Did you know that the first lyric Brian Johnson penned for AC/DC was also the first song fans heard? “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean / She was the best damn woman that I ever seen,” Johnson says in “You Shook Me All Night Long,” the first single off their landmark Back in Black album. Those were the first things the vocalist said as AC/DC approached him to be Bon Scott’s successor. Learn More: The First Lyric Brian Johnson Wrote for AC/DC |
Brian Johnson Auditions for AC/DC
The audition process is something Johnson recalled in a previous interview with Dan Rather and highlighted in a recently uploaded AXS TV clip.
Johnson received a call from a German woman who insisted he come to London to audition for a band, but wouldn’t say who. Without knowing who the band was, the singer declined until the woman on the phone slipped up and said the initials of the band are AC and DC, perhaps mistaking it for an acronym to shroud the band’s true identity in mystery.
Of course, Johnson realized the massive opportunity ahead and agreed to try out. He sang Ike and Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” and that the rest of the band had to learn it. A couple of weeks later, he was on plane to the Bahamas with the band and work at the legendary Compass Point studio is Nassau began.
The Back in Black Sessions
Convinced with Johnson’s singing ability, AC/DC then tasked him with his next role — writing lyrics.
