Comments on: Meeting Clinton Walker

By: brian bitter

brian bitter — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:51:51 +0000

This seems crazy.As an acdc fan I realise that there are two eras of acdc .Bon is naturally most peoples’ favourite.I grew up on acdc it may be hard to realise but acdc has been kept pure by the lack of bullshit written about them There are no bizarre photos in the gossip mags….acdc fans aren’t interested in all the hype just the music and the freedom of expression that Bon and the boys gave musically to those from the wrong side of the tracks Listen to ” LIVE WIRE ” and ”PROBLEM CHILD ” for example.People can babble on all they like and analyse it to infinity but if an acdc fan has to explain why they they love acdc the person they are talking to will never understand anyway . enough said . cheers .

By: Damo

Damo — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:40:14 +0000

Well I read it ages ago and I picked up on his negative attitude towards the Youngs just like Micheal Hunt did and I think it sux.
By the way I wonder if Micheal Hunt sometimes calls himself Mike Hunt try saying it fast as one word lol.
Glad you made it to the unveiling keep up the great work.
x Damo

By: Lucas

Lucas — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:31:38 +0000

Whoa Damo!

Do ya really think that Clinton’s book amounts to slander? While I agree that the Young brothers don’t come out looking super rosy in Clinton’s book, don’t you think that if they had a serious objection to what he wrote, they might have done something about it by now? I dunno, they might have taken action against the publisher to have the story corrected or something? I must say, although I have no vested interest in supporting Clinton’s version of events, I did get a strong impression from meeting Clinton that he feels certain he could back up everything he wrote in the book if it was challenged. Clinton’s bio on Bon was published way back in the early 1990s, and it’s now onto its third edition or something - basically unchanged, except for a small update because on the guy who was hanging out with Bon on his last night finally came out of the woodwork and told the full story a couple of years ago.

The conspiracy you mention, Damo, that Angus and Malcolm encouraged Bon’s party lifestyle so he would die… I must have missed that in the book… Does Clinton really imply that?

But googling around, it seems you’re not alone! There are some reader reviews over on Amazon that imply the same thing. For instance, fan Micheal Hunt from Melbourne, in a largely positive review entitled “Mr Walker sure has done his homework!”, criticises Clinton for what he sees as an excessively anti-Young-bros stance:

“I get a strong vibe that [Walker] feels that the Youngs pushed him into his grave, and drove him to drink himself to death. But I dont think so, Bon i’m sure died of a broken heart after splitting up with his girl.”

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really know enough to take sides on this whole thing. I haven’t read any other AC/DC books yet, although I’ve got the Englehart one sitting on the desk waiting for me… But I do find the lack of consensus fascinating. And the way that fans like you take passionate ownership of the history. The official stories are still yet to be cemented in place, and you’re not content to leave the writing of those stories to “experts”. Not that I think Clinton would regard himself as an “expert” anyway… more a fan who did a bunch of research and wrote a book. I’m sure he would welcome another version of Bon’s life story, if someone were to write one…

By: Damo

Damo — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:16:32 +0000

It’s awesome to do a book on Bon but to taint it with conspiracy related slander is a crime.
Clinton should have done 2 books, one book telling Bon’s true story based on the facts and a second based on the bullshit quoted above.
The Young brothers are tuff characters and if they ever met Mr Walker face to face I would not be suprised if either of them gave him a good crack to the jaw.
I have seen video of Angus talking of Bon and he had nothing but love and respect for this man to imply that they wanted Bon to Die and encouraged his party lifestyle so as this would happen is TOTAL BULLSHIT.
Bon was responsible for his own life and death end of story.
Phil Rudd played drums on all the classic Bon era material the drummers before and after did not match his skill and the band has every right to pick the right members to suit their music.
Yes they treated it as a business because it is their livelyhood, their way to survive this is what the Young brothers do and they do it well and they know this so they take themselves very seriously and won’t allow others to fuck up their hard work.
If they didn’t have this attitude or work as hard as they did to establish themselves we might never have been lucky to have experienced them and music the World over would be a hell of a lot softer.
Mark Evans was replaced by Cliff Williams because he is a better bass player his sound and style was a great improvement to the band.
Bon talks of this in an interview with Molly Meldrum of countdown which is on the extra features of the AC/DC Plug Me In DVD.
It comes across in a very obvious way that because the Young brothers refused to talk with Clinton whist doing his book he took a grudge against them and tried to slander their names with speculation and outright lies.
Considering that there is so little published work on AC/DC this is a real shame. yes Clinton you should be ashamed of yourself and I hope you run into the one of the Young Brothers one day and they set you straight.
Damolition