For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

The phrase that this song's title is based on is "For those about to die..." This is a variation on the phrase "We who are about to die salute you," which is what Roman gladiators would say to the high rulers (typically the emperor), before fighting to the death in the arena. AC/DC guitarist Angus Young got the idea after reading a book Bon Scott gave him about the gladiator games in ancient Rome. Young remembers the book as For Those About To Die We Salute You by Robert Graves, but Graves never wrote a book with that title. It's likely that the book was Those About to Die by Daniel Mannix.

This is the title track to the AC/DC album that followed Back In Black, one of the best-selling albums of all time. Back In Black never hit #1 on the US albums chart, but For Those About To Rock did (their 2008 release Black Ice also hit the top spot). The only single from the album to hit the US Hot 100 was "Let's Get It Up," but this title track became a fan favorite. The song served AC/DC well, becoming a fixture at their live shows, which was always their bailiwick. In concert, the sound of cannons drowned out any disappointment fans felt toward the album.

The band got the idea to use cannons in this song when they were rehearsing in Paris. The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana was on a nearby TV, and cannons could be heard to celebrate the festivities. At AC/DC's concerts, two cannons set up behind the band were used to perform the song. This wasn't the first time they augmented their show with nontraditional instruments: In 1980, they used an enormous bell on stage to ring in "Hell's Bells." AC/DC also wasn't the first band to use artillery on stage. When Emerson, Lake & Palmer played the Isle of Wight festival in 1970, the fired two cannons at the end of their performance of "Pictures At An Exhibition."