I never got this album until recently because everybody had it and played to death.

I wish I had the remastered copy as the black cd looks cool as opposed to the pink and orange ATCO cd. I imagine it sounds better, too?

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Well how do you follow up one of the greatest rock n roll albums in history? AC/DC put together another album of high energy rock n roll…. For Those About to Rock We Salute You was released in late 1981.

Simply, there was no way that AC/DC even with Mutt Lange in tow could have reached the same heights as on the previous release. While ‘Back in Black’ was built out grief, pain and hard work, FTATRWSY was probably built more out of exhaustion and emotional collapse. Malcolm had said at the time that they weren’t quite sure if it sounded right or not.

Regardless, while the Back in Black was only 3 months long in the states, on this jaunt more shows were added everywhere. At this point AC/DC was riding a true musical high in popularity. They played 3 nights at San Francisco’s Cow Palace, over 50,000 for those shows.

I was beyond excited myself when this album came out. I didn’t wait for it to go ‘on sale’ at Musicland. I paid the $10 or $12 bucks to get that puppy home. There was even an imperfection in the vinyl during Evil Walks which came during the guitar solo, a loud ‘click’ happened but I didn’t even take it back. I wanted this album NOW...

At the time I totally dug it and played it to death. I still think it’s a great record which several favorites. Snowballed!! What a great guitar solo! However I will say this particular release is a little different, it seems as if there isn’t as much blues or straight rock n roll here. Some things felt a little more Non AC/DC like. Inject the Venom (a great song in its own right) doesn’t have the feel of an AC/DC song, even C.O.D. or Night of the Long Knives. Long Knives does have a killer riff though.

Perhaps it’s because the record took so long to record, or Lange’s reputation for perfection might’ve just gone too far I’m not sure but the disc does have a slightly different feel.

The title track is an all time classic and will probably close their shows forever. Yet it seems to me that there are many other tunes that could’ve made the live set but are just ignored. The obvious ones Let’s Get It Up and Put the Finger on You, but what about Evil Walks or Snowballed.

I remember so many of my friends started to complain about the band and how ‘it all sounds the same’ or ‘all Brian does is scream.’ Too bad it’s AC/DC and I still dig it!




How about Spellbound at the end of the record, what a cool schmoozy sounding song.

Over four million in sales in the US is nothing to sneeze at, but definitely not in the same company as the others…. Too bad this is still a great album

I love 'For Those About to Rock' and still think it holds up well today. Brian Johnson at thie point already had established his identity in the band and on this second album with AC/Dc thankfully he remains his own man. The songs on this album are all great including the deep cuts such as 'C.O.D.' Breaking the Rules' and 'Night of the Long Knives'

Angus and Malcolm sound great as always and the rythm section is as tight as fish's a$$hole.

Lyrically the album is not as sex obsessed as 'Back In Black' nor does it have the spectre of tragedy hanging over it. Brian Johnson sounds great through out the disc and this would be AC/DC's first number one album in the States.

Is this a more mature album? Definitely can feel the difference without Bon around lyrically but another great album in the catalog with some fist pumping songs.

This is a great album, not a stinker in the whole lot! This is one of my fave Brian era albums and is better than BIB IMHO.

GREAT album!!!!! Not the monster that BiB was, but still a great freakin album!!!! This one has more of a "raw" sound than BiB due to the fact the AC/DC that it was recorded in an abandon factory in France. The band had rehearsed the album in the space, with Mutt Lange in the rehearsals. The band then went to a studio and we not happy with the sound. The band took a short time off to deal with things at home and when they returned to France, Mutt had rented a mobile recording unit and set it up in the factory and got the sound they where after for the album. The album you hear was recorded in one week once they got back to work at the factory - the fasted Mutt Lange ever record a whole album. The resulting album is another AC/DC classic - while it didn't sell as well as BiB, it still was a big hit and AC/DC's first #1 album in the US and would remain as their only #1 until the release of Black Ice.

