How Axl Rose 'saved' AC/DC

Virgin Radio

28 Oct 2020, 17:18

Guns N' Roses and AC/DC are two of the biggest names in rock music, so you wouldn't be surprised if there was a huge rivalry between the two.

In fact, it's turned out to be the complete opposite.

Axl Rose stepped in to offer his help to AC/DC when vocalist Brian Johnson had to stop playing partway through their 2016 tour due to hearing problems. 

AC/DC's Angus Young told The Sun: “We’ve had our fair share of ­tragedies. Back in 1980, we lost our lead singer Bon Scott and that was a very dark patch for us. But it was my brother (Malcolm) who contacted me at the time and said that instead of moping about, we should just keep on doing what we had been doing before."

Angus recalls: “In 2016 it looked very difficult again. We were at another unknown juncture because with Brian’s hearing problems we didn’t know what would happen. There was a real risk of him going deaf if we carried on, and none of us wanted that."

They had some tough decisions to make: “So we had to cancel the rest of the tour with no idea what would happen next, but we were lucky enough that Axl Rose stepped in to help us out. It wasn’t planned like that — he got in touch and we’ll be forever thankful and grateful he did it."

Aware of Axl's reputation for partying, teetotal Angus was understandably a little worried: “I’d heard a lot of things too. But I talked to him one-on-one and he was very respectful to me and the others. He would listen. We said, ‘OK, we’ve got to get some rehearsals to get this happening’, and he fully committed and went about it very professionally."

He added: “I don’t know if I can say we tamed him, but I can only say that when we were on the road he was there with us. He was very respectful. If we were there to do the show, he was there, and he was there at the same time as us, ready to go.”

AC/DC are back and raring to go with a new album, their 17th studio album.