Imagine being in the middle of a massive world tour when your lead singer suddenly loses his hearing. That’s exactly what happened to AC/DC during their Rock or Bust tour in 2016. With shows still left to play and fans expecting a full concert experience, guitarist and co-founder Angus Young had to make a quick and difficult decision. Should they cancel the rest of the tour or find a replacement to keep things going?
A Tour Full of Challenges
The Rock or Bust album was released in 2014, followed by an extensive tour from 2015 to 2016. Things started smoothly, but soon, problems piled up. First, Malcolm Young had to step away due to health issues. Then, drummer Phil Rudd faced legal troubles, throwing another wrench into the band’s plans. Just when it seemed like they had overcome enough setbacks, frontman Brian Johnson’s hearing loss forced him to step down mid-tour.
Doctors warned Johnson that if he continued performing, he risked losing his hearing entirely. He had no choice but to walk away, leaving AC/DC with a tough decision. “To be honest with you, it was a case of ‘what do we do?’” Angus Young recalled in a 2016 interview with NME.
A High-Stakes Decision
Young knew time was not on their side. With venues booked, crew members working, and thousands of fans waiting, they had to act fast. “It was a crisis that came then, and we had to act,” Young explained. “We were in Miami at the time when all of this came up, and unfortunately, when you’re in that situation, you have to make decisions pretty quickly because there are a lot of people waiting.” Canceling the tour wasn’t just about disappointing fans—it would also mean legal complications and major financial losses. “Because of the nature of Brian’s deafness, we knew that there was no easy fix,” Young said. “So you’ve got to then say, ‘what do we do here?’ The options were very limited, and you think, if we stop with all of this machinery, it will be a hell of a lot of legal entanglement.”
Enter Axl Rose
With little time to audition replacements, AC/DC had to act fast. After considering only four singers, they made an unexpected choice—Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses. It seemed like an unlikely pairing, but Rose stepped in and delivered. While the transition wasn’t easy, fans embraced the change, and the tour successfully continued.
Despite all the chaos, the decision paid off. What could have been a disaster turned into a memorable chapter in AC/DC’s history, proving once again that rock and roll never backs down from a challenge.