The Lives of Brian

One of SPIN''S Best Music Memoirs of 2022! Brian Johnson''s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back in Black , which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time. Brian Johnson was born to a steelworker and WWII veteran father and an Italian mother, growing up in New Castle Upon Tyne, England, a working-class town. He was musically inclined and sang with the church choir. By the early ''70s he performed with the glam rock band Geordie, and they had a couple hits, but it was tough going. So tough that by 1976, they disbanded and Brian turned to a blue-collar life. Then 1980 changed everything. Bon Scott, the lead singer and lyricist of the Australian rock band AC/DC died at 33. The band auditioned singers, among them Johnson, whom Scott himself had seen perform and raved about. Within days, Johnson was in a studio with the band, working with founding members Angus and Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, and Phil Rudd, along with producer Mutt Lange. When the album, Back in Black , was released in July--a mere three months after Johnson had joined the band--it exploded, going on to sell 50 million copies worldwide, and triggering a years-long worldwide tour. It has been declared "the biggest selling hard rock album ever made" and "the best-selling heavy-metal album in history." The band toured the world for a full year to support the album, changing the face of rock music--and Brian Johnson''s life--forever.

Report

"A heart-wrenching and hilarious memoir." - Billboard
"A tale of fate, serendipity, and dogged determination." - Mojo
"His memoir, fittingly titled The Lives of Brian, also happens to be laugh-out-loud hilarious, written from the vantage point of someone who clearly still can't believe these fantastical lives are, in fact, all part of the same story.... Like the greatest AC/DC songs, Johnson takes his own tragic circumstances and turns them into a song of grit and victory for our benefit - and maybe for his, too." - Spin
"Warm, starkly comic and uplifting ... The Lives of Brian is a literary twin of an AC/DC album-wild material woven together seamlessly, and always leaving you wanting more." - Hot Press

Product details

• Authors: Brian Johnson, Johnson Brian
• Publisher: Dey Street Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 25.10.2022
• EAN: 9780063046382
• ISBN: 978-0-06-304638-2
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 235 mm x 30 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > Monographs; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies; Blues, Rock and Roll, Biography: general, MUSIC / General, Memoirs, Fashion and textile design, Musicians, singers, bands and groups, Gender studies: women and girls, Composers and songwriters, Biography: arts and entertainment, Metal, Heavy Metal, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Personal Memoirs, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Music, COMPOSITION & WRITING: MEMOIR & BIOGRAPHY, MUSIC: General, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Rich & Famous, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Fashion, MUSIC: Genres & Styles / Heavy Metal, MUSIC: Essays, MUSIC: Genres & Styles / Blues, MUSIC: Genres & Styles / Musicals, Composition & Writing / Memoir & Biography