Watch: Brian Johnson and Mark Knopfler play blues with Tom Jones
‘Johnson and Knopfler’s Music Legends’ starts on Sky Arts tonight
AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson and former Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler star in a new 6-part series, ‘Johnson and Knopfler’s Music Legends’, which airs on Sky Arts from tonight (25th April).
According to a press release, audiences will be treated to a joyous journey through decades of music with exclusive access to a series of once-in-a-lifetime meetings, interviews and jam sessions between rock’s ultimate legends.
As the clip shows, the pair make convivial hosts and interview guests with the sort of easy familiarity that stems from the fact that they’re both huge stars in their own right.
They discuss Tom’s childhood brush with TB and how his enforced confinement led to a love of the blues, with the Welsh singer revealing: “They wanted to send me away you see, either to Scotland or to Switzerland for clean air, because of the coal mines in South Wales.
“But when they came to see where we lived – we lived up on the side of a hill there, which was away from the mine, so they said, ‘Well, if he can have his own room, keep the window open, he doesn’t have to go anywhere.”
“And did you listen to music Tom?” asks Knopfler.
“We did,” Jones replies. “For the first year I was listening to the radio, y’know. After the war it was mostly crooners with bands but once in a while they would put in a Big Bill Broonzy song or Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe you might hear once in a while.
Listen to the greatest blues of all time on Blues “But when it would come on it was like, ‘Wow, what was that?’ ‘Black, Brown and White’, have you ever heard him (Broonzy) do that?”
He then starts singing the anti-racism song as Knopfler takes up his guitar and Johnson joins in on the refrain.
Glasgow-born, Sydney-raised siblings Angus Young and Malcolm Young formed AC/DC in 1973 when they were just 18 and 20 years old respectively. The first incarnation of the band also featured bassist Larry Van Kriedt, vocalist Dave Evans, and drummer Colin Burgess.
Angus and Malcolm Young came up with the AC/DC band name when they saw the letters on their sister Margaret’s sewing machine. Literally meaning “alternating current/direct current”, the brothers said the name perfectly reflected the raw power and electricity of their music. AC/DC’s iconic logo (pictured) was designed in 1977 by Gerard Huerta.Embracing a glam rock sound, AC/DC released just one single with Dave Evans as their frontman, July 1974’s ‘Can I Sit Next to You, Girl.’ The band performed the track on Australian music television show Countdown that summer. The original Australian vinyl is now a highly sought after collector’s item.
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