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Angus Young was born on
March 31st, 1959, in
Glasgow, Scotland. With his
brother Malcolm, he formed
a band in 1973, which was
to become one of the
world's greatest hard-rock
bands. The band was named
AC/DC by their sister
(rumor tells it had
something to do with a
vacuum cleaner). Their
sister also suggested
sometime later that Angus
should be wear a school
uniform on stage. This
became the bands unofficial
trademark.
Mark
Gelvan
The band performed a couple
gigs around Sydney, cutting a
single called "Can I Sit Next
to you" with the original
lineup(singer Dave Evans,
drummer Larry Van Knedt and
bassist Colin Burgess along
with the Young brothers). Then
the Young brothers and Evans
moved to Melbourne and Mark
Evans started to play bass and
Phil Rudd took over on drums.
Later their chauffeur Bon Scott
became their singer, when Dave
Evans refused to go on stage.
Mark
Gelvan
Bon Scott had been a drummer
for the Australian pop bands
Fraternity and the Valentines.
He previously had several
convictions on minor criminal
offenses and had been rejected
by the Australian Army. That
helped to build the image of
AC/DC as a brutal and insurgent
group.
They released High
Voltage(1974) and TNT (1975)
albums in Australia with
producers George Young and
Harry Vanda. These albums
brought the attention of
Atlantic Records, and after
signing a deal they moved to
London. Bassist Mark Evans was
replaced by Cliff Williams.
The albums Let There Be
Rock(1977) and Powerage(1978)
helped grow their polarity in
the UK and their following
album, Highway to Hell(1979)
was a chart-success and the
band's first million-seller.
Then a tragedy hit the band:
Bon Scott died by being
suffocated in his own vomit.
But before his death he had
pointed the group's next to
come singer by describing Brian
Johnson as the best sounding
singer he had ever heard, when
Brian was still performing in a
band called Geordie.
1980 Brian started singing
and AC/DC made their best
selling record ever: Back in
Black, which sold over ten
million copies in US only.
After that composition of AC/DC
was about to change again: Phil
Rudd made advances to Malcolm's
wife and was forced to
leave.
Also the next album For
Those About To Rock(1981) was a
huge success topping the
American charts for three
weeks. But then they started
going downhill with the album
Flick Of The Switch(1983),
until with The Razors Edge they
were on the sharpest top
again.
Phil Rudd came back to the
band, and with their next album
BallBreaker (1995) they gained
maybe their most positive
reviews since the start of the
band's career. It was also
another million seller
worldwide.
The latest album Stiff Upper
Lip brought their music nearer
to the Rhythm and Blues, which
is maybe caused by Angus being
strongly influenced by it
("That's the music I play first
when I get home", he says). In
my opinion, Stiff Upper Lip
isn't a bad album: It hasn't
got very big hits, but it tends
to be that kind of music which
keeps you listening again and
again. Mark
Gelvan
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