Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

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Format
  
7 inch

Genre
  
Hard rock

Recorded
  
1981

B-side
  
"Let There Be Rock" (live) T.N.T. (live, US)

Released
  
1982 March 22, 1982 (US)

Length
  
5:44 (Single/Album version) 3:50 (edit)

"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is a song by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The song was first released on AC/DC's eighth studio album For Those About to Rock We Salute You in 1981, and later as a single in 1982. The single's B-side contains an edited live version of "Let There Be Rock", recorded in Landover, Maryland, in late-1981. The video to "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" was filmed at that same concert.

Contents

The song was later included on AC/DC's first soundtrack album, Who Made Who, released in 1986 for the Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive.

The title and central lyric of the song are based on an ancient salute used by Roman prisoners to be executed in the Colosseum, "Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant" ("Hail Caesar, we who are about to die, salute you."). However, Angus Young later said that the inspiration for the cannons came from a very different source. The band was cutting the first recordings of the song on the same day as Princess Diana of Great Britain's televised wedding. Angus recalled that "someone had the wedding on in the next room ... we were playing that part of the song when the cannons were going off and we paused a second and went 'hmmm ... that actually sounds pretty good.'" This coincidence also led to a cannon being featured on the cover of the album and single, as well as life-sized Napoleonic cannons becoming a regular stage prop at AC/DC concerts. The cannons fired in the song are mixed with exploding fireworks. However the actual takes were recorded later the next month as the mobile truck used to record the album (Mobile One) was being used to record Peter Gabriel's 4th eponymous album during the marriage of Charles and Diana.

AC/DC have often used the song to close live concerts, such as Live at Donington and No Bull as well as on their live CD AC/DC Live. It is also the song that concludes the most recent tour, Rock or Bust.

Personnel

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

    • Sport

  • UFC fighter Rich Franklin uses this song as his entrance theme at his fights.
  • During home matches of the Toronto lacrosse team Toronto Rock, when the team scores, the title line is often played to celebrate the goal.
  • At New England Patriots home games, the song is played before the opening kickoff, where it is accompanied by a highlight video. When Brian Johnson yells "Fire!" the minutemen on the sidelines fire their muskets.
  • The song is played before Houston Texans home games when the announcer introduces the "Home Field Advantage: The best fans in the National Football League." Cameras pan the stands showing the crowd during the first 1:20 of the song.
  • When the National Hockey League's Columbus Blue Jackets score a goal, the title line is played, accompanied by a live cannon in Nationwide Arena.
  • The song is extensively played on ESPN College Gameday before games and before commercial breaks.
  • In television ads for One HD, a 24-hour high definition sport channel in Australia, this song's intro was featured.
  • Alan Freeman used the song in the intro to his Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 (1989–93).
  • The opening guitar line is usually played on the 1st offensive play under a minute during Memphis Grizzlies home games at FedExForum.
  • The song is the theme for NHL Rivalry Wednesdays on the NBC Sports Network.
  • Baltimore Orioles closing pitcher Zach Britton uses the song as his entrance music.

    • Film

  • This song was paraphrased by Jack Black's character "Dewey Finn" in School of Rock as "For those about to rock, I salute you!". Additionally, he quotes the first line from the song before the Battle of the Bands: "We roll tonight to the guitar bite."
  • A modified version of the opening riff of the song is featured on the skateboarding movie Girl Yeah Right.
  • The song is used in the movie Jerry Maguire when Jerry (Tom Cruise) is woken up by his alarm clock.

    • Television

  • The song is used in the ninth season of Supernatural at the end of the episode "Slumber Party".
  • The song is used in the second season of Eastbound and Down when the main character Kenny Powers becomes La Flama Blanca.

    • Music

  • The song is played before the nu metal band Slipknot come onto the stage to perform a live show.
  • This song forms the basis of "Killing of Kings" and "Castles of Sand" by Secret Chiefs 3.
  • John Frusciante played a brief guitar segment before "Californication" at Woodstock 1999.
  • The song was covered by industrial metal band Godflesh and featured on the Gothic-Industrial tribute album to AC/DC, Covered in Black.
  • Australian alternative band TISM recorded a version in 1994 interpolating Lord Byron's "So We'll Go No More a Roving", although it has not been released in full. Three snippets of the recording were leaked in 2006.

    • References

    For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA