Ballbreaker
| Ballbreaker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by AC/DC | ||||
| Released | 26 September 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1994–95 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 49:47 | |||
| Label | EastWest, Albert, Epic | |||
| Producer | Rick Rubin, Mike Fraser | |||
| AC/DC chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ballbreaker | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B) |
| Rolling Stone | |
Ballbreaker is a 1995 album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was the band's twelfth internationally released studio album and the thirteenth to be released in Australia. It was re-released in 2005 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series. All songs are written by Malcolm Young (guitar) and Angus Young (guitar).
Ballbreaker marked the return of drummer Phil Rudd, who had played on all AC/DC albums from their Australian album T.N.T. (1975) to Flick of the Switch (1983). Rudd had left during the Flick of the Switch sessions due to drug problems and his incompatibility with Malcolm Young. According to Arnaud Durieux's book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, Rudd attended AC/DC's show in Auckland in November 1991 and, after a friendly meeting with the band backstage, made an "open-ended pitch" to rejoin if anything changed with the band's current drummer Chris Slade. Durieux reports that the band eventually invited Rudd to rejoin and he accepted in August 1994, much to the chagrin of Slade, who told Rock Hard France in June 2001 that he was so disappointed and disgusted that he did not touch his drum kit for three years. Slade would eventually rejoin the band for their performance at the 2015 Grammy Awards and the 2015 Rock or Bust World Tour following Rudd's legal problems.
Ballbreaker is also significant for being the only AC/DC album produced by Rick Rubin. Rubin had been a long-time fan of the band; former AC/DC engineer Tony Platt recalls overhearing the producer working with the Cult on their 1987 LP Electric:
Rubin's first assignment with AC/DC had been "Big Gun," which appeared on the soundtrack for the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Last Action Hero. The song was a hit, becoming Billboard's #1 rock track and hit #5 on the Canadian charts.
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