Before Bon Scott joined up with the Young brothers to form AC/DC he was in a band called Fraternity.
Brian was in a band called Geordie who had a couple of top 40 hits in the UK.
When Fraternity was touring Great Britain they had a gig where they were opening for Geordie. When Brian and his fellow band mates arrived they suited up and performed their set. Well, midway through a song Brian collapsed on his back and was flailing around; apparently having been struck by appendicitis.
Unbeknownst however to Brian, Bon had been watching the set and when Brian began kicking and flailing Bon was over the moon because he thought it was part of his act. Brian’s stage antics reminded Bon of his heroes, James Brown and Little Richard.
Later that same night, Geordie joined Fraternity on their tour bus and had a couple of drinks then went their separate ways the next day.
Sometime later Bon joined up with AC/DC and one day mentioned offhand that he wasn’t impressed with the rock scene in Britain when he toured there previously, EXCEPT for this one band with a wild singer named Brian Johnson who reminded him of Little Richard. He was really impressed by that Brian fella. And Bon Scott didn’t like too many singers.
Flash forward to 1980.
Bon tragically passes away from alcohol poisoning.
Malcom and Angus remain undecided about whether or not they should continue the band. They’d just broken through with Highway to Hell, but they weren’t superstars…yet.
They decide to continue.
A random fan from Cleveland, Ohio managed to contact their camp. The fan who followed the scene in Britain suggested a guy whom he believed would be a good fit for the band:
Brian Johnson.
Malcolm and Angus Young were thrown, “Wasn’t that the bloke Bon said he was impressed with all those years ago?” They recalled.
Then their producer Mutt Lange also suggested a guy he’d known of on the scene…a man named BRIAN JOHNSON.
The name kept coming up from two random sources so Angus and Malcolm knew then that they had to find this Brian and audition him. Especially since the couple people they’d been auditioning didn’t have that spark.
Brian, meanwhile…had been living with his parents in his native Newcastle and pretty much retired from music. Geordie wasn’t going anywhere except for clubs so he’d opened his own auto body shop.
One day he got a call from an Eastern European woman who told him that a particular band wanted him to come to audition.
The woman was hesitant to name the band but eventually relented and told Johnson that it was AC/DC, whom he’d heard of because they were developing a big following.
However…Johnson didn’t want to drive six hours from Newcastle to London because he was thirty-two, had his own business, was semi-retired from showbiz and was convinced he wouldn’t get the gig because AC/DC was a whole other level. So he declined.
But, as fate would have it, a friend of his who did some work for Monte Python called about thirty minutes later to offer Brian some work. A commercial for Hoover vacuums.
The gig would pay him £350 plus residuals, but it was in London. However since it was a paid gig, Brian quickly accepted and then called back the mysterious woman to tell her that he’d be in London the following Monday and would be able to do the audition.
Monday came and Brian left the studio having done the Hoover jingle and collected his money. It was late in the afternoon and he found himself stuck at a crossroads:
He could drive a mile down the street and meet with AC/DC, a gig he’d never get. Or…he could drive the 5-6 hours back to Newcastle because he had to get home and open up his shop early in the morning.
Brian chose to go to the audition.
After a warm welcome from the band, they performed a few songs with Brian.
Almost immediately Malcolm got goosebumps; magic was in the air.
Angus and Malcolm were caught in Brian’s spell. They NEVER wanted the audition to end. It was like love at first sight.
But Brian had to leave, despite his reluctance to do so since he felt the magic too.
A few days later the band called him back and the rest is history.
