During his career, Angus Young had the chance to work with some of the greatest singers of all time, including Bon Scott, Brian Johnson and even Axl Rose, who helped AC/DC perform some shows when necessary. Although he was always more focused on his own music than on what other bands were doing, Young paid attention to what was going on, especially among bands from generations closer to his own. He once named two rock singers who, in his opinion, have soul and a great voice.
2 Rock singers Angus Young said have soul and a voice
Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)
The first one mentioned by Angus, in an interview with Tru Rock Reviver in 2023, was Robert Plant, who he once compared to Elvis Presley. “I guess I’d just say if you want somebody looking for a Led Zeppelin type, plug in to Elvis Presley. A lot of the early Presley there’s a bit of Led Zeppelin you know?” I mean, in Presley, you’re definitely hearing Robert Plant. And in our case you could probably plug into something like Little Richard, ‘cause he always just went for it. He just had power-packed vocals and power-packed songs. If I still hear those early Little Richard tracks. It’s like a hurricane, my hair goes up, you know?” Angus Young said in an interview with VH1 in 2014.
Although he admires Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant, he hasn’t always praised them. The guitarist had some reservations about Led Zeppelin’s musical choices in the mid-1970s, saying they had taken the wrong direction. “I’ve seen that band live and they were on for three hours. For two-and-a-half hours, they bored the audience. Then at the end they pull out old rock’n’roll numbers to get the crowd movin’. That’s sick. They’re supposed to be the most excitin’ rock’n’roll band in the world. Them and the Stones, and they’re not playin’ it.”
Angus Young continued:
“(…) Well, they musta progressed the wrong way. I’ll tell you when it stopped getting’ good. (It was) when the Rolling Stones put out ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and ‘Street Fightin’ Man’. Past that, there’s nuthin’. Led Zeppelin and all that have just been poor imitators of The Who and bands like that. That’s when I reckon it stopped. The rest I wouldn’t even call progressive, ”Angus Young told Classic Rock magazine in 1977. The guitar player previously said that the first time he heard Zeppelin play real Rock music was when he listened to “Rock and Roll”, from “Led Zeppelin IV”.
Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Free)
The second singer Angus mentioned was Paul Rodgers, whom he described as having soul and a great voice. Rodgers is best known as the vocalist for Free and Bad Company. Although Angus and Rodgers never had the chance to play together, several of Angus’s bandmates performed with the frontman. After drummer Simon Wright was fired from AC/DC in 1989, the band hired Chris Slade, who had recently been part of the supergroup The Firm alongside Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers. He stayed in the band until 1994 and returned from 2015 to 2016, being part of “The Razors Edge” album in 1990.
Brian Johnson is a good friend of Rodgers and has performed alongside him a couple of times. Interestingly, on one occasion, he shared the stage with the two singers mentioned by Angus. In 2017, during his show in Oxford, England, Paul welcomed Brian Johnson and Robert Plant on stage to perform a cover of Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)”. At the time, fans were really happy to see Brian on stage, as he had to step away from AC/DC the previous year due to hearing issues. The band’s tour was completed with Axl Rose on vocals. Johnson has interviewed Rodgers on his TV show and once shared a special message talking about his friend, whom he greatly admires.
He said:
“I can’t believe it was 50 years ago that I first heard Paul Rodgers velvet voice singing ‘The Hunter’. It became the Anthem for every Pub, Working Men’s Clubs and City Halls across the UK. Paul was the epitome of what every Rock singer should be. He had the looks, the moves and a soul voice that made everything swing. That’s not an art it’s a gift.”
“He also wrote the coolest songs, from ‘All Right Now’, ‘My Brother Jake’, ‘Bad Company’, ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, all still classics to this day. In 2017 in the theatre in Oxford, I had the honor of singing with Paul and Robert Plant, that’s two heroes in one song. I get chills when I think of it. Paul’s voice is still in perfect shape and you have got to see him live. I can see no better way of celebrating 50 years of Paul Rodgers than the live recording at The Royal Albert Hall. The spirit of FREE lives on in Free Spirit, and Paul Rodgers is the embodiment of it all. Cheers Paul and never stop,” he said.