More than 30 years after his passing, there remains a lot of love for AC/DC’s Bon Scott – amongst fans and his fellow band members.
"I think he embodied everything that was fun, everything that was like 'never say die, live life to the full," Brian Johnson tells USA Today. "And he had a terrible thing happen to him when he passed on. He wasn't a wild, wild, wild man — he was just as wild as the other boys were. He was just unlucky. We've all done stupid, dumb things where we're young, but we got away with it. He didn't. It was just one of them stupid things that shouldn't have happened, and it was accidental and it was stupid. And I just won't have a bad word said against him. We still talk about him like he's a member of the band in the dressing room."
Johnson’s comments came during a book-signing stop last week in the New York area, as he promotes his new book, "Rockers And Rollers: A Full Throttle Memoir"; the book details Brian’s history and lifelong love affair with cars.
Brian’s big break came in the wake of tragedy in 1980 when Bon died accidentally after a night of heavy drinking. Johnson said he met Scott when they were on the road in the western part of the British Isles in 1974 - Johnson was then a member of Geordie and Scott was in a supporting act.
"He was up on stage singing, and we met and had a couple of beers," Johnson said. "He watched us play, and God bless his cotton socks again, when he did join AC/DC he was talking to the boys and he did say something to the effect that the only rock singer that he'd seen that was worth a damn was me, which was really nice of him, and the boys never forgot that."
For fans who never had the chance to witness Bon in person, a 30th anniversary edition Blu-ray/DVD of “Let There Be Rock,” the 1979 concert filmed in Paris a few months before Scott died.
The band premiered the film theatrically after Johnson joined AC/DC. "They showed me this movie that they just finished, and I saw it and it's a wonderful insight into Bon Scott," Johnson said of the boys performing on a small stage stripped of the enormous concert props of today.
"If you want to understand the band, then you'll understand this when you see Bon Scott with the boys when they were young and just starting out, and (thinking) you never know what the future holds," Johnson said. "You can tell these guys just wanted to rock 'n' roll."
AC/DC – Let There Be Rock
Pavillon de Paris – Paris, FR - December 9, 1979
See also:
Rare AC/DC memorabilia exhibit to mark Bon Scott’s 65th birthday
AC/DC singer talks to Howard Stern about writing You Shook Me All Night Long
AC/DC: Bon Scott play to open this summer in Australia
AC/DC: Live At River Plate DVD debuts at #1 in 17 countries
AC/DC singer announces book-signing tour
AC/DC: No fans of reality TV music programs
