The period around AC/DC's breakthrough 1979 album Highway to Hell was one of the band's most thrilling and fruitful, a time when the scrappy Aussie bar band with big dreams truly made the creative and commercial leap into legit international stardom. Sadly, charismatic, hard-partying singer Bon Scott would pass away less than a year after the album's release, before the band could produce its follow-up, Back in Black, which saw them ascend to even greater heights. But here we take a look back at the happy times when Scott, guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd were raising hell, taking names and securing their place in the rock & roll pantheon.
AC/DC: See Insane Photos From 'Highway to Hell' Era
No one raised hell like Bon Scott, Angus Young and Co. at the top of their game
VOWWS: Deftones-Backed "Death Pop" Duo Are Most at Home in the Shadows
How Rizz and Matt James won over Chino Moreno, Gary Numan and more by embracing sadness and pain
John 5 on Manson Show Riot, Playing for Prince, New Zombie Album
"I'm a Zombie fan, and if I heard this new album, I'd be like, 'Oh my God, this is brutal'"
Survivor, Scientist, Singer: The Wild, Inspirational Journey of Sharptooth's Lauren Kashan
Inside Kashan's mission to shake fans out of "emotional laziness" and into action
Mastodon's Brann Dailor Talks Tool's Influence, Hilarious Tour Pranks
"They're just one of those bands that's sort of the hole in the theory"
VOWWS: Deftones-Backed "Death Pop" Duo Are Most at Home in the Shadows
How Rizz and Matt James won over Chino Moreno, Gary Numan and more by embracing sadness and pain
John 5 on Manson Show Riot, Playing for Prince, New Zombie Album
"I'm a Zombie fan, and if I heard this new album, I'd be like, 'Oh my God, this is brutal'"
Survivor, Scientist, Singer: The Wild, Inspirational Journey of Sharptooth's Lauren Kashan
Inside Kashan's mission to shake fans out of "emotional laziness" and into action
Mastodon's Brann Dailor Talks Tool's Influence, Hilarious Tour Pranks
"They're just one of those bands that's sort of the hole in the theory"