Brian Johnson explains ‘Black in Black’ lyrics rumour

There’s been a rumour going around for years that Bon Scott wrote the lyrics for the AC/DC song ‘Back in Black’. Brian Johnson takes down these rumours.

In an interview with Metal Edge, Johnson talks about when he first heard the rumour that Bon Scott wrote the lyrics to ‘Back in Black’. He said “It was a bit of a shock. It was probably about 1984, ’85. There was no social media at the time… And then there’s this guy in Australia, who was absolutely positive that Bon had written the lyrics. And he wouldn’t shut up and he wouldn’t go away and he was even to the point of phoning Derek, Bon’s brother, and he’s a lovely guy and all that and he was sick of this guy as well. I won’t say his name, ’cause it’s not worth mentioning it.”

Johnson continues “He was saying that Bon had written the words and that I had claimed them. Now, in the real world, that just doesn’t happen. First of all, the boys in the band would’ve given me them to sing, and they would’ve put his name on there — it’s simple as that, it’s a simple thing. And it was proved, beyond any shadow of a doubt, you know, but this guy just kept pestering people.”

AC/DC Merchandise

The guy even wanted to make a movie about the life of Bon Scott. Johnson adds ‘He’s becoming a pest and Derek was saying that this guy still tries to phone him. He wants to make a movie of Bon’s life and of course the family absolutely forbid it, with the privacy and all. One day they might, who knows. But I don’t know — it’s not my place to say. Now that man’s getting older and he knows his time’s coming up… and he can’t keep on saying it, he’s just gonna look foolish. There’s too many people who were there, you know, that saw what happened and I just felt… I just felt I had to say somethin’. I wasn’t going to because I’m not gonna let this guy think it’s bothering me. But the truth was, it did bother me in a way. ‘Why would he do that?’ Then, of course, he’s one of these conspiracy theorists — you know what I mean — they’re always there. I just said, let me put a full stop on this. I’ll just put a full stop on this and just say, ‘That’s enough.'”

Bon Scott Merchandise

Even Angus Young has shot down the rumours about the lyrics. About the writing of the song Angus said “Bon never really got the chance,” the guitarist told Paste magazine. “At the time, me and Malcolm were writing songs, which became the songs for ‘Back In Black’. We were in London in a rehearsal room, and Bon had come down, too. And what used to happen was, me and Malcolm would get together and get a drum kit, and Malcolm would get behind the drums sometimes, and I’d get on the guitar and just tap out a riff. Or other times, Malcolm would get on the guitar and he’d get me to just knock out a simple beat on the drums. Anyhow, we were working away, and it was on an intro which was actually what became the intro for ‘Hells Bells’.

He adds “So Bon showed up, and Malcolm said, ‘Oh, great, Bon. You can get behind the kit.’ Because originally Bon started as a drummer. So Bon got behind the drum kit so we could try and work out this intro, how we wanted to do it. So we sorted that out how we wanted.”

Well, there you go. And any of those videos or audio files that claim Bon Scott is singing is simply untrue, it’s some lad with a fine voice like old Bon Scott singing one of the greatest rock songs of all time.