Overview

"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."

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9780063046450

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Reviews

A heart-wrenching and hilarious memoir. -- Billboard His memoir, fittingly titled The Lives of Brian, also happens to be laugh-out-loud hilarious, written from the vantage point of someone who clearly still can't believe these fantastical lives are, in fact, all part of the same story.... Like the greatest AC/DC songs, Johnson takes his own tragic circumstances and turns them into a song of grit and victory for our benefit -- and maybe for his, too. -- Spin A tale of fate, serendipity, and dogged determination. -- Mojo Warm, starkly comic and uplifting ... The Lives of Brian is a literary twin of an AC/DC album - wild material woven together seamlessly, and always leaving you wanting more. -- Hot Press

"""A heart-wrenching and hilarious memoir."" -- Billboard ""His memoir, fittingly titled The Lives of Brian, also happens to be laugh-out-loud hilarious, written from the vantage point of someone who clearly still can't believe these fantastical lives are, in fact, all part of the same story.... Like the greatest AC/DC songs, Johnson takes his own tragic circumstances and turns them into a song of grit and victory for our benefit -- and maybe for his, too."" -- Spin ""A tale of fate, serendipity, and dogged determination."" -- Mojo ""Warm, starkly comic and uplifting ... The Lives of Brian is a literary twin of an AC/DC album--wild material woven together seamlessly, and always leaving you wanting more."" -- Hot Press"

Author Information

Brian Johnson is the lead singer of AC/DC. When he's not performing, he hosts a couple of cable TV shows: Life on the Road (interviewing other performers) and Cars That Rock. He lives in Florida, with his wife.

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