Editing Highway to Hell (section)

==Background==
By 1978, AC/DC had released five albums internationally and had toured Australia and Europe extensively.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tour History 1973-2016 |url=https://ac-dc.net/archive/acdc_tour_history.php |website=ac-dc.net |access-date=17 Aug 2022 |archive-date=24 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624092423/https://ac-dc.net/archive/acdc_tour_history.php |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1977, they landed in America and, with virtually no radio support, began to amass a live following. The band's most recent album, the live ''[[If You Want Blood You've Got It|If You Want Blood]]'', had reached number 13 in the United Kingdom, and the two albums previous to that, 1977's ''[[Let There Be Rock]]'' and 1978's ''[[Powerage]]'', had seen the band find their raging, blues-based hard rock sound. Although the American branch of [[Atlantic Records]] had rejected the group's 1976 LP ''[[Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap]]'', it now believed the band was poised to strike it big in the States if only they would work with a producer who could give them a radio-friendly sound.<ref name="wall">{{cite web |last1=Wall |first1=Mick |title=AC/DC: Back In Black & For Those About To Rock We Salute You |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/ac-dc-the-final-salute-back-in-black-for-those-about-to-rock-we-salute-you |website=loudersound |access-date=17 Aug 2022 |date=15 April 2016 |archive-date=18 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918073340/https://www.loudersound.com/features/ac-dc-the-final-salute-back-in-black-for-those-about-to-rock-we-salute-you |url-status=live }}</ref> Since their 1975 Australian debut ''[[High Voltage (1975 album)|High Voltage]]'', all of AC/DC's albums had been produced by [[George Young (rock musician)|George Young]] and [[Harry Vanda]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Kreps |first1=Daniel |title=George Young, Easybeats Guitarist and AC/DC Producer, Dead at 70 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/george-young-easybeats-guitarist-and-ac-dc-producer-dead-at-70-125168/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=23 October 2017 |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405150546/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/george-young-easybeats-guitarist-and-ac-dc-producer-dead-at-70-125168/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the book ''AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll'', the band was not enthusiastic about the idea, especially guitarists [[Angus Young]] and [[Malcolm Young]], who felt a strong sense of loyalty to their older brother George:
{{blockquote|Being told what to do was bad enough but what really pissed off Malcolm and Angus was they felt that George was being treated disrespectfully by Atlantic, like an amateur with no great track record when it came to production{{nbsp}}... Malcolm seemed less pleased with the situation and went so far as to tell Radio 2JJ in [[Sydney]] that the band had been virtually "forced" to go with an outside producer. Losing Harry was one thing. Losing George was almost literally like losing a sixth member of the band, and much more.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Engleheart |first1=Murray |title=AC/DC : maximum rock & roll |date=2008 |location=New York |isbn=9780061133923 |page=257}}</ref>}}

The producer Atlantic paired the band with was [[South Africa]]n-born [[Eddie Kramer]], best known for his pioneering work as engineer for [[Jimi Hendrix]] but also for mega-bands [[Led Zeppelin]] and [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]]. Kramer met the band at [[Criteria Studios]] in [[Miami, Florida]] but, by all accounts, they did not get on.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wall |first1=Mick |title=AC/DC: The Making Of Highway To Hell |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/ac-dc-the-making-of-highway-to-hell |website=loudersound |date=6 November 2013 |access-date=27 March 2019 |archive-date=26 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326205341/https://www.loudersound.com/features/ac-dc-the-making-of-highway-to-hell |url-status=live }}</ref> Geoff Barton quotes Malcolm Young in ''Guitar Legends'' magazine: "Kramer was a bit of a prat. He looked at Bon and said to us, 'Can your guy sing?' He might've sat behind the knobs for Hendrix, but he's certainly not Hendrix, I can tell you that much." Former AC/DC manager Michael Browning recalls in the 1994 book ''Highway to Hell: The Life and Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott'', "I got a phone call from Malcolm in Florida, to say, 'This guy's hopeless, do something, he's trying to talk us into recording that [[Spencer Davis]] song,' '[[Gimme Some Lovin']],' '[[I'm a Man (The Spencer Davis Group song)|I'm a Man]],' whatever it was."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Polcaro |first1=Rafael |title=Why AC/DC chose not to have Eddie Kramer as Highway To Hell producer |url=http://rockandrollgarage.com/why-ac-dc-chose-not-to-have-eddie-kramer-as-highway-to-hell-producer/ |website=Rock And Roll Garage |date=31 January 2022 |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=1 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201082942/http://rockandrollgarage.com/why-ac-dc-chose-not-to-have-eddie-kramer-as-highway-to-hell-producer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Browning turned to [[Zambia]]n-born producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange to step in. Lange was best known for producing the [[Boomtown Rats]] number-one hit "[[Rat Trap]]"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Griffiths |first1=Daniel |title=5 tracks producers need to hear by… Mutt Lange |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/5-tracks-producers-need-to-hear-by-mutt-lange |website=MusicRadar |language=en |date=18 December 2020 |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=25 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925233609/https://www.musicradar.com/news/5-tracks-producers-need-to-hear-by-mutt-lange |url-status=live }}</ref> and post-pub rock bands like [[Clover (band)|Clover]],<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.cloverband.net/history |website=Clover |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818010648/https://www.cloverband.net/history |url-status=live }}</ref> [[City Boy (band)|City Boy]],<ref>{{cite web |title=City Boy |url=https://renaissancerecordsus.com/city-boy/ |website=renaissancerecordsus.com |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818010648/https://renaissancerecordsus.com/city-boy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Graham Parker]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Graham Parker & the Rumour, Graham Parker - Heat Treatment Album Reviews, Songs & More |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/heat-treatment-mw0000207267 |website=allmusic |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422163303/https://www.allmusic.com/album/heat-treatment-mw0000207267 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1979, singer Bon Scott told ''[[Rock Australia Magazine]]'', "Three weeks in Miami and we hadn't written a thing with Kramer. So one day we told him we were going to have a day off and not to bother coming in. This was Saturday, and we snuck into the studio and on that one day we put down six songs, sent the tape to Lange and said, 'Will you work with us?'" The band had also signed up with new management, firing Michael Browning and hiring [[Peter Mensch]], an aggressive American who had helped develop the careers of [[Aerosmith]] and [[Ted Nugent]].<ref name="wall"/>