Angus Young
Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Youngis an Australian guitarist of Scottish background, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter and sole constant member of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he moved to Australia with his family at the age of eight. Known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and his own version of Chuck Berry's duckwalk, Young was ranked 24th in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 greatest guitarist of all time list...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth31 March 1955
CityCranhill, Scotland
Actually, because I'm so small, when I strike an open A chord I get physically thrown to the left, and when I play an open G chord I go right. That's how hard I play, and that's how a lot of my stage act has come about. I just go where the guitar takes me.
I honestly believe that you have to be able to play the guitar hard if you want to be able to get the whole spectrum of tones out of it. Since I normally play so hard, when I start picking a bit softer my tone changes completely, and that's really useful sometimes for creating a more laid-back feel.
Yes, we're still five little people with a noisy attitude.
You should hear me on my own. It's horrendous.I saw Deep Purple live once and I paid money for it and I thought, Geez, this is ridiculous.
I don't like to play above or below people's heads. Basically, I just like to get up in front of a crowd and rip it up.
Some people say we have thirteen albums that all sound the same. That isn't true. We have fourteen albums that all sound the same.
There are all sorts of cute puppy dogs, but it doesn't stop people from going out and buying Dobermans.
Soloing was pretty easy for me because it was probably the first thing I've ever done.
Once you're on stage you can't go back, even when things go wrong people expect you to stay there and entertain them. When all else fails, you've got to try tap dancing.
With AC/DC, we've always started with rock, and we've just kept it going. The critic's view is always , 'They just made an album and it's the same as the last one.' I'll have fifteen of them, anytime.
Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'
I love the music from Nat King Cole, BB King, Albert King... When I think of it, I wouldn't mind being renamed Angus King.
It's just rock and roll. A lot of times we get criticized for it. A lot of music papers come out with: 'When are they going to stop playing these three chords?' If you believe you shouldn't play just three chords it's pretty silly on their part. To us, the simpler a song is, the better, 'cause it's more in line with what the person on the street is.
When I'm on stage the savage in me is released. It's like going back to being a cave man. It takes me six hours to come down after a show.