The 1970s were the golden era of Hard Rock, inspired by the sound pioneered by bands like Led Zeppelin. AC/DC was formed in 1973 by the brilliant brothers Malcolm and Angus Young in Australia and in the following years they would conquer the world with their riffs, rhythm, lyrics and energy on stage.
Curiously, just a year earlier, in 1972, another incredible Hard Rock band, Van Halen, was being formed by two brothers as well. However, AC/DC managed to release their first album long before Van Halen secured a record deal. During his career, the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen had the chance to talk about AC/DC’s music and share his opinion on Malcolm and Angus Young.
What was Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Malcolm and Angus Young
Although later in his career Eddie Van Halen said he didn’t usually listen to other people’s music, he remained an AC/DC fan and even introduced his son Wolfgang to their songs. The late guitarist had the chance to see them live over the years and became a good friend of the late Malcolm Young, whom he described as the ‘heart and soul’ of the Australian band.
When Van Halen was opening for Black Sabbath in 1978, they had to leave that tour because they received a good offer to play at a major festival, which also featured AC/DC, and he said it was amazing to see them live for the first time. “We left that tour because we had an offer to play Day on the Green, which was Bill Graham’s annual festival thing. I think that was Aerosmith and Foreigner playing. We played at high noon following AC/DC. I’m onstage watching AC/DC and 80,000 people in the crowd were just jumping up and down because they got that infectious sound.”
“I love ‘em and Angus, they’re all good friends, and Brian (Johnson), and Angus’ brother. We went and saw them when they played L.A., they’re great guys. But I’m going, ‘Holy s**t, we gotta follow these guys.’ So we didn’t blow them away. I’m just saying we blew people’s minds because they are in a funny way very basic as I am. They’re no frills really, except that I do crazier things on my guitar maybe with the techniques.”
Eddie Van Halen continued:
“In a funny way when people started copying the pull out thing I do, the two-handed thing. I didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or be embarrassed. I was like, ‘What did I start here?’ But I’d been doing it for years. In the club days my brother told me to turn around, show people how you’re doing that, so they’ll rip you off. When this first record came out people couldn’t figure out what the hell I was doing until they saw us play live. Then everyone started doing it,” Eddie Van Halen told Forbes in 2009.
When Malcolm Young passed away in 2017 at the age of 64, after years struggling with Dementia, Van Halen lamented his death and said he was the heart and soul of AC/DC. “It is a sad day in Rock and Roll. Malcolm Young was my friend and the heart and soul of AC/DC. I had some of the best times of my life with him on our 1984 European tour. He will be missed and my deepest condolences to his family, band mates and friends,” Eddie Van Halen said.
Both bands toured together on the Monsters of Rock tour in 1984, which had AC/DC, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Accept, Mötley Crüe, Tommy Vance and Y & T.
Eddie’s favorite AC/DC songs
Although he was a good friend of Brian Johnson, most of the AC/DC songs and albums he mentioned as his favorite ones were from the Bon Scott era of the band. Talking with Forbes in 2020, Angus Young said that “Down Payment Blues” and “Riff Raff” were two tracks Eddie loved. Both are from “Powerage” (1978), which was his favorite record by them. Whenever the late guitarist went to their shows he would always ask if they were going to play those songs. “I remember that time because Eddie liked hanging out with Mal, Brian and Cliff . They liked going out and having a drink in the bar and stuff. But Malcolm used to say, ‘Eddie keeps going to me all the time, ‘You gonna do ‘Down Payment Blues’?”
“He loved that song. In fact the last time I saw him was when we were touring. Brian said, ‘Come down to the shows.’ And that is the first thing he said, ‘You gotta do ‘Down Payment Blues?” He liked a lot of, ‘Riff Raff’ and tracks like that,” Angus Young said.
Eddie confirmed that story when talking to Spinner in 2009, saying: “My favorite record by AC/DC is ‘Powerage’. ‘Down The Payment Blues’ of that record is my favorite song by them. They never played it live. We did a co-headlining tour with them back in 1983 or 1984. So I kept asking ‘Angus, you plan on playing ‘Down Payment Blues’? And ‘Riff Raff’? All that stuff is great on that record,” he said.
Eddie said “Down Payment Blues” had one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time
When asked by Billboard in 2015 to list his favorite guitar riffs of all time, he mentioned “Down Payment Blues”. “One of my all-time favorite AC/DC songs of an album called ‘Powerage’. Just the power. The sheer… it’s just engulf you. You just feel it. It makes you vibrate,” Eddie Van Halen said.
His love for that album continued and that was one of the records he introduced to his son Wolfgang, who is now a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. “The band that I was probably first obsessed with was AC/DC. My father introduced me to them with ‘Powerage’. I was thinking of picking that one because it was his favourite album.”
“But a little bit more than that, ‘Highway To Hell’ is probably my favourite album of theirs,” Wolfgang Van Halen told Classic Rock in 2022. Before forming his own band Mammoth (Name inspired by his dad’s early band), Wolfgang was Van Halen’s bassist during their final reunion.
AC/DC inspired one of Van Halen’s classics
Although Van Halen and AC/DC were both Hard Rock bands, their had different styles. But, according to Eddie himself, the track “Drop Dead Legs”, from their successful album “1984”, was inspired by the hit “Back in Black”, released by the Australian band on the album of the same name in 1980.
“That was inspired by AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’. I was grooving on that beat. Although I think that ‘Drop Dead Legs’ is slower. Whatever I listen to somehow is filtered through me and comes out differently. So ‘Drop Dead Legs’ is almost a jazz version of Back in Black. The descending progression is similar. But I put a lot more notes in there,” Eddie Van Halen told Guitar World in 2014.
Angus and Malcolm Young also admired Eddie Van Halen a lot as a guitar player. When the Dutch-American musician died in 2020, Angus released a statement, calling him a “guitar wonder”, saying his playing was “pure wizardry” and that he was a “gift” to the world.