For Those About to Rock We Salute You

For Those About to Rock We Salute You
Studio album by AC/DC
Released	23 November 1981
Recorded	May-September 1981 ; in the suburb of Paris
Genre	Hard rock, blues rock
Length	40:10
Label	Albert/Atlantic Records
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)
Singles from For Those About to Rock We Salute You
"Let's Get It Up" Released: December 1981 "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" Released: 22 March 1982

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Blender	[2]
Robert Christgau	C [3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

For Those About to Rock We Salute You is an album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was the band's seventh internationally released studio album and the eighth to be released in Australia.

Released in 1981, the album is 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, recorded in Paris, France, 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, those who are about to die salute you". The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC remasters series.

Track listing

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

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]

Production

The album was recorded in a rehearsal space on the outskirts of Paris. The band had earlier attempted to rehearse and record the album at an abandoned factory in France, but found it difficult to come up with their desired sound.

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

Sales

The album's sales were lower than the 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. 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 estimated seven million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest sold AC/DC albums worldwide.

This is the only AC/DC studio album for which the group filmed no promotional videos. Live performances of the first 3 tracks (as well as other tracks from other AC/DC albums) on the album were filmed at the band's Maryland shows on the 20th and 21st of December 1981 were used as promotional material and seen on many music channels around this period as well as some today. The live version of "Back In Black" and "T.N.T" from this show were released as B sides to "Let's Get It Up" and the live version of "Let There Be Rock" was the B side to "For Those About To Rock". All 3 previously B-side only releases were issued as part of AC/DC's "Backtracks" box set in late 2009 and on iTunes on November 19th 2012.

Touring

After the album's release, the band embarked on its first arena tour of North America, in 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.

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.

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

Reissues

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]

References in popular culture

• 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".
• The concert video For Those About to Rock, about the first open-air rock concert in Moscow in 1991, was named after the album and title track, and featured live performances by AC/DC and other rock bands, including the title track.
• Parry Gripp's first LP For Those About to Shop, We Salute You is a reference to the album.
• In the video game The Last of Us, there is an album in the record store with an album by fictional band "BRASSARD/BOYS" stylized the way AC/DC is written. The cover features a cannon on the front.

Personnel

• Brian Johnson – lead vocals
• Angus Young – lead guitar
• Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Cliff Williams – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Phil Rudd – drums, percussion

Charts and certifications

References