AC DC TIMELINE

July 6, 1946: AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott is born.

October 5, 1947: AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson is born.

January 6, 1953: Malcolm Young, rhythm guitarist for AC/DC, is born.

March 31, 1959: Angus Young, lead guitarist for AC/DC, is born.

December 31, 1973: Scottish-born brothers Angus and Malcolm Young perform their first show together at a Sydney, Australia, nightclub. They will select the name AC/DC for their band.

February 1975: AC/DC releases its first album, High Voltagec>, in its Australian homeland. The group’s second Aussie album, T.N.T., will be released before the year is out.

April 1976: AC/DC play their first live shows in England. The outing is dubbed the Lock Up Your Daughters Tour and includes an appearance at the Reading Rock festival.

October 1976: Having signed a worldwide contract with Atlantic Records, AC/DC’s first American album - High Voltage, a compendium of their first two Australian albums - is released.

November 1976: AC/DC’s third album, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, is released everywhere but the United States, where it will not see the light of day until 1981.

June 1977: AC/DC begins a marathon summer tour, opening for Discover more about Black Sabbath in Europe, as a new album, Let There Be Rock, is released. Cliff Williams replaces Mark Evans on bass.

May 1978: AC/DC’s unleashes its fifth album, Powerage, followed less than half a year later by the group’s first live album, If You Want Blood You’ve Got It.

June 10, 1978: “Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation” becomes AC/DC’s first British hit single, reaching #24.

July 1979: AC/DC issues its breakthrough album, Highway to Hell, which becomes their first to sell over a million copies.

February 19, 1980: Bon Scott, original vocalist for AC/DC, dies in London of asphyxiation after an all-night drinking binge. He is replaced in April by Brian Johnson.

August 23, 1980: AC/DC’s Back in Black enters the Billboard chart for what will be a 131-week run. To date, the album has sold 19 million copies in the U.S.

September 6, 1980: AC/DC cracks the U.S. Top Forty with “You Shook Me All Night Long.”

August 1981: AC/DC headlines the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donnington, England.

November 1981: For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), featuring the anthemic title track, is released. It will be the first and only AC/DC album to top the U.S. chart - which it does for three weeks.

October 1984: AC/DC’s tenth anniversary is celebrated with the release of ’74 Jailbreak, a five-track mini-album that collects archival early songs unreleased in the U.S.

May 1986: AC/DC’s Who Made Who - a compendium of new and classic tracks, and the official soundtrack for the Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive - is released.

February 1988: Blow Up Your Video, which reunites AC/DC with producers Harry Vanda and George Young, is released. “Heatseeker” becomes a sizable British hit, reaching #12.

December 8, 1990: “Moneytalks,” AC/DC’s biggest American hit, enters the Top Forty, where it will peak at #23. It’s from the album The Razors Edge, released in September.

August 1995: AC/DC releases Ballbreaker, their first studio album in five years. It marks the return of drummer Phil Rudd, who’d last played with them on 1985’s Fly On the Wall.

November 1997: The box set Bonfire, by AC/DC, appears. Containing live and unreleased material, it pays tribute to AC/DC’s early years, when the late Bon Scott was their singer.

February 29, 2000: Stiff Upper Lip is released. The album, their first in five years, is among the strongest albums of their career.

December 2002: AC/DC signed a new deal with Sony Music, which commences with a comprehensive reissue series.

March 10, 2003: AC/DC is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the eighteenth annual induction dinner. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is their presenter.