guido Karp is a German music photographer.Karp was born in Mayen, Germany and grew up in Koblenz, Germany. He started concert photography early with regional bands, but had his first cover with a school-mate, Thomas Anders, who later came to fame as singer of the top-selling Euro-Band Modern Talking...
(who toured with AC/DC during their Stiff Upper Lip World Tour), in August 2008 in London.
Reception
Professional reviews
Critical reviews of Black Ice were mostly positive. Aaron Burgess of The A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
considered Black Ice the most inspired AC/DC album since The Razors Edge, praising Brian Johnson's performance and saying the music sounds "harder, hungrier, and more relevant than anything on contemporary radio". The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
s Richard Bienstock complimented Brendan O'Brien's production, stating it restored a sonority
Sonority
Sonority may refer to:*sound*sonority hierarchy, a ranking of speech sounds by amplitude*In music theory, a chord, particularly when speaking of non-traditional harmonies...
closer to the Vanda
Harry Vanda
Harry Vanda , is a Dutch-born Australian popular music singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:...
-Young produced 1970s albums, as well as effective choruses like those with "Mutt" Lange. Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
s reviewer David Marchese noted that while the music sounded the same as in other albums, the lyrical themes were darker and the band "reveals some new sonic tricks". The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
described Black Ice as "nearly Back in Black II", praising the tight and "laid back" sonority and saying the band "can still teach the kids a thing or two about rock'n'roll".
However, some reviewers found it inconsistent, overly long or formulaic. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s reviewer Clark Collis complained that the songs were too similar, saying that "even 2000's fairly monochromatic Stiff Upper Lip had more varied material", and that the band's trademark groove "now seems in danger of becoming a rut". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
considered that after "Big Jack" the tracks went into a "too-comfortable groove, fueled by too-tight rhythms and guitars that sound loud but not beefy", and agreed it was overly long, "stretching out to 15 tracks when [the album] should be no longer than ten." Similarly, Robert Forster
Robert Forster (musician)
Robert Forster is an Australian singer-songwriter, best known for his work with songwriting partner Grant McLennan, with whom he co-founded The Go-Betweens.Forster grew up in Brisbane, Australia attending Brisbane Grammar School...
of The Monthly
The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...
praised the first four songs and the title track, but felt that "tracks five through 14 are tough going", with a "numbing predictability" and lacking the "hooks and originality good AC/DC songs have". David Hiatt of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said that the Young brothers composed "tunes worthy of their musical muscle – though not enough to fill an album", described Phil Rudd's performance as "inhumanly restrained", and considered that Black Ice "feels longer than its 55 minutes, thanks to a stretch of throwaway rockers".
Chart performance and sales
Black Ice made history debuting at number-one on album charts of 29 countries, and also has the distinction of being Columbia Records' biggest debut album since Nielsen SoundScanNielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
began tracking sales data for Billboard in March 1991. It has been certified multi-platinum in fourteen countries, including the US, Australia, and Canada.[A] Additionally, it has achieved platinum status in four countries, including the UK,[B] and gold status in four other countries.[C] Black Ice was the second best-selling album worldwide in 2008, behind only Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, often referred to as simply Viva la Vida is the fourth studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released on 11 June 2008 on Parlophone. The album was named after a Spanish phrase that translates in English as "long live life"...
. As of December 2008, it had shipped 6 million copies worldwide.
On the first day of its US release (20 October), Black Ice sold upwards of 193,000 units. By 28 October, Black Ice debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
albums chart, selling over 784,000 copies in its first week, the second highest one-week sales of an album in the US of 2008, behind Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
's Tha Carter III
Tha Carter III
Tha Carter III is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released June 10, 2008 on Cash Money Records. It follows a long string of mixtape releases and guest appearances on other hip hop and R&B artists records, helping to increase his exposure in the mainstream...
. It was AC/DC's second release to top the US charts, after their 1981's For Those About to Rock We Salute You
For Those About to Rock We Salute You
For Those About to Rock We Salute You is the eighth Australian and seventh international studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in 1981. The album was a follow-up to their highly successful album Back in Black. For Those About to Rock has sold over four million copies in the US....
, and also became the biggest debut ever by a mainstream hard rock album. As of 31 December 2008, the album has sold just 1.915 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and was certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
. Black Ice also debuted at number-one on the ARIA Album Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
, with over 90,000 units sold, and the UK Album charts, with 110,000 copies sold. It was their first chart topper in the UK since Back in Black (1980). In Canada, Black Ice debuted at number-one and sold 119,000 copies in its first week, making it the best-selling album debut in Canada in 2008. The album held the top spot for three consecutive weeks before being knocked off by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
's Fearless
Fearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
, selling over 200,000 copies in its first month in Canada. In Germany, Black Ice became the 14th best-selling album of the 2000s, selling 1 million copies and reaching 5× platinum.
