Rock and roll has never been known for being kind to the human voice. As much as artists like to throw their entire bodies into their performances, there comes a point when sometimes the voice just gives out on someone because they push it way too hard to get the exact right take. Although Axl Rose could have claimed to be one of the greatest vocalists of the 1980s, even he knew that he couldn’t touch something as perfect as Back in Black without going through his paces.
Listening back to Guns N’ Roses, though, Rose was always his own unique animal behind the microphone. There are many great vocal runs that he got up to during the Appetite for Destruction era, but by Use Your Illusion, people realised that they weren’t dealing with just another screecher. This was a raw vocalist who knew what they were doing, which became a much greater headache when it came to Rose cancelling shows because of his voice.
Aside from not showing up at all for some gigs, Rose wasn’t the most cordial bandmate to work with. He was the one who demanded that the group be given necessary treatment before shows and would bother not showing up to some of the gigs on the tour when his voice was giving him trouble, the PA system wasn’t up to his standards, or probably if the stars weren’t aligned in just the right way.
But when working with a band like AC/DC, they were not going to take any of that shit. The Young brothers were always known for having an ‘on with the show’ mentality, and nowhere is that better exemplified in Back in Black. They had just buried their former frontman, Bon Scott, but with Brian Johnson at the helm, they had a phoenix from the ashes moment with nearly every track on the record.
