Rock N' Roll Train

“Rock ‘N Roll Train” is a song by Australian rock band AC/DC. It is the first track on the album Black Ice to receive radio airplay. The band released a 7” vinyl single that featured the song “Rock ‘N Roll Train” on Side A, and “War Machine” on Side B. The 7” single came in a sleeve with its own unique artwork. The 7” vinyl was also made available in the United States through some independent record shops.

As with the success of the Black Ice album, the single was released to huge success. It was used in many television advertisements, more often being used as ESPN sports bumpers. It hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, staying there for over three weeks. The song does not feature the title in the lyrics, however.

The song was first heard by fans on August 15, 2008 at the shooting of the music video in London. The song was notable for being the first song from a major artist to be leaked online legally when one Scottish fan at the video shoot memorised the riff and sung it on YouTube on the 17th August.

On August 27 2008, close to midnight, the single was uploaded to AC/DC’s official website and AC/DC’s MySpace. It made its worldwide radio debut on 28 August at 17:00 New Zealand time on The Rock radio station. Many Australian stations played the song straight after their 4:00pm news services. The song later made its way onto classic rock radio stations Planet Rock, Virgin Radio Classic Rock, Radio Caroline, radio2XS and Rock Radio in the UK. The song made its North American debut on 28 August on CKQB-FM in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train” debuted at number one on the Canadian rock chart for the week ending September 5.

On 30 August 2008, the first Saturday of the U.S. college football season, the song was played extensively on ESPN and ABC college football broadcasts as intro and bumper music, along with other AC/DC songs “Thunderstruck” and “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”. It was also played on a promo for CBS’s Criminal Minds. It peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In November 2008 the song became AC/DC’s first song to enter the U.S. dance chart.

Throughout the month of November, the World Wrestling Entertainment website featured the music video for “Rock ‘N Roll Train”, as well as the song “Spoilin’ for a Fight”, which was the theme to the Survivor Series 2008.

The song is being used to open shows on the Black Ice tour. A cartoon is played on the giant video screen above the stage; at the end of this cartoon a life-sized train comes crashing out onto the stage. It is at this point that the band comes out on stage and proceeds to play the song.

On August 15 2008, AC/DC filmed the music video to accompany the song in London, where 150 contest winners and their guests were present. The video premiered on September 19 on the band’s official website.

On 23 October 2008, the band released the music video online in ASCII art in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format - the first music video to be produced in such format.

In 2009, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train” was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
The Song “Rock ‘N Roll Train” was also used in an episode of Knight Rider titled “Knight to King’s Pawn”.