AC/DC singer Brian Johnson is releasing his autobiography “The Lives of Brian” this month. Johnson, who became the successor to classic AC/DC frontman Bon Scott in 1980, addressed rumors that Scott wrote lyrics for the band’s penultimate album, “Back In Black.”
“Let’s put some ‘Back in Black’ rumors to bed, shall we?” Johnson wrote. “The conspiracy theorists are legion. The truth is it was me at the end of the pen writing on a legal pad, with nothing more than a title given by Malcolm and Angus. That’s what happened, that’s the truth, now live with it.”
Bon Scott biographer Jesse Fink explored the validity of these rumors in his book, “Bon: The Last Highway.” He spoke with ex-girlfriends of Scott who claimed the late frontman had contributed to the album. He also shared evidence that AC/DC guitarist Angus Young had actually said in an interview that Scott “wrote a little of the stuff.”
Fink responded to the excerpt from Johnson’s book on the “Bon Scott Forum (For Thinking AC/DC Fans)” on Facebook.
“The Brian Johnson book. Bullsh*t,” Fink wrote. “If that is so why did Angus Young admit some of Bon’s lyrics are on the album? Why did a member of Scott’s family confirm the Scott family got royalties for Back in Black?”
Fink then further elaborated: “Brian Johnson says he wants to ‘put some Back in Black rumors to bed’ and ‘the conspiracy theorists are legion’. The ‘truth’, apparently, was it was Brian and only Brian ‘at the end of the pen’ and now we have to ‘live with it’. That’s all he has to say on the biggest issue around the whole Back in Black album, an issue that has been swirling for over 40 years.”
“I did my own investigation into the issue of the lyrics in my book Bon: The Last Highway. Fans are capable of listening to the lyrics on that record and know there is night and day between what appeared on that record and every AC/DC record since. They’re not conspiracy theorists at all but they have ears and they’re puzzled, like I am, when Angus Young goes on the record in interviews and says things like this.”
“‘With Paul Elliott of Kerrang! (1991):
ELLIOTT: Who wrote the lyrics on [‘Given The Dog A Bone’] and the others on Back In Black? Bon, or Brian, or both?
ANGUS YOUNG: Bon wrote a little of the stuff.
With Elissa Blake of Australian Rolling Stone (1998):
BLAKE: Have you ever thought about quitting?
ANGUS YOUNG: The only time was when Bon died. We were in doubt about what to do but we had songs that he had written and wanted to finish the songs. We thought it would be our tribute to Bon and that album became Back In Black. We didn’t even know if people would even accept it. But it was probably one of our biggest albums and the success of that kept it going. We were on the road with that album for about two years so it was like therapy for the band after Bon’s death.’”
Fink continued: “So there you have Angus Young saying something very different. But now apparently it was all from Brian’s pen. So he could explain what Angus Young is on about.”
“And he could also explain why the Bon Scott Estate allegedly gets royalties for Back in Black. We know this because the late Vince Lovegrove, Bon’s ex bandmate in The Valentines, wrote on his personal blog on 12 October 2011 just before his death: ‘Although Scott did not receive songwriting credits on [Back In Black], his older [sic] brother, Derek, told me that the family has always received Scott’s songwriting royalties for the album, strongly suggesting that Scott indeed wrote most [of the] lyrics.’ Why would Lovegrove make this statement? Does the Bon Scott Estate get songwriting royalties for Back in Black or not?“
“Respectfully I don’t think anything has been put ‘to bed’.”
The synopsis for “The Lives of Brian” reads: “Brian Johnson’s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back in Black, which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time.”