The title track is a permanent fixture in AC/DC's set list.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK...was the first AC/DC album I purchased as a new release. Still have my old vinyl copy, which has a gatefold cover that folds out to a huge picture of the band live on stage.

As others have said, there was no way this album was going to scale the same heights as BACK IN BLACK but it's still a damn solid record either way. Yea, maybe it began the period where each AC/DC album became a little "samey" but what the hell, that formula worked for the Ramones for many years too.

Fave tunes for me would be "Inject the Venom," "Night of the Long Knives" and the title track. I will never forget when I saw AC/DC for the first time in '88 and they closed with that track... when those gigantic cannons popped out on stage and blasted away I swore I was gonna be deaf for the rest of my life. It was awesome.

For Those About To Rock is a worthy successor to Back In Black. Always thought this was the last great AC/DC release because they kind of went into to auto-pilot after this (not really bad,just samey-as Freddy stated). My favorites are Let's Get It Up and of course the title track.

Aside from Back in Black, I'm a pretty fair weather fan of Brian Johnson. I found this cd in a used shop a few years ago, so I picked it up cheap, mostly for the title track. It doesn't get near the amount of play that my Bon-era stuff gets. In fact, I don't think I could name another song off of this album aside from the title track. Not the first, second or even 5th disc I reach for when I need an AC/DC fix. I should give it more play, but probably won't.

This would be the last Brian-era disc I'd own for quite some time as well. I'll stop back later, around The Razor's Edge or so. Peace out.

I haven't heard this album in a LONG time (or any Johnson-era AC/DC for that matter).

I bought this as a new release and I loved it, but was still a tad letdown in comparison to Back In Black. The first four songs are basically perfect and then it drops off a tad after that. Favorite track was always "Inject The Venom", what a killer riff! I really need to spin this album again sometime, I honestly can't remember any songs from side two except for "C.O.D.".

In my memory, it's sandwiched between a classic (but overplayed) album and a totally underrated classic (Flick Of The Switch).

Great album. Not as good as Back in Black, but there's a couple of real gems on it. The title track is killer.

I apologize for the delay on Flick of the Switch ....


I attended Up From The Ashes in So Cal, so I've been gone for the last 4 days. First day to be back at my computer!..

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Clearing one of the most underrated AC/DC albums in their entire catalog, Flick of the Switch find AC/DC returning to a somewhat more bluesier, rock n roll oriented style than was found on FTATRWSY. Released in August 1983 this album simply delivers the goods period.

The boys first attempt at producing themselves, Flick… is a bit rawer than their previous releases but I found the songwriting to be more consistent. Vanda and Young were given credit as the Dutch Damager and The Gorgeous Glaswegian while engineer Tony ‘Have Ears will Travel’ Platt, none of them present during recording but offering assistant from a far.

To me, with tracks such as House is on Fire, Guns For Hire and Nervous Shakedown it eludes me why this album didn’t gain traction. It really is too bad, because as tour went on album sales weren’t lifting the roof, so many of the tracks were deleted from the set list.

The title track is a solid ball burner with Johnson blasting full on with Malcolm and Co. simply bulldozing along. A nasty riff with a scorching chorus, I wish they’d resurrect some of these tracks. Nervous Shakedown is simply riveting with its heavy riff amidst more moderate melodic stylings. Don’t get caught in front of that judge!!

Bedlam in Belgium is yet another track which is simply infectious. An ode to a show in Belgium several years before (during Bon’s era if memory serves correctly) which went horribly wrong. A riff which just locks you in and the release of the chorus that definitely makes me want to air guitar. The songs on this album deserve another shot at life in the live set, but that is probably a pipe dream. Oh well.

It was during the sessions that Phil Rudd basically flipped out on a bad drug trip and couldn’t do his job. Malcolm and he had an altercation where Phil was sent packing on a plane ride back to Australia. I’d heard that a session drummer actually played the songs, but I can neither confirm or deny that allegation. Simon Wright joined the band in time for their tour and the machine kept on moving.

