Released 31 October 1980 Genre Hard rock | Format 7 inch Length 5:12 | |
B-side "What Do You Do for Money Honey" Recorded Spring 1980 at Compass Point Studios in The Bahamas | ||
"Hells Bells" is the first track of Australian hard rock band AC/DC's first album without Bon Scott, Back in Black. "Hells Bells" is the second single from Back in Black, released in the fall of 1980. The song also appears on Who Made Who, AC/DC's 1986 soundtrack to the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive and on both versions of 1992's AC/DC Live.
Contents
Composition
The song begins with the slow tolling of a bell, followed by an intro played by Angus Young, with Malcolm Young then joining to create the classic Back in Black double-guitar sound, followed by Phil Rudd on drums and Cliff Williams on bass.
The bell used in the song was a 2,000-pound cast bronze bell made by John Taylor Bellfounders in Loughborough, and is a replica of the Denison Bell. The AC/DC logo and "Hells Bell" are engraved on the bell. The band first attempted to record the Denison Bell at the Carillon Tower and War Museum in Leicestershire, England for the song, but this proved insufficient due to the disruption of pigeons nesting in the bell tower.
Personnel
In baseball
The song was used as the entrance music for former Major League Baseball (MLB) player Trevor Hoffman at home games from 1998–2010, thrilling the crowd as he emerged. The San Diego Padres' usage of "Hells Bells" for Hoffman was a forerunner in the heavy metal theme songs for closers used throughout MLB stadiums. San Jose Mercury News and ESPN.com wrote that the song should be honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. At Hoffman's number retirement ceremony, Brian Johnson paid tribute in a video to Hoffman for "rocking the mound".