10 Greatest Hard Rock Frontmen Of The '80s
6. Brian Johnson - AC/DC
At the start of the new decade, AC/DC had humungous shoes to fill. After coming off of the colossal album Highway to Hell, the band found themselves without their booze-soaked leader Bon Scott once he was found dead of alcohol poisoning. It's a miracle that they got a screamer like Scott in their band, but it was inconceivable that they could do it again.
Starting the recording sessions for their followup album Back In Black, Brian Johnson stepped up to the plate ready to kill, with a sound that was just as powerful as his predecessor. Make no mistake, Johnson is not necessarily a Bon Scott clone, but the amount of force behind his voice had just the right amount of attitude to both pay tribute to the older material as well as make his mark on the band going forward.
As the band went out on their first tour, Back In Black became one of the greatest second acts in rock history, which led to even more hits later down the line from "For Those About To Rock" to "Thunderstruck." Brian Johnson might not have been in the trenches with AC/DC, but his role as the comeback kid turned him into one of the most important people in the band's history.