Angus Young explains the secret for AC/DC’s longevity

AC/DC guitarist Angus Young talked about the band’s logevity in an interview with Total Guitar and revealed that the secret is not trying to adapt their music to what is on the charts right now.

Angus Young explains the secret for AC/DC’s longevity:

After all that this band has been through, can you explain its longevity?

“People have said we’ve hung around long enough! But some bands fade when they try to adapt to what’s current. We play rock music. It’s a little bit late for us to do a ballad. Rock is what we do best.”

“Sometimes I’m asked if I want to play music other than AC/DC. Sure, at home I play a little blues, but after five minutes I’m like, ‘sod this!’ And I’m playing hard rock again.”

From the start, you’ve played it simple, straight-up hard rock ’n’ roll, nothing fancy…

“It’s a challenge to keep coming up with songs of the calibre of Let There Be Rock, Highway To Hell and Back In Black. Every song we write has got to stand up. Most of our stuff is just about sex, as is most rock music. It’s pretty hard to write a song about your dog.

“But I’ve never really found a sexual thing in music. I’ve never found anything sexy that was meant to be sexy. Now, that’s a good Freudian thing. But if you go back to the blues, that’s the standard tempo in most of the strip joints, and that’s what we rely on too. It has to be earthy.”

Have you kept up with modern music?

“Nah. When I get in a car, the first thing that goes in is a Muddy Waters tape, even though I’ve played in 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!”