Guitarist Angus Young's initial inspiration for this song was a History Channel program about war machines used in the Roman and Greek armies. Afterwards the band sat around talking about the concept. Frontman Brian Johnson told Motor Trend magazine: "I said, 'There's not much difference - these huge boulder-throwing things were sent over walls to kill. The only difference now is we have laser-guided bombs with electronics, but they still kill civilians and soldiers." Johnson added that the song is not a statement on the Iraq conflict. He said: "Every war is a daft war. There hasn't been one sensible war. It's about the machines they build for war. They still can't cure cancer, but they can build something that can kill people."
AC/DC were awarded the first Grammy of their career at the 2010 Grammys when this song won the Best Hard Rock Performance gong. Not even in 1980, the year they released Back In Black, one of the biggest records of all time, did they receive a prize. Christopher Cross was showered with numerous Grammy awards that year.
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