For Those About to Rock We Salute You

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This article is about the album by AC/DC. For the title track, see For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). For the AC/DC DVD, see For Those About to Rock (film).
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For Those About to Rock We Salute You
Studio album by AC/DC
Released 23 November 1981
Recorded Spring-Autumn 1981
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal, blues-rock
Length 40:10
Label Albert
Producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange
AC/DC chronology
Back in Black
(1980)		 For Those About to Rock We Salute You
(1981)		 Flick of the Switch
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars [1]
Blender 3/5 stars [2]
Robert Christgau C [3]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars [4]

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. It would be AC/DC's first and only No. 1 album in the U.S. until the release of Black Ice in October 2008. In their original 1981 review, Rolling Stone magazine declared it to be their best album. In Australia, the album peaked at No. 3 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart.[5]

The album was the third and final produced for the band by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

The name of the album was inspired by a book Angus Young read, entitled For Those About to Die, We Salute You, about Roman gladiators. The gladiators' final words to the emperor were "Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant" – or, "Hail Emperor, we who are about to die, salute you". The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC remasters series.

Contents

Track listing [edit]

All songs written and composed by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson. 

No. Title Length
1. "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"   5:44
2. "Put the Finger on You"   3:25
3. "Let's Get It Up"   3:54
4. "Inject the Venom"   3:30
5. "Snowballed"   3:23
6. "Evil Walks"   4:23
7. "C.O.D."   3:19
8. "Breaking the Rules"   4:23
9. "Night of the Long Knives"   3:25
10. "Spellbound"   4:30

According to the official AC/DC website, the second track is "Put the Finger on You".[6] On some versions of the album the title is shown as "I Put the Finger on You".[1]

Notes [edit]

Recorded in a rehearsal space on the outskirts of Paris. The band had found it difficult to come up with their desired sound while on their previous rehearsing location (an abandoned factory in France).

The album became AC/DC's first US No. 1 album. After its release the band embarked on its first arena tour of North America (late 1981 through early 1982). For the title track, large cannons were placed on stage, set to go off in accordance with the song on the album. During the tour, 100,000 watts of power were used for the front of house sound. The cannons were flown above the speaker arrays.

In Spain, early copies of the album featured a sleeve with the colours reversed, i.e., a gold cannon on a black background.

The title track's popularity was such that in almost every live concert AC/DC has done thereafter, the song is performed as an encore and is always accompanied by firing cannons on stage.

It was re-released in 1987 on CD format.[7] In 1994 it was reissued after being digitally remastered from the original master tapes.[8]

The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) used this song as a wake-up call for their STS-98 mission on day 7.

This is the only AC/DC studio album where the group filmed no promotional videos.

Subsequent tours had to deal with crossing international borders with big cannons used as a prop, creating strange situations with customs officials.

References in popular culture [edit]

  • In the movie School of Rock, Dewey Finn (Jack Black) says to the class: "In the words of AC/DC: We roll tonight ... to the guitar bite ... and for those about to rock ... I salute you".[9]
  • The album was referenced by Beastie Boys on their 1989 single "Shadrach".
  • Parry Gripp's first LP For Those About to Shop, We Salute You is a reference to the album.

Video [edit]

Main article: For Those About to Rock (film)

For Those About to Rock was also the name of a movie including live performances by AC/DC, as well as Metallica, The Black Crowes, and Pantera.

Sales [edit]

The album's sales, although good, paled in comparison to sales of Back in Black. Nevertheless, the album became the first AC/DC album to ever hit No. 1 in the US on the Billboard chart and stayed on the top for three weeks. This is the first of two AC/DC album to make it to No. 1 on the Billboard chart, the second being Black Ice. The album held this position for three weeks. To date, in the US, it has achieved four million sales. In the UK, the album's two singles, "Let's Get It Up" and "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)", made it to No. 13 and No. 15, respectively. The album has sold an approximated seven million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest sold AC/DC albums worldwide.

Personnel [edit]

Charts and certifications [edit]

Chart performance [edit]

Album

Year
Chart
Position
1981 US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart
1
1981 Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[5]
3

Singles – UK (United Kingdom)

Year
Single
Chart
Position
1982 "Lets Get It Up" UK Pop Singles
13
1982 "For Those About To Rock We Salute You" UK Pop Singles
15

Certifications [edit]

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[10] 5× Platinum 350,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[11] Gold 25,000x
France (SNEP)[12] Platinum 529,600[13]
Germany (BVMI)[14] Platinum 500,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[15] Platinum 50,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[16] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[17] 4× Platinum 4,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b For Those About to Rock We Salute You at Allmusic
  2. ^ http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2396[dead link]
  3. ^ "Robert Christgau: Album: AC/DC: For Those About to Rock We Salute You". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
  4. ^ Loder, Kurt (21 January 1982). "For Those About To Rock We Salute You". Rolling Stone. 
  5. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.  Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  6. ^ "For Those About to Rock at the AC/DC official website". acdc.com. 
  7. ^ AC/DC - For Those About To Rock We Salute You (CD, Album) at Discogs
  8. ^ AC/DC - For Those About To Rock We Salute You (CD, Album) at Discogs
  9. ^ The School of Rock (2003) – Memorable quotes
  10. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. 
  11. ^ "Austrian album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You" (in German). IFPI Austria.  Enter AC/DC in the field Interpret. Enter For Those About to Rock We Salute You in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
  12. ^ "French album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You" (in French). InfoDisc.  Select AC/DC and click OK
  13. ^ "Les Albums Platine :" (in French). Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2013-02-21. 
  14. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (AC/DC; 'For Those About to Rock We Salute You')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. 
  15. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (AC/DC; 'For Those About to Rock We Salute You')". Hung Medien. 
  16. ^ "British album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You". British Phonographic Industry.  Enter For Those About to Rock We Salute You in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  17. ^ "American album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You". Recording Industry Association of America.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
Preceded by
4 by Foreigner		 Billboard 200 number-one album
26 December 1981 – 15 January 1982		 Succeeded by
4 by Foreigner
AC/DC
Studio albums
Compilations
Live albums
Soundtracks
Video albums
Production
Tours
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