‘Hells Bells’: The song AC/DC wrote in tribute to Bon Scott.
Few bands are strong enough to survive the departure or death of their singer, especially if that singer is as powerful and instrumental to the group’s sound as Bon Scott was to AC/DC. After joining the ranks of the hard rock icons in 1974, Scott helped to establish the group among the greatest rock and roll outfits of the era. So, when he tragically passed away as a result of alcohol poisoning in 1980, AC/DC were left with the unenviable dilemma of whether to keep going or throw in the towel.
After cycling through a list of potential replacements for Bon Scott, AC/DC eventually happened upon the English vocalist Brian Johnson. With Johnson, the Australian group was able to continue their domination of the global hard rock scene. The vocalist is somewhat divisive among fans of the group, with many preferring the unique tones of Bon Scott. Nevertheless, Johnson was essential in keeping the band going, and they certainly never lost their deep love and appreciation for Scott.
Of course, replacing Scott was by no means an easy task. Scott’s last effort with the band before his untimely death was Highway to Hell, which is arguably the greatest album from AC/DC’s extensive discography. The brilliance of the record was always going to be difficult to follow-up on, made especially worse by the introduction of an entirely new frontman in Brian Johnson. From the very first bars of Johnson’s first album, Back in Black, however, any doubts over the vocalist’s credentials were immediately quelled.
On the opening track of the record, the single ‘Hells Bells’, the new era of the band paid heartfelt tribute to their fallen comrade. The entire Back in Black album, in essence, is a tribute to their friend and former bandmate Bon Scott, but ‘Hells Bells’ is particularly explicit in its homage to Scott. Beginning with a slow, sombre bell toll, which is gradually drowned out by Angus Young’s iconic guitar riff.
Recording the sound of a funeral bell for the tribute was a lot more complex than it sounds. Initially, the band attempted to record the sound at Loughborough Carillon Tower, but it simply did not sound good enough. While many bands might, at that point, employ a simple studio sound effect, AC/DC opted to commission a colossal one-ton bronze bell to be constructed from scratch for use on the recording.
After using a total of 15 microphones to record the tolling of the bell, which was struck by the very same man who had constructed it, ‘Hells Bells’ finally started to take shape. Although the lyrics “I got my bell, I’m gonna take you to hell, I’m gonna get you, Satan get you” might not sound like the most heartfelt tribute to Scott, it is precisely the kind of hard rock homage that seemed to fit the life of the vocalist more than anything else. In fact, according to Johnson, Scott’s spirit was in the room while he was penning those lyrics.
‘Hells Bells’ and Back in Black, by extension, firmly established the stunning new era of AC/DC while also paying tribute to the roots of the band. Without that album, it is not unlikely that the hard rock band would have slipped into obscurity, failing to recover from the loss of Bon Scott.
