Race car drivers, take note: AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson is not going deaf because of hard rock music.
At least that’s what a story in Australia’s Auto Action reports. The publication says Johnson’s notable moonlighting as a race car driver is what has caused such damage to his hearing that he bowed out of the band’s upcoming world tour.
Johnson has been the band’s front man for nearly 35 years, replacing the late Bon Scott. But an unspecified racing incident several years ago apparently led to the current aural crisis Johnson faces.
“I didn’t get it from music,” Johnson revealed in a 2014 interview, according to Auto Action. “I got it from sitting in a racecar too long without earplugs.
“I heard me eardrum burst, because I forgot to put me plugs in under my helmet. That’s how it happened. Music had nothing to do with it.
“I was dizzy, my middle ear had gone, and I took my helmet off and there was blood coming out and I’d burst my eardrum.”
Johnson owns a number of high performance sports cars and competed in the 2012 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway.
Driving a BMW-powered Riley prototype, Johnson and the rest of his mates – racing mates, not band mates – finished a disappointing 32nd.
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