Bon Scott Tribute

8 months ago by Jeff Woods | January 28, 2010 9:50 am

Few bands have better linked generations than them.  And few, if any, were able to follow the Rolling Stones in concert, and come out the other side as the favourite (Sarstock, Toronto)

For many of us, the affinity that’s grown for ACDC, extends beyond Angus Young, to the legendary and lovable singer Bon Scott.   

When I sat down some years ago with Angus, upon the release of the Boxed Set ‘Bonfire’, talking about his comrade literally moved Angus to tears, something his wife said had never before happened.   The boys had been through a lot together on their rise to rock and roll world domination.

Like his eventual brothers, the Young boys Angus and Malcolm, as a kid originally from Scotland, Ronald Beford Scott also emigrated with his family to Australia in the 50′s.

As he’d come from Bonnie Scotland he was dubbed "Bon".  

Like some of us, Bon had a lot of false starts including an attempt to join the army but was rejected for being regarded "socially maladjusted."   What better credentials for a rock and roll band?!   But wait, not yet.

After working as a postman, bartender and truck packer, Bon Scott started his first band, The Spektors, as their drummer and sometimes singer.

 Eventually the Spektors would merge with The Winstons, and formed The Valentines, in which Bon became the co-lead singer. 

Is this pedigree starting to sound like the history of Spinal Tap or what?  

Then Bon joined the band Fraternity who toured the U.K. in 1971, where they changed their name to "Fang". During this time they would open for bands including one called Geordie, that featured as front man, Brian Johnson.  (talk about foreshadowing!)

 In 1973, Bon began singing in a band named "Mount Lofty Rangers".  Then he got into a motorcycle accident and left them.

In 1974 Bon Scott was working as a driver and go-fer when he met the boys in AC/DC, who were then fronted by a singer named Dave Evans.   He was more ‘glam’ than the band really wanted.  Meanwhile Bon, who had become ACDC’s driver, said he wanted to become their drummer, but the band kept telling him they didn’t need a drummer, they needed a singer.

And so it was.  Bon Scott sang with ACDC until 1980, helping make them a household name worldwide.  In fact it will be 30 years this February 19th, since Bon’s been gone and replaced by his old friend Brian Johnson.    He was just 33 when he passed, a victim of death by misadventure. (yes, he was a booze hound).

Fittingly, I’m going to call Legends weekly Episode #301, Bonfire – A Tribute to Bon Scott of ACDC, featuring several live and previously unavailable songs.    Do you have a favourite Bon Scott era ACDC tune?   And what is it about the Bon-scott era of ACDC that you like best?  The show will air the weekend of February 20th.

Meanwhile, these, the 2nd is a visual tribute to Bon Scott, and the first is Bon talking about touring (North) America with Kiss and a new band called ‘Rush’.  Enjoy,

Jeff.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • jon
    January 28, 2010 at 10:23 am

    Hey Jeff !!
    Too funny, “and a band called Rush, have you ever heard of em?”, and then an answer that sounded more like a judgement, his “no” sounded more like ‘what a stupid name, lets talk about Kiss’… no surprise I guess at the time.

    I wanted to hear the story about the Whiskey happening with Gene !! nice teaser Jeff.

    Bon had an interesting quality to his voice that I’ve not heard anywhere before (that I can think of at the moment) and it worked, especially in the song Jailbreak, my fav of the era.

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  • Mike McFarland
    January 28, 2010 at 11:00 am

    It’s extremely difficult to narrow it down to just one track … but, today I’m going to pick what should have been a massive U.S. single (it wasn’t released there for some reason): “Touch Too Much” from Highway To Hell. The single was released in the UK in January 1980 … just one month before Bon’s death. AC/DC’s backing vocals never sounded better and Bon was at the top of his game (both lyrically and vocally, thanks to Mutt Lange’s production). “Touch Too Much”, the biggest hit U.S. single that never was.

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  • Donald
    January 28, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    WOw, hard to believe 3o years have passed, I remember seeing it on global news, I was like 9 years old.
    I guess my favourite Bon Scott era tune would have to Let There Be Rock. I guess I like Bon Scott era ACDC better because to me it had a lot more loud bluesy feel to it. Bon is in my top 5 for singers thats for sure.

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  • johnny d
    January 28, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    Favourite pre-1980 song is TNT. Looking forward to #301!

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  • Jim K
    January 28, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    Hi Jeff

    I’m a huge fan of the Bon Scott era. For some reason I’ve always liked the Powerage album the best. I like the fact that you can actually understand what Bon is singing and he has a greater range than Brian. The music appeared to be more varied during the Bon era as well. Look forward to the next episode!

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  • The Guvna
    January 29, 2010 at 1:40 am

    It always bugged the piss out of me when filmmakers would respond to the seemingly-straight-forward-enough question of “Which one of your films is your favourite?” by saying, “I couldn’t possibly choose. It’d be like trying to choose among your children”. And yet, faced with your again seemingly straight forward question, Jeff, here I am going all Sophie’s Choice about it. Which one of my kids *do* I prefer?

    On balance, I’d probably opt for “Touch Too Much” from “Highway To Hell”. It has all of the best attributes of early AC/DC, in one handy package: monster power chords, driving rhythm, and some of Bon’s absolute best lyrical turns of phrase. Running close behind are “Ride On”, an absolutely lovely piece of straight-ahead blues that almost sounds like a tragically knowing apology from Bon for the lifestyle that ultimately killed him, and “Whole Lotta Rosie”, for being the biggest and loudest song of them all from the biggest and loudest band of them all.

    My love of Scott-era DC is routed in two simple but inescapable facts:

    1. Brian Johnson might have had the vocal range, but Bon Scott was light-years better as a lyricist.

    2. The band was just plain *better* with Bon Scott on vocals. Much of that probably stems from them being young and hungry, which from about 1983 onwards wasn’t true for the band behind Brian Johnson. But they had a force-of-nature energy in the Scott era that made their music electric, and there was more evidence in their studio records of that era of their incredible power as a live band…something seldom true in the Johnson era, even when the live shows were cooking.

    AC/DC have long been my choice as the greatest rock and roll band of them all, but with the obvious exception of “Back In Black”, it’s the Scott era stuff that I use to preach to the unconverted.

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  • Rick
    January 29, 2010 at 7:04 am

    Favourite Bon Scott era tunes have gotta be Sin City & The Jack!

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  • Rich
    January 29, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    I tend to favour original singers to replacements. (ie: AC/DC, Van Halen) Even when the replacement is pretty good and the band continues to produce some decent tunes.

    Even though the first AC/DC album I ever heard was Back in Black (which is still — awesome!) I still prefer Bon to Brian.

    Jailbreak is a deadly tune. My twin boys (who are 5) think Dirty Deeds is a cool (and somewhat funny) song. They have some pretty good taste in music already!

    (Reply)

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