One of the most influential guitarists of all time, Angus Young, alongside his late brother Malcolm, created some of the greatest guitar riffs in Rock history, giving AC/DC a sound that is completely unique and instantly recognizable.
The band has written an enormous number of powerful and iconic songs that have inspired countless generations of musicians. Over the decades, Angus has spoken about many of the songs that inspired him and Malcolm. On one occasion, he named two that he considers especially powerful.
2 songs from the 60s that Angus Young said are powerful
The Kinks “You Really Got Me”
The first song mentioned by Angus Young is the classic Kinks hit “You Really Got Me”, which many consider to be the starting point of what would later become Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. In the AC/DC guitarist’s opinion, the song packs a tremendous amount of power into just a few minutes.
He mentioned the song and the musical scene of the 1960s when asked about why “Rock or Bust” had so many short tracks. “Yeah, it was (deliberate). I guess it goes back in time in the 60s when songs were short and sweet, you know. I mean, when you heard all those great songs, like The Kinks ‘You Really Got Me’. They all packed that power into a few minutes.” he told Triple M in 2014. One of the most influential British bands of all time, The Kinks were among Angus and Malcolm Young’s favorite groups. In fact, Angus told The Locker Room that “You Really Got Me” was one of the songs he wished he had written himself.
Interestingly, like AC/DC, The Kinks were also a band formed by two brothers. However, the Youngs never parted ways, unlike the Davies brothers in the British band and many other siblings who formed groups together. Young mentioned them in an interview with Guitar World. “I wouldn’t call them a band (Oasis) (laughs). I suppose maybe in the modern sense. You look at the two Kinks, Ray and Dave Davies. I think they’re a better example. (We get along) just fine, really. I’ve actually got more brothers. All together there were seven boys in the family,” he said.
The Who “My Generation”
“Then The Who ‘My Generation’, they all were power packed. That’s what we wanted, we wanted as much punch into each track as we done,” he said in the same interview with Triple M. Angus Young has been a big fan of The Who since the early days of AC/DC, and in the 1970s, when he was unhappy with the musical direction Led Zeppelin was taking, he called them “poor imitators of The Who”. In his opinion, Pete Townshend was the kind of guitarist who could play a single chord and make something simple sound amazing.
“Pete Townshend is another guy who can sit on one string or one chord and make something seemingly mundane thing come really alive. He used to play a very light SG, like I do. But he’d whack the SG and it would really move, and he’d stand there like a rock. Being a little guy, when I hit the SG it moves but I have no but to move with it (laughs). My brother George used to tell me if I fell all over the stage chasing my guitar, I should make it look like part of the act!” Angus Young said. Although he likes The Who, he personally didn’t enjoy Pete Townshend’s solo work in the 1980s and felt that he should have continued working with Roger Daltrey.
He said:
“I tend to look at the music as a song; it sounds a bit funny talking about it as someplace to play a solo. My brother would beat me up. People tend to see me as a soloist. Poor people. You’d think they’d have something better to do. I mean there’s a lot of comedy on TV worth watching. Yeah, people see that but I don’t.”
“I look at it as a band. I think Pete Townshend is rotten without Roger Daltrey and The Who. He’s quite boring actually. Or the same with Zeppelin without John Bonham. To me it’s not the same. I mean there are solo people who just do that sort of thing. I like it as a band, as a unit. You should hear me on my own. It’s horrendous,” he told Guitar World in 1984