Album artwork courtesy of Angus himself caused a bit of alarm with it’s rather ‘sparse’ illustration. This actually was third album in this vein of minimalist illustrations. It definitely won’t go down as one of their best.

Flick of the Switch didn’t go platinum upon initial release, hitting gold status instead (it has since climbed the 1 million mark). Trends and tastes were changing but not AC/DC amongst many of my friends they seemed passé, but I still enjoyed them immensely.

Personally this is a great album, just as good as Back in Black from a songwriting standpoint. Still not sure why it hasn’t caught on.



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By the time FLICK OF THE SWITCH came out I considered myself a "big AC/DC fan" (even though, as a perennially broke pre-teenager, I only owned two or three of their albums at that time... haha) so I was stoked for its release. Someone in my family gave it to me for Christmas that year, along with an AC/DC t-shirt (one of my first "concert shirts")... it was one of those cheap, flea market bootleg baseball-style jerseys, with the FLICK cover on the front, the FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK cannon on the back and red (!) sleeves. The first time that shirt went in the laundry, the red dye on the sleeves ran all over the rest of the clothes in the washer, causing the rest of the load to come out of the machine with a hazy pink look to it. Made no never mind to me, I loved the shirt and rocked it proudly till it literally fell apart from repeated wearings.

As for the album, I liked it just fine as a new release of course, over the years it's settled somewhere into the middle of the AC/DC pack for me. I only upgraded it to CD a couple of years ago, after not hearing the album for a very long time, and songs like "Bedlam in Belgium," "Guns for Hire" and "Nervous Shakedown" still held up well.

All in all, FLICK OF THE SWITCH may not be a classic but it didn't screw up the band's legacy either. They were still the loudest (and proud of it) band in the world at the time.

This was first AC/DC album I bought as a new release, I remember having my mother drive to Cook's Dept Store to buy the album and this was also the first time I saw the band live.

This is a great album and like Mr Electric said it was almost a back to basics approach to recording, no frills on the production end.

Great songs on this bad boy such as the title track, Guns for Hire, Nervous Shakedown, etc, great album and the most underrated of their career.

As mentioned before, I just really dug into AC/DCs non-hit material last year or so. I didn't even own an album. Now I own them all—I think—and hate that I didn't give them a real shot earlier.

Either way, Flick of the Switch is my favorite. I cannot fathom why this one wasn't huge. It's got great songs and numerous should-have-been hits. Just a bad-ass album from front to back.

Great album - not as good as the previous too. Like FF, I was an AC/DC fan by this point. This was the second AC/DC album I got as a new release - 3rd if you consider DDDDC a "new release" in 81 to the US.

The album seem to not have as much energy as the earlier releases, but still good. This was the start of the AC/DC's downward decent. I lost some interest in the band after this one, more due to the fact that they weren't "Heavy" enough like this new bands that just hit scene - Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Anthrax, etc - pretty funny to think about now, but hey, I was 14/15 years old and in high school at the time and the heavier and faster the music, the better it was!

This was the first album I bought by them back in '83 and I thought and still do think that it is a killer album. I never understood the bad rap that this album got. I was jamming the original cassette, that still works, in my wife's mini van on the way to pick up some drum stuff from James B.

Rising Power
Flick Of The Switch
Nervous Shakedown
Guns For Hire (this song just plain rips)
Deep in the Hole
Bedlam in Belgium
Badlands


I haven't listened to this in so long that I forgot how much I loved these songs...........

Incredible album. I think without the big radio single a lot of people ignored it. They'd hit huge with the last couple so another home run was pretty unlikely but you give this album a chance and it will knock you over the head. Belam In Belgium is one of my favorite songs by them.

The riff is "Badlands" gets me pumped. Favorite song on the album.

I absolutely love this album from start to finish and is the best Brian-era album along with Ballbreaker IMO. I even like the cover art a lot. I can't say it enough that this album is vastly underrated.

Flick is a solid album.Good songs from beginning to end. It's a shame that none of them get any radio airplay. Very underrated for sure.

Did someone pull the plug on mr.electric39 and this thread?