#2 Angus Young

Name: Angus Young

Born: 31st of March, 1955, Glasgow, Scotland

Bands he's been in: AC/DC

Preferred Guitar: Gibson SG

 

Two favourite songs that Angus plays:

Hells Bells


Thunderstruck


Angus Young Going Crazy

Early Years:

Angus first played the guitar at the age of 5 at a friend's house, he enjoyed it so much, he went home and re-stringed his banjo to sound like a guitar. His two older brothers, Malcom and George, already played the guitar, George was even in a band. He was in the band 'Easybeats', which was the band that produced the smash hit, 'Friday, On My Mind' in 1966.But this is about Angus, not George. At school, Angus seemed to be an unenthusiastic student, but there was one subject he seemed to enjoy more than most, and that was art. He liked art more than anything else because it enabled him to express some of his inner, eccentricity. At the age of 15, Angus left school, but for a year prior to this, Angus had been practicing the guitar constantly, using his brother's guitar, Malcom, instead of his re-stringed banjo. Angus said he was influenced by such bands and musicians such as, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

The Formation of AC/DC:

In 1970, the Young family moved to Australia and brothers, Angus and Malcom started thinking about hatching a new band. By 1973, the brothers got together with Ben Scott as the singer, Phil Rudd on drums and Mark Evans with the bass guitar. Malcom was going to be the rhythm guitar and that left Angus with lead guitar. Malcom decided on this because, Angus had a really good stage persona that got the audience going... That left the band name, guess where that came from! A sewing machine! That's right! Angus saw AC/DC on the back of his sister's sewing machine, implying  electricity. He thought this would be a perfect name for a band that would be energetic, with a hint of dangerousness. Who knew that the name, AC/DC, would describe Angus Young on stage. Maybe when he saw it he thought, 'Now that! Seems like my kinda name!'.

What's behind the school uniform and the spasms?

The story behind the school uniform isn't a very complicated one. What basically happened was this, Angus was looking for a wacky costume, a gimmick, he tried heaps of get-ups, Spiderman, a gorilla, Zorro and even a parody of Superman, Super-Ang. But once again, his sister came to the rescue and suggested he dress up as a school boy. Nevertheless, the costume stuck and now it's AC/DC's unofficial trademark of the band. With the on-stage spasms though, there's a different story. Apparently, while playing a solo at a gig, Angus tripped on a lead, the cord that connects the guitar to the amp, so he took it in his stride and made it look like it was part of his act. He fell to the ground, kicking, writhing and spinning in circles, yet, he never missed a note on his guitar. So these spasms add to his vocabulary of on-stage antics, which include his own version of Chuck Berry's 'Duck Walk', high intensity jumps and running from one side of the stage to the other.

Angus Young, the most energetic guitarist...ever!