Brian Johnson isn't bitter about being sidelined from AC/DC with a hearing problem. Instead, he prefers to look back with pride on a body of work that traces to 1980's blockbuster Back in Black.

"What people don't understand is, it is what it is," he said in a new SiriusXM interview that you can listen to below. "It's like a young sports player getting an injury. I feel sorry for them [when they're] 24 or 25 and they have an injury and it ends their career, and it's an awful thing. But I'm lucky. I'm 68 — I'm 69 later this year — and I've had a pretty good run. I've been in one of the best bands in the world."

Johnson has previously blamed racing, not music, for his health issues – and he reiterated that in this new talk. His hearing loss worsened as AC/DC continued a lengthy tour in support of 2014's Rock or Bust to the point where he returned for doctor's advice. Johnson said his bandmates were supportive as it became clear they'd have to turn to someone else to fill his role on vocals.

"The [others] saw the [medical] chart, 'cause I'd been getting checked regularly, and they saw there was a massive dip, and if I had kept on going, there was every possibility that I would never hear again," Johnson said. "And Angus [Young] and Cliff [Williams], they just said, 'Jonno, you've gotta think of your health. ... You've done a whole year on the road, you've done everything. We wanna finish.' And that's what they did."

He's been left with a sense of gratitude, even as Axl Rose has taken his place for the previously scheduled AC/DC dates. "[The doctor] didn't tell me I had cancer or something terminal," Johnson added. "And I had so many good times with the boys and I've had such a lucky and great life, and I'm just thankful, really, that I came out of it in one piece."

AC/DC Albums Ranked Worst to Best

More From Ultimate Classic Rock