Fun "For Those About to Rock" facts I got by googling (and it felt really good, mind you):
Songfacts:
The phrase that this song's title is based on is "For those about to Die..." It came from Rome, where gladiators would fight to the death in the arena. Before each match, a person would always say to the high rulers: "Those who are about to die salute you." AC/DC just changed some words to get "For Those About to Rock - We Salute You." (thanks, Shane - Boston, MA)
This wasn't the first time AC/DC substituted the word "Rock" into a well known phrase; the title of their 1977 album Let there be Rock is based on the biblical phrase "Let there be Light." (thanks, Tom - Trowbridge, England)
Two cannons set up behind the band were used to perform this at their concerts. It wasn't the first time they augmented their show with nontraditional instruments. In 1980, they used an enormous bell on stage to ring in "Hell's Bells."
The cannons in the stage show took a while to perfect. They originally had 21 smaller ones, which created an enormous amount of sparks.
This was the title track to their only album that went to #1 in America.
