AC/DC Follow Up

AC/DC recorded their fourteenth studio album, Stiff Upper Lip, in 1999, which was produced by George at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver. Released in February 2000, it was better received by critics than Ballbreaker but was considered lacking in new ideas. The title track was issued as a single in January 2000, which remained at number one on the US Mainstream Rock charts for four weeks. The other singles, "Satellite Blues" and "Safe in New York City", reached number one and number seven, respectively, on the same chart. The band signed a long-term, multi-album deal with Sony Music in December 2002, which issued their remasters series. In 2003, the entire back catalogue – except Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip – was remastered and reissued. Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip were reissued in the UK in 2004. All AC/DC members and Bon Scott were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2003.

The group performed at Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, supporting The Rolling Stones, with Rush and other artists, on July 30, 2003. The benefit concert assisted the city's tourism industry, which was negatively impacted by the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. The audience of 450,000 set a record for the largest paid music event in Canadian history. The band came second in a list of Australia's highest-earning entertainers for 2005, and sixth in the following year. Verizon made all the albums, including the Live at Donington video, available for digital download in 2007. AC/DC released video compilations Family Jewels on March 28, 2005, and Plug Me In on October 16, 2007. No Bull: The Directors Cut, a newly edited, comprehensive Blu-ray and DVD of the band's July 1996 Plaza De Toros de las Ventas concert in Madrid, Spain, was released on September 9, 2008.

Black Ice, their fifteenth studio album, was released in Australia on October 18, 2008, and issued worldwide two days later. Produced by Brendan O'Brien and mixed and engineered by Mike Fraser, its 15 tracks were their first studio recordings in eight years. Like Stiff Upper Lip, it was recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver. It was sold in the US exclusively at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and the band's official website. Black Ice reached number one in 29 countries, including Australia, the UK, and the US. "Rock 'n' Roll Train", the album's first single, was released to radio on August 28.

The Black Ice World Tour was announced on September 11, 2008 and began on October 28, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It then concluded with its final show in Bilbao, Spain, on June 28, 2010, after 20 months in which the band went to 108 cities in over 28 countries, with an estimated total audience of over 4.9 million. On September 15, 2008, AC/DC Radio debuted on Sirius Channel 19 and XM Channel 53, which plays their music along with band member interviews.

On September 29, 2009, the band announced a collection of studio and live rarities, Backtracks, which was released on November 10, as a 2×CD and DVD standard edition, or 3×CD, 2×DVD and LP deluxe edition box set. On November 4, AC/DC were announced as the Business Review Weekly top Australian earner in entertainment for 2009, with earnings of $105 million. This displaced The Wiggles from the number-one spot for the first time in four years. On April 19, 2010, AC/DC released Iron Man 2, the soundtrack for the eponymous film, which compiled earlier tracks from the band's studio albums.

The band headlined the Download Festival at Donington Park in June 2010. Three concerts in December 2009 at the River Plate Stadium in Argentina were released on a video album, Live at River Plate via DVD on May 10, 2011. An exclusive single from the DVD, featuring the songs "Shoot to Thrill" and "War Machine", was issued on Record Store Day, April 2011. AC/DC released their first live audio album in 20 years, Live at River Plate, on November 19, 2012.

In June 2011, AC/DC reissued their concert film, AC/DC: Let There Be Rock, on DVD and Blu-ray. The entire catalogue – excluding T.N.T. (1975) and the Australian versions of High Voltage (1975), Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976) and Let There Be Rock (1977), became available on the iTunes Store the same day. At the conclusion of the Black Ice World Tour in 2010, Malcolm had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It was treated at an early stage and surgery was successful with cancerous tissue removed. He also had an unspecified heart problem and had a pacemaker fitted.

Malcolm became seriously ill in April 2014 and was unable to continue performing; fans speculated that the group could disband. However, Brian Johnson stated that despite Malcolm's absence, they would return to Vancouver to record their sixteenth studio album, Rock or Bust. In July, AC/DC announced that they had finished recording it and that Stevie had replaced Malcolm in the studio. On September 23, AC/DC members confirmed that Malcolm had officially retired from performing. Malcolm's last show with the group had been on June 28, 2010 in Bilbao, Spain; he died on November 18, 2017 at the age of 64 due to his dementia. Phil Rudd confirmed that there would be another AC/DC tour and that they had no intention of retiring.

