Besides being one of the most influential guitarists of all time, Angus Young is also an incredible songwriter since he co-wrote most of the songs released by AC/DC during their career. So he knows exactly when someone is a good songwriter or not. Over the decades he had the chance to work with many incredible musicians and also to see great bands live. He once praised a former member of AC/DC that according to him is an underrated lyricist.
The lyricist that Angus Young called “underrated”
AC/DC is one of the few bands that were able to continue to be successful even without their first classic singer, who was Bon Scott. The vocalist passed away tragically in 1980 at the age of 33 and was replaced by Brian Johnson who helped the band not only to continue on the same level of success but to become even bigger. But Angus always praised Scott and noted how important he was for the band, not only as a singer and performer, but also as a lyricist. He even said he was really underrated in an interview with Classic Rock magazine in 1992.
He mentioned that after being asked how he compared Bon Scott with Brian Johnson. “From a musical point of view, the difference mainly was that Bon leaned very hard on rhythm when he sang. His other great gift was lyrics. Now for me Bon was probably one of the most underrated lyricists. Even though you could say things like “She’s got the balls, she’s got the jack” were gutter lyrics. For me, they were poetry. And he used to call it poetry too – toilet poetry.”
“[Laughs] Personally, they had a different sense of humor. Bon’s was more subtle. You’d wonder what he was talking about and half an hour later you’d be rolling with laughter when you finally got it. Brian’s just as clever, but his humor is more direct. You catch it straight away,” Angus Young said.
Bon Scott called himself a “toilet wall graffitist” according to Young
As Angus Young said in an interview with Total Guitar in 2020, Bon Scott used to call himself a “toilet wall graffitist” because of the kind of lyrics he used to write.
“Bon called himself a ‘toilet wall graffitist’. He was full of compliments about himself! But he could conjure a story from anything. ‘She’s Got Balls’ was about his first wife. And he did say he wrote ‘Problem Child’ for me. But you know, I never owned a knife like it says in the song. My dad took my knife off me when I was four. Just having a guitar was bad enough, I suppose. But yeah, Bon summed me up in two words!” Angus Young said.
Bon Scott was AC/DC’s vocalist from 1974 to 1980 until his death. He was part of the first seven albums released by the band, counting the ones released internationally and only in Australia. So he can be heard on “High Voltage”, “T.N.T.”, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, “Let There Be Rock”, “Powerage” and “Highway to Hell”.