Accolades
In 2009ARIA Music Awards of 2009
The 23rd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards took place on 26 November 2009 at the Acer Arena at the Sydney Olympic Park complex. The ceremony was telecast on the Nine Network at 8:30pm that night...
, Black Ice won the ARIA Music Award
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
for Best Rock Album and Highest Selling Album; they were nominated for Album of the Year and Group of the Year. It was nominated for Best International Album at both the Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
s and the Brit Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
. Angus and Malcolm won the APRA Award
APRA Awards of 2010
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2010 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards...
for Songwriters of the Year, and "Rock 'n' Roll Train" won Most Played Australian Work Overseas. At the Grammy Awards, "Rock 'n' Roll Train" was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...
in 2009
51st Grammy Awards
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the biggest winners of the night, jointly winning five awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year...
, while in 2010
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
, Black Ice was nominated for Best Rock Album
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre...
and the track "War Machine" won the Best Hard Rock Performance
Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, for works containing quality performances in the hard rock music genre...
category.
Black Ice was ranked 41st on Rolling Stones Top 50 Albums of 2008 list, 29th on a similar list by Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
, 17th on Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
s Top 20 Albums of the Year, and 3rd in UGO
UGO
UGO Entertainment, Inc. is a website providing coverage of online media in entertainment targeting males age 18–34. The company is currently based in New York, New York, United States. On July 24, 2007 it was announced that Hearst Corporation would acquire UGO Entertainment...
's list of the 11 Best Albums of 2008.
Black Ice World Tour
To promote Black Ice, AC/DC launched the Black Ice World TourBlack Ice World Tour
Black Ice World Tour was a 2008/2009/2010 concert tour by Australian rock band AC/DC in support of the group's 15th studio album, Black Ice, which was released in October 2008. The tour was the band's first since the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour in 2000/2001.The jaunt began in Wilkes-Barre,...
on 28 October 2008 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
. Two days earlier, they held a dress rehearsal in the same city. The tour lasted 168 shows through 11 legs, with the last in Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, Spain on 28 June 2010.
The stage was designed by Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher is a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 1983 to 2010 and Minister for the Arts between 1997-98.-Early life:...
, who had worked on the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour. Inspired by the working title Runaway Train and the track "Rock 'n' Roll Train", the stage had a life-sized locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
, weighing 3500 kg, as its centrepiece. Five songs from Black Ice were included on the tour’s set list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", "Big Jack", "Black Ice", "War Machine", and "Anything Goes".
The Black Ice World Tour is AC/DC's most successful to date, grossing $441.6 million, making it the third highest-grossing concert tour of all-time. Three concerts in December 2009 at the River Plate Stadium in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
were released as the DVD Live at River Plate
Live at River Plate
Live at River Plate is a live concert DVD documenting AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour. The DVD includes footage from three concerts performed in December 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was directed by David Mallet, with Rocky Oldham as producer...
on 10 May 2011. A limited edition photo book
Coffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
on the tour, AC/DC Black Ice World Tour 2008-2010, by Matteo Abruzzo, was published in Italy in 2010.
Track listing
Personnel
AC/DC- Brian JohnsonBrian JohnsonBrian Johnson is an English singer and lyricist who has been the lead singer for the rock band AC/DC since 1980. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 along with the other members of the band....
– lead vocals - Angus YoungAngus YoungAngus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...
– lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
on "Stormy May Day" - Malcolm YoungMalcolm YoungMalcolm Young is a Scottish-born Australian guitarist, best known as a founding member, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Young was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, along with the other members of AC/DC...
– rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, backing vocals - Cliff WilliamsCliff WilliamsClifford Williams is an English bassist and backing vocalist, who has been a member of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC since mid-1977. He had started his professional music career in 1967 and was previously in the British groups Home and Bandit. His first studio album with AC/DC was Powerage...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals - Phil RuddPhil RuddPhillip Hugh Norman Rudd is an Australian drummer. He is best known for his membership of rock band AC/DC from 1975 until 1983, and again from 1994 to present. After the 1977 departure of bass guitarist Mark Evans, he became the only Australian-born member of the band...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion
Production
- Brendan O'BrienBrendan O'Brien (music producer)Brendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
– producer - Mike Fraser – engineer, mixer
- Eric Mosher – assistant engineer
- Billy Bowers – additional engineering
- George Marino – mastering
- Richard Jones, Geoff Banks, Rick St. Pierre – equipment technicians
- Guido KarpGuido KarpGuido Karp is a German music photographer.Karp was born in Mayen, Germany and grew up in Koblenz, Germany. He started concert photography early with regional bands, but had his first cover with a school-mate, Thomas Anders, who later came to fame as singer of the top-selling Euro-Band Modern Talking...
