After the success of the single "Baby, Please Don't Go" and the album High Voltage, AC/DC returned to Albert Studios in Sydney to record their second LP with producers George Young and Harry Vanda. George is the older brother of guitarists Malcolm Young and Angus Young and had enjoyed his own success in the group the Easybeats. T.N.T. marked a change in direction from AC/DC's debut album, High Voltage, which was released on 17 February 1975; whereas High Voltage featured some experimentation with the styles of its songs and had a variety of personnel filling multiple roles, T.N.T. saw the band fully embrace the formula for which they would become famous: hard-edged, rhythm and blues-based rock and roll. They also simplified their personnel system and would use it from then on out, which was Angus strictly playing lead guitar, Malcolm Young playing rhythm guitar, and the drummer and bassist being the only ones to play drums and bass guitar respectively on the albums. In Murray Engleheart's book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, producer Harry Vanda states, "I suppose there might have been one or two tracks on the first album, a few things that they were experimenting with, which probably later on they wouldn't have done anymore. So I suppose you could say that T.N.T was the one that really pulled the identity; like, this is AC/DC, there's no doubt about it, that's who it's going to be and that's how it's going to stay."
In Clifton Walker's 1994 book Highway to Hell: The Life and Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott, bassist Mark Evans speaks about the band's creative process during this period:
"Malcolm and Angus would come up with riffs and all that, and then we'd go into the studio. Malcolm and George would sit down at the piano and work it out. Malcolm and Angus would have the barest bones of a song, the riff and different bits, and George would hammer it into a tune. Bon would be in and out when the band was recording backing tracks. Once the backing track was done, he would literally be locked in the kitchen there at Alberts, and come out with a finished song."
"It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" was edited down from an extended jam by producer George Young and the inclusion of the bagpipes was his idea to add an extra dynamic to the track. Singer Bon Scott had played in a pipe band in his teens, so George suggested he play bagpipes on the song, not realizing that Scott had been a drummer, not a piper. Regardless, Scott – who knew how to play the recorder – learned the instrument and went on to play them on stage with the band up until 1976, when he set the bagpipes down on the corner of the stage and they were destroyed by fans. For the next three years, whenever they played the song live, Angus would play an extended guitar solo. Chanting in "T.N.T." was also George Young's idea, added after he heard Angus ad-libbing the "oi" chant to himself, and suggested he record it.
T.N.T. was originally released by Albert Productions, and has never been reissued by another label. However, all songs except "Rocker" and "School Days" were included on Atlantic Records' High Voltage, which was released internationally in May 1976. Three singles were released from the album – "High Voltage" (July 1975), "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" (December 1975) and "T.N.T." (March 1976). T.N.T. was released in a gatefold sleeve, with the inside depicting the various members on mock-ups of police identification cards, listing apparent aliases and partially obscured personal details including birthdates (only Bon Scott's is readily visible and Angus Young's birth year is shown as 1959 (not 1955) in keeping with his schoolboy persona as this made him appear 16 instead of his real age of 20). T.N.T. is the only Australian AC/DC studio album for which there is no international counterpart. However, seven of its nine songs comprise the international version of High Voltage, released in May 1976. The other two, "Rocker" and "School Days", saw worldwide release as part of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap's international version (1976/1981) and the Bonfire box set (1997) respectively. The original 1975 LP release featured longer versions of "Can I Sit Next to You Girl", "High Voltage" and "Rocker" compared to the versions heard on later CD releases:
"Rocker" originally cuts out abruptly at 2:55 as the riff hits its peak (possibly due to the recording tape running out before the song was originally supposed to end), but on the 1986 CD release and the 1995 remastered CD release the song fades out at 2:51 before the cut.
"High Voltage" originally finished with a sustained guitar note followed by a single hit of the snare drum which also serves as a segway that leads directly into "School Days". This version was retained for the 1986 CD release, however the 1995 remastered CD release contains the version heard on the international High Voltage album release, which has the song fade out before hitting the sustained note. This was how the original single release ended.
The versions of these songs included on the Deluxe Edition of the 2009 box set Backtracks are credited as being the original Australian versions. However, the songs still fade out albeit later than their international counterparts instead of keeping the original edits. When AC/DC's catalog (except the Australian releases) became available on iTunes in November 2012, the original uncut versions of "Rocker" and "High Voltage" finally saw worldwide release on the digital version of Backtracks.
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