On September 23, 2014, The band revealed that Rock or Bust, featuring eleven tracks, would be released on November 28, as the first AC/DC album in the band's history without Malcolm on the recordings, nevertheless all its compositions were credited to Angus and Malcolm. The album reached number one in Australia, Canada, Germany, and the UK. The band also announced their supporting world tour, with Stevie as Malcolm's replacement.

Phil Rudd was charged with threatening to kill, possession of methamphetamine and possession of cannabis following a police raid on his home on November 6, 2014. AC/DC's members issued a statement clarifying that the tour promoting Rock or Bust would continue but did not indicate whether or not Rudd would participate or whether he was still a member. At a charity signing before the Grammy Awards, the band were photographed together with Chris Slade. It was later confirmed that he had rejoined for the Grammys and tour. In April 2015, Rudd pleaded guilty to drug and threatening to kill charges. Shortly thereafter, the band's website showed that Rudd was replaced by Slade on drums. On July 9, 2015, Rudd was sentenced to eight months of home detention.

On March 7, 2016, the band announced that the final ten dates of the Rock or Bust World Tour would be rescheduled as Johnson's doctors had ordered him to stop touring immediately; he risked complete deafness if he persisted. The ten cancelled dates were to be rescheduled, "likely with a guest vocalist" later in the year, leaving Brian Johnson's future in touring with the group uncertain. On April 16, 2016, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose was announced as the lead vocalist for the remainder of their 2016 tour dates.

Cliff Williams indicated he was leaving AC/DC during an interview with Gulfshore Life's Jonathan Foerste on July 8, 2016. "It's been what I've known for the past 40 years, but after this tour I'm backing off of touring and recording. Losing Malcolm, the thing with [Rudd] and now with [Johnson], it's a changed animal. I feel in my gut it's the right thing." At the end of the Rock or Bust World Tour, he released a video statement confirming his departure. His last show with AC/DC before the hiatus was in Philadelphia on September 20, 2016. After completing the tour in 2016, AC/DC went on hiatus. George Young died on October 22, 2017, aged 70.

In August 2018, speculation grew that former members Brian Johnson and Phil Rudd were back working with the band. A fan living near The Warehouse Studio, in Vancouver claimed to have observed them in the outdoor area of the studio from an apartment window. Shortly afterwards, a photograph of Brian Johnson with Cliff Williams at the gymnasium of the Living Shangri-La hotel in Vancouver in December 2018 surfaced, indicating that Williams had also rejoined. AC/DC then confirmed on September 30, 2020 the return of Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams to the line-up alongside Angus and Stevie, reuniting the Rock or Bust line-up.

On September 28, 2020, the band updated their social media accounts posting a teaser video, which led to speculation of their "comeback, possibly as early as this week or next week." On October 1, AC/DC released a snippet of their new song "Shot in the Dark". On October 7, the band confirmed the upcoming release on November 13, of their next studio album, Power Up and issued "Shot in the Dark" as its lead single from the album. The album's track listing was revealed on their website the same day.

They had recorded it in August–September 2018 with Brendan O'Brien producing at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, with some tweaking in Los Angeles in 2019.

AC/DC launched a dive bar on October 2, 2023, located at Club 5 Bar in Indio, called the High Voltage Dive Bar. AC/DC performed a co-headlining act for the Power Trip music festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on October 7,, which was their first show in seven years, with Cliff Williams being part of the line-up after coming out of retirement, and American drummer Matt Laug, who had previously played for Slash's Snakepit and Alice Cooper, replacing Phil Rudd. The band hinted at another tour to occur in 2024; the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, confirmed that they had booked a show in the Olympic Stadium for June 12, 2024. Founding drummer Colin Burgess died on 16 December 2023, aged 77.

On February 6, 2024, the band published a teaser on their social media accounts, showing the band's lightning bolt symbol flickering before the words "Are You Ready" appear and their song of the same name plays. This led to fans speculating that they would come back to touring after eight years. On February 12, the Power Up Tour was announced, with former Jane's Addiction bass guitarist Chris Chaney replacing Cliff Williams. The European leg of the tour began on May 17, and concluded on August 17,, with American band The Pretty Reckless as their support act for all 24 performances. AC/DC reissued their entire catalogue on gold vinyl for their 50th anniversary on March 15, June 21 and 27 September 27 2024, as part of the AC/DC 50 series. They have also reissued two Australasia-only albums – High Voltage and T.N.T. (both 1975), only available at the High Voltage Dive Bar.

