Black Ice

Black Ice (album)

2008 studio album by AC/DC

Black Ice is the fifteenth studio album by the Australian rock band AC/DC. First released in Europe on 17 October 2008 and released internationally on 20 October 2008, it was produced by Brendan O’Brien. It marked the band’s first original recordings since Stiff Upper Lip (2000), with the eight-year gap being the longest between AC/DC’s successive studio albums. The album was the band’s final studio release to feature founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who left the band in September 2014 after being diagnosed with dementia, and died three years later.

Engineer Mike Fraser, who has mixed all AC/DC albums since The Razors Edge, said they recorded in batches of three songs to "keep things interesting” and to avoid overextended sessions. According to Fraser, the band had not rehearsed the songs before entering the studio.[11] Despite "a couple of tweaks in the writing, sparkling up the choruses a bit better” during the recording, the compositions were mostly complete.[13] Still, the Young brothers had new ideas during production, including the song "Anything Goes”, which was written when the studio sessions were nearly finished.[2]: 4  The songs were mostly recorded live in the studio; the instruments and backing vocals were recorded in the live room, and the lead vocals were recorded in both the control room and an overdubbing booth. The performances were first recorded with analogue equipment, as Fraser considers that tape conveys "the sound of rock & roll”, and then digitised for mixing and overdubs. Fraser avoided altering the original recordings – "I used Pro Tools purely as a tape machine” – with no effects on the bass and rhythm guitar, sparse delay and reverb effects on the vocals and other instruments, and overdubs only for the lead guitar and vocals.[11]

The first title considered for the album was Runaway Train. Malcolm suggested using a photograph of the 1895 Montparnasse derailment for the cover, but reconsidered after he found that American rock band Mr. Big had used it for their album Lean Into It (1991).[14] According to Angus, Runaway Train was rejected because it had been used by many musicians, including Elton John and Eric Clapton ("Runaway Train”); and Tom Petty ("Runaway Trains”), and he "wanted something unique, new, different”.[10] So he suggested Black Ice, which refers to gigs played during winter in Scotland. He said, "it rolled off the tongue” and it reminded him of "radio warnings up north of black ice."[15] Angus was inspired to write the eponymous song by a similar warning heard on his car radio during production.[10]

Composition

With Black Ice, Brendan O’Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of AC/DC’s early work on albums such as Highway to Hell and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. He thought the previous studio album, Stiff Upper Lip’, was blues-influenced.[16] O’Brien tried to focus on the choruses, which he felt were the best part of the AC/DC songs,[10] and encouraged the band to emphasise the "hooky, melodic side” of its song-writing, which Angus complimented, since he had "never been great with harmonies”. Mike Fraser said the band aimed "towards The Razors Edge era, a little bit more up-tempo stuff."[12] O’Brien made suggestions about the band’s performance, got Angus to play slide guitar on "Stormy May Day",[2]: 3  and told Johnson to swap some screaming for "soul crooning” as Johnson was a soul singer. Johnson was worried that the rest of the band would think this did not suit the band’s style of hard rock and roll, but the band was quite receptive.[3] Because of the highly demanding singing style, Johnson only recorded his vocals for one hour a day.[7] The rhythm section continues the basic structure from other AC/DC records; Cliff Williams played bass lines of eighth notes,[17] and Phil Rudd’s drumming was a consistent 4/4 time, mostly on his snare, kick drum and hi-hat cymbal. Both musicians expressed contentment with their roles in the band; Rudd said, "I’m not repressing skills. Most drummers are scared to try this”, and Williams admitted he plays "the same thing in every song, for the most part”, but added "in AC/DC’s music, the song is more important than any individual’s bit in it”.[18]



Angus said that when composing with Malcolm they share ideas to make each track "work together” to form a complete album,[20] and Johnson added "these songs belong together. It’s about five boys having a damn good time in a studio."[21] With 15 songs and a running time of over 55 minutes,[17] Black Ice has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio record.[22] Malcolm said that "about 60 or 70 song ideas” were developed.[12] Angus said that the first attempt to sequence the album resulted in a track list comprising eleven songs, "but as the days went by each band member voted for a new track, and then another, and other one” so they decided to include all the recorded tracks.[10]

Most of the album’s tracks are about rock and roll itself–Angus stated, "Certain songs just seem to come to life when you add that phrase”. However, other themes served as inspiration. "Money Made” is a criticism on how, according to Angus, in the US "everything is money these days”.[2]: 4  "War Machine” was based on a documentary on Hannibal, which led to the conclusion that the military has not changed since Ancient Rome.[2]: 5 [23] "Wheels” tells about Johnson’s passion for motorcars.[23] He described the album’s release as the "best one we’ve done”, he felt that while Back in Black was great for its time, Black Ice shows the band’s versatility.[3] Angus also said he admired the album’s diversity, saying "It is sufficiently varied to please people in varied moods”.[10]

