Billboard Magazine has disclosed a lost letter AC/DC‘s former vocalist Bon Scott to his sister Valerie where he tells her about his money struggles while on tour in America in 1980. Take a look:
“I’ve just come over from the west coast where I spent a couple of days in L.A. doing Midnight Special. I went to see Doug’s new band the other night playing a place called La Cantino El Paso which is down Long Beach & boy he had me in stitches.
He’s playing really well & singing like a bird. Don’t know if he told you but I rang him a few weeks ago to see if he would fill in for Phillip for a while as Phil had a bit of a nervous breakdown & had to spend a lot of time with a shrink. It was really bad but luckily he got over it quickly enough not to upset the band. We had to treat him with kid gloves for a bit but he’s ok now.”
He continued:
“I’m always travelling or drunk or hungover or…or…today I’m shaking so much I can hardly write. When I got too much in the red with the money situation. I’m already about $130 into this weeks wages but about two weeks ago I owed the band about $70 on pay day & that’s crazy.
But being crazy is about the only way to keep my sanity if you know what I mean. We’ve worked so much since I saw you last that it’s all one hell of a blur. Must have been across the country & up & down it a million times & I’m beggining [sic] to feel & look just a little haggard.
I’d love to check myself in to a sanitarium for a month but after this tour it’s straight to Europe & England for a month & then back here for the winter-end of the year so the next time you see me it might be in a geriatric ward. My hair looks like a busby but I’m just going to let it go on growing & be a hippy again for a while.”
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!