Aside from an early flirtation with Glam rock, the group's sound and performance style are based on Australian Pub rock. That style was pioneered by Lobby Loyde of Billy Thorpe's early 1970s group, the Aztecs. Harry Vanda noted "the pub crowd as an audience demanded blood—'or else'." He described wanting to "recreate the real Australian pub sound—'not like that American sound, smooth and creamy, nicey, nicey.'"

Glenn A. Baker felt they played "rib-crushing, blood-curdling, brain damaging, no bullshit, thunder rock". The Canberra Times' Tony Catterall reviewed T.N.T., in which "[they] wallow in the lumpen proletarianism that's the home of Punk rock" while comparing them with rivals Buster Brown, which are "more imaginative and musically better". Music journalist Ed Nimmervoll summarised, "If we tried to isolate what has characterised Australian Rock and roll from the rest of the world's it would be music that's made to be played live,

and gets right down to basics with a minimum of distraction. [...] AC/DC captured that essence not long after it crystallised, and they have continued to carry that creed around the world as their own."

According to Vulture music journalist David Marchese, the instrumental foundation of the band's simple sound was the drummer, Phil Rudd, Simon Wright, or Chris Slade—striking the kick drum on the first and third beat of every measure and the snare drum on the second and fourth beat; bass guitarist Cliff Williams consistently down-picking an eighth note; Angus performing lead parts that possessed "a clear architecture and even sort of swing, in a frenzied, half-demented way"; and Malcolm's "propulsive" yet nuanced rhythm guitar featuring "little chuks, stutters, and silences that give the monstrous riffs life."

For the majority of Malcolm's tenure in AC/DC, he used a Marshall Super Bass head to amplify his rhythm guitar while recording in the studio. According to Chris Gill of Guitar World, this amplifier helped define his signature guitar tone: "clean but as loud as possible to ride on the razor's edge of power amp distortion and deliver the ideal combination of grind, twang, clang and crunch, with no distorted preamp 'hair,' fizz or compression", as heard on songs such as "Let There Be Rock", "Dirty Deeds", "For Those About to Rock" and "Thunderstruck". During 1978 to 1980, Malcolm used a Marshall 2203 100-watt master volume head, which Gill speculates may have contributed to a "slightly more distorted and dark" guitar tone on the albums from that period, including Powerage and Back in Black.

In a comparison of AC/DC's vocalists, Robert Christgau said Bon Scott exhibited a "blokelike croak" and "charm", often singing about sexual aggression under the guise of fun: "Like Ian Hunter or Roger Chapman though without their panache, he has fun being a dirty young man". Brian Johnson, in his opinion, possessed "three times the range and wattage" of a vocalist while projecting the character of a "bloke as fantasy-fiction demigod". By the time Johnson had fully acclimated himself to 1981's For Those About to Rock We Salute You, Christgau said he defined "an anthemic grandiosity more suitable to [the band's] precious-metal status than [Scott]'s old-fashioned raunch", albeit in a less intelligent manner.

AC/DC's influences include The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Billy Thorpe, The Easybeats and Vanda & Young. The impact of Australian Pub rock on AC/DC was documented on ABC's Long Way to the Top (2001). Angus reflected on his playing style: "A lot of it was nerves at first. It was George that told me if you get on stage and play guitar you want to let people know you are doing something. When I started in the band I was shy and had to push myself forward. [...] [Patrons] would be throwing beer cans and I thought 'just keep moving' and that's how it all started." George had taught both Malcolm and Angus "how to play guitar, and playing them classic Rock and roll and Blues records until that music was like blood in their veins." According to Long Way to the Top's writers, "[t]he hardships of the Australian road would complete AC/DC's training. [Scott] revelled in the lifestyle. Somehow he rose above all the substance abuse to become the ultimate rock and roll front man."

AC/DC's music has been variously described as Hard rock, Blues rock, and Heavy metal, but they have referred to themselves as "a Rock and roll band, nothing more, nothing less". Malcolm Young recalled honing their craft. "We'd been playing up to four gigs a day. That really shaped the band... It was a mix of screw you, Jack, and having a good time and all being pretty tough guys... The training ground was Melbourne." In the opinion of Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, they are "one of the defining acts of '70s hard rock" and reactionary to the period's Art rock and Arena rock excesses.

