In March of 1980, and a month after the death of vocalist Bon Scott, the remaining members of AC/DC asked Brian Johnson to audition as their new frontman. At the time, founding members Angus and Malcolm Young remembered that Scott was impressed by Johnson’s vocals with his previous band Geordie, and after a fan in Chicago had also sent the band a cassette of Johnson performing, which made its way to AC/DC’s manager Peter Mensch, the band were convinced to bring the singer in.
Soon after, a woman with a German accent called Johnson, asking him if he would audition for an unnamed band. When Johnson asked, she initially said, “I cannot tell you this,” he recalled. He immediately declined, and the thought of replacing someone like Scott for the band was also daunting to Johnson.
“I’ve already been bitten by the music bug in Geordie, and three years in Geordie and I came away with not a penny in me pocket,” recalled Johnson in a 2021 interview. Eventually, the woman revealed to Johnson that the band was AC/DC, and he still passed.
“I said, ‘They’re a great band, but I’m 32, and I’m past my sell-by date,” remembered Johnson. “They’ll not be interested. It’ll be a waste of a trip.”
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Hoover
Shortly after he spoke to the woman, Johnson received a phone call from Monty Python music producer Andre Jacquemin, who also worked on Time Bandits and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, offering him a gig to sing a Hoover vacuum cleaner commercial at his studio in London.
“He says, ‘Brian, do you remember me?’” recalled Johnson. “And I said, ‘Sure.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m doing jingles now, would you sing on a Hoover advert?’”
Johnson called the German woman back and said he’d come in for the audition. First, he visited the band at Vanilla Studios in London and impressed them with his renditions of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” and the band’s 1977 song “Whole Lotta Rosie.”
After the audition, Johnson walked over to record the Hoover vacuum song at the nearby studio. The commercial features silhouettes of women who appear dressed in black and white outfits, demonstrating the power of the vacuums, backed by Johnson bringing a hard rock edge to the vac lyrics—The new high-powered compact from Hoover, it’s a beautiful mover … It brushes right to the edge … Changing a bag is easy as A, B, C.
For Johnson, the day proved more than fruitful. Along with making “350 quid” for his hoover spot, he was also asked to join AC/DC on March 29.
On April 15, 1980, the band made it official in a press release announcing their new singer:
Atlantic recording group AC/DC has announced that Brian Johnson has joined the group as their new lead singer. The news comes after the considerable speculation which followed the tragic and untimely death in February of original AC/DC lead singer/lyricist Bon Scott.
27 year-old Brian, who was born just outside Newcastle (England), was previously with the British group Geordie. They enjoyed two top 20 hits in the U.K. in 1973, “All Because of You” and “Can You Do It.” Most recently, Brian had been singing with a re-formed line-up of Geordie when he was invited to audition for AC/DC last month. Brian was recommended to the group by their producer, Robert John Lange.
Brian has now joined the other members of AC/DC – Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Phil Rudd & Cliff Williams – in rehearsals for the group’s next Atlantic album. Current plans call for the band to enter the studio in early May to commence the recording of the new LP.
Photo: Brian Johnson performing with AC/DC on October 18, 1985, at the Forum in Inglewood, California. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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