Brian Johnson Tells How He Wrote the AC/DC Classic ‘Hells Bells’

There’s been a lot of talk over the years about how maybe Brian Johnson didn’t pen the songs on Back in Black, the biggest selling rock record in history. The theories go that the lyrics were actually lifted from the notebooks of the late Bon Scott, who died just before the recording sessions for the album kicked into high gear. When I spoke to Brian recently, he assured me not only did he write all the songs on Back in Black, but none of Scott’s lyrics had been used post-Highway to Hell, the last LP the band did before his passing. He assured me he handled all the composition duties without any assistance.

Except for one song.

Now, that’s not nearly nefarious as I’m making it out to be; it was just a combination of an approaching storm, a case of writer’s block and some situational awareness courtesy of producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Head over to Metal Edge for the whole story, and check out the original 1980 promotional video for Hells Bells below.