In a new chat with Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS, Slash talked about the AC/DC record he loved the most when he started out.
The host guessed it wrong when he said ‘Back in Black’ and ‘Highway to Hell’ because the guitarist had some other album in his mind:
“‘Powerage.’ It is still probably one of my favorite AC/DC records but at the time, when I got into the record that came out was ‘Highway to Hell.’ And that’s how I became familiar with them and then because of that record, I heard ‘Powerage,’ and I was like, ‘Whoa, this record.’ That got me into the whole AC/DC catalog.”
Slash shared how Bon Scott’s passing affected his interest in AC/DC:
“And then Bon Scott died and that was just like, ‘I just got into these guys.’ And then, really in pretty quick succession, Brian [Johnson] came into it and one of the biggest years for metal was 1980. You had ‘Back in Black’ come out and then you had Ozzy’s ‘Madman’ come out and all that. And Sabbath’s ‘Heaven and Hell.’ It was a huge year for rock, which was great.”
Slash’s Latest Album Featured Brian Johnson
The musician had a chance to collaborate with AC/DC’s lead vocalist Brian Johnson in his new blues record, ‘Orgy of the Damned.’ Slash recorded a version of Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor,’ where he asked Johnson not to use his ‘AC/DC voice.’ Slash talked with Loudwire in March about his new album and said:
“Brian and I are friends, so I called him up. I didn’t know what the legalities of him doing something outside of AC/DC would be, but it all worked out great and he’s just such a sweet guy. He was so much fun to go in the studio and do this with.”
The rocker added:
“He did actually sing it for a second in the higher register. But it just sounded like AC/DC, so I was like, no, keep it true to the original because he loved that song. It was a big part of his growing up, you know? So he knew the song backward and forward, which I had no idea. He felt most comfortable trying to do it in the way that it was originally sung.”
‘Orgy of the Damned’ came out on May 17 and also included collaborations with other names like Iggy Pop, Beth Hart, Billy Gibbons, Chris Stapleton, Paul Rodgers and Demi Lovato.
You can watch Slash’s entire conversation below.