Malcolm and Angus Young took their love for blues and rock music and created an incredible, instantly recognizable sound for AC/DC. They were heavily influenced by American and British bluesmen and praised them throughout the years as their main influences and Angus once listed two Blues albums among his favorites of all time.
2 Blues albums Angus Young said are among his favorite of all time
Muddy Waters “Hard Again”
The first one he mentioned to Guitar Tricks Insider is “Hard Again” (1977), released by Muddy Waters, who is one of Angus’ favorite Blues guitarists. He likes him especially because he has many songs from the “happy side” of Blues. “It’s the emotion in those old blues records. I’ve never really been into the depression stuff. I’ve always liked the happy sort of blues music, like Muddy Waters. Even though he might have been singing about his woman running off with a nineteen year-old bus driver from Florida, there would be an element of humor in it. That’s what I’ve always loved.”
“I’ve never been a great lover of the real sad element of the blues. There are some great sad songs. But I prefer the happier side. And the grammar in blues music is fantastic. Some of the things that Muddy would sing: ‘I just love them pretty womens. I’ll kill for them young pretty things. They’d sing ‘whummen’ instead of women, and ‘choo’ instead of you. But you get what they mean,” he told Total Guitar in 2020. During the same interview he was asked if he kept up with modern music.
He said:
“Nah. When I get in a car, the first thing that goes in is a Muddy Waters tape, even though I’ve played it four hundred times. I love that and Chuck Berry. Nowadays everything sounds so nice – buzz-free, hiss-free. I like that hiss! I like to hear the valves on the amplifier warming up. It’s pure energy. I still spend hours sitting and listening to the sound Chuck Berry’s guitar makes. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t pick up a guitar. And I’m getting there – I’ve got two fingers going now!” he said.
Released in 1977, that record was one of the last recorded by Muddy Waters, being released 6 years before his death in 1983 at the age of 70. The album was produced by the also famous Blues guitarist Johnny Winter. Some of the most famous tracks are “Mannish Boy” and “I Can’t Be Satisfied”.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton”
The second album mentioned by Angus is “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” (1966), also known as the “Beano” album. It was released by John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers by the time Eric Clapton was part of the band. Curiously, in 1986, Angus Young told Guitar World that this was the only good album Eric Clapton had ever been part of. “Clapton just sticks licks together that he has taken from other people—like B.B. King and the other old blues players—and puts them together in some mish-mashed fashion.”
“The only great album he ever made was the Blues Breaker album he did with John Mayall, and maybe a couple of good songs he did with Cream. The guy more or less built his reputation on that. I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with. There are guys out there who can play real good without boring people. Jeff Beck is one of them. He’s more of a technical guy, but when he wants to rock and roll he sure knows how to do it with guts. I really like the early albums he did with Rod Stewart.”
He praised Eric Clapton recently
Although he criticized Clapton in this interview, more recently, when paying tribute to Eddie Van Halen after his death, he praised him. “When I grew up we had a lot of guys from England who were great players, like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. And then, of course, when Jimi Hendrix came along, he changed the game,” Angus Young said.
Some of the most famous tracks of the album are: “All Your Love”, “Key To Love” and “Hideaway”. Clapton joined Mayall’s band after leaving the Yardbirds and the line-up had many other famous musicians, since the album also featured the bassists John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and Jack Bruce (Cream). Angus’ late brother Malcolm Young also was a big fan of that album and listened repeatedly and studiously before fame.
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