The bad things Angus Young said about Punk and The Ramones

Malcolm and Angus Young formed AC/DC back in 1973 and they were for decades the backbone of the band’s sound. The first era with Bon Scott on vocals showed what the band really was and then, after his tragic death and the addition of Brian Johnson, they showed they could change some members but their spirit and songwriting would continue the same. They are not only one of the most influential Hard Rock bands but also one of the best-selling groups of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of more than 200 million records worldwide.

In the first years of the band on the road, when they were still not very famous, Angus Young gave his real opinion on many other bands from that era. One of them was the Ramones, the American pioneers of Punk Rock. However, at that time, he didn’t have good things to say about them. But of course, that was his opinion back then and maybe it can have changed over the decades.

The bad things Angus Young said about Punk and The Ramones

In the mid-70s AC/DC finally was touring more constantly in Europe and they had the chance to see a few Punk Rock bands which were appearing. However, they didn’t impress Angus. “They’re not punk, they’re just shite,” he told Double J about the groups he saw in England. Then he talked about the American band: “You’ve got the Ramones and all that. They’re all trying to do a Small Faces thing”.

“I don’t know if you remember when Steve Marriott used to come on and wipe his nose and spit in his hand and throw it at some punter, generally be an arse, pour beer over the crowd and the whole thing like that. They can do all that. It’s pretty easy for a guy to go up there and do all that, but they can’t play.”

Angus Young continued:

“Everyone knows at that time Steve Marriott could sing and the band, the Small Faces, could play. Well the bands there now can’t play and they can’t sing. They’ve got nothing going for them except the visual thing. The Ramones, I only heard them once, I heard a song and it did nothing. It seemed to me like the first band I was ever in and I’m sure even that was better. And was when I was 12,” Angus Young said.

A few decades later, in 2005, he told Kerrang he explained a little better why he was not connected with Punk music. According to the AC/DC guitarist, those groups were very political and were singing about things he didn’t understand.

“We liked Chuck Berry and Berry songs about cars, women and party time. That, to us, was Rock and Roll. (Punks) were locked into selling anarchy, like a political thing. To be honest with you, the first time I heard the word ‘anarchy’, I had to get a dictionary to look up the fucker! I’m limited, meaning a limited education, so that wasn’t communicating anything to me,” Angus Young said.

Joey Ramone was a big fan of AC/DC

Although Angus Young didn’t have many good things to say about Punk Rock and The Ramones, the band’s vocalist and main songwriter Joey Ramone was a big fan of AC/DC. He praised the Australian band many times during his career, saying they were one of his favorite bands. “(One of my) favorite bands of the moment are AC/DC they’re a great band, simple, exciting, great songs. I liked them better with Bon Scott, but I think they’ve maintained”.

Curiously, like AC/DC, The Ramones also composed a song for a movie which was adapted from Stephen King‘s books. In 1986, AC/DC wrote songs for “Maximum Overdrive” and the Punk band for “Pet Semetary” (1989). Joey loved the album “Who Made Who”, which had songs the Australian band made for the movie and also some other classics of their career.