"AC/DC's rock was minimalist – no matter how huge and bludgeoning their guitar chords were, there was a clear sense of space and restraint." According to Alexis Petridis, their music is "hard-edged, wilfully basic blues-rock," featuring humorous sexual innuendo and lyrics about rock and roll. Music academic Robert McParland described the band's sound as being defined by the heavy rock guitar of the Young brothers, layered power chords and forceful vocals. "For some, AC/DC are the ultimate heavy metal act," Tim Jonze wrote in The Guardian, "but for others, AC/DC aren't a heavy metal act at all,

they're a classic rock band – and calling them heavy metal is an act of treachery." On the controversy of categorising their music, McParland wrote:

AC/DC will assert that they are not specifically a metal band. Their music—loud, hard, and guitar-driven—may best be described as Hard rock. However, there are people who will say that they are indisputably metal. Therein lies the ongoing problem of categorisation. While AC/DC has referenced the underworld and they have given their listeners "Highway to Hell" and "Hell's Bells," their songs are constructed on straightforward major and minor power chords. They are not modally developed as are a good deal of Heavy metal compositions. Their sound is loud and crisp, not muddy or down-tuned.

With the recording of Back in Black in 1980, rock journalist Joe S. Harrington believed the band had departed further from the blues-oriented rock of their previous albums and toward a more dynamic attack that adopted Punk rock's "high-energy implications" and transmuted their hard rock/heavy metal songs into "more pop-oriented blasts". The band would remain faithful to this "impeccably ham-handed" musical style for the remainder of their career: "the guitars were compacted into a singular statement of rhythmic efficiency, the rhythm section provided the thunderhorse overdrive and vocalist Brian Johnson bellowed and brayed like the most unhinged practitioner of bluesy top-man dynamics since vintage Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin."

Several musicians have credited AC/DC for reasserting Hard rock's popularity after it had ceded mainstream attention to other musical genres in the late 1970s. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave noted of Back in Black's release: "Disco was huge and Punk and New wave were ascendant, and along came this AC/DC record which just destroyed everybody. It put hard rock music back on the throne, where it belongs!"

AC/DC's music was a formative influence on the New wave of British heavy metal bands that emerged in the late 1970s, such as Saxon and Def Leppard, in part as a reaction to the decline of traditional early 1970s hard rock bands. In 2007, critics noted that AC/DC, along with Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions and Judas Priest,

were among "the second generation of rising stars ready to step into the breach as the old guard waned." Over the years, many prominent rock musicians have cited AC/DC as an influence, including Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Eric Peterson of Testament, Dexter Holland of The Offspring; Brian Baker of Bad Religion, Minor Threat, Dag Nasty and Junkyard, and bands such as Airbourne, Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, The Cult, and The Living End. Australian acts formed in AC/DC's footsteps are Rose Tattoo and The Angels. Chrissy Amphlett of Australian rockers Divinyls acknowledged Angus's schoolboy outfit as the inspiration for her performing in a schoolgirl's uniform.

Gene Simmons of hard rock contemporaries Kiss remarked, "a lot of people look the same and act the same and do the same thing. Every once in a while you see a band like AC/DC. Nobody's like them. We'd like to think we're unique in that way too." Slash of Guns N' Roses called them "with the exception of The Rolling Stones, the greatest rock 'n' roll band ever." "I always liked them," said Australian compatriot and singer-songwriter Nick Cave. "We had this TV show called Countdown and they were often on and they were always a riot and absolutely unique. They were a heavy rock band, but Bon Scott would go on Countdown dressed as a schoolgirl and stuff like that. They were always very anarchic and never took the thing too seriously."

AC/DC and other artists (see Filthy Fifteen) ran afoul of the Satanic panic of the 1980s. This general fear of modern Hard rock and Heavy metal was greatly increased in the band's case when serial killer Richard Ramirez was arrested. Ramirez, nicknamed the "Night Stalker" by the press, told police that "Night Prowler" from Highway to Hell had driven him to commit murder. Police also claimed that Ramirez was wearing an AC/DC shirt and left an AC/DC hat at one of the crime scenes. Accusations that AC/DC were devil worshippers were made, the lyrics of "Night Prowler" were analysed and some newspapers attempted to link Ramirez's Satanism with AC/DC's name, concluding that AC/DC stood for Anti-Christ/Devil's Child or Devil's Children.