Release and promotion

On 18 August 2008, Columbia Records announced that Black Ice would be released on 20 October in the US, and began accepting pre-orders.[24][25] "Rock ’n’ Roll Train” was issued as the first single from the album on 28 August;[26] "Big Jack” and "Anything Goes” followed in some markets,[27][28] and "Money Made” was an airplay single in Australia and the United Kingdom.[29][30] The track "Spoilin’ for a Fight”, was used by the WWE as the theme song for its 2008 Survivor Series event,[31] and "War Machine” would later be included in both a trailer for 2010’s Iron Man 2 and the film’s soundtrack album,[32][33] in addition to serving as one of the theme songs for WrestleMania XXV.[34]

The CD version was also available in a hardcover, deluxe edition with a 30-page booklet containing exclusive new illustrations, studio and live photographs of the group and lyrics.[35] A limited edition steel-box version, containing the CD, a 20-page colour booklet, a DVD featuring the "Rock ’n’ Roll Train” video and a making of documentary, a large AC/DC flag, five stickers and a Gibson guitar pick, was issued in Germany and the United Kingdom in December.[36][37] The album was released as a double LP on two 180-gram discs in a gatefold package featuring the standard red lettering artwork on the front. The LP was sold through the official website and through independent record shops in the US.[38] An unknown number of copies of the vinyl version were incorrectly pressed; side 1B had tracks from The Clash’s Live at Shea Stadium.[27] Black Ice was not issued digitally as the band refused to sell their tracks separately. Angus declared, "If we were on iTunes, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album – and we don’t think that represents us musically."[39] However, the entire album was leaked online a week before the official release.[40] Rumours spread that Sony Music tried to control leaks by releasing fake tracks on peer-to-peer websites.[41]

In North America, Wal-Mart made a deal for the exclusive distribution of Black Ice, though a few independent music shops ordered copies of the album from foreign outlets.[42] Angus declared that the band chose Wal-Mart because the company is the biggest physical music retailer in America, which they believed to be "the best alternative to iTunes”.[20] He also said, "There aren’t as many record stores these days, and Wal-Marts are all over America. New York and Los Angeles and Chicago may be covered, but in the heartland of America, Wal-Mart may be the only gig in town."[21] Wal-Mart created over 3000 "Rock Again AC/DC Stores” with displays showcasing the band’s albums, branded clothing, the No Bull DVD, the video game AC/DC Live: Rock Band, and products from sponsors.[43][44] Gary Severson, a Wal-Mart senior vice president, said that AC/DC was one of the rare artists whose loyal fan-base allowed them to display other merchandise along with the music.[45] In October, MTV, Wal-Mart and Columbia created "AC/DC Rock Band Stores” in cities without regular Wal-Mart retail locations–New York’s Times Square and Los Angeles. "Black Ice” trucks were dispatched on the streets of these cities after the release, playing tracks and making stops each day to sell merchandise.[46][47] Advertising agency Arnold Worldwide was awarded both Best Activity Generating Brand Volume by the Marketing Agencies Association,[47] and Best Retail/Co-Marketing Campaign by Promo Magazine for Black Ice’s marketing campaign.[44]

A digital version of Black Ice was made available on iTunes, along with the rest of AC/DC’s catalogue, on 19 November 2012.[48]

To promote Black Ice, AC/DC launched the Black Ice World Tour on 28 October 2008 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.[49] Two days earlier, they had held a dress rehearsal in the same city. The tour lasted for 168 shows in 11 legs, with the last in Bilbao, Spain, on 28 June 2010.[50]

Mark Fisher, who had worked

Tracks
1. Rock N Roll Train
2. Skies On Fire
3. Big Jack
4. Anything Goes
5. War Machine
6. Smash N Grab
7. Spoilin’ For A Fight
8. Wheels
9. Decibel
10. Stormy May Day
11. She Likes Rock N Roll
12. Money Made
13. Rock N Roll Dream
14. Rocking All The Way
15. Black Ice

AC/DC

2008

55

886973922323

Australia

CD

N/A

Album

A0101004348-0101 14

3

The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, Canada

15

Album

1411.2 kbit/s

1

Yes

2018-06-28 16:15:22

CD Digipak

Studio Album

15

~8,42 €

2026-03-28

2018-06-28 16:15:22