One of the world’s best-selling bands, AC/DC was formed in 1973 by Malcolm and Angus Young, who’d moved from Scotland to Australia a decade earlier. During the mid 1960s, their older brother George scored a worldwide hit with the Easybeats, “Friday on My Mind.” George went on to form the Vanda & Young production team and produced the early AC/DC albums.
Between the younger Young brothers, Angus was clearly the showman. Performing in his trademark schoolboy uniform, he was action incarnate. He’d bounce around like a runaway pinball, whipping his head up and down and firing off solos punctuated by one of the best finger vibratos in all of rock and roll. Standing stage right of the drummer was his older brother Malcolm, supplying rock-hard rhythm on a cranked-up vintage white Gretsch. Malcolm chose to remain in the background onstage. But as AC/DC’s chief chordsmith and co-songwriter, he helped set the band’s musical direction and his opinions in the studio meant a great deal to Angus.
My interviews with Angus and Malcolm took place on October 22, 1983, in a San Francisco hotel room during AC/DC’s Flick of the Switch tour. Speaking with Angus first, I was surprised to learn that he considered Malcolm the superior guitarist. As Angus put it, “I’m just like a color over the top. He’s the solid thing. His right hand is always going. In that field, I don’t anyone who can do what he does. He’s very clean. He’s very hard. It’s an attack. He’s got his own style and his own sound.” Or, as Malcolm put it, “You’ve got to play hard! You’ve got to go for broke.”
(Here’s a sample for free subscribers and visitors: AC/DC's Malcolm Young: The 1983 Interview)
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