Angus Young’s opinion on Jimmy Page

Rock and roll music wouldn’t have existed without the blues, and brothers Malcolm and Angus Young created one of the greatest blends of the two styles with AC/DC. They were not the only musicians who were heavily influenced by American bluesmen from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and over the decades, Angus has shared his opinion on some of them, including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.

What is Angus Young’s opinion on Jimmy Page

Although they were not Angus Young’s main influences, he was inspired by Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page’s guitar playing. The first time he had the chance to see Page perform live was actually a little earlier, when the guitarist was still a member of the Yardbirds and played in Australia. As Angus once recalled, he really liked his playing because, at the time, Page’s guitar sound seemed to jump right out at you.

“We had gone, the two of us together (me and Malcolm). We had seen people like the band The Yardbirds; they had come to Australia. And at the time, the lineup had just changed. I think they originally used to have Jeff Beck. But then, later on, when we saw them, they didn’t have Jeff Beck; they had Jimmy Page on guitar.”

He continued:

“So that was good, because at that time, that kind of sound, especially for guitar. It jumped out at you, the sound of it. So that was really good. But then when along came Hendrix, you kind of went, ‘Woah! This is another level on guitar.’ So I was very much a fan of that;” he said in an interview with Germany’s Guitar magazine in 2021.

According to Jeff Apter in the book “High Voltage: The Life of Angus Young”, he started to like Page when his taste in guitar players was expanding by the late 60s and early 70s. “Back in Burwood, Angus continued his musical education. His taste in guitarists was expanding. He’d added Leslie West of the band Mountain, Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page to the growing list of his favourite axe-wielders, players he’d study closely while locked away in his bedroom sanctuary,” the author said.

Angus Young didn’t like Led Zeppelin’s direction after their first albums

The first Led Zeppelin albums were important to Angus, but he didn’t like the direction the band took later on and wasn’t impressed with their live performances either. He had the chance to see them perform in the 1970s but felt that they had “progressed the wrong way. “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 exciting rock’n’roll band in the world, them and the Stones, and they’re not playin’ it.”

A few years later, in 1984, he talked once again about his experience seeing Zeppelin live, saying that he didn’t like their attitude on stage either.

He said:

“I remember once when we were here touring, the guy from Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, walks onstage in Tampa. They do twenty minutes and it rains and they go off and they come back and they get to the last song of the evening. He says: ‘You don’t like it? We’ve progressed. I hope you’ve progressed.’ Tough shit to you – that was his attitude,” Angus Young said in an interview with Classic Rock.

His brother Malcolm agreed with him, saying they were a good band in their first albums but later saying they became boring. “Their first couple of albums, they were a good band. After that, man, phew. If you want to get laid back, put on the headphones and smoke a joint, okay. But as far as getting things happening and having a party, that’s boring shit”.

When AC/DC were beginning their international career, they spent some time in London. The band had the chance to perform at the historic Marquee Club, one of the most important venues in England. The Who, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin were just a few of the legendary bands that played there many times. Interestingly, their record label, Atlantic, promoted them as the “best band to appear at the Marquee Club since Led Zeppelin.”

Bon Scott used to put AC/DC albums in front of Led Zeppelin records in stores to catch shoppers’ attention

Led Zeppelin was one of the best-selling bands in the world in the 1970s, and every album they released naturally attracted a lot of attention from fans and record stores. The first albums people saw on the shelves were more likely to catch their attention and make them interested in listening to or buying them.

One funny thing Angus recalled was that Bon Scott used to go into record stores, take AC/DC albums, and move them to the front, often placing them in front of Led Zeppelin records, which would frequently be among the first albums on display.

“You’d go into a shop and there’d be an AC/DC record. (Scott) would move it to the front of everything else (Angus’ smiles). So if you were looking for Led Zeppelin, tough sh-t – he’d moved it. He got caught a few times, too. Someone would go, ‘Bon Scott!’ and he’d go, ‘I’m just buying some records for my uncle,'” he said in an interview with JB HI-FI in 2022.

When AC/DC were promoting their 2014 album Rock or Bust, Angus was asked by VH1 which artists or bands every young rock musician should listen to. He mentioned Elvis Presley, comparing his music to Led Zeppelin.

He said:

“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.