The 40th anniversary of AC/DC’s legendary album ‘Back in Black’ is here
Legendary rock band AC/DC recently launched new merchandise to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their iconic album ‘Back in Black’, but fans are actually waiting for a new studio album.
‘Back in Black’ was released on 25th July 1980, and was the band’s seventh studio album. It was also the first album by the band without lead singer Bon Scott. As fans will undoubtedly know and remember, Scott had tragically passed away in February earlier that year, choking on his own vomit after a night of heavy drinking. He was just 33 years old. Geordie lead singer Brian Johnson was brought in as a replacement, and thus the vocals on ‘Back in Black’ are by him. The album was dedicated to Scott’s memory, and became one of the best selling albums of all time. The Recording Industry Association of America listed it as the fourth biggest-selling album of all time. Nevertheless, singles from the album – ‘You Shook Me All Night’ and ‘Back in Black’, only reached #35 and #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. The album itself also didn’t go higher than #4 on Billboard’s album charts. To put that into context, the band’s next album, ‘For Those About To Rock’, hit #1.
In any case, it was no surprise that fans wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of this iconic album. While they were hoping for a new album, the release of limited edition merchandise, such as T-shirts, has proved to be a huge success.
At the same time, there is no question that AC/DC is one of the most successful bands of all time. Their songs have been used in movies and TV shows, while they still have a loyal fanbase in the millions, with new entrants to the rock music scene being asked to listen to AC/DC as an introduction. Thus, it is no surprise to see that there are quite a few games and other forms of media based on the band. One of the band’s most iconic songs, ‘Highway to Hell’, was famously used in the ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Avengers’ movies, while it has also inspired a series of casino slot machine games. One of the leading online casino game developers, Wazdan, released a slot game based on this song back in 2018. It borrows elements from the song’s lyrics, such as featuring Route 666 symbols on its paylines, and having biker babes and poker icons as part of the game as well. Of course, the song itself plays in the background when someone plays the game, and it is no surprise that the game was an instant hit. Rock music fans, especially those of the older generation, are also a big demographic for these casino-themed online games, and so it was almost a no-brainer that a game based on such an iconic song by an even more iconic band would be such a runaway success, similar to the band and their songs as well.