"Who Made Who" is a song and a single by the Australian
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
, taken from their 1986 album, ''
Who Made Who
''Who Made Who'' is a soundtrack album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Released on 26 May 1986, the album is the soundtrack to the Stephen King film ''Maximum Overdrive''. The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the ''AC/DC Remasters' ...
''. The 12-inch single format of the single features an extended mix of the song and can be found in the Deluxe Edition of
AC/DC's ''
Backtracks Boxset'', on Disc 1, Studio Rarities. It was one of only three new tracks on ''Who Made Who'', because the album is not only a soundtrack to
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
's ''
Maximum Overdrive
''Maximum Overdrive'' is a 1986 American comedy horror film written and directed by Stephen King. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short ...
'', but a
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...
featuring tracks from previous albums. The other two new tracks were instrumentals. "Who Made Who" peaked at #23 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Mainstream Rock Chart
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched i ...
on 19 July 1986, and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks.
In addition to the song itself, "Who Made Who" has also been played live, mostly throughout the
subsequent world tour and the
Blow Up Your Video World Tour. It was also played live with replacement drummer
Chris Slade
Chris Slade (born Christopher Slade Rees; 30 October 1946) is a Welsh musician, best known for playing for the Australian rock band AC/DC. He drummed for the band from 1989 to 1994, performing on their 1990 album '' The Razors Edge'' along with ...
throughout
The Razors Edge World Tour, and with drummer
Phil Rudd
Phillip Hugh Norman Rudd (born Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke Rudzevecius, 19 May 1954) is an Australian drummer, best known as the drummer of AC/DC across three stints. On the 1977 departure of bass guitarist Mark Evans from AC/DC, Rudd became ...
(who returned to the band in 1994 after being fired from the group 11 years prior) for only one gig at the opening night of the
Ballbreaker World Tour
The Ballbreaker World Tour was a concert tour played by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC, in support of their thirteenth studio album ''Ballbreaker'', which was released on 26 September 1995. This tour had 5 legs around the world lasting 1 ...
in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
, after which the song was dropped and has not been played live since. A live version was released on the 1992 album ''
AC/DC Live
''AC/DC Live'' is the second live album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on 27 October 1992. Two versions were released, one containing a single CD, with the second version being a double album on LP and CD known as ''AC/DC Live: ...
''.
Music video
In the
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
to this song, directed by
David Mallet,
">mvdbase.com – AC/DC – "Who made who?"
/ref> filmed in the lobby of and onstage at the Brixton Academy
Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...
music venue in London, fans and radio contest winners were dressed like Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and only remaining original member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, school ...
, and carried red cardboard guitars similar to Angus's Gibson SG
The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961 as the Gibson Les Paul SG. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG (where "SG" refers to Solid-Body Guitar) Standard is Gib ...
. The video's plot features scientists replicating Angus by means of science fiction technology; the lookalikes are shown ''en masse'', marching in time to the song and raising their heads to chant the title phrase along with the chorus. A photo of Angus standing amid a group of his counterparts can be found inside the 2003 Digipak
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
A ...
release of ''Who Made Who''. A couple of AC/DC shows had some look alike Anguses on the stage with them, such as at the Nassau Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or simply the Nassau Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, east of New York City. The Long Island venue is approximately east of the eastern limits of the New York City Borough of ...
in Uniondale, New York, where six were present.
Personnel
*Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
– vocals
*Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and only remaining original member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, school ...
– lead guitar
*Malcolm Young
Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its beginn ...
– rhythm guitar
*Cliff Williams
Clifford Williams (born 14 December 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He started his professional music career in 1967 and had previously been in the English g ...
– bass guitar
* Simon Wright – drums
Charts
References
External links
*
Lyrics
{{Authority control
AC/DC songs
1986 singles
Songs written by Brian Johnson
Songs written by Angus Young
Songs written by Malcolm Young
1986 songs
Atlantic Records singles
Music videos directed by David Mallet (director)