FTV: Back in Black

 

     On February 28, 1980, AC/DC played the last date of the tour that introduced both their album Back in Black and their new singer, Brian Johnson, to the world.  It had been one year and a day since they played their last show with singer Bon Scott.  The concert a few nights earlier,  (February 23), however, was the one that Johnson still remembers.  Scott’s mother, Isa, was a special guest at the show in Sydney (the third of seven Australian concerts).  Afterwards, she approached Brian and said, “Our Bon would have been proud of you son.” It had been a long year for the band, but especially so for Johnson.  There could not have been a better validation for him than getting Mrs. Scott’s approval.  It also didn’t hurt that BiB had already sold over three million copies in the United States alone, but there was a lot more riding on AC/DC’s shoulders at this juncture of the band’s career..

     Losing an iconic member can have big time consequences for a band.   John Bonham died seven months after Bon.  The circumstances were similar;  a drinking binge (40 shots consumed in 24 hours) led to his ‘death by misadventure’ on September 25, 1980.  Bonham was 32 years old – a year younger than Scott was when he died.  With the passing of their powerful drummer, Zeppelin announced, “We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.”  

     More recently, The Foo Fighters lost Dave Grohl’s longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins (reportedly from a cardiac problem brought on by drug use), but they hired drummer Josh Freese so the band could carry on.  It took many months for them to return to the stage with Freese, but after only two years, he was let go.  The Who faced a similar dilemma when Keith Moon died while rehabbing from drug and alcohol addiction.  They soldiered on, first with Kenney Jones (Small Faces, Faces) behind the kit from 1978 to 1988 and then for a time with Simon Phillips.  Their longest term replacement, Zak Starkey (the son of Beatles legend Ringo Starr), had been given his first drum set by Moon back in the day.  Starkey’s connection to ‘Uncle Keith’ notwithstanding, he was a perfect fit for The Who.

     As of the spring of 2025, The Who booted Starkey from the band – twice.  The second time he was asked to release a statement basically saying his other projects were keeping him too busy to tour (which he declined to do saying it was not true).  While he is still very much alive, apparent friction with lead singer Roger Daltrey orchestrated his exits (they happened only weeks apart separated by a short term ‘rehire’ in the midst of it all).  Band members come and go (not just drummers – don’t even get me started on the untimely ‘deaths’ of the drummers in the made for the movies band, Spinal Tap), but before we get too far afield, let us get back to AC/DC.

     AC/DC were basking in the success of their 1979 album Highway to Hell when they began writing songs for the next album.  With Bon on drums (he had been a drummer before he became a lead singer), Angus and Malcolm had begun working on tracks in London.  Bon called his mother and reported, “This [album] is going to be the one!”  A few days later (February 19, 1980) he was dead.  AC/DC were obviously in a state of shock when Bon was laid to rest in his hometown of Fremantle in Western Australia.  If the Young brothers were at wits end about their future, it was Scott’s father Chick who urged them to keep the band going.  On April 1, 1980, Brian Johnson was announced as their new singer.

     Johnson had a different singing career with the poppy band Geordie in the early 1970s.  They had a couple of UK Top 10 hits before the band broke up in 1978.  Bon Scott had actually seen Johnson perform with Geordie.  Bon’s comments comparing Brian’s voice to Little Richard had planted the seed that would eventually bring Johnson into the band.  They had considered a few other singers before Malcolm and Angus tracked Brian down and got him to come to London for an audition.  They seemed to hit it off musically and socially.  Johnson figured that nothing would come of it and returned to Newcastle before they called to tell him, “Mate, you’re in.” 

     Producer Robert “Mutt” Lange decided that the best thing for the band was to get them away from the prying eyes in London or Sydney.  That is what he told the music press but in reality, part of the reason for the move was the lack of available studio space in London.  When an opening came up in the Bahamas, his solution was to go to the Island Record’s Compass Point Studios in Nassau.  The remote location and world-class studio were just the ticket according to engineer Tony Platt.  He told Guitar World author Paul Elliot, “That helped bring everyone together.”  Elliot’s AC/DC cover feature (July 2025, Vol 45, No. 7) commemorated the 45th anniversary of Back in Black under the title How Angus Young and Company Recorded the Album That Saved Rock ‘n’ Roll.

