Songfacts®:

• This is the final track on Back in Black, the first album AC/DC recorded after their lead singer, Bon Scott, died on February 19, 1980 at the age of 33. The album can be interpreted as a tribute to Bon, or even a "f--k you" to all critics and others besides who had no respect for the band and thought they would fall through because of Bon's death. Whatever it was meant to be, Back in Black is one of the most successful albums of all time, with more than 42 million copies sold worldwide.
  
  Just two days after Bon's funeral, Angus and Malcolm Young went back to work on the album. Malcolm explained at the time, "I thought, 'Well, f--k this, I'm not gonna sit around mopin' all f--king year.' So I just ran Angus and said, 'Do you wanna come back and rehearse?'"
• AC/DC is championing rock and roll music in this song, which is something they did consistently throughout their career, steadfastly refusing to alter their style or cross genres. In 1980, rock needed a champion: Led Zeppelin had disbanded and mainstays like Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, Rainbow and Kiss were either out of the game or dabbling in ballads - or worse, disco.
• Back in Black was the first album AC/DC recorded with Brian Johnson, who officially joined the band on April 8, 1980. He passed his audition in London by singing "Whole Lotta Rosie" and Ike and Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits." He'd even been approved by Bon, who had seen him perform with his previous band Geordie. According to Angus, "We knew if Bon liked him, he must be good, because Bon didn't like many people." (quotes in the two entries above taken from David Fricke's piece in the booklet in the Epic 2003 release of Back in Black)
• Brian Johnson claims that the spoken intro was improvised ("Hey all you middlemen... good sense").
• Twelve seconds into the song, you can hear the click of a lighter, and then someone taking a pull from a cigarette. It was most likely Brian. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bess - San Diego, CA
• The song's opening riff featured in a series of TV ads for the Applebee's restaurant chain, which started being shown in May 2016.