Brian Johnson Details Intense Emotions After 2016 Exit from AC/DC

Brian Johnson touches on his heartbreaking 2016 exit from AC/DC in his new memoir The Lives of Brian.

Per Ultimate Classic Rock, Johnson recalls calling AC/DC's tour manager to let him know he couldn't continue with the band due to his hearing loss. He writes, "It was one of the most difficult conversations of my life – the pain of it made worse over the weeks that followed when the tour simply went on without me. It was a sheer cliff. I didn’t tumble down, I was in free fall."

He added, "For most of my career, I’d been in the loudest band in the world. I’d flown constantly. I’d flown even when I knew I wasn’t well. For a while, people would ask me if I was depressed, but depression is treatable. My hearing loss wasn’t. What I was feeling wasn’t depression. It was something closer to despair.”

Axl Rose would fill in for Johnson on the remaining AC/DC tour dates, but Johnson never took in a performance or sought out footage of Rose fronting the band.

"It's like finding a stranger in your house, sitting in your favorite chair," writes Johnson. "But I bear no grudges. It was a tough situation. Angus [Young] and the lads did what they felt they had to do. That said, after the band released a statement confirming that I was leaving the tour and wishing me all the best for the future, I couldn’t relax or concentrate on anything. It was just always there."

Fortunately, Johnson was able to rejoin AC/DC for their 2020 studio album Power Up thanks to new in-ear monitor technology that helped the singer hear again. He wrote of the technician and the technology that helped him rejoin the band, "Whatever magic he used, it worked. I could hear again – even in my deaf ear, meaning I was able to enjoy stereo. Suddenly, I felt something that I hadn’t felt in what seemed like an eternity: Hope."

The Lives of Brian is set for release on October 25 and is available for purchase here.

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.