Throughout the band's career, their songs have been criticised as simplistic, monotonous, deliberately lowbrow and sexist. David Marchese from Vulture wrote that "regardless of the lyricist, whether it was Scott (who was capable of real wit and colour), Johnson, or the Young brothers, there's a deep strain of misogyny in the band's output that veers from feeling terribly dated to straight-up reprehensible."

According to Robert Christgau in 1988, "the brutal truth is that sexism has never kept a great rock-and-roller down—from Muddy to Lemmy, lots of dynamite music has objectified women in objectionable ways. But rotely is not among those ways", in regards to AC/DC. Fans of the band have defended their music by highlighting its "bawdy humour", while members of the group have generally been dismissive of claims that their songs are sexist, arguing that they are meant to be in jest. In an interview with Sylvie Simmons for Mojo,

Angus called the band "pranksters more than anything else," while Malcolm said, "We're not like some macho band. We take the music far more seriously than we take the lyrics, which are just throwaway lines." Marchese regarded the musical aspect of the Youngs' songs as "strong enough to render the words a functional afterthought" as well as "deceptively plain, devastatingly effective, and extremely lucrative."

For the book Under My Thumb: Songs That Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them, The Guardian arts critic, Fiona Sturges contributed an essay evaluating her love for AC/DC. While acknowledging she is a feminist and that the band's music is problematic for her, she believed it would be "daft as opposed to damaging" for female listeners if they could understand the band to be "a bunch of archly sex-obsessed idiots with sharp tunes and some seriously killer riffs". Despite the "unpleasant sneering quality" of "Carry Me Home"she claims about a woman who "ain't no lady", the "rape fantasy" of "Let Me Put My Love into You" and the generally one-dimensional portrayals of women, Sturges said songs such as "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "You Shook Me All Night Long" demonstrated that the female characters "are also having a good time and are, more often than not, in the driving seat in sexual terms. [...] [I]t's the men who come over as passive and hopeless, awestruck in the presence of sexual partners more experienced and adept than them."

The band's first ever nomination at an award show was from the American Music Awards of 1982 for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group. In 1988, AC/DC were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. The municipality of Leganés, near Madrid, named a street in honour of the band "Calle de AC/DC" (English: "AC/DC Street") on March 22, 2000. Malcolm and Angus attended the inauguration with many fans. The plaque had since been stolen numerous times, forcing the municipality of Leganés to begin selling replicas of the official street plaque.

On October 1, 2004, a central Melbourne thoroughfare, Corporation Lane, was renamed ACDC Lane in honour of the band. The City of Melbourne forbade the use of the slash character in street names, so the four letters were combined. The lane is near Swanston Street, where, on the back of a truck, the band recorded their video for "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll".

AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2003. During the ceremony, the band performed "Highway to Hell" and "You Shook Me All Night Long", with guest vocals provided by host Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. He described the band's power chords as "the thunder from down under that gives you the second most powerful surge that can flow through your body." During the acceptance speech, Brian Johnson quoted their 1977 song "Let There Be Rock". In May 2003, the Young brothers accepted a Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Service to Australian Music at the APRA Music Awards of 2003, during which Malcolm Young paid special tribute to Bon Scott, who was also a recipient of the award.

In 2003, Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included Back in Black at number 73, and Highway to Hell at number 199. They also ranked number 72 on the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, as American record producer Rick Rubin wrote an essay calling them the "greatest rock & roll band of all time. " In 2004, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, Rolling Stone included "Back in Black" at number 187 and "Highway to Hell" at number 254.

They ranked number four on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and number seven on MTV's Greatest Heavy Metal Band of All Time. They ranked number 23 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2010. On November 20, 2015, the band were inducted into the Music Victoria Awards 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Angus offered a statement, in which he declared it was "an absolute honour" to be recognised in the tenth year of the Hall of Fame. They sold over 1.3 million CDs in the US during 2007.

In 50 years of the band's career, they have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, and 84 million in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which AC/DC the fourth best-selling band in US history and the eighth best-selling artist, selling more albums than Elton John and Mariah Carey. The RIAA also certified Back in Black as 27× Platinum, for 27 million in US sales, which made it the fourth best-selling album of all time in the US.