     In an interview at the time the album was being recorded, Johnson shared his thoughts with the Record Mirror on taking the whole project to a tropical paradise:  “Actually, it’s quite difficult recording in the Bahamas.  All you want to do is lounge on the beach.  And you can’t even get a decent pint of beer.”  With his tongue planted firmly in cheek, he chuckled and added, “Somehow we managed.” In a different interview, he described what it was like recording during their seven weeks at Compass Point Studios:  “It was hardly any kind of studio.  We were [living] in these little concrete cells with a bed and a chair.   And this big old black lady ran the place.  Oh, she was fearsome, she ruled that place with a rod of iron.  We had to lock the doors at night because she warned us about these Haitians who’d come down at night and rob the place.  She bought us all these six-foot fishing spears that we kept by the door.  It was a bit of a stretch from Newcastle.”  

     Several tropical storms rolled over the island which played havoc with electricity at the studio.  The lyrics of Hells Bells reference what they were going through:  “I’m rolling thunder, pourin’ rain / I’m comin’ on like a hurricane / My lightning’s flashing across the sky / You’re only young but you’re gonna die.”  The tolling bells at the beginning of the song were meant to announce the album for what it was:  ”The whole album was our dedication to Bon Scott – that  is why the cover was pure black,”  according to Angus.

     Certainly the songs they recorded down there were a bit different than their previous album tracks, but it wasn’t just because they had a different singer.  Everything that made AC/DC tick was there, but there was a subtle difference in the music itself (even though their music was anything but subtle).  The hard part, for engineer Platt, was getting the ‘very dry and compact’ AC/DC sound in that studio.  Platt found the rooms at Compass Point were ‘not sonically complementary to the group’s sound’, but (as Johnson said), “Somehow they managed.”

     According to Elliot, “While the essence of AC/DC – the hard riffing, the heavy grooves – remained intact, the tone had shifted a little.  It was rock ‘n’ roll, but with more of a heavy metal edge.  And what Mutt Lange had begun with the band on Highway to Hell – adding a touch of sheen, while retaining maximum power – was brought into full effect.  The sound was huge, and at the highest end of it was Johnson’s voice pushed to the limit.” If Brian wasn’t feeling enough pressure, Lange focused his attention on the vocals and demanded perfection out of each take.

     Johnson recounts, “It was like, ‘Again, Brian, Again – hold on, you sang that note too long so there’s no room for a breath’.  He wouldn’t let anything go past him.  Mutt had this thing where he didn’t want people to listen to the album down the road and say there’s no way someone could sing that, they’ve dropped that in, even the breaths had to be in the right place.  And you cannot knock a man for that, but he drove me nuts.  I’d be sitting there going, ‘Arrggghhhh!’”  

     As the sessions were nearing the end, the band asked their manager, Ian Jeffery, to find a bell to include on the album (for the previously mentioned intro to Hell’s Bells).  Platt suggested they use the bells at a local church but when he tried, the recording came with the added sounds of a flurry of birds flying away when the pealing of the bells startled them.  The foundry they contacted had to push their order forward to get it done before the seven weeks of sessions were done.  When the bell was finally recorded with Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio, they found it to be perfectly tuned for the track.  With tracking complete, the final mix was done at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. 

     The label suits were not at all in tune with releasing an album with an all-black cover.  Angus and Malcolm insisted the all-black design was a ‘sign of mourning’ for Bon Scott.  Atlantic Records eventually caved and accepted it with one condition:  the band had to put a grey outline around the AC/DC logo on the cover.  The album was released in the United States on July 25, 1980 and in the U.K. (and the rest of Europe) on July 31.  It debuted at No. 1 on the British album charts and reached No. 4 on the American charts.  Rolling Stone magazine called the chart placement, “an exceptional showing for a heavy-metal album.”  Having topped the Brit charts for two weeks, it stayed in the American Top 10 for more than five months.

     Recording BiB had its trials and tribulations for Johnson and company, but the next big test would be the upcoming tour.  Would the fans accept Johnson?  They knew they had a strong album, but Brian was especially worried about how they would react to hearing him sing Scott’s songs.  In a 1991 interview, Angus confirmed that a few of Bon’s lyrics were used on some of the new BiB tracks while others were, “Echoes of his spirit and sense of humor.”  For example, Bon’s lyrics in HIghway to Hell and Let There Be Rock were intentionally meant to poke a little fun at religion.  Johnson took a similar tract on Hell’s Bells when he sang: “If good’s on the left, then I’m sticking to the right!”

