It consists of fifteen tracks originally released on ten different albums[a] between 1975 and 2008, with the music drawn almost equally from the Bon Scott and Brian Johnson eras of AC/DC.

Some of the material was remixed by Mike Fraser for possible inclusion in the film,[3] but, of the songs included on the album, only "Shoot to Thrill" and "Highway to Hell" were ultimately featured in the film, while "Thunderstruck", "War Machine", and "The Razors Edge" were used in trailers and commercials; "Back in Black" had been featured in Iron Man (2008).

"[5] The BBC gave the album a positive review, stating: "Younger listeners might find it all a bit clichéd, but remember: AC/DC are the originators, their imitators responsible for diluting the package's potency.

It was composed by Richard M. Sherman as an homage to "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow", a song he and his brother Robert wrote for a Disney attraction at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

[73] James Christopher Monger from Allmusic wrote that Debney "had to contend with a near constant barrage of classic AC/DC songs when putting together his score".

He called "I Am Iron Man" "a rousing, heroic, old-fashioned blast of all American guts and glory that sounds ripped (in a good way) from an old A-Team episode", and continued that "Antagonist Ivan Vanko's theme is appropriately muscular and Russian sounding, while action cues are beefy and peppered with bursts of distorted guitar (presumably a nod to Angus Young's omnipresent riffage), resulting in a score that's more than worthy of its narcissistic, heavily armored protagonist.