With an ironic twist on the Monty Python cult film The Lives of Brian, The Lives of Brian is the title of AC/DC singer Brian Johnson’s just-released biography, which will be released on October 26 as “
In his memoirs, Johnson (also) reflects on the departure in 2014 and the death of veteran Malcolm Young in 2017. He admits that with Young’s split, the heart of the band “stopped.”
Flashback: In April 2014, AC/DC management announced that Young was “taking a break from the band for health reasons”. At the time, little was floating around on fan forums around the world about the nature of Young’s illness.
Absurd rumors about the guitarist flooded the internet. The public later learned from official AC/DC circles that Young had been diagnosed with dementia.
“When Malcolm left AC/DC in 2014, the heart of the band stopped beating,” Johnson recalls in his memoir. “To this day I miss him more than I could ever put into words. He never missed an opportunity to push us. Whether it was about our musical skills or the well-being of each individual crew member. I have no idea how he always managed that.”
The singer revealed that Young “had his demons. BUT he defeated them, and he defeated them well.”
On the technical side, Johnson writes, there was no better rhythm guitarist than Young. “Masterful guitar playing!!. There was a subtlety behind that powerful sound that many music critics could never understand.” “As I stood on the stage to his right, all I could do was admire the man. However, I mostly kept my admiration to myself: he just wasn’t the type who liked to take compliments.”
Young passed away on November 18, 2017. “He had just turned 64 when the dementia he had been battling for years finally got the better of him,” he recalls. “A truly terrible day” After that, Stevie Young, Malcolm’s nephew, famously took his place at AC/DC.