澳洲老牌硬摇滚乐队AC/DC的新专辑《Black Ice》上市一周后一共卖出了83855张,使得《Black Ice》不仅仅成为澳大利亚周销量的冠军,而且更是2008年里卖的最快的专辑之一。加上尚未发行期间的预售的7265张唱片,《Black Ice》也是前一周里在一天时间里卖的最多的专辑之一。截止到目前,专辑在澳洲的总销量也已经超过91000张,达到了第一个白金销量。 在新专辑《Black Ice》里,将摇滚的内容扩充到了极致,三分之一的作品都在标题上和摇滚乐息息相关:《Rock N Roll Train》(摇滚列车)、《Rocking All the Way》(全方位摇滚)、《Rock N Roll Dream》(摇滚梦)还有《She Likes Rock 'N' Roll》(她热衷摇滚乐)。而它们的歌词当中也在强调“摇滚之夜”、“通宵摇滚”之类的口号。 AC/DC的专辑在销售渠道上没有提供数字下载,八万三千多张的销量完全来自以CD唱片的传统媒介。尽管AC/DC官方依然坚持不以数字下载为渠道进行销售,然而澳洲超过三分之一的零售点已经于这周开始提供以下载来作为其销售形式之一。
Black Ice is the Grammy-award winning 15th Australian and 14th international studio album by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was produced by Brendan O'Brien and released internationally on 17 October 2008. Guitarists Angus Young and Malcolm Young met in London in 2003 to start composing tracks. The album's development was delayed because bass guitarist Cliff Williams sustained an injury and the band's change of labels from Atlantic Records to Sony Music.
The album was recorded during March and April 2008 at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, Canada, where the band's previous album Stiff Upper Lip had been recorded. The eight-year gap between Black Ice and Stiff Upper Lip is their longest between AC/DC's successive studio albums. O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of the band's early work, as opposed to the blues orientation of Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip; he suggested adding "soul crooning" to Brian Johnson's singing. The songs were mostly recorded live in the studio; engineer Mike Fraser used only sparse overdubs and effects to keep the tracks as close to the originals as possible. Black Ice has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio album.
Black Ice was released exclusively in physical formats, as the group did not sell its music digitally at the time. Walmart got exclusive rights to distribute the album in North America. Its release was promoted with an extensive marketing campaign, which included displays of AC/DC memorabilia. Three singles were issued, "Rock 'n' Roll Train", "Big Jack" and "Anything Goes". Black Ice peaked at number one in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was the second best-selling record of 2008, behind Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends and had shipped 6 million copies worldwide by December. Critical reviews were generally positive, praising the music and its resemblance to the classic AC/DC sound, although some critics found the work too long and inconsistent. The track "War Machine" won the Best Hard Rock Performance category at the Grammys. 'Black Ice' was also nominated for many awards, including the Grammy, Brit, Juno and ARIA Music Awards; and was supported by a world tour between 2008 and 2010.