Angus Young celebrates its 70th birthday: he had to cope with these losses

Angus Young (70) experienced all phases from AC/DC with: from “High Voltage” to “Power Up”. Today he is the only remaining veteran of the band, which is still rocking the stages of the world with her – and of course in his iconic school uniform. But not only this became a trademark of the musician who created hits like “Thunderstruck” and “You Shook me all night long” with the hard rockers. The iconic Gibson SG guitars for him should not be missing. His brother and AC/DC co-founder Malcolm Young (1953-2017) once recommended that to him.

It was probably never calm at Young: Angus Young was born on March 31, 1955 in Glasgow as the youngest of eight children. When he was eight years old, his parents moved to Australia. There he should later launch the legendary hard rock band with Malcolm. But not only they were interested in music. Her brother George (1946-2017) founded the rock group The Easybeats, her brother Alexander (1938-1997) was part of the British band Grapefruit.

Angus Young’s own music passion was initially not on a guitar, but on a banjo that he played with six strings. Later he switched to Gibson’s SG guitars, who still have loyal services in today. His brother Malcolm brought him to the model, as he explained. The latter sent him to a guitar shop with the appeal to test the Gibson SG. Immediately he noticed how easy it was to play and was “overjoyed” of his purchase.

In November 1973, Angus Young then launched his two -year brother AC/DC. They gathered drummer Colin Burgess (1946-2023) and bassist Larry van Kriedt (70), as a singer they won Dave Evans (71). After that it went in a blow: On New Year’s Eve of the same year, they gave their first concert in a club in Sydney. In 1974 they published their first single “Can I Sit Next to You Girl”, a few months later they replaced Dave Evans with Bon Scott (1946-1980). In 1975 they had collected enough material for two albums that they only published in Australia. A year later, her first work “High Voltage” also appeared internationally, a little later followed “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”.

“Highway to Hell” already marked her last album with Bon Scott in 1979, which was also the greatest, global success so far. Angus Young hadn’t believed in this at the beginning. “In the beginning we always thought we could be happy if we survive the first week!” Said the lead guitarist.

In 1980 Angus Young had to accept a first, severe loss. He and his bandmates mourned for their singer with his unmistakably high voice, who died at the age of only 33. Bon Scott’s death was “a shock” for everyone, Angus Young said in an Apple radio show with Zane Lowe. The fact that the group did not break on it was probably Malcolm Young’s earnings. He was the one who “held the matter together”.

Angus Young had a particularly close connection to his brother Malcolm. In interviews, Angus repeatedly emphasized Malcolm’s talent on the guitar – although he himself was the lead guitarist. He explained: “I don’t think anyone in this area can do what he does. He plays very clean; he plays very hard. It is an attack. Anyone who sees him or knows something about guitars can recognize that.” He could only copy him, but not fill his role.

His death was the second loss within the band for Angus Young. In 2017 Malcolm Young died after a long dementia at the age of 64. “I think the hardest thing was not so farewell because that was a kind of end, you know – the relief,” Angus Young 2020 told 60 Minutes Australia. “The decay is the hard part, because you knew it, and then to see that he was no longer there.”

The loss came a few weeks after the death of her brother George, who died in October 2017 at the age of 70. In 2019, the Young also mourned around Margaret, the only sister in the band and namesake of the band. The inscription AC/DC (abbreviation for alternating current/direct current) on your sewing machine is said to have inspired Angus and Malcolm Young. Margaret, George and Malcolm left “a big hole in me,” said Angus Young. But even after death, his siblings were still part of his life. “You are with me. It sounds crazy, but I still have conversations with you,” he said in relation to his brothers.

Angus Young continued his siblings in spirit. He did not lose the humor during his career and difficult times. “I am fed up with people saying that we have made eleven albums that sound exactly the same, while in reality we did twelve albums that sound exactly the same,” he is quoted, among other things.

In the meantime, the AC/DC catalog already comprises 18 albums. With the last (“Power Up”) so far, they spent five weeks in first place in the German charts with interruptions. This is probably also Angus Young’s earnings. The rock legend was repeatedly awarded for his dexterity on the guitar. 2023 chose him on the side of Malcolm in the top 40 of the 250 best guitarists of all time. Already in 2006 he also received the “Legend” award of the music magazine “Kerrang!”. But he also receives a lot of respect from other music greats. Among other things, Guns-N ‘-Roses guitarist Slash is one of his greatest sources of inspiration. As he revealed in a radio interview, he has always “loved guitar style”.

However, Angus Young is not a classic rocker. After his teenage years he swore away from alcohol, instead he prefers tea. He is said to have never been interested in drugs. And even in his love life, it was apparently moderately too moderately. “In the early days, all my friends said to me: ‘You will definitely meet a lot of girls …’ Well, I got to know a lot of girls, but none wanted to go home,” said Young in the “Guitar World” interview. “Because of the school boys uniform, some women tried to make me grab – they think I’m cute because I’m so small,” he said.

However, he did not have to do without great love. He has been married to the Dutchman Ellen van Lochem since 1980, and her marriage keeps her away from the public. Without another musician, they would never have met. The former Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg (71) told that Ellen van Lochem was a friend of his. When he opened a show for AC/DC with his band Teaser, he put her on the guest list at her request. A few weeks later she called him and said: “Rate where I am? She was in Paris or something, and a year later they were married.”