Bruce Dickinson likes AC/DC’s Bon Scott era more than Brian Johnson.
The Iron Maiden singer recently appeared as a guest on Qobuz’s One Cover One Word interview and spoke about AC/DC’s 1978 album, ‘Powerage’:
“It’s AC/DC. What can I say? With Bon Scott! I got to say, I like what AC/DC are doing now with Brian Johnson with the latest albums. I like that more than ‘Hells Bells’ and definitely more than ‘For Those About to Rock.’”
The Musician Details Bon’s Impact On AC/DC
Dickinson thinks AC/DC had a different taste with Scott:
“They’ve kind of taken back control of their sound and changed it slightly to suit Brian’s voice. But the first years with Bon, up till the end of ‘Highway to Hell’… Wow! And that live album ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’. God! That’s just incredible. So yeah that lineup… and Bon was just a tragedy when that happened. It shouldn’t have happened.”
The vocalist went on to talk about Bon’s singing style:
“No, ‘Sin City’ is okay. Some of them are hard to sing. I mean because Bon had a kind of interesting voice but it was very, very flexible. It was a strange mixture of styles in his voice but there was some blues in there. He could do really good blues. One of my favorite AC/DC songs is called ‘Ride On.’”
Rick Astyle Shares The Same Opinion With Dickinson
Rick Astley also agrees with Dickinson as he prefers Scott-era to Johnson-era. Last year, he joined an interview with Classic Rock and compared the periods with the following words:
“I say this with all respect to Brian Johnson, who has made so many amazing records with AC/DC, but for me, it’s ‘Highway To Hell.’ I fell in love with it when I heard Tommy Vance play it on the radio: ‘What is this?’ Bon had a cheek to him and so much personality in his voice.”
Wolfgang Van Halen also previously shared his admiration for Scott. He mentioned that while Johnson is a great singer, Bon’s unique voice was special to him and his father, Eddie Van Halen.
You can watch the rest of Bruce’s chat below.