AC/DC Required Machetes and Spears While Writing ‘Back in Black,’ Here’s Why

When AC/DC set out to write Back in Black in the spring of 1980, they entered the studio equipped with their gear, cassette players, machetes, and six-foot spears.

Although the weapons sound like something a rock band might bring along for “heavy cred” (think: Black Sabbath choosing to write an album in a haunted castle despite it being logistically inconvenient), the weapons AC/DC had on hand were functional, not fashionable.

Still, we’d be lying if we said the image of the band writing their album with machetes nearby didn’t make Back in Black seem just a little more rock ‘n’ roll.

Why AC/DC Had Weapons While Writing ‘Back in Black’

Due to a lack of studio availability in the U.K. and favorable tax laws in the Bahamas, AC/DC ended up writing and recording their first album without the late vocal legend Bon Scott at Compass Point in Nassau, the island nation’s capital city. While a seven-week vacation in the Bahamas seems like a walk in the park, it presented its fair share of challenges.

In an AXS TV interview, vocalist Brian Johnson described the less-than-favorable conditions under which the band wrote Back in Black. The singer described their lodging as “these horrible little rooms with a hand basin, a bed, and a little desk, and that was it. We got a machete and a six-foot fishing spear from the woman because of the Tahitian drug dealers in the jungle who were coming down trying to steal everything.”

That woman, by the way, was described as “large” and “intimidating” in Murray Engleheart’s AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, which undoubtedly added to the unease the non-locals felt while staying on the island. And the weather certainly didn’t help soothe their worries, either.

The Band Wrote the Album Amidst Tropical Storms

If the pressure of writing the first album since Bon Scott’s passing and the imminent threat of physical danger wasn’t enough to heighten tensions during AC/DC’s 1980 recording process, the weather helped seal the deal. Soon after the band arrived in Nassau, the tropical storms began.

The constant deluge of stormy weather made it difficult to maintain a constant stream of electricity to the studio. For a loud rock ‘n’ roll band named after different types of electric charges, this was an obvious problem. Still, there were some silver linings. For one, the band had to wait for Customs to release their equipment once they arrived on the island, giving the band time to write.

The tropical storms also inspired the lyrics to “Hell’s Bells,” notably the first verse: I’m a rolling thunder, pouring rain. I’m coming on like a hurricane. White lightning’s flashing across the sky. You’re only young, but you’re gonna die. Ultimately, the band made it out of the Bahamas unscathed, spears and machetes unused, with a chart-topping album that would go platinum a whopping 27 times in the U.S., 12 times in Australia, and twice in the U.K.

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