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"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is a song by the Australian Hard rock band AC/DC. The song was released onto AC/DC's 8th studio album For Those About to Rock We Salute You in 1981. The cannons fired in the song are mixed with exploding fireworks. The video to this song was filmed live in Landover, Maryland in 1981. The song would later be released on AC/DC's first soundtrack album, Who Made Who, released five years later for the Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive.
The single's b-side contains an edited live version of "Let There Be Rock" from the Landover, MD show in 1981. The maxi-single contains the extended version of the same song.
The title and central lyric of the song are based on an ancient salute used by Roman gladiators, "Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant" ("Hail Caesar, we who are about to die, salute you."). However, Angus Young later said that the inspiration for the cannons came from a very different source. The band was cutting the first recordings of the song on the same day as Princess Diana of Great Britain's televised wedding. Angus recalled that "someone had the wedding on in the next room... we were playing that part of the song when the cannons were going off and we paused a second and went 'hmmm... that actually sounds pretty good.'" This coincidence also led to a cannon being featured on the cover of the album and single, as well as life-sized Napoleonic cannons becoming a regular stage prop at AC/DC concerts.
AC/DC have often used the song to close live concerts, such as Live at Donington, No Bull, and Stiff Upper Lip Live as well as on their live CD AC/DC Live. It was also the last track on the Who Made Who album. It is also the song that concludes the most recent tour, Black Ice.
The song was covered by industrial metal band Godflesh and featured on the Gothic-Industrial tribute album to AC/DC, Covered in Black.
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- UFC fighter Rich Franklin uses this song as his entrance theme at his fights
- During home matches of the Toronto lacrosse team Toronto Rock, when the team scores, the title line is often played to celebrate the goal.
- At New England Patriots home games, the song is played before the opening kickoff, where it is accompanied by a highlight video. When Brian Johnson yells "Fire!" the minutemen on the sidelines fire their muskets.
- The song is played before Houston Texans home games when the announcer introduces the "Home Field Advantage: The best fans in the National Football League." Cameras pan the stands showing the crowd during the first 1:20 of the song.
- When the Columbus Blue Jackets score a goal, the title line is played, accompanied by a live cannon in Nationwide Arena.
- The song is extensively played on ESPN College Gameday before games and before commercial breaks.
- In television ads for One HD, a 24 hour high definition sport channel in Australia, this song's intro was featured.
- Alan Freeman used the song in the intro to his Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 (1989-93).
- This song was paraphrased by Jack Black's character "Dewey Finn" in School of Rock as "For those about to rock, I salute you!"
- A modified version of the opening riff of the song is featured on the skateboarding movie Girl Yeah Right.
- The song is used in the movie Jerry Maguire when Jerry (Tom Cruise) is woken up by his alarm clock.
- The song is played before the heavy metal band Slipknot come onto the stage to perform a live show.
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