After Breakup, AC/DC Returns With New Album ‘Power Up’

AC/DC has returned after battling hardship and loss to bring fans their new album Power Up.

It seemed like the end for the classic rock band not too long ago. In 2014, founding member of the band Malcom Young was forced to quit the band as he battled dementia. He later died in 2017. In 2015, drummer Phil Rudd left the band due to legal issues. In 2016, lead singer Brian Johnson was forced to leave the band after suffering from severe hearing loss. Bassist Cliff Williams also left, facing health problems and needing a break. This left Angus Young and his nephew Stevie, and back then they wondered if the band could ever come back together again.

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In 2017, at Malcom’s funeral the remaining members of the band decided they would get back together to make another album, reported Ultimate Classic Rock. AC/DC’s management asked Angus if he was looking to make another album in 2018, and he knew he had songs prepared that he created with his late brother.

“We always thought, ‘Well, we’ll get these on the next album,’ but never did,” Angus, 65, told USA Today. “So I thought, ‘This is probably a good time to get some of them, see if they need any vamping up and put them out there.'”

It didn’t take much to get the band back together, and Johnson, 73, was able to sing again thanks to new hearing aid technology. “I missed the boys, and the way the boys make music. So it didn’t take much to get me. I was on board straight away,” Johnson said.

Williams, 70, agreed: “I had a couple of medical issues and that would’ve been a tough tour to finish, quite frankly. At the end of it, I was kind of done,” he said. “So when this came about, I definitely wanted to do it. I was happy for the opportunity to be involved.”

In a video posted on Thursday, Johnson thanked fans for sticking with the band.

“You stuck with us through thick and thin,” he said, “and we’ll never forget it. We never will. And when this is all over, guys – when this crap is over – we want to see you in your hometown. We’ll try everything we can to get there, play for you live and play these great tunes.”

“We knew we’d done a pretty good thing,” said Johnson in a video message on Thursday. He went on to say, “we’ve just had a wonderful time. … Four years ago, we were all but over, some people thought – but they forgot about the AC/DC fighting spirit.”

Power Up is the Australian band’s 18th record and fourth No. 1 record in the United Kingdom. In the U.K. it surpassed Kylie Minogue‘s DISCO for the fastest selling record of 2020, with more than 62,000 copies sold since its release on November 13.