Bon Scott

Following on from last year’s superb AC/DC retrospective extravaganza ‘Plug Me In’ (some day all Rock DVD’s will be like this!), the official unveiling in Perth of a long overdue tribute to late front man Bon Scott has caused me to reflect on the nature of my admiration for Bon, his replacement Brian Johnson and on fandom as a whole.

Some time in late ‘79 I dispatched my older brother with instructions to come back with one of the albums I had listed, in priority of importance, on a shopping list. He came back with the second album on the list. I recall being slightly disappointed at missing out on my first choice but the mists of time have obscured what that album was or whether it ever found its way onto my turntable. The album he came through the door with was AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. I was 15 years old – I had never heard anything like it. By Christmas of that year I had trudged home from town with the seminal live album If You Want Blood….. (I recall that torrential rain descended as I walked home, turning much of the album sleeve into mush). Less than two months later, just days after my 16th birthday, Bon Scott was dead.

I remember being shocked by Bon’s death but not particularly grief stricken. Although I was by now an affirmed fan; that status confirmed by an astonishing TV appearance on BBC’s Rock Goes To College and now available on Plug Me In. I had only ‘known’ the guy for a few months and was probably more concerned that AC/DC would grind to a halt. Keen to wring every last ounce of remaining power from the band I spent the spring and summer of 1980 buying up the entire back catalogue, all the time becoming increasingly aware of the contribution Bon had made to the band, both musically and through his sheer joie de vivre.

It was with mixed feelings then that I read a lengthy feature in the late-lamented Sounds reporting on the recording sessions for the band’s ‘come-back’ album Back In Black. Just a few months had passed since Bon’s death and whilst my delight at the band’s continuing existence was undeniable, I also experienced a certain amount of horror that they found it so easy to pick up the pieces. I was sixteen remember, I had no mouths to feed, I hadn’t yet experienced the loss of a loved one and I still saw the world in the black and white of absolutes. Even though I had some ‘form’ with new singer Brian Johnson (having bought his previous band Geordie’s only hit All Because Of You as a 9 year old way back in 1973 - I was a rocker even then!) I found myself harbouring some resentment towards him and the band as a whole. This low-key antipathy was completely unfounded and unfair, yet traces of it linger to this day – illogical but seemingly indelible. That the ‘new’ version of AC/DC produced an iconic ‘debut’ album in Black In Black and went on to conquer the world throughout the 1980’s only made things worse. I bought and enjoyed all the albums but that faint feeling of disapproval remained.

What right did I have to judge the band? I didn’t know Bon, I don’t know Brian, I don’t know any of the band. I bought their records, I watched them on TV and I read their words and those written about them, but I know nothing of the reasons or motives for anything they did. All I know is that a young band from Australia lost not only a key contributor to their success but also a friend when on the cusp of greatness and that they were lucky enough to find a replacement with enough strength and talent to step into his shoes and drive the band to even greater heights. Ultimately the two discs of live material on Plug Me In provide a telling insight to what the band went through. Disc One from the Bon Scott era has a young Angus expending a frightening amount of energy behind his friend Bon – with an almost permanent grin affixed to his face. On Disc Two an older Angus expends just as much energy behind his friend Brian – but the grin is largely missing.

AC/DC did what we all must do after suffering tragedy; they dusted themselves off and got on with things, rising above the pain to be the best that they could be. If eventually a little light began to fall into the darkness then it didn’t mean they had forgotten the star that shone so brightly then suddenly was gone. To survive over 30 years in the music business is a tremendous achievement, to survive the loss of an enormous talent and all-round great guy like Bon Scott is an even bigger one. Here’s hoping the band can find their way into the studio sometime soon – there could be no bigger tribute to Bon.