Angus Young on the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johson: “Toilet poetry”
AC/DC were blessed with not one but two of the greatest rock frontmen of all time. While the band hit its commercial peak with Brian Johnson in the 1980s, it was Bon Scott who helped to establish the band’s signature sound in the mid-to-late 1970s. Although Scott is well-known for his staggering stage presence and unmistakeable vocals, Angus Young always thought another part of his armoury was a little underrated.
In 1992 music journalist Vic Garbarini was lucky enough to spend three days on the road with AC/DC – and survived to tell the tale. His lengthy interview with guitarist Angus Young ran at over 6,000 words, but was only published online for the first time in 2023. During the interview, Young goes into some fascinating detail about the differences between Scott and Johnson, both in terms of their vocal delivery and unique lyrics.
“They had a different sense of humour,” said Young. “Bon’s was more subtle. You’d wonder what he was talking about, and half an hour later, you’d be rolling with laughter when you finally got it. Brian’s just as clever, but his humour is more direct. You catch it straight away. From a musical point of view, the difference mainly was that Bon leaned very hard on rhythm when he sang.”
Scott’s lyrics are often pigeonholed as simple, straightforward and explicit, but Young saw his words as deceptively complex. They captured the rough edges of everyday life, yet were crafted with his keen eye for detail and storytelling skills. According to Young, “his other great gift was lyrics. Now for me, Bon was probably one of the most underrated lyricists, even though you could say things like ‘She’s got the balls, she’s got the jack’ were gutter lyrics. For me, they were poetry. And he used to call it poetry too – toilet poetry.” Scott certainly wasn’t afraid to venture into ‘gutter’ language – but he used it as a tool to connect with audiences who might see themselves in his words.
‘The Jack’ is probably the perfect example of what Young was referring to. The song’s idea is simple: ‘The Jack’ is Australian slang for gonorrhoea, and Scott wanted to write a tune about a lady who was unfortunate enough to be carrying said disease (the ’70s were a different time). It would have been easy for Scott to write a straightforward set of lyrics about that – but instead, he dressed them up as a card game and a girl who was “holdin’ a pair” and “never had a royal flush” but “she’s got the jack.” That kind of cheeky double entendre is exactly why Young labelled his lyrics as “gutter poetry.”
Part of the reason why Scott’s lyrics are underrated may lie in the genre itself. Hard rock and heavy metal have sometimes struggled for legitimacy in the eyes of mainstream music critics, who might dismiss lyrics in songs like ‘High Voltage’ or ‘Let There Be Rock’ as simplistic or lowbrow. It’s also evident in album of the year lists published by the music media, which rarely feature albums from those genres. But Young believed these songs and lyrics showed Scott’s genius: he brought hard rock to the level of poetry, even if it was just ‘toilet’ poetry.
Maybe Scott’s legacy as a lyricist is also somewhat overlooked because of his untimely death in 1980. His final album with AC/DC, Highway to Hell, was a massive success and proved he was hitting his creative peak just as his life was cut short. With songs like ‘If You Want Blood (You Got It),’ Scott’s lyrics showcased a newfound confidence and depth that hinted at where he might have gone had he lived longer. In the eyes of Young, Scott’s lyrics never quite got the kudos they deserved.
