Brian Johnson on Not Getting to See Malcolm Young in His Final Years

Brian Johnson will be touching on tough topics in his new book The Lives of Brian as evidenced by an excerpt about Malcolm Young.

This excerpt was shared by Ultimate Classic Rock, and it details a sad moment of coincidence that found Johnson not allowed to see his bandmate while he was under care for dementia. Johnson was in a Sydney hospital in October 2015 for surgery related to his hearing issues. His nurse told him that Young was staying at a facility on the hospital's campus that was literal yards away from Johnson's hospital room. The nurse worked with Young and accompanied him on his daily exercise routine.

Johnson asked the nurse if he could see Young, but the nurse said no.

"'Sorry, mate, I can’t do that. It’s the family’s wishes.' I told him I understood," writes Johnson. "In the next building was the man who I’d shared a stage with for 35 years, the man who’d hired me as the lead singer of AC/DC – the man who’d cared about me so much, he once visited my hometown to meet my parents. He’d even taken my dad for a pint at his club – I mean, who does that?"

Johnson writes that being told he couldn't see Young made him "shed tears in front of a stranger." The order for no guests outside of immediate family came from Young's wife, O'Linda, due to Young struggling with his memory.

Johnson notes in the book, "O’Linda knew how proud Malcolm was – we all did -- and she feared that if I or anyone outside his immediate family went in to see him, he might be embarrassed about his condition...She was just looking out for her husband, like she always did. Angus [Young] visited him, as did his grandchildren, who I’m told made him very happy. But it broke my heart all the same."

The Lives of Brian comes out on October 25 and is available for pre-order here. It's the second book the AC/DC singer has written. His first book, Rockers and Rollers: A Full-Throttle Memoir, came out in 2011 and deals more with Johnson's affinity for cars.

The AC/DC catalog can be split into two parts: The Bon Scott years and the Brian Johnson years. For the sake of our latest list, we're going to focus on the Brian Johnson years.

Johnson was officially announced as the new singer for AC/DC on April 15, 1980. Back then, he faced the daunting challenge of following Scott, who had died suddenly in February 1980 just as AC/DC was enjoying international success from their latest album, Highway to Hell.

Not only did Johnson rise to the occasion, but he also helped lead AC/DC with the release of their monster hit Back In Black, which is one of the highest-selling albums of all time moving over 50 million copies worldwide and 25 million copies in the United States alone.

Over the course of the past four decades, Johnson has become one of rock's most iconic and easily recognizable voices ever. His official return to AC/DC in 2020 after a nearly four-year absence due to hearing loss issues was one of the bright spots in an unprecedentedly dark year.

In his honor, here's our ranking of the top 25 Brian Johnson AC/DC songs.

AC/DC announced in February their new European tour dates. This marks the first tour from the band since 2016.

The "Power Up" tour will kick off on May 17 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany and will wrap on August 17 in Dublin. Currently, it's unknown whether AC/DC will expand their tour to other continents, but stay tuned.

In a brief statement from the band, they confirmed the lineup for the tour. Brian Johnson will be on vocals and joined by Angus and Stevie Young on lead and rhythm guitar, respectively. Matt Laug, who played with the band at Power Trip in October 2023, will be on drums.

As for bass, AC/DC has recruited Chris Chaney "to carry the torch for Cliff [Williams]." Williams retired shortly after the 2016 tour, but he appeared on AC/DC's 2020 album Power Up. Williams also performed at Power Trip with the band.