Everything about Angus Young totally explained
Angus Young (born on
31 March,
1955) is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the Australian
hard rock band
AC/DC, known for his wild stage energy and schoolboy-uniform stage outfits. He was ranked 96th on
Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Biography
Angus Young, one of nine children of William and Margaret Young, was brought up in
Sydney, Australia with his older brothers
Malcolm,
George,
Alex, who all became musicians, an elder sister Margaret, and four other siblings. Angus started playing
guitar when he was five years old — a local child had one and Angus would play it during visits. He got his own guitar by taking a
banjo his family had lying around the house and re-stringing it like a guitar.
Early years
Young didn't get into guitar-playing seriously until after the Young family moved from
Scotland to
Australia in 1963. He bought a
Gibson SG, after seeing it in a friend's catalogue. Until then, he'd been playing on an old
Höfner guitar he inherited from his brother Malcolm, due to the fact that although guitars were available, they were expensive because they were from
America. Angus's brother George (of
The Easybeats) gave both Angus and Malcolm guitar lessons when he'd come home during breaks from touring.
Prior to forming AC/DC, Young played in a local group called
Kantuckee. Kantuckee's lineup included Bob McGlynn (vocals), Angus Young (guitar), Jon Stevens (bass) & Trevor James (drums). This was the first band to record Demo takes for
Stevie Wrights classic "
Evie" at the request of George Young. The band split and was later called Tantrum with the following line up: Mark Sneddon (vocals-guitar), Angus Young (guitar), Jon Stevens (bass) and Trevor James (drums)
Formation of AC/DC
Angus and Malcolm Young formed AC/DC in 1973. The first line up included Angus Young on lead guitar, Malcolm Young on
rhythm guitar,
Colin Burgess on
drums,
Larry Van Kriedt on
bass guitar and
Dave Evans on vocals. The band's first single was "Can I Sit Next To You". Which was later re-recorded with
Bon Scott, as their vocalist, as "Can I Sit Next To You Girl." They got the name AC/DC after seeing the letters AC/DC on the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister, Margaret. AC/DC stands for Alternating Current/Direct Current.
After playing with the band for a while, Young developed his trademark schoolboy image. Before settling on the schoolboy costume, Angus had tried other costumes, such as
Spider-man,
Zorro, a
gorilla, and a parody of
Superman, named Super-Ang. The schoolboy costume became a signature trademark of Young. To match this image the press and public were told that Young was born in 1959, not 1955. The original uniform was reputedly from his secondary school,
Ashfield Boys High School in Sydney. One rumour is that he didn't have time to change his clothes between school and band practice, and simply wore the uniform; while such an event may have occurred years earlier, by 1973, Angus had long left school. His sister Margaret suggested he wear the uniform after Malcolm asked each band member to come up with their own gimmick, which was ironic as Angus very much disliked being at school. This was the era of
glam rock, when costumes were common for pop and rock acts.
Recent events
Although Young prefers to keep his private life out of the media, it's known that he now lives in
Sydney, Australia and also has a home in
Aalten,
Netherlands (because he's a home in the Netherlands, he's also on the Quote 500, the list of Holland's 500 richest people). It is also known that he married his wife Ellen in 1980 shortly before
Bon Scott died.
On August 24, 2006, Young received
Kerrang! magazine's Legend Award from the editor, Paul Brannigan. Brannigan called AC/DC "one of the most important and influential rock bands in history."
Equipment
Guitars
Angus Young has used
Gibson SGs in various forms (his original, and the basis for his current signature model, was a 1968 SG) throughout his career. He is rarely seen with another guitar. However, he also owns
Telecasters,
Gibson Firebirds and
ES335s. When AC/DC played a jam of "Rock me Baby" with the
Rolling Stones in 2003, he played a Gibson ES-335 borrowed from
Keith Richards, perhaps one of the only times he was without an SG onstage. Young's legendary 1968 SG has T Top pickups. Another 1964 SG that he used on the recording of Ballbreaker, has patent # pickups. All of these are high output
Alnico 5 pickups with matched coils. Angus has used Ernie Ball strings for over 40 years.
Gauge .009-.042
Angus Young Signature SG
Angus Young and
Gibson Guitar Corporation have collaborated to make the Angus Young Signature SG, which is special in several ways.
The model features a pickup designed by Young himself (the Angus Young Signature Humbucker) in the bridge position, and a '57 Classic
Humbucker in the neck. The headstock features Young's famous "Devil Schoolboy!" engraved picture, and the tremolo bar features Angus' name instead of the Gibson logo. The guitar has a rosewood fingerboard, trapezoid fret inlays, a signature black pickguard, 22 frets, a worn cherry finish, and nickel hardware. The volume and tone knobs are bigger than those of a regular SG but it still features the standard 3-way selector switch. He doesn't use his Signature Series SG on stage.
Amplifiers
Young's amps have been plexi
Marshalls: JTM45s, JTM50s, JMP50s and Superleads (plus a few
Wizard amplifiers). His main amp is his JTM45, which he uses both live and in the studio. When Young plays live, he runs this through an isolation speaker box that sits under the stage and feeds directly into the PA system. In the studio, Angus has often used a 100w plexi for riffs and a smaller plexi (jmp50, jtm50, or jtm45) for solos.
