Hey Friend,

Can you believe it’s been 40 years since AC/DC’s Back in Black album was released? 40 freakin’ years!

Makes a guy feel a little… crusty, no?

And yet, the songs off this album are as relevant and fresh today as they were in 1980.

I don’t know if you were around then, Friend, or if you were aware of AC/DC at the time, but I’m positive you’ve felt the influence in your musical journey.

I didn’t feel the pull until later.

In 1980, I hadn’t really found my way to the heavier side of Rock yet. I had been cutting my teeth on bands like the Eagles, Styx, and ELO, staples of the FM rock radio stations.

But metal (and yes, at the time, AC/DC was considered metal) wasn’t going to be on my radar for at least another year or so.

Not that Back in Black wasn’t tearing up the charts and exposing the masses to this genre-defining style of music at this point - I was just clueless!

AC/DC didn't really start effecting me until their next album - For Those About to Rock - came out in 1981 (a short 16 months after the release of Back in Black).

Truthfully, it wasn’t until a friend and fellow guitar player asked me if I wanted to go to the concert - like the day of the concert - that I had my first real AC/DC encounter.

And that changed my Rock DNA forever.

My friend John had two tickets and needed someone to go with him. Now John wasn’t a close friend, more of an acquaintance.

We had gotten together once to jam, and I think that was only because we both had Vantage guitars (a Japanese manufacturer that made incredible instruments - try finding one of these beauties today!).

Hell, I don’t even remember how I met John, except that we went to the same high school and probably had a mutual friend.

Anyway, he asked me if I wanted to go. Being sixteen or seventeen, my parents were cool enough to let me go on a school night.

Turns out John didn’t just have tickets - they were in the second row on the right side of the stage!

If you’ve ever been to an AC/DC concert, you’ve witnessed the stacks of Marshall cabinets that frame the main stage. It’s an assault on your ears to say the least! I loved it, but I couldn’t hear right for the next couple days!

So there I was, getting ready for my indoctrination to this style of music (I wasn’t really into). The opening band was forgettable (okay, I remember them being pretty bad), and the crowd was getting restless waiting for the headliners.

I honestly don’t remember if the first song they started with was “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" or "Hell’s Bells,” because seriously, blasting cannons or Brian Johnson smacking a huge bell with a sledge hammer?

Both songs iconic in their own ways...

Let’s just say the place freakin’ erupted. And the ride didn’t stop after that. High energy, wild antics, vulgarity - everything a teenage boy is drawn towards. And no, it wasn’t just a testosterone fest - plenty of women there to stoke the fires, too…

Probably the biggest highlight was Angus Young’s non-stop, high energy, sweat-soaked antics. It was as if he was possessed, running around the stage, doing his signature duck walk, dropping to the floor to spin around on his side, all the while hammering out the leads on his Gibson SG and keeping the party going.