– photography - Joshua Marc Levy – art direction, design, illustrations (containing vector graphics by You Work For Them, LLC)
- Alvin Handwerker (Prager and Fenton LLP) – management
Chart performance
| Country | Provider(s) | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | CAPIF Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers The Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers is an Argentine organization member of the IFPI, which represents the music industry in the country. It is a nonprofit organization integrated by multinational and independent record labels.... |
1 |
| Australia | ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
1 |
| Austria | Music Control Europe | 1 |
| Belgium (Flanders) | Ultratop Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
1 |
| Belgium (Wallonia) | Ultratop Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
1 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
Nielsen SoundScan Nielsen SoundScan Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada... |
1 |
| Czech Republic | IFPI | 1 |
| Denmark | IFPI Danmark | 1 |
| Finland | YLE | 1 |
| France | SNEP Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... / IFOP Institut français d'opinion publique The Institut français d'opinion publique is an international marketing firm, whose motto is "Connection creates value". Its CEO is Laurence Parisot, who is also the current leader of the MEDEF French employers' trade union... |
1 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
IFPI | 1 |
| Greece | IFPI | 1 |
| Hungary | Mahasz Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... |
1 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
IRMA Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... |
1 |
| Italy | FIMI Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
1 |
| Japan | Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
3 |
| Mexico | AMPROFON AMPROFON Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas is a non-profit organization integrated by multinational and national record companies in Mexico. Established on April 3, 1963, it groups phonographic companies that represent more than 70 percent of the market in Mexico... |
3 |
| Netherlands | MegaCharts MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
3 |
| New Zealand | RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
1 |
| Norway | VG Nett | 1 |
| Poland | Oficjalna Lista Sprzedaży Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... |
1 |
| Portugal | Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa The Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa is currently the only recording industry association in Portugal. Created in 1989, it succeeded GPPFV and UNEVA .... (AFP) |
2 |
| Spain | PROMUSICAE PROMUSICAE Spanish Music Producers is a trade group representing the Spanish recording industry... |
1 |
| Sweden | Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
1 |
| Switzerland | Media Control Europe | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
OCC The Official UK Charts Company The Official Charts Company , previously called the Chart Information Network and then The Official UK Charts Company, compiles various "official" UK record charts, including the UK Singles Chart, the UK Albums Chart, and the UK Official Download Chart, as well as genre-specific and music video... |
1 |
| United States | Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| Country | Certifications | Sales/Shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 2× Platinum | 80,000 |
| Australia | 5× Platinum | 350,000 |
| Austria | 3× Platinum | 60,000 |
| Belgium | 2× Platinum | 60,000 |
| Brazil | Gold | 30,000 |
| Canada | 4× Platinum | 320,000 |
| Denmark | Platinum | 20,000 |
| Finland | 2× Platinum | 49,660 |
| France | 3× Platinum | 600,000 |
| Germany | 5× Platinum | 1,000,000 |
| Greece | Gold | 10,000 |
| Hungary | 2× Platinum | 12,000 |
| Ireland | 2× Platinum | 30,000 |
| Italy | Gold | 30,000 |
| Japan | 54,064 | |
| New Zealand | 2× Platinum | 30,000 |
| Poland | Platinum | 30,000 |
| Portugal | Gold | 10,000 |
| Spain | Platinum | 80,000 |
| Sweden | 2× Platinum | 80,000 |
| Switzerland | 4× Platinum | 120,000 |
| UK | Platinum | 300,000 |
| USA | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000 |
| Total | 5,335,724 | |
End of the year charts
| Year | Country | Chart | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | |||
| Australia | ARIA | 3 | |
| United States | Nielsen SoundScan | 5 | |
| Hungary | Mahasz | 6 | |
| Germany | Media Control End of Year Albums | 7 | |
| France | SNEP | 9 | |
| 2009 | Germany | Media Control End of Year Albums | 13 |
| Switzerland | Swiss Albums Chart | 26 | |
| Australia | ARIA | 37 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | "Rock 'n' Roll Train" | Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
| Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 25 | ||
| Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
30 | ||
| 2008 | "Big Jack Big Jack (song) "Big Jack" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the second single and the third track on the band's most recent album, Black Ice. This song was number 53 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008... " |
Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 10 |
| Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
83 | ||
| Portugal Singles Top 50 | 41 | ||
| 2009 | "Anything Goes Anything Goes (AC/DC song) "Anything Goes" is a song by the Australian hard rock group AC/DC. It is the fourth track from their latest album Black Ice. "Anything Goes" is one of five songs from the album that was played live on their Black Ice World Tour, however it was removed from the setlist on 25 October 2009 and has not... " |
Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 34 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | 17 October 2008 | Columbia Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
CD, Double LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
#88697392232 |
| Australia | 18 October 2008 | Sony Music | CD | #88697392382 |
| United Kingdom | 20 October 2008 | Columbia | CD, Double LP | #88697392232 |
| 1 December 2008 | CD (limited edition steel-box) | #88697417452 | ||
| United States | 20 October 2008 | Columbia | CD | #88697338292 |
| Japan | 22 October 2008 | Sony Music | CD | SICP-2055 |
| Germany | 5 December 2008 | Columbia | CD (limited edition steel-box) | #886974174523 |
External links
- Black Ice on AC/DC.com