In 1980, AC/DC's Brian Johnson Recorded An Underrated Jingle That His True Fans Will Appreciate Today

Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC since 1980, joined the band shortly after original frontman Bon Scott tragically died. However, he made his living as a musician well before he fronted the popular hard rock band. In addition to singing for the British glam band Geordie, he lent his raspy and powerful pipes to more commercial endeavors, including what was literally a television commercial.

In between his gigs, Johnson vocalized a jingle for a vacuum cleaner company's TV ad campaign. Both the ad itself and its music embrace and incorporate elements of the hard rock culture spreading around the world in the late '70s and early '80s. While Johnson's voice, so recognizable on AC/DC hits like "Back in Black" and "You Shook Me All Night Long," isn't instantly noticeable or totally obvious, his ability to navigate a melody is present. This musical piece about a home appliance is certainly one of the catchiest and hardest rocking we've ever heard in a 30-second commercial. Here's the story behind the little-known and truly decent jingle made by AC/DC's Brian Johnson before superstardom beckoned.

After Geordie, Brian Johnson had little interest in being in a band, believing himself to be too old to do so at the age of 32. That's one of the reasons he turned down a shot to head from Newcastle to London in 1980 and audition for AC/DC. Johnson had a change of heart when he found himself in London for another monetarily rewarding, if less glamorous, job: Andre Jacquemin, a figure from Monty Python's past, offered Johnson a small fortune to come do the jingle for a Hoover vacuum ad. While in London, Johnson agreed to meet with AC/DC, and they all hit it off so well that the band found its new frontman.

Johnson's Hoover commercial wasn't an AC/DC audition piece, but it very well could've been — he really got to show off his range, pipes, and personality while passionately plugging vacuum cleaners. Amidst a montage of psychedelic and kaleidoscopic images of Hoovers and vacuuming models, Johnson made the jingle catchy and all his own with his signature wail. He excitedly extolled the virtues of the product in such a way that many lyrics sounded like powerful heavy metal hooks. For example, the high-powered compact from Hoover is "a beautiful mover!" It can clean from wall to wall, or, as Johnson pointed out, "right to the edge!"