Brian Johnson names his favourite Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath songs

(Image credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

AC/DC's Brian Johnson has revealed the 10 songs that have soundtracked his life. The singer's choices were made for the Tracks Of My Years feature on BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce show. Johnson's selection includes Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll.

The first episode of the show is available to hear online (the Tracks Of My Years feature starts at two hours and nine minutes into the show), while the others will become available to hear after they're broadcast this week.

During the first show, Johnson talks about the impact of seeing Little Richard on the television as a young lad.

"I was at home," says Johnson. "It was the 1950s. I'd been to the dentist, so I was off school. There was one channel on the TV – you know that, it was the BBC – it was black and white, it was lunchtime, the news had finished and farming was going to start, but there was a five-minute interlude.

"This wonderful voice comes on [adopts posh English accent]: 'And today, for the first time, this young man from America will sing his new pop single called Tutti Frutti.' And I saw this guy with this stunning, swept-back hair, beautiful jacket, thin tie, and his eyes are obviously made-up, and he opened his mouth: 'A wop bop a loo bop...'"

"And that was it. I was just gone. And I think that was probably one of the most important songs I ever heard. It was just magnificent."

Brian Johnson's Tracks Ofd My Years selection is below. The AC/DC man was on the show to promote his just-published memoir The Lives Of Brian, which is published by Penguin Michael Joseph in the UK, and Dey Street Books in the US.

Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash
Led Zeppelin - Rock And Roll
Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock
Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way
Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
Roy Orbison - In Dreams
Ike & Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.