Rubin was focusing on the arrangements—or, in AC/DC’s case, lack thereof. “Highway to Hell is probably the most natural-sounding rock record I’ve ever heard,” Rubin wrote in his essay.

From playing bars in Sydney to selling out stadia around the world, AC/DC’s story is a 50-plus-year maelstrom of riffs, booze, school uniforms, double entendres, tragedy and triumph. That the group, ...