AC/DC’s Brian Johnson Explains The Reason He Wrote A Memoir

Memoirs are a way for artists to celebrate their lives and careers and also profit from book sales, but AC/DC’s Brian Johnson had a much more personal reason for writing a memoir. The frontman discussed with 98 Rock Baltimore why he decided to write a memoir.

Johnson’s book, ‘The Lives of Brian: A Memoir,’ was published a few months ago, and it tells the story of Brian’s early life and career, why he chose a career as a musician and wanted to be a rock star, his adventures with previous bands and, last but not least, how he ended up in AC/DC in 1980. These memories were indeed fun to recall, but Brian had a personal reason as well.

“You know, it was just [the] time for me,” told Johnson as he discussed why he had written the book. “I just thought, you know, people in our position, some things… People write things that aren’t true, especially once you pop. About things you did, and more stuff comes out. You know what I mean.”

He continued, “I just want my great-grandchildren, my grandkids, and my family to just have the truth of power. You know, how I got to be in a band and why I wanted to sing with musicians and make music. Because it’s a pretty dumb question, thing to tell the kids, ‘Yeah, I wanted to be a musician.’ But what for?”

Johnson seems to have written his memoir because the frontman wanted his family to understand his journey as a rock star. However, not everyone is as positive when it comes to discussing memoirs. Liam Gallagher, for instance, made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of old rockers writing memoirs. Check out the time when Gallagher discussed Keith Richards’ memoir and described it as ‘full of sh*t.’