Jeff Apter - Bad Boy Boogie: The true story of AC/DC legend Bon Scott

A great book for Australian music buffs offering plenty of nostalgia and great stories.

Canberra Weekly

Will appeal to anyone who has ever loved any of the bands or songs that George Young was involved in creating.

Canberra Times

Jeff Apter shows his usual insightful feel for Aussie rock as he takes us on a fabulous journey.

Daily Telegraph

Engaging a portrait of an artist who eschewed the hype and constantly refined his craft.

Sydney Morning Herald/The Age

Filled with surprises for both the knowing and uninitiated a moving, heartfelt summary of a life that will live on forever in The Great Australian Songbook.

Glam Adelaide

Upbeat an entertaining read for fans of early Aussie rock.

The Herald Sun

In Apters hands it is a story as spellbinding as one of Youngs guitar riffs.

Helen Pitt, author of The House

A ripping yarn about a legendary musician Jeff Apters book delivers in spades, with plenty of nuggets of gold and interesting new snippets for the AC/DC fan.

The Canberra Times

A fascinating ride Apters book is more than a biography, its a tribute to a talented and canny man.

100% Rock Magazine

To penetrate the mind of an artist renowned for their aversion to the public and press is no simple feat. Apter has done just that to a degree so satisfying, there is little left to be said after the last page is turned Johns story is in very safe hands.

Beat Magazine

Clear-eyed a book for the fans.

Sydney Morning Herald/The Age

A fascinating insight into Johns as it diarises the highs and low of his complicated career.

Herald Sun

A great story, well told.

Rod Quinn, ABC Overnights

Jeff Apter is the author of more than 25 music biographies, many of them bestsellers. His subjects include Daniel Johns, the Bee Gees, the Finn brothers, and Malcolm and Angus Young of AC/DC. As a ghostwriter, he has worked with Kasey Chambers, Mark Evans (of AC/DC) and Richard Clapton. Jeff was on staff at Rolling Stone for several years. In 2015, he worked on the Helpmann Awardnominated live show A State of Grace: The Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley. Away from music, Jeff has also worked on books with the former captain of the Australian Invictus Games team, Paul Warren, and such sporting greats as Michael Slater and Tim Cahill. Jeff, who is heard regularly on ABC Radio Sydney, lives in Wollongong, New South Wales, with his wife, two children, Poe the budgie and a very blue dog named Neela. RIP Cat and welcome Rani.

www.jeffapter.com.au

Other books by Jeff Apter:
Behind Dark Eyes: The True Story of Jon English
Friday on My Mind: The Life of George Young
Malcolm Young: The Man Who Made AC/DC
High Voltage: The Life of Angus Young
The Book of Daniel: From Silverchair to DREAMS
Tragedy: The Sad Ballad of the Gibb Brothers

First published in 2021

Copyright 2021 Jeff Apter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100

Email:

Web:www.allenandunwin.com

ISBN 978 1 76087 791 0

eISBN 978 1 76106 235 3

Internal design by Post Pre-press

Set by Post Pre-press Group, Australia

Cover design: Luke Causby/Blue Cork

Cover photograph: Tony Linsen/Sydney Morning Herald

This ones for me

Bon used to swim with sharks, you know.

Angus Young

It was 2000, and I was working at Australian Rolling Stone magazine, speaking with AC/DCs Angus Young about the bands late, great singer, by then twenty years gone. It was a transitional moment in the long career of AC/DC; after the massive success of their hit 1980 LP Back in Black, their record sales had gone into decline but their live shows had become large-scale events, their tours huge money-spinners. And they were now being name-checked by a whole new legion of rockers, everyone from Foo Fighter Dave Grohl to Axl Rose of Guns N Roses and pretty much any band with loud guitars and a bit of mongrel. They were earning dollars and credibility in equally large proportions, which hadnt always been the case.

Truth be told, Angus wasnt the worlds best interview subjecthe was the kind of musician whod rather let his guitar do the talking, which was fair enough. AC/DCs record sales were around 70 million and rising, which put them on the same level as The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Angus didnt need press coverage to sell tickets (which, in the case of AC/DC, tended to disappear as soon as they went on sale). Still, he gave me his time, and at some point in our chat talk turned to the late Bon Scott, the co-writer of many of their signature songs and an ever-present figure in the bands history. Thats when he told me about Bon swimming with sharks.

I didnt think too much of his comment at the time. I figured Angus was speaking metaphorically; after all, Bons reputation for living large was a huge part of AC/DC folklore. Boozing, womanising, partying hard and longthat was all part of the Bon Scott legend. Swimming with the sharks seemed to be an apt description for the way he lived his life. The guy took very big bites.

But no, I was wrong. While the metaphor definitely fitted the man, I learned that Angus was speaking about Bons pre-musical life, back in Fremantle. Having discovered at fifteen that he and school werent a comfortable fit, Bon dropped out and worked as a cray fisherman, which meant he spent a fair bit of time in the drink. Sharks were an occupational hazardnot that it seemed to bother Bon too much. It probably set him up well for a life in rock, especially the Oz rock of the 1970s, when simply taking the stage to play was a risky proposition. Those beer barns could be dangerous.

*

Misconceptions have dogged Bon Scott ever since the fateful day in early 1980 when he died in his sleep on a suburban London backstreet. There are the questions that wont go away. How did he really die? Was there some kind of cover-up? Did he, in some mysterious way, contribute to Back in Black, the album that emerged after his death? To me, its all whispers and innuendo (unless there was a ouija board in the studio, of course). These are the wrong questions to ask about Bon Scott. Im far more interested in what Bon achieved while he was alive. His premature death was the unfortunate coda to his storynothing more.

Bon referred to his lyrics as toilet poetry, but he was selling himself short. Few if any lyricists have been able to match Bons ability to both document and chuckle at his own misadventurestry imagining Sherbets Daryl Braithwaite singing Whole Lotta Rosie, Bons ode to a plus-sized one-night stand. It just wouldnt happen. Bon wrote it like he lived it: raw and real. The man was a larger-than-life character, streetwise and savvy. Bon loved a smoke, a drink and a stink, said his friend Billy Thorpe. Wine, women and song, Angry Anderson said on stage in 2015 during a series of Bon Scott tribute shows called Blood Sweat and Beers. As far as the Rose Tattoo singer was concerned, those were Bons three key reasons for being.