Created by the brothers Malcolm and Angus Young back in 1973 in Sydney, Australia, AC/DC became one of the most successful and influential bands of all time. They were one of the few groups in history who lost an important member and were able to maintain and even become more famous. That happened when the classic vocalist Bon Scott tragically died in 1980 at the age of 33 and was replaced by Brian Johnson, with whom the band recorded “Back in Black”, their best-selling album.
The AC/DC member that Angus Young said was underrated
Although they are one of the most influential bands of Hard Rock music, Angus Young believed that his brother, Malcolm Young was an underrated guitar player. “He’s certainly an underrated rhythm guitar player. That’s true. Musically, I’m the left hand and he’s the right hand. Add the two together, we play as one. As for writing, I might have an idea, like the riff for Moneytalks. I’ll play it for Malcolm when we come to do an album, and he does the same. Then we play critic with each other – ‘Oh, that’s a good one…’,” Angus Young told Classic Rock magazine in 1992.
Malcolm was not only admired by his brother and bandmate, but by other legendary artists like Eddie Van Halen. The Dutch guitar player said after Malcolm’s death in 2017 that he was the “heart and soul” of AC/DC.
Angus said that Malcolm was the most confident guitarist that he ever saw
When AC/DC was promoting the album “Power Up”, Angus Young talked with Goldmine, explaining why the album was a kind of tribute to his late brother. He then talked about his guitar playing and explained why he believed Malcolm was the most confident guitarist he ever saw.
“I always used to say, if we were onstage, and my guitar goes down, you wouldn’t notice. But if his guitar went down, you’d notice! He stamped that backbeat, very driving, very confident. He was always that way as a player. Very strong.”
“He was the most confident guy I ever saw with a guitar. Probably because he’d been playing that well since he was very young. He was always ahead of the game. And he was always on top of whatever he did. Even in the early days, when we played clubs and (cover) bars. People would get rowdy, and go on, ‘Play this song, play that song.’ We’d play it, and he would just play, even if he never played it before.”
“I’d be like two miles behind just watching him! I’d be like, “What’s the next chord?” And he’d always know it. And the way he played! He’d always be so confident, y’know?” Angus Young said.
He played the guitar to Malcolm in his brother’s final days
Malcolm had to leave the band in 2014 due to Dementia and was replaced by his nephew Stevie Young, who is still in the band to this day. Three years later in 2017, Malcolm died at the age of 64. During his final days, Angus used to play him some old records and even the guitar for him.
“I’d play him a bit of guitar, and 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 told NME.