Speaker cabinets he's used have been Marshall 4x12"s (model 1982 and 1960, mostly B models) with Celestion G12H 30 watt (on old recordings), Vintage 30s (on newer recordings) and G12M 25 watt speakers (on solos/overdubs on newer recordings). Malcolm has used
Mesa Boogie Cabs before as seen on AC/DC's 1992 live album,
Live.
Angus is said to, by Marshall, use the 1987X 50watt head.
Influence
Angus Young's energetic guitar style has been an influence on many young
hard rock guitarists. His work with AC/DC has been an influence on bands ranging from
Guns N' Roses and
Def Leppard to newer artists like
Jet and
You Am I. Young cites his own influences as
Chuck Berry,
Muddy Waters, and other
blues/
rock and roll players.
Style
Angus Young's playing style is very straight blues, playing in the minor
pentatonic blues scale. His style is spiced by additional non-blues tricks. In AC/DC's earlier recordings,
power chords can be heard in songs such as "
T.N.T." and "
It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)". He also utilises touches of Scottish folk in his playing, and pull-off
arpeggios (pull-offs, played one-handed) are a popular trick, appearing in songs such as "
Thunderstruck", "
Baby, Please Don't Go", "
Who Made Who",
"Can't Stand Still", "
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap",
Sin City" "
Shake a Leg", and
Let there be rock (live)', (though when played live, "
Thunderstruck" was also played with a
plectrum or pick). In 1976, the band recorded an instrumental arrangement of the Scottish traditional song "
Loch Lomond", retitled "
Fling Thing", which has appeared in their stage act over the years. The title refers to the
Highland Fling.
He is especially noted for his vibrato, his intricate improvisation in live shows, and his stripped down approach to the guitar, with regard to amp-provided effects and guitar accessories.
He often receives criticism from the music press, many of his critics stating that AC/DC's songs sound too similar, focusing on the same handful of chords. However, as Young stated in an interview with the Atlanta Gazette in 1979:
"It's just rock and roll. A lot of times we get criticised 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."
Stage antics
Angus Young is notorious for his wild onstage antics. He entertains audiences with his intense jumps onstage and with his running back and forth across the stage while playing his guitar. Young would clamber on to Bon Scott's shoulders during concerts and they'd make their way through the audience with smoke streaming from a satchel on his back, while he played an extended guitar solo, usually during the song "
Rocker". Once, at a concert in Donington, he rode on Brian Johnson's shoulders. In some of his concert videos, he'd raise his foot and bring it back down to the front of his other foot like a zig-zag on stage while keeping the same rhythm on the guitar as he played.
In later years, Young performed moves such as his own version of the
Duck Walk, which was inspired by his idol
Chuck Berry, and his "
spasm", during which he throws himself to the ground, kicking, shaking, and spinning in circles, while playing the guitar. Both moves can be seen on various videos, such as "
Live At Donington". Young developed the "spasm" while he was playing live in a small club in Australia, after he accidentally tripped over a cable on stage while playing his solo. He covered it up by having a seizure-like "spasm" on stage to make it seem like part of the act. It has been a trademark of his ever since.
Other gimmicks employed by Young include his strip act, which can be seen during "Bad Boy Boogie" on the most definitive live concert footage (1980). It is also viewable in during "
Jailbreak" on the 1991
Live at Donington DVD, during "Boogie Man" on
No Bull, and during "Bad Boy Boogie" on
Stiff Upper Lip Live. And sometimes when he "strips" he'll pull down his pants...revealing his undergarments, then pulls them up and moons the crowd. Sometimes he'd use his fingers to perform his
devil horns act -- usually before playing "
Highway to Hell" or "
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be" - whether being on stage or having his picture taken by the press.
Trivia
- On The Australian television program, Countdown, in a March 1975 episode, Angus is seen dressed as a superhero. This is believed to be AC/DC's first television performance.
- Maxim recently ranked Young (5 feet, 2 inches tall) as number one on their list of the "25 Greatest Short Dudes Of All Time", ahead of other well-known "short dudes" such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Jon Stewart, Ronnie James Dio, Martin Scorsese and Yoda.
- Young's older brother, George Young, was the rhythm guitarist and co-songwriter for the popular Australian rock and roll band, The Easybeats (and also the producer of many of AC/DC's albums). Another older brother of Young was George Alexander (b. Alexander Young) who was the founding member and bassist of the London-based Beatles-esque band, Grapefruit.
- A caricature of Angus Young can be seen on the cover of the 1994 Green Day album, Dookie. The image of Angus is located on the right-hand side of the cover. Young is standing on the roof of the building, holding the same pose that he's on the Let There Be Rock album cover.
- In the Tenacious D movie The Pick Of Destiny, JB and Kyle have to steal the pick of destiny, which currently rests with Angus' guitar in the "Rock Museum".
- In Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, Angus Young can be seen on one of the posters on Axel Steel's Myspace page
- Angus inducted Ozzy Osbourne into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Angus Young'.
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