In a recent chat with José Luis Mata Sanchez, original AC/DC frontman Dave Evans finally told whether Brian Johnson or Bon Scott was the top AC/DC singer.
Scott led AC/DC to fame in the ’70s, and Johnson has been with the band for over four decades. Evans shared who he thinks was a better frontman:
“Well, first, Dave Evans is the best, of course. That’s me, okay? Of course. And most of my fans will tell you exactly that, too. I’m not just making it up. After concerts, if you come to one of my concerts, you can make up your own mind, okay? But they call me maestro, which I love. So it’s nice to be called maestro.”
Evans Can’t Compare Two Singers
He continued, referring to two vocalists’ different vocal styles:
“But they’re both completely different. And you can’t compare them. You can’t compare me either with Bon Scott or Brian Johnson. So that’s an unfair question. You’ll only get a Bon or a Brian from someone who’s biased.”
There Are Different Opinions On Who Was Better
When Scott passed away in 1980, many thought it would end the band. Even so, they brought Johnson in to fill the spot. Just months after Scott’s death, AC/DC released their hit album ‘Back in Black.’ So, fans started arguing over who was better. In Greg Prato’s 2020 book, ‘
Pantera’s lead singer, Phil Anselmo, said the following about Scott and Johnson:
“Different vocalists, different feels a bit. They both have great attitude and different voices. The visionaries in AC/DC would be the Young brothers. The fact that they picked Brian Johnson, I’m thinking they were really thinking ahead… or either they just lucked out – because they’re both great in their own right.”
Ex-Skid Row member Sebastian Bach also thinks the two vocalists had different styles:
“AC/DC didn’t try to clone the singer that they had before – like some bands make the mistake of trying to hire a guy that clones or impersonates the dude before. And there are a lot of examples of that. But AC/DC did not do that because I don’t think it’s possible to clone Bon Scott. I don’t think anybody is capable of impersonating Bon Scott. But Brian Johnson had a completely different style and sound. So, there really was no comparison because they’re so different.”
In a Classic Rock interview last year, Wolfgang Van Halen also said that Johnson is a great singer and person, but he and his dad, Eddie Van Halen, both felt that Scott had a unique voice that couldn’t be copied.