Book Review #5: Highway To Hell - The Life And Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott

Highway To Hell - The Life And Times of AC/DC Legend Bon Scott (2001)

I knew better than to test fate one too many times by diving into another Music Biography written by someone other than a member of the band. Here it falls on the shoulders of Clifton Walker. I knew about the book from a while back, but know nothing of the author. Having just finished with this book, I am going to tell you what I think happened before the book was written and why it ended up the way it did after the fact without even bothering to research the origins of Highway To Hell. Anyone that reads this review and wants correct me, feel free to do so, as I have no intention of doing any research on this book or the author as I have already wasted enough of my time on this book as is.

But my take here (and this is pure speculation on my part, so don't get your panties in a bunch) about how the book came to be is that originally Clifton wanted to do a biography of AC/DC. When both Malcolm and Angus Young and the rest of the band refused to participate in putting the book together, Clifton was left with no other option but to turn it into a bio of Bon Scott instead.

So, with AC/DC no longer supporting this book, a good chunk of the book is now out the window, which means that he will have to really stretch Bon's back story to fill in the missing pages that otherwise would have been reserved for AC/DC. How else to explain the first 120 pages of the book? All of it flesh's out Bon's two bands prior to joining the powerhouse that is AC/DC? Both bands that Bon was a part of before joining served no purpose other to fatten the book that without it would have been a mere 200 pages total. Certainly this would look bad if this is all you could get out of something as big as AC/DC as your sole reason to buy the book.

I learned nothing about Bon in these 120 pages other than that he was really lonely and liked to drink a lot. Um, that's basically all we get from the author for the entire book. With the amount of people he interviewed, along with Bon's parents, I am STILL left in the dark about who and what made Bon tick as person and a singer. Something's not right when I can't learn anything other than that he likes to drink because he was always lonely. I knew that before reading the book.

This book for all it's hype about being "revered" and "acclaimed" is nothing but hogwash to me. If the majority of people out there accept this as the definitive AC/DC, Bon Scott story, then they have a lower expectation of what makes a good music biography. Even the section devoted to the landmark albums of Highway To Hell and Back In Black (along with pretty much the entire back catalog) is short on behind the scene stuff that went into making those albums. Even the Tours they went on really go no further than where they played and who they opened up for. The only "dirt" to be found was the short mention of the band getting into a fight with Geezer Butler. But nothing more is mention other than AC/DC was kicked off that Tour after the fact.

The only revelation that was news to me was that there was serious discussion of the band sacking Bon Scott and then later looking to send Brian Johnson packing. I've never heard this before till now. 

Toward the tail end of the book, the author paints both Young Brothers as being paranoid dictators and goes a step further in tearing down AC/DC as a band without Bon Scott leading the charge. That to me sounds like sour grapes on Clinton's part because a few certain people decided not to get involved with writing the book.

Stay away from this book. I can not recommend this book to anyone.

Rating 2 1/2 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1