Keith Richards’ opinion on AC/DC

The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is one of the most influential artists of music and since the 60s has been a real inspiration for countless musicians all over the world. He had chance to see Rock and Roll evolve over the years and see up close many successful bands on their way to stardom.

Besides being a groundbreaking guitarist, Richards is also known for always being sincere about any subject he is asked. Over the decades he talked about many other bands and one of them is the Australian Hard Rock band AC/DC.

What is Keith Richards’ opinion on AC/DC

By the time AC/DC was formed in Sydney, Australia by the brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, the Rolling Stones already were on the road for about 11 years and had released 12 studio albums.

Richards already was one of the greatest guitarists in the world, but a new generation which had AC/DC. was giving their first steps in music and would change the scene completely.

In 2002, The Rolling Stones started their worldwide tour called “Licks” to promote their 40th anniversary compilation album “Forty Licks” and they played three concerts in Sydney, Australia. Keith Richards told the band’s tour manager that he wanted to meet Angus and Malcolm Young and invited them to go to the rehearsal for the first night. It turns out the brothers ended up performing the B.B. King track “Rock Me Baby” with the Stones that night.

In an interview made for their DVD about the tour, called “Four Flicks“, Keith Richards talked about AC/DC. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “There are bands that you can’t tell who is doing what. Angus and Malcolm in a way, you know Angus gonna play the leads but their tightness is always impressive.”

Keith Richards continued:

“Being a guitar player is one thing, being a guitar player with another guitar player it’s to the power of. It’s not two guitars, it becomes five, six, ten. Doing theses gigs together, we all enjoyed each other. I kind of like being taller then another guitar player as well (laughs). Bless their hearts, they are great little bungle of energy,” Keith Richards said.

The late drummer Charlie Watts also talked about them, saying: “They’re great at festivals, they are probably the best at it, I think. I know Keith has always liked AC/DC.”

In that same year, AC/DC ended up being The Rolling Stones opening act in Germany and Canada. In a conversation with Talk Is Jericho in 2020, Angus recalled how it was their first meeting with Keith and Mick that night in Sydney. “So me and him (Malcolm) went down that night and we got there. He took us in, and I never met Keith before, and Mal had never met him before.”

“He was all excited to see us, and he is Keith – he is very funny. If you see him and Jagger, they’re almost parodies (laughs).”

The AC/DC album that Keith Richards loves

AC/DC is one of the best-selling bands of all time, with an estimated amount of more than 200 million records sold worldwide, the same as The Rolling Stones. Their most famous records are “Highway The Hell” (1979) the last one featuring Bon Scott and “Back In Black”, which is Brian Johnson‘s debut. But Keith Richards loves another one that is not often among the favorites chosen by fans, which is “Powerage” (1978).

Angus Young revealed that in an interview with Triple M in 2020. “Yeah, Waddy, I know Waddy from – he was gigging. He did quite a bit of gigging with Keith Richards, with The Stones. So yeah, Waddy is a big guy. He was the guy that actually turned on Keith to what we did.”

“He played our album at the time. Because he was trying to see what we would really like. He played in that album, and Keith heard it once and then he said, ‘Put it on again.’”

Angus Young would like to be in a band with Keith Richards

In 2016, when AC/DC had recruited the Guns N’ Roses vocalist Axl Rose to help them to complete their tour after Brian Johnson had to step back due to hearing problems, Angus was asked by Rolling Stone in 2016, which dead or alive musicians he would like to collaborate with someday.

“You’d have to resurrect a lot of people from the dead, I think (laughs). I’d sit down with Keith Richards, do something. He’s a rhythm guy like Mal,” Angus Young said.

Angus Young played The Rolling Stones music to Malcolm Young during his final days

The legendary AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young had to retire from the band in 2014 due to his battle against dementia and died in 2017 at the age of 64. His brother Angus recalled in an interview with NME in 2020, that on Malcolm’s final days he used to play him music that he adored, including The Rolling Stones.

“I’d play him a bit of guitar. He was happy whenever we were doing that. One of the last records I ever played him was The Rolling Stones when they were doing a lot of old blues tracks (2016’s ‘Blue And Lonesome’). He just thought it was great,” Angus Young said.