AC/DC's Brian Johnson Finally Addressed The Conspiracy Theory Regarding The Group's Biggest Hit

News.Au - It’s been 42 years since the release of one of the biggest rock records of all time, AC/DC’s Back in Black.

And in that time, English singer Brian Johnson has been haunted by a “conspiracy theory” over who put pen to paper on the ’80s hit.

There have been persistent rumours that the late Bon Scott, who fronted the Aussie band before his death in February 1980, had “scribbled most of the words to the album in one of his notebooks before he died.”

However Johnson, now 75, who took over as frontman after Scott’s death aged 33, has addressed the myth in his new book, The Lives of Brian.

While the song spawned from Scott telling a story to his bandmates about his landlord’s complaints about the volume of his music, AC/DC co-founder and guitarist Angus Young has previously said they didn’t end up using any of his lyrics to avoid looking like they were profiting from his untimely death.

“I know there’s an individual who was a conspiracy theorist and that just kept saying, well, Bon wrote these lyrics,” Johnson says, per The Daily Telegraph.

“What band would let somebody else claim somebody else’s lyrics? I mean, it’s just absolute nonsense. And that’s why I put it in the book, to say for once and for all, those lyrics came from the end of my hand with a pen in it.

“There’s people out there, they just won’t believe what’s true. And I felt awful after putting it down (in the book) but it had just got on my nerves for so long. I still love listening to Bon’s fantastic lyrics, his double entendres, his funny little quips … I couldn’t do that.”

So the cliff notes to this story goes something like this. 

"Back In Black" was obviously one of the biggest hits of all time. Since dropping in 1980, the band's members have stayed mum on who exactly was responsible for penning the lyrics, and the brothers Angus and the late Malcolm Young, as well as Brian Johnson, are credited as the writers. The album by the same-titled came out just five months after Scott passed away, so by staying quiet about it, it only fueled the speculation.

Why Brian Johnson didn't just squelch all the rumors decades ago by stating this, I have no idea? And by leaking this before his book drops, rather than saying he answers the question in it, I don't think it will help boost sales. So it's not like it's a money grab. 

But hopefully this puts everything to rest and Johnson is no longer haunted by this shit.

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(sidebar - weirdest thing is we actually were just talking about this Thursday with Nickelback, yah, Nickelback, ever heard of them? When we interviewed them for Barstool Backstage. Chad Kroger and White Sox Dave were debating what AC/DC’s biggest song ever was, and who wrote “Back In Black”. Two days later, we have an answer. Stay tuned for the Nickelback interview coming this week on Barstool Backstage)

Now hit the fucking music-