Maps of Music

Fly on the Wall (1985)

Where the lyrics of Fly on the Wall take you, and where it was really made.

Fly on the Wall was the first AC/DC album since the Australian release of T.N.T. without drummer Phil Rudd, and the Young brothers produced it themselves.

Key places

Recording at Mountain Studios, Montreux (1985)

Recording site Mountain Studios — The album sessions were held here from October 1984 to February 1985. Guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young produced the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Tenth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC
• Released in 1985 by Albert Productions and Atlantic Records
• The source gives the release date as 28 June in the body and 1 July in the lead
• Reissued in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series
• First album since the Australian release of T.N.T. without drummer Phil Rudd
• Simon Wright replaced Rudd; all band members were born in the UK

Background

• Previous album Flick of the Switch (1983) failed both commercially and critically
• The band remained one of the biggest hard rock acts in the world
• October 1984: Atlantic Records released the EP '74 Jailbreak in the United States
• January 1985: the band took three weeks off from recording to headline Rock in Rio
• Two nights at the Rio festival; the 19 January set drew over 250,000 people
• Shared the bill with Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Ozzy Osbourne

Recording

• Sessions took place at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, October 1984 to February 1985
• Second and last album produced by the band members
• Produced by guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, unlike the band-produced Flick of the Switch
• Aim was to recapture the rawness and simplicity of the band's early work
• Pop-oriented glam metal was popular at the time

Cover

• Cover illustration by Todd Schorr
• Cover shows an animated fly, the same motif used in the band's video

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

• Rolling Stone's Tim Holmes wrote that the lyrics were impossible to make out without the lyric sheet
• Holmes also described Angus Young's playing as the dumbest and most irresistibly repetitive chords in the lexicon
• AllMusic's Steve Huey said the album continued the band's descent into cookie-cutter mediocrity
• Martin Popoff noted the material was mostly cookie-cutter AC/DC and Brian Johnson's vocals were mixed far back
• US gossip magazine People picked the album as the best of 1985

Reappraisal

• Classic Rock called the album a disaster and said it held only one half-decent song, Shake Your Foundations
• Ultimate Classic Rock said the band was losing relevance as hair metal and thrash metal rose
• Clinton Walker's 1994 Bon Scott biography Highway to Hell also called the album a disaster
• Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams said songs from the album work on his running mix

Records

• US sales reached about one million, well behind Back in Black and For Those About to Rock We Salute You
• Singles Shake Your Foundations and Sink the Pink are seen as standouts
• Both singles were later included on the Who Made Who soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive
• Danger fell flat in concert and was dropped from the set

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The video for five songs shows the band playing at a bar while shady characters interact with an animated fly
• The entire video is on disc two of the 2005 Family Jewels DVD compilation
• The tour was hit by bad publicity when serial killer Richard Ramirez was arrested
• Ramirez told police that the song Night Prowler from Highway to Hell had driven him to murder
• The band said the song was given a murderous meaning by Ramirez, and is actually about a boy sneaking into his girlfriend's bedroom

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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