AC/DC Graces Cover of Latest Issue of Rolling Stone

Much the way they recently recognized and acknowledged the achievements of Canadian rock icons Rush, Rolling Stone has decided to feature AC/DC in the most recent issue of their publication. It’s clear from some of the fan comments on the Rolling Stone website, that many fans believe this attention is long overdue.

It appears that Rolling Stone has dedicated a hefