Powerage was the first AC/DC album to feature Cliff Williams on bass guitar. Released in 1978, it marked Williams’s arrival after bassist Mark Evans left the band.
Williams played on the album alongside vocalist Bon Scott, guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, and drummer Phil Rudd. Recorded in London and produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, Powerage developed the band’s blues-based hard-rock style through songs such as “Rock ’n’ Roll Damnation,” “Sin City” and “Down Payment Blues.”
The timing can be confusing because Williams’s first AC/DC album was not Back in Black. He had already joined the group for Powerage and remained its bassist through the Bon Scott era, the Brian Johnson era and later lineup changes. His steady playing became one of the defining parts of AC/DC’s classic sound.