The song Brian Johnson called one of the best in rock: “So beautiful and honest”
There’s a good chance that Brian Johnson has helped pinpoint the exact formula for rock and roll with AC/DC.
Angus and Malcolm Young were certainly the ones who were laying down those fantastic riffs every time they made a record, but Johnson filled Bon Scott’s shoes perfectly the minute that he started laying down those sleazy lyrics and opening his mouth to deliver some of the most beautifully screeching vocals that the world had ever heard. But even when you’ve made songs that are perfect, there are often a few more tunes that stand out above the rest out in the wild.
But when talking about AC/DC’s favourite artists, the further back you go, the better. The biggest names in their record collection usually came from the biggest names in blues and the early stages of rock and roll, and given the kind of music they’d be playing, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they didn’t listen to much rock and roll aside from the likes of Little Richard and Elvis Presley when they first got started.
Then again, it’s not like Johnson was tied to one piece of rock and roll history, either. He was always willing to take a chance singing something with a bit more grit behind it, and while he wasn’t going to reach for the same high notes as Robert Plant, he was more than happy to try his hand at working off of other guitarists, whether it was hanging out with Dave Grohl or giving it a go playing on one of Slash’s records.
Because in rock and roll, all musicians have a certain brotherhood about them. Not everyone has had to go through the massive amount of bullshit that they have, and singing the blues is sometimes the only way for Johnson to let those emotions out. But even if a lot of blues songs were about being sad, Johnson felt that the best rock and roll songs were the ones that twisted that formula ever so slightly.
For instance, James Gang had a lot of blues in their vocabulary, but Joe Walsh was the last person to be down in the dumps every time he played. He was one of the court jesters of rock and roll whenever he played, and even if you weren’t necessarily an Eagles fan, it was a lot easier to see Walsh hogging the spotlight whenever they played and getting a few good jokes in there before playing some of his own tunes.
And considering how much AC/DC loved the blues, Johnson was in love the minute that he heard what Walsh could do on tunes like ‘Rocky Mountain Way’, saying, “‘Rocky Mountain Way’ is one of my favorite of all time songs. Joe Walsh is one of my best, best friends. He is the funniest man that I think I ever met on my life. He is just lovely, we keep in touch a lot now. This song, if you just listen to the lyrics, it is just so pure, so beautiful and honest. The solo in the middle of it was groundbreaking. I have never heard something like it.”
The lyrics of the tune aren’t nearly as thought-provoking as what Don Henley would have written, but they don’t necessarily have to be, either. Walsh was just leaving James Gang when he wrote this tune, and even though he was more than happy to keep things rolling along, making a blues song that was all about getting back up on his feet is one of the most satisfying pieces of music he ever made.
You weren’t going to hear Angus Young break out the talkbox whenever they made a new record, but that doesn’t mean that Johnson couldn’t still appreciate what Walsh brought to the table. Because when you think about it, it all came back to the blues, and any musician could respect someone that was wearing their emotions on their sleeve whenever they broke into a riff.
