AC/DC is set to kick off their European tour on Friday night in Germany. The band returned to the live stage for the first time in around seven years last fall at the Power Trip festival in California, and fans are excited to see their regular return to the live circuit.
In 2020, I started a book on AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson. I won’t bore you with the details of why it didn’t end up happening, but I farmed out several of the book’s chapters to various publications, and some have also appeared here on Web Is Jericho.
When I was putting content for the book together, I interviewed Chris Jericho to get his thoughts on AC/DC’s frontman. “I think Brian’s very underrated in the history of AC/DC,” Jericho said. “Everybody focuses on Angus and Malcolm, obviously. Everybody focuses on Bon Scott, but what you forget is the fourth biggest-selling record of all time, ‘Back In Black,’ has Brian Johnson as the singer. And I think people forget about that. (AC/DC) were not huge until Brian came in. He had more power. He had more of a range.”
I also asked Chris to pick his top 3 Brian Johnson-era AC/DC albums (excluding “Back In Black,” since that record has been discussed at length). Here is what he went with.
1. “Flick Of The Switch”: “There are three of my favorite AC/DC songs on ‘Flick Of The Switch,’ and they never f*cking play them. I started going to see AC/DC on the ‘Who Made Who’ tour. I’ve seen every (tour), and they never play those songs. ‘Rising Power,’ ‘Flick Of The Switch’ and ‘Guns For Hire,’ those three songs are to me up there with the best AC/DC songs.”
2. “Fly On The Wall”: “The next pick is what I feel is the last great AC/DC record that I like every song. That would be their next record, ‘Fly On The Wall.’ Another album they play nothing from. Every song on that record is great. I think the biggest problem with that album is the mix is really bad. The vocals sound like they’re coming from a different room almost. (But) from a songwriting standpoint, I like (it all).”
3. “Power Up:” “I think the last three records they’ve done have all been good, but ‘Power Up,’ … almost every song on this record is fun to listen to. Usually when you get to the final stretch of the ‘DC records, they run out of steam, but they don’t here. ‘Shot In The Dark,’ I thought, ‘That’s not too bad. It’s typical AC/DC.’ But then ‘Realize,’ ‘Rejection,’ ‘Witch’s Spell,’ … ‘Demon Fire’ is one of those tunes like a ‘Guns For Hire.’ That could be on ‘High Voltage’ or ‘Back In Black. It’s just a killer tune. I think Brian’s voice sounds better now than it has in the last 20 years.”
Check out the full Brian Johnson-era AC/DC conversation with Chris below.
