The guitarist Angus Young said is his favorite of all time

The legendary guitarist Angus Young has been a fundamental part of AC/DC for the past five decades and the heart and soul of the band since his late brother Malcolm Young had to step aside. As the lead guitar player, Angus became one of the biggest guitar heroes of all time, one of the best-known Rock musicians in the world and influenced countless generations of musicians.

Throughout his career, the musician praised many guitar players who influenced him, but there is one in particular who is his favorite of all time.

The guitarist Angus Young said is his favorite of all time

Angus Young’s favorite guitarist of all time is Chuck Berry, the late legendary American guitarist, singer and songwriter. “My guitar heroes, I like people like B.B. King, Buddy Guy is a great guitarist. My all time favorite (is) Chuck Berry,” he told Paul Cashmere in 1993. To Angus, he was the one who mixed all the music genres that would form Rock and Roll music, who besides being an amazing Rock composer, he also was an incredible guitarist and performer.

“I think Chuck Berry is probably (gave us) a lot of gifts. Because he brought together Blues, Country music, Folk music and blended it all into this, you know, and a bit of Jazz. (He) put it all together in what we call Rock and Roll. He started from that little well and a lot of people have drunk from. You had The Beatles, The Beach Boys in America, The Stones and it continued on.”

He continued:

“So I think he is probably the one that inspired the most, even Presley and people like Little Richard. Besides being a talented songwriter, he is a great lyricist, a great player and a great entertainer. So he had a lot of elements, all put into one man. It’s a pure talent, I think, and an inspiration,” Angus Young said in an interview with Charlotte Roche in 2000 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Angus’ love for Chuck Berry can be heard in AC/DC‘s music and also their live concerts. Inspired by his hero, he does for decades his own version of the “Duck Walk”. In an interview with BBC’s Johnnie Walker in 2021, he mentioned the artist as his “Rock God”. “Chuck Berry was probably one of the great guitar people for rock and roll. He combined a lot of elements — he combined blues, a bit of jazz and his own unique style.

“He melded all these kinds of different genres of music. But he seemed to bring it together and bring it out and it [came] out in that rock and roll style. So plain and simple, but it was so effective. I saw him live once when I was younger. I just loved his stage presence and how he performed. He was one of those people, when he got on a stage, he owned it,” Angus Young said.

He once said that Chuck Berry was better than Eric Clapton

Just like AC/DC’s musical DNA has remained the same, Angus’s musical taste hasn’t changed much since he was a young kid. The music from that era still is his favorite and curiously, he once said that Berry was actually better than Eric Clapton. “Chuck Berry was never a caring person. He didn’t care whether he was playing his tune, out of tune, or someone else’s tune.”

“Whenever he plays guitar, he has a big grin from ear to ear. Everyone always used to rave about Clapton when I was growing up, saying he was a guitar genius and stuff like that. Well, even on a bad night, Chuck Berry is a lot better than Clapton will ever be. Clapton just sticks licks together that he has taken from other people—like B.B. King and the other old blues players—and puts them together in some mish-mashed fashion.

Angus Young continued:

“The only great album he ever made was the Blues Breaker album he did with John Mayall. Maybe a couple of good songs he did with Cream. The guy more or less built his reputation on that. I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with,” Angus Young told Guitar World magazine in 1986.