Brian Johnson Stole Bob Dylan Album Because It Wasn’t Selling
AC/DC singer Brian Johnson revealed the first album he ever owned was a Bob Dylan record – and that he stole it from a store in his native Newcastle, England.
Johnson was speaking in an AXS TV interview series titled Rock & Roll Firsts, where artists list some of their most formative experiences.
“The first album I bought – well, actually, I stole it, because my girlfriend at the time was in Newcastle and she worked in the record store,” Johnson admitted. “And she said, ‘You know what? There’s an album over there that nobody’s buying. It’s awful. If you nick over and stick it up your … .’ And I did, and it was Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin’.”
Johnson then acted like he was hiding the LP under his shirt. “I walked out of that shop with the biggest nipples in Newcastle," he said. "That’s what vinyl did to you!”
You can watch the interview below.
Johnson went on to recall that his first band was called the Gobi Desert Canoe Club, and that the name was his idea “because I thought I was a smart-ass.”
He added that the first concert he attended was by a skiffle group called the Brownsuits and “they were rotten.” He was also asked about the first time he heard one of his own songs on radio and about his first car – a low-powered Ford that “couldn’t pull your cap off” but represented “freedom” to him.
He also recalled his first-ever concert, which was at a rough bar known as the Scrog. “Nearly every car was on bricks,” he said. "But we called it home!”