For Those About to Rock We Salute You

This article is about the album by AC/DC. For the title track, see For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). For the concert video, see For Those About to Rock: Monsters in Moscow.

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (shortened to For Those About to Rock on its cover) is the eighth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was released on 20 November 1981 in the United States, 23 November 1981 in the United Kingdom and 7 December 1981 in Australia.^[1]

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
Studio album by AC/DC
Released	20 November 1981 (1981-11-20)^[1]
Recorded	May – September 1981
Studio	Family (Paris) H.I.S. (Paris)
Genre	Hard rock
Length	40:10
Label	Albert Atlantic
Producer	Robert John "Mutt" Lange
AC/DC chronology
Back in Black (1980) For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (1981) Flick of the Switch (1983)
Singles from For Those About to Rock We Salute You
"Let's Get It Up" Released: January 1982^[2] "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" Released: June 1982

The album is a follow-up to their highly successful album Back in Black. For Those About to Rock has sold over four million copies in the US. It would be AC/DC's first and only No. 1 album in the U.S. until the release of Black Ice in October 2008. In their original 1981 review, Rolling Stone magazine declared it to be their best album. In Australia, the album peaked at No. 3 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart.^[3]

The album, recorded in Paris, was the third and final AC/DC collaboration with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[4]
Blender	^[5]
Christgau's Record Guide	C^[6]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	8/10^[7]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[8]
Metal Storm	8/10^[10]
Rolling Stone	^[9]

For Those About to Rock became the first AC/DC album to ever hit No. 1 in the US on the Billboard chart and stayed on the top for three weeks. To date, in the US, it has achieved four million sales. In the UK, the album's two singles, "Let's Get It Up" and "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)", made it to No. 13 and No. 15, respectively. The album has sold an estimated seven million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest sold AC/DC albums worldwide.^{[citation needed]} However it marks a major drop-off in sales in the United States, only selling 4 million as follow-up to the 25× platinum Back in Black. In a 2008 Rolling Stone cover story, David Fricke singled out the title track for praise, noting its "unusual stop-start effect that hooks you just as hard as their usual railroad drive."^{[citation needed]} Robert Christgau stated: "Brian Johnson takes over, defining an anthemic grandiosity more suitable to their precious-metal status than Bon Scott's old-fashioned raunch. Also dumber. 'Let's Get It Up' is a limited sentiment in any case. But I'd appreciate some indication that Johnson knows the difference between his dick and the light tower."^[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"	5:43
2.	"Put the Finger on You"	3:25
3.	"Let's Get It Up"	3:53
4.	"Inject the Venom"	3:31
5.	"Snowballed"	3:23

Side B

No.	Title	Length
6.	"Evil Walks"	4:23
7.	"C.O.D."	3:19
8.	"Breaking the Rules"	4:23
9.	"Night of the Long Knives"	3:25
10.	"Spellbound"	4:28
Total length:		40:10

• According to the official AC/DC website, the second track is "Put the Finger on You",^[12] while on some versions of the album the title is shown as "I Put the Finger on You".^[4]

References in popular culture

• In the movie School of Rock, Dewey Finn (Jack Black) says to the class: "In the words of AC/DC: We roll tonight ... to the guitar bite ... and for those about to rock ... I salute you".^[13]
• The concert video For Those About to Rock, about the first open-air rock concert in Moscow in 1991, was named after the album and title track, and featured live performances by AC/DC and other rock bands, including the title track.
• In the 1989 Beastie Boys single "Shadrach", they make a reference to the album in a lyric.
• American nu metal band Slipknot used the title track as their intro during the Knotfest 2019, 2021 and 2022 tour
• In the video game Deep Rock Galactic, saluting your teammates has a chance to yield the voice line: "For those about to Rock and Stone, we salute you!", which is a play on words derived from the dwarven player characters' catchphrase "Rock and Stone!"

Personnel

AC/DC

• Brian Johnson – lead vocals
• Angus Young – lead guitar
• Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Cliff Williams – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Phil Rudd – drums

Production

• Robert John "Mutt" Lange – production
• Mark Dearnley – recording engineer
• Dave Thoener – mixing engineer
• Andy Rose, Mark Haliday & Nigel Green – assistant engineers
• Bob Ludwig – mastering at MasteRdisk (1981)
• Ted Jensen – remastering at Sterling Sound (1994)
• George Marino – remastering (2003)
• Al Quaglieri & Mike Fraser – remastering supervision (2003)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1981–2024) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[14] 3 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[15] 7 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[16] 22 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[17] 19 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[18] 2 Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)^[19] 5 Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[20] 100 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[21] 6 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[22] 6 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)^[23] 75 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[24] 9 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[25] 26 US Billboard 200^[26] 1

Year-end charts Chart (1982) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[27] 20 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[28] 30 US Billboard 200^[29] 43

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)^[30]	5× Platinum	350,000^^
Austria (IFPI Austria)^[31]	Gold	25,000^*
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)^[32]	Gold	50,000^^
France (SNEP)^[33]	Platinum	400,000^*
Germany (BVMI)^[34]	Platinum	500,000^^
Italy (FIMI)^[35] sales since 2009	Gold	25,000^‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)^[36]	Gold	50,000^^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)^[37]	Platinum	50,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)^[38]	Gold	100,000^^
United States (RIAA)^[39]	4× Platinum	4,000,000^^
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. @acdc (12 November 2021). ""For Those About To Rock" release date info" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
2. Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 3. ISBN 9780862415419.
3. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
4. Huey, Steve. "AC/DC - For Those About to Rock review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
5. . Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
6. Christgau, Robert (1990). "A". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 16 August 2020 – via robertchristgau.com.
7. Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-1894959315.
8. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th Concise ed.). United Kingdom: Omnibus Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-84609-856-7.
9. Loder, Kurt (21 January 1982). "For Those About To Rock We Salute You". Rolling Stone.
10. metallum, omne. "AC/DC - For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) review". Metal Storm. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
11. Robert Christgau: CG: ac/dc
12. . acdc.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
13. . Archived from the original on 26 June 2004. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
14. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 11. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
15. "Austriancharts.at – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
17. Pennanen, Timo (2021). "AC/DC". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 9. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
18. "Offiziellecharts.de – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
19. Racca, Guido (2019). M&D Borsa Album 1964–2019 (in Italian). ISBN 978-1094705002.
20. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: {{{date}}}" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
21. "Charts.nz – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
22. "Norwegiancharts.com – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
23. "Spanishcharts.com – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
24. "Swedishcharts.com – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
25. "Swisscharts.com – AC/DC – For Those About To Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
26. "AC DC Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
27. "Jahreshitparade Alben 1982". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
28. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
29. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1982". Billboard. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
30. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
31. "Austrian album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You" (in German). IFPI Austria.
32. "AC/DC Gold Award". Wall-of-fame.de. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
33. "French album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You" (in French). InfoDisc. Select AC/DC and click OK. 
34. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (AC/DC; 'For Those About to Rock We Salute You')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
35. "Italian album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 31 August 2020. Select "2020" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
36. Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 953. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
37. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('For Those About to Rock We Salute You')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
38. "British album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock We Salute You". British Phonographic Industry.
39. "American album certifications – AC/DC – For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)". Recording Industry Association of America.