"Hells Bells" is the first track of Back in Black, the seventh studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC and their comeback album after the death of lead singer Bon Scott. "Hells Bells" is the second single from Back in Black, released on 31 October 1980. The song also appears on Who Made Who, AC/DC's 1986 soundtrack to the Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive and on both versions of 1992's AC/DC Live.
Composition
"Hells Bells" begins with the slow, funereal tolling of a 2,000-pound (900 kg) bronze bell.[2] Manufactured by John Taylor & Co Bellfounders in Loughborough, the sound of the bell was recorded by Tony Platt using Ronnie Lane's mobile studio inside the bell foundry following the completion of the Back in Black tracking sessions at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas.[2]
Reception
"Hells Bells" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2020, The Guardian ranked the song number six on their list of the 40 greatest AC/DC songs,[3] and in 2021, Kerrang! ranked the song number seven on their list of the 20 greatest AC/DC songs.[4]
The German football club FC St. Pauli from Hamburg, French rugby club RC Toulonnais from Toulon and Greek football club PAOK FC from Thessaloniki open all home matches walking out to "Hells Bells", the former often with large fan displays and pyrotechnics.[26][27][28]
During the Bells Beach surf competition in Victoria, Australia, "Hells Bells" is played on the loudspeakers at the beginning of the first heat of each competing day.[29]
^Ertegün, Ahmet (2001). 'What'd I Say?': The Atlantic Story: 50 Years of Music. Welcome Rain Publisher. p. 546. ISBN978-1-56649-048-1. Back in Black includes one of their best known songs, 'You Shook Me All Night Long' (#35 Pop), and hard rock classics 'Hells Bells', 'Back in Black' (#37 Pop) and 'Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution'.