Last week as my husband and I were having breakfast his cell phone rang. One of the higher ups from his company was in need of some information. This is not an all together unusual occurrence, as by my very biased opinion my husband is the glue that holds his company together. What was unusual was after he finished his conversation he held the phone out to me. “Shmian*, wants to talk to you.” Shmian is another higher up in my husband’s company. And though I am friendly with him, he does not typically call me at 8:30am on a weekday. It turns out he wanted to get into our long running disagreement over the lead singer of the AC/DC.

I strongly believe Brian Johnson is a superior lead singer to the original lead singer of AC/DC, Bon Scott – may he rest in peace. Shmian on the other hand strongly believes the opposite. It so happened on the morning in question someone who I will not drag into this messy discussion, had told Shmian that the song “Overdose” was some truly rocking AC/DC. Without this unnamed person saying so, Shmian interpreted this to mean this unnamed person agreed with his position that Bon Scott is a superior lead singer.

Since I had not yet finished my tea, I did not have my wits about me to respond to this challenge properly. Later once the caffeine reached my brain, I determined I needed to write up my supporting evidence for why Brian Johnson is superior to Bon Scott. Perhaps I would find I am wrong, and my preference had been based on my own stubbornness. Never mind that economists have determined that Brian Johnson is better than Bon Scott, what do was the truth?

I am not sure when exactly my love of AC/DC developed. It grew up sometime during my 20’s. Prior to my 20’s I had a vague awareness and like of AC/DC but it was not focused into a passion. This is due to my general lack of focus on music until I met my husband. But that is a story for another time. As my attraction to AC/DC grew, I found myself more drawn to songs sang by Brian Johnson.

I think my beef with Bon Scott is his voice. It is so high for a rock sound. It makes their songs sound more cartoonish. Plus, even as a lady, I can’t always sing along he gets so high. Listen to this example of Bon singing Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap to me it just sounds cheesey instead of powerful.

Now listen to Brian Johnson singing Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Though he can hit some higher notes to show he has the change. The rough quality of his voice brings it back to a powerful. I would definitely hire him to do some dirty deeds.

Then we have their style.

Bon Scott’s trademark was apparently to never wear a shirt.

He isn’t exactly the kind of guy I would be dying to see shirtless so this style isn’t for me. I understand some ladies may have been really into to fuzzy stomach. Maybe?

Brian Johnson’s trademark is what I would call a cabbie hat. (Note: A commenter pointed out his hat is a “flat cap” which seems to be a similar or the same as a cabbie hat. Either way, cooler than a fuzzy stomach)

I give style points for the hat. What can I say? Am I biased since I used to wear a hat like this in the 90’s? Maybe. But it’s still cooler and you don’t feel like you have to shield young children  from it.

I want to give some points to Bon Scott for most rock ‘n’ roll cause of death (Death by Misadventure)  though it seems a little unfair to Brian who has thankfully managed not to freeze to death in his car etc.

Another thing that swings me toward Brian Johnson is the song Back in Black. To me, it is the best AC/DC song of all time. In fact, if I had to pick a theme song for myself, Back in Black would be it. Picture it, I’m walking into a courtroom after staying up late into the night and I have figured out the key to winning a difficult case. I look awesome and am wearing a beautiful Calvin Klein black suit. Back in Black plays as the doors of the court room swing shut behind me. Powerful right? Only thanks to the lyrics and singing of Brian Johnson.

In part it still may be my stubbornness that prevents me from fully acknowledging that Shmian and I could both be right, in the end it comes down to one thing. I like what I like, and I like Brian Johnson. And no amount of people telling me otherwise will ever be able to change that.

At least we can agree that Angus Young is a rock god, right?

*name changed to protect him from the Brian Johnson Fan Club.