Journey's Steve Perry Recalls Early AC/DC Experience

Former Journey frontman Steve Perry recently reflected on an early experience in the band's career when they received a good spanking by having to follow the Bon Scott led AC/DC on stage.

Journey and AC/DC reportedly played their first shows on the very same night in 1973 and launched a tour together in the U.S. in 1970s, according to UCR. Perry recalled his first encounter with the Australian powerhouse during an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock Nights' Joe Benson.

Steve told the veteran radio personality, "It was this new band and everybody said they were really rockin. I was showing up the last 10 minutes of every show. I'm trying to sing all my stuff [backstage] and warm up, and I hear this, 'I'm a problem child!' I said, 'What the hell is that?'

"And I run out and I see Bon Scott just layin' in down, and the [Young] brothers are driving, and the audience has their fists in the air, just shaking in time with the music.

"I was stunned. I just said, 'This is unbelievable. What is this?' And then I had to follow this band? Go out there, sing 'Wheel in the Sky?' What am I doing? They're killing me here!'"

Perry then admitted, "They made us play better, man. They spanked us bad - I'm being honest with ya, they spanked us a good one, and any band member will admit that. We had to learn how to play all these Journey songs, that we originally wrote, with a new intensity."

Journey's Steve Perry Recalls Early AC/DC Experience

Related Stories