The Lives of Brian
A Memoir
-
-
4.4 • 12 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
One of SPIN'S Best Music Memoirs of 2022!
Brian Johnson’s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back in Black, which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time.
Brian Johnson was born to a steelworker and WWII veteran father and an Italian mother, growing up in New Castle Upon Tyne, England, a working-class town. He was musically inclined and sang with the church choir. By the early ’70s he performed with the glam rock band Geordie, and they had a couple hits, but it was tough going. So tough that by 1976, they disbanded and Brian turned to a blue-collar life.
Then 1980 changed everything. Bon Scott, the lead singer and lyricist of the Australian rock band AC/DC died at 33. The band auditioned singers, among them Johnson, whom Scott himself had seen perform and raved about. Within days, Johnson was in a studio with the band, working with founding members Angus and Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, and Phil Rudd, along with producer Mutt Lange.
When the album, Back in Black, was released in July—a mere three months after Johnson had joined the band—it exploded, going on to sell 50 million copies worldwide, and triggering a years-long worldwide tour. It has been declared “the biggest selling hard rock album ever made” and “the best-selling heavy-metal album in history.”
The band toured the world for a full year to support the album, changing the face of rock music—and Brian Johnson’s life—forever.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
AC/DC’s famous frontman is such a rock ’n’ roll badass, his memoir covers countless stories of chaos and debauchery before he even gets to the part where he joins the band. We loved reading about memories from Johnson’s youth—singing with his church choir, becoming a Sea Scout patrol leader, playing his first paid gig with the hilariously named Toasty Folk Trio. And we were fascinated by tales of the singer’s first fleeting brush with success as a member of ’70s glam rock band Geordie. But Johnson took plenty of hard knocks along the way. We got a little misty-eyed reading about the life-changing opportunity to join AC/DC following the tragic death of the group’s first singer, Bon Scott. Reflective, funny, and ultimately triumphant, The Lives of Brian is as satisfying as music memoirs get.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his briskly told and forthright memoir, Johnson recounts his good fortune in becoming the voice on one of rock's highest-selling albums, AC/DC's Back in Black. Growing up in the working-class town of Dunston, England, Johnson recalls his early love of music, which leveled up from children's songs when he heard Little Richard: "I wanted—no, needed—to hear those screamed lyrics and those unhinged ‘wooooos' and that full-throttle rhythm section again." He discovered that not only did he love singing, he was also good at it. His first band was called Section 5; he went on to front the glam rock band Geordie, which had a few hits but broke up in 1976, after which he started a business repairing car windshields. In 1980, Johnson received a call for an audition with AC/DC, whose lead singer Bon Scott had recently died. He secured the spot and the band went into the studio to make Back in Black. Johnson discovered that "singing in AC/DC is not like singing in any other band. There are no ballads. There's no saving your voice for the next song. Every moment, you're standing your ground. It's attack. Like singing with a fixed bayonet." Johnson's animated prose captures the ups and downs of his life and music with one of the world's most popular bands. Rock 'n' roll aficionados will be thrilled.
Customer Reviews
Informative
Interesting and historic info about the life of Brian and the Newcastle area but missing personal info about current spouse which should be included I think as it leaves a void there. We learned about first wife and children so why leave out a lot of the present? It did have great humour and I appreciate the proper UK spelling and the local slang.