     The Back in Black tour started with six rather low key shows in Belgium and Holland, the first being held in Namur.  Right off the bat, Johnson met a Dutch fan with a Bon Scott tattoo on his arm who told him, “Bon was my hero, but now [that] he’s gone, I wish you all the luck in the world.”  Brian recalled the effect the comment had on him:  “I just stood there shaking.” The album was still five weeks away from being released in Europe, yet when Johnson took the stage for the first show, he spotted a big banner being held aloft that said: “R.I.P. Bon Scott – Good Luck Brian.”  Still, Brian was nervous and there were a few flubs (Malcolm gave him a good ‘bollocking’ when he sang the same lyrics to two songs (“Anxiety and adrenaline caused brain-freeze,” Brian said)).  Overall, Johnson remembered, “We had enough spirit to cover up any mistakes,” while Angus acknowledged the new singer with a compliment:  “We still think Bon’s around.”

     The North American tour kicked off in Canada when the album was released there on July 25, 1980.  There were mixed, but mostly positive reviews coming in.  One British writer gave the album four out of five stars, yet claimed it was too soon after Bon’s death to, “Greet a new AC/DC album with the ecstasy with which I expected.”  The reviewer went on to label Brian as a ‘copy of Bon’ but still concluded, “Back in Black remains a genuine excellent AC/DC album.” 

     David Fricke was more effusive in his Rolling Stone review:  “Back in Black is not only the best of AC/DC’s six American albums, it’s the apex of heavy metal art:  the first LP since Led Zeppelin II that captures all the blood, sweat, and arrogance of the genre.”  Record Mirror’s headline, “POWER IS RESTORED,” introduced Robin Smith’s review where he said, “The resurrection shuffle starts here.  Brian was the perfect choice, possessing an almost uncanny feel for the band’s songs.”  

     Johnson’s only misstep was making a statement in Smith’s review that said, “Bon is still around and watching.  At night in my hotel room I had proof that he was there in some form.  I know he approves of what the new lineup is trying to do.  He didn’t want the band to split up or go into a long period of mourning.  He wanted us to build on the spirit he left behind.”  Included in his comments was his humble take on his role in AC/DC:  “I hope I’ve been accepted by AC/DC fans.  They want the band to go on as well.  Certainly I’ve had no letters or phone calls saying ‘get out’.”  Brian wasn’t saying he was being visited by the ghost of Bon Scott, but his  first comments would come back to haunt him later in the tour.

     Def Leppard opened for AC/DC at the New York Palladium on August 1.  Joe Elliot, Leppard’s lead singer, was celebrating his twenty-first birthday as they released their debut album On Through the Night.  The two bands shared management with Peter Mensch so they had also opened for AC/DC on the Highway to Hell tour.  Leppard heard BiB ahead of its release so they knew what was coming.  Elliot met Johnson for the first time backstage in New York and the conversation they had was ‘a little weird’ according to Joe.  He knew Brian was a bit older and a seasoned veteran with a few Geordie hits under his belt from the early 70s, yet Brian asked Joe, “What the hell am I supposed to do?”  This was Johnson’s first time in the States and he was aware that Elliot had already done a lot of gigs on this side of the pond.  Elliot told him, “Just be yourself, man.  That is all you can do.”

     Elliot had seen Scott on the previous tour so his first impression of Johnson was, “Compared to Scott (bare chested, all attitude), [Brian] looked like Andy Capp.  I thought ‘Hmm, I’m not sure about this.’  But as it turned out, Brian was perfect for that band and maybe the only guy who could have done it.  He had the voice for it.  And that record – it was just amazing.”

     The Australian press were the ones who took delight in amplifying Brian’s statements about ‘the spirit of Bon Scott’ being with them.  The sensational headlines (Brian Talks to Bon’s Ghost) were largely ignored by the record buying public.  In the end, Back in Black has sold more than 50 million albums making it the second-biggest-selling album behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  The album is bigger than anything by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stone, or The Beatles, yet the legacy of BiB isn’t just about sales.  As Malcolm Young once said, “The emotion of that album, it will be around forever.”  

FTV:  You were expecting something else?  This was filmed not long after Brian Johnson joined the band.