Maps of Music

Power Up (2020)

Where the lyrics of Power Up take you, and where it was really made.

Power Up is the first AC/DC album since Malcolm Young's death in 2017, and Malcolm receives posthumous songwriting credit on every track.

Key places

Where the album was recorded in 2018 (2020)

Recording site Warehouse Studios — The album was recorded at this Vancouver studio over six weeks in August and September 2018, with producer Brendan O'Brien. The studio is owned by Bryan Adams, and the band had recorded their three previous albums here. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Final tweaks in Los Angeles (2020)

Recording site Los Angeles — Some tweaking to the album followed in Los Angeles in 2019, after the main recording in Vancouver. The point is placed at city-centre level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Power Up (stylised PWR/UP): seventeenth studio album by the Australian rock band AC/DC
• Released 13 November 2020 through Columbia Records
• First album since co-founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young died in 2017
• Malcolm received posthumous songwriting credit alongside Angus for all songs
• The album is dedicated to Malcolm and serves as a tribute, according to his brother

Background

• Following the 2014 album Rock or Bust, the group embarked on a seventeen-month world tour
• Drummer Phil Rudd was charged with serious offences before the tour and was replaced by Chris Slade
• By 2016, Brian Johnson had begun to suffer hearing loss
• Cliff Williams announced on 8 July 2016 that he would retire after the tour
• In 2018, rumours of a seventeenth studio album spread, with Johnson, Rudd and Williams back in the group

Recording

• Recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studio in Vancouver
• Producer Brendan O'Brien, who also worked on Black Ice and Rock or Bust
• Some tweaking followed in Los Angeles in 2019
• Angus drew on the AC/DC vault of unreleased songs, and every track is credited to Angus and Malcolm Young
• Angus found the songwriting difficult, since he had to compile riffs written with Malcolm before Malcolm's death
• Nephew Stevie Young helped arrange the riffs before the band entered the studio

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in November 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young.
• The band name comes from the AC/DC symbol on the adapter of their sister Margaret's sewing machine.
• Their music has been described as hard rock, blues rock and heavy metal, though the band calls itself simply a rock and roll band.
• Their early sound was rooted in Australian pub rock.

Members

• Angus Young (lead guitar) and Malcolm Young (rhythm guitar) were the founding core of the band until Malcolm retired in 2014.
• Bon Scott was lead vocalist until his death in February 1980.
• Brian Johnson became lead vocalist in 1980.
• Phil Rudd, Cliff Williams and Stevie Young have also played key roles.

Career

• Their 1980 album Back in Black became one of the best-selling albums of all time.
• The band has sold an estimated 200 million records worldwide.
• They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): praised the depth of feeling behind the album's levity and its turbocharged blues and high-octane rock
• Exclaim! (Daniel Sylvester): called the album as satisfying as anything AC/DC made, given the circumstances
• The Guardian (Kitty Empire): gave three stars out of five, praising the variety drawn from a few parts
• Kerrang! (Nick Ruskell): described the album as a high-voltage celebration of life

Reappraisal

• Metacritic: 79 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, "Generally favourable reviews"
• AnyDecentMusic?: 7.2 out of 10

Records

• Reached number one in 21 countries
• Australia: debuted at number one on the ARIA Charts with 21,535 sales in its first week
• AC/DC became the first act with an Australian number one album in five consecutive decades
• United States: debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 117,000 album-equivalent units
• United Kingdom: debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 62,000 chart sales
• Germany: debuted at number one, selling almost 160,000 copies, and became the best-selling album of 2020 there
• Worldwide: sixth best-selling album of 2020 with 1.37 million copies sold
• Nominated for Best Rock Album at the 64th Grammy Awards, losing to Foo Fighters' Medicine at Midnight
• Won Rock Album of the Year at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards
• Won Best Hard Rock Album at the 2020 Metal Storm awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Angus drew on unreleased songs from the AC/DC vault to record the album, so every track is credited to Angus and Malcolm Young
• Malcolm Young is credited on all songs even though they were co-written before his death in 2017
• Phil Rudd was replaced by Chris Slade for the seventeen-month tour that followed Rock or Bust
• The Power Up Tour opened on 17 May 2024 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, with Chris Chaney and Matt Laug as touring members
• Shot in the Dark, the first single, reached the top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart for two weeks from November 2020

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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