Timeline: AC/DC - Back In Black?

Legendary Australian rock band AC/DC have had an eventful career, with several line-up changes and a period of 'commercial decline' in the 80's. So how did they became one of the world's most influential rock and roll bands and bag a headline slot for this year's Kerrang! sponsored Download Festival at Donington Park?

1963: Malcolm and Angus Young, two brothers born in Glasgow, Scotland moved to Sydney, Australia with their family.

1973: The brothers, aged 18 and 20, formed AC/DC. The name is thought to be the brainchild of their older sister, Margaret, who saw the abbreviation for 'alternating current/direct current' on the side of a sewing machine. They recruited bassist Larry Van Kriedt, vocalist Dave Evans and drummer Colin Burgess to complete the line-up.

1973: The band played their first gig at a club named Chequers in Sydney and were later signed to the EMI distributed Albert Productions label. They moved to Melbourne and Angus Young settled on his signature schoolboy look after trying Spiderman, Zorro and gorilla costumes.

1974: Scottish born Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott replaced Dave Evans as vocalist after having worked as their roadie and driver back in Sydney.

1975: Debut album 'High Voltage' was released in Australia and the band had another line-up change with bassist Mark Evans and drummer Phil Rudd replacing Van Kriedt and Burgess.

1976: The band signed a deal with Atlantic Records and 'High Voltage' was released internationally. The band began to tour Europe, supporting the likes of Black Sabbath and Aerosmith and released 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' later that year.

1977: Following the recording of 'Let There Be Rock', bassist Mark Evans was sacked due to 'personal differences' with Angus Young. He was replaced by Cliff Williams and the band began to tour America.

1978: 'Powerage' was released

1979: Sixth album 'Highway To Hell', produced by 'Mutt' Lange, was released and became the first of the band's albums to break the US top 100.

1980: On 19th February, Bon Scott died aged 33 from 'acute alcohol poisoning' after a night out in London. He was replaced by English-born Brian Johnson and the band released 'Back In Black' in August. The album reached Number 1 in the UK and Number 4 in the US.

1981: 'For Those About To Rock' was released and became the band's first album to reach Number 1 in the US.

1983: The band fired Paul Rudd after he fell out with Malcolm Young and was replaced by Simon Wright. Their next release 'Flick Of The Switch' was less successful than previous albums and was voted the eighth-biggest disappointment of the year in the 1984 Kerrang! readers' poll.

1986: The band returned to the charts with 'Who Made Who', the closest the band has come to releasing a "greatest hits" collection.

1988: 'Blow Up Your Video' was a commercial success and sold more copies than the previous two studio releases combined. The band were inducted into the Australian Recording Industries Association's Hall Of Fame.

1989: Chris Slade replaced Simon Write

1991: The band headlined Monsters Of Rock Festival at Donington.

1994: Paul Rudd rejoined the band replacing Simon Write

2000: AC/DC were inducted into the Hollywood Walk Of Fame

2003: The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

2004: 'Corporation Lane' in Melbourne, Australia was renamed 'ACDC Lane' in the band's honour.

2008: 'Black Ice', the band's first studio release in eight years, was released. It made history by reaching Number 1 in 29 countries

25th January 2010: AC/DC were confirmed as a headline act for 2010's Download Festival to be held at Donington Park in June.