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 AC/DC

Bon Scott death

Bon Scott died in 1980, in London, Overhill Road. His body found abandoned in a Renault 5 car parked on the road just outside the address nearly 25 years ago.

The AC/DC singer was just 33 years old when he had gone out drinking with friends, but the evening quickly turned tragic when Scott passed out in his car and choked to death on his own vomit.

Milk and alcohol, Scott and Angus, London (1976)

"For us, it was like losing a member of your family," 

 "It's very, very difficult to go through something like that. Not only is it your friend, it's also somebody you've been working with all that time."

(Angus Young, 1980)

AC/DC had already started writing songs for the follow-up to Highway to Hell, and Scott was scheduled to join them the next day. AC/DC recruited Brian Johnson as their new singer in April 1980, and the songs were completed. There are no songs in the vaults with Scott's voice on any of the material that followed Back In Black, contrary to common belief.


The Back in Black album would eventually become a homage to Scott. Young told VH-1's Behind the Music, "We just wanted a plain black cover." "We couldn't possibly do him justice with words. Even the bell at the start of 'Hell's Bells' was a tribute to us.".


Back in Black, released in the summer of 1980, made AC/DC worldwide superstars and is still one of the best-selling albums of all time.

One story about Bon:

Angus used to dress up a variety of characters, ranging from Super Angus to a Gorilla, at one point during the band's early days. They were in Hobart one night, and Angus had gone off stage to put on his gorilla suit, and then was rolled out on stage in a cage.

Bon vanished out of nowhere, and they were all left wondering, “Where the hell did Bon go?” Then they heard a Tarzan-style jungle scream, and here comes Bon with a Tarzan-style outfit on him. He'd strung a rope up into the rafters, climbed to the top of the PA, and began swinging Tarzan-style in front of it. It was hysterically funny. He'd do things like that all the time, and he'd never get caught.

Bon Scott

Reference list:

Geoff, B. (2016) What Really Happened On The Night Bon Scott Died?. [Online] Classic Rock Magazine. Available from :https://www.loudersound.com/features/what-really-happened-on-the-night-bon-scott-died [Accessed 13/04/21].

Swanson, D. (2016) The Death of Bon Scott. [Online] Ultimate Classic Rock. Available from: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-scott-death/ [Accessed 13/04/21].