10 Bands That Got Over Losing A Lead Singer
1. AC/DC
Throughout their career, AC/DC have really been a machine in more ways than one. Despite the ongoing joke that every one of their songs sound the same, the menace and dark fun resting in Bon Scott's voice was just starting to rub off on the charts in the late '70s, bringing Highway to Hell to the top of the charts for the first time in their career. The world was at their feet...until one fateful night of drinking.
During the recording of what would have been the followup, Scott was found dead in a car in the early hours of 1980, having passed out from the previous night and choked on his own vomit. Since his gravelly tone was the calling card for songs like TNT, any prospect of them finding a replacement felt dead in the water, until someone named Brian Johnson from the band Geordie turned up.
Being a favorite of Bon's on the local circuit, Johnson was originally shellshock to be asked to sub in for Bon, only to pull it off with flying colors once Back in Black came out, becoming one of the most foundational pieces of rock and roll in the '80s. Even though Johnson still belts it out every night he can, you can tell that he has that booze-soaked seal of approval that Bon would have wanted.