AC/DC’s Brian Johnson picks his favourite Led Zeppelin song
Some people like the simple life, and AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is one of them. His three main passions are motorcars, football, and rock ‘n’ roll, in no particular order. He is not your average rocker in that he eschews the spotlight for the relaxing clime of Sarasota, Florida. Just like the band he fronts, he occupies a specific space away from traditional genre bombast.
A humble Geordie with a distinctive voice, Johnson joined AC/DC in 1980 after the original frontman Bon Scott’s death and didn’t mess around. His elemental wail augmented the defiant sonics of their first record together, Back in Black, which confirmed to the band and their fans that there was to be a long road ahead, with untold riches on offer. It remains one of the best-selling records of all time.
AC/DC would go from strength to strength and still had an array of hits in their locker, with the flat cap-donning frontman dispelling any initial misgivings about replacing the late Scott, a performer of legendary status. Yet, despite all the band’s success, he, like the rest of AC/DC, has never been one for getting embroiled in controversy or traditional rockstar behaviour. He has kept himself to himself, mostly appearing in the media outside the group to discuss his love of cars or Newcastle United.
In many ways, Johnson was the perfect man to take Scott’s mantle. When the rest of the world was obsessed with rock stars and their outlandish, supposedly God-like stature, AC/DC was always fully committed to what counted most: the music.
They were there to provide a hard-rockin’ good time for fans and take the genre back to its high-energy roots in the vein of the 1950s pioneers such as Chuck Berry. This put them at spiritual odds with the other most prominent groups of the era, such as Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. Guitarist Angus Young even said he thought they had come to represent the very worst of guitar music in the 1970s and were barely making rock ‘n’ roll.
Famously, Young once described Zeppelin as boring live and questioned their status as “the most excitin’ rock ’n’ roll band in the world.” He called them “poor imitators of The Who and bands like that”.
Despite the AC/DC guitarist questioning Zeppelin’s status and connection to rock ‘n’ roll, Johnson has clarified that he is a fan of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page’s band. When appearing on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years in 2022, he discussed the significance of Zeppelin and chose his favourite song by them. Aptly, it was ‘Rock and Roll’ from 1971’s Led Zeppelin IV.
He also explained that at their peak in the early 1970s, many vocalists were imitating Rod Stewart and David Bowie’s vocals and were getting all the gigs. Johnson, who was playing in previous band Geordie back then, said people only wanted covers during this era, and not originals, and the closest he could get to imitating another was Bob Seger, meaning he struggled to be heard. However, when Zeppelin broke out, he knew he was on the money. It wasn’t ‘Rock and Roll’ that made him realise this, but another Led Zeppelin IV track, ‘Black Dog’.
Johnson recalled: “It was hard and I was going, ‘What the hell can I sing?’. Then even though it was ‘Black Dog’ the first one I heard, I remember the guy started rehearsing and I could sing up there. I couldn’t believe it and I went ‘I can do this! This is great’. So we started doing it”.
Whether Angus Young likes it or not, Brian Johnson, the AC/DC vocalist, might not have come to fruition without Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant. His wail makes a lot more sense after hearing such an account.
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