Oct 25, 2026 · 50 min
AC/DC survives grief, scandal, and a band’s unraveling
AC/DC Pt. 2 (Rewind): Dirty Deeds, Dead Friends, and Murder for Hire
The episode shows how AC/DC continued through Bon Scott’s death, Malcolm Young’s illness, Phil Rudd’s instability, and questions about its most famous album.
- 1AC/DC rebuilt after Bon Scott’s death, recruiting Brian Johnson and recording Back in Black under extraordinary pressure.
- 2Phil Rudd’s grief and drinking preceded a shocking arrest over an alleged murder-for-hire plot and drug charges.
- 3The episode revisits whether Bon Scott contributed lyrics to Back in Black while tracing Malcolm Young’s declining health.
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Phil Rudd’s arrest in New Zealand over an alleged attempt to hire a hitman abruptly turns AC/DC’s survival story into a criminal scandal.
The brief
AC/DC’s story begins with Angus and Malcolm Young’s working-class upbringing and the family and musical influences that helped shape the band’s hard-rock identity.
Bon Scott’s death in 1980 forced AC/DC to decide whether the band could continue. With Brian Johnson, it mourned Scott and made Back in Black under intense pressure.
Phil Rudd’s grief over Scott, combined with drinking and rock-and-roll excess, became part of a longer pattern of personal instability as AC/DC remained successful.
The episode revisits the unresolved question of whether Bon Scott contributed lyrics to Back in Black, a controversy explored further in an accompanying mini episode.
Malcolm Young’s declining health and plans to record without him frame the episode’s most startling turn: Phil Rudd’s arrest over an alleged attempt to hire a hitman.
AC/DC’s success outlasted deaths, illness, addiction, and scandal, but the story leaves its central tension intact: endurance came with profound internal strain.
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