On 19 February 1980 AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott died after a night of heavy drinking. The coroner’s report listed “acute alcohol poisoning” as the cause of death, classified under “death by misadventure.”
Scott spent the night out in London drinking with friends at the popular club Music Machine. Leaving with a friend, Alistair Kinnear, he went back to Kinnear’s home in South London, falling asleep in the passenger seat. Upon arrival Kinnear couldn’t wake Scott, so he reclined the seat and left him to sleep in his Renault 5. In the morning Kinnear again attempted to wake Scott and realized he wasn’t breathing. Scott was rushed to King’s College Hospital and pronounced dead upon arrival.
Shortly after Scott’s death the remaining members of AC/DC briefly considered disbanding but it was eventually decided that Scott would have wanted them to continue. With the encouragement of Scott’s family the band hired Brian Johnson as their new lead singer.
AC/DC went on to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world but, sadly, Bon Scott never lived to receive the adulation he deserved.