Bon Scott died in February of 1980 in London, England. He choked to death on his own vomit while sleeping in a friend's car. He and the friend, a musician named Alisdair Kinnear, had been drinking the evening of the 19th and Bon apparently fell asleep during the ride home. Kinnear could not wake Bon, so he left him in the car to sleep. Kinnear awoke early in the evening on the 20th, checked on Bon, and found him unconscious in the car. Bon could not be revived, and was pronounced dead.

There is another version of this story, examined by Mark Putterford in his Shock To The System book. Putterford's angle questions whether Kinnear was really Bon's companion, and suggests heroin may have been involved in Bon's death.