Book Review — Bon: The Last Highway
Bon: The Last Highway uncovers the truth behind one of rock n’ rolls most revered frontmen, AC/DC’s Bon Scott. Shrouded in mystery and with little light shed from the band, the penultimate years of Bon Scott’s life have remained vague. This vagueness has only fuelled the legend of a man who in reality found himself struggling with alcohol, drugs and life on the road. The book tells the uncensored story of a key period in Bon’s life from 1977 until his tragic death on a cold night in London on the 19th February 1980. As the story unfolds we hear valuable insights from former lovers, close friends and an array of people who spent time with Bon during the final three years of his life. As well as hearing untold truths of Bon’s life, the book examines the suspicions held by many as to the involvement the singer had in writing a number of tracks on Back in Black, the second highest selling album of all time and one in which Bon received no writing credits for.
Jesse Fink is no stranger to researching into the taciturn world of AC/DC. His first book, The Young’s: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC tells the uncensored story of the often cold, selfish but determined attitudes of the three brothers who turned AC/DC into the biggest rock band in the world. In Bon: The Last Highway, Fink triumphs were so many other writers have failed in their attempts to tell the story of Bon Scott; by managing to separate the legend from the reality and shedding light on the often-uncomfortable truths of a man with the same flaws as anyone else. If anything is to be marvelled at within this book it is the extensive research that took place to give the best insight into Bon Scott’s life that there has ever been. The fact that Fink travelled around the world, meeting up with a selection of Bon’s former lovers and close acquaintances, each of whom give first hand insights into the singer’s life and what he was going through helps build a comprehensive and reliable account of how Bon’s final years unfolded. The book pays particular attention to the singer’s time in the United States where the band toured extensively in the late seventies. Fink unravels one of rocks oldest and blurriest mysteries which is an intriguing read whether you are an AC/DC fan or just like rock n roll.
