Watch the story of AC/DC's Back in Black in 5 minutes
How a failed rock star helped AC/DC bounce back after Bon Scott’s death to make their Back In Black masterpiece

We all know the story: Bon Scott was dead, and AC/DC were done. But that isn't quite what happened.
Instead, AC/DC reached out to Brian Johnson, a washed-up singer whose band Geordie briefly troubled the charts seven years earlier. Announced to the world as Bon Scott's replacement less than a month after the funeral, he joined AC/DC as they travelled to Compass Point Studios in The Bahamas, where they got to work on Back In Black.
The rest is history. And it's history retold in the first of a series of short films from Louder: The making of AC/DC's Back In Black, narrated by bluesman Big Boy Bloater.
Further reading
- AC/DC: The epic inside story of Back In Black
- AC/DC: Back In Black reviewed
- The story of the man who signed AC/DC and the greatest comeback in rock'n'roll
- AC/DC: the story of the Hells Bell
- How to sound like AC/DC's Malcolm Young
- Buy Classic Rock 273: celebrating 40 years of Back In Black
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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 39 years in music industry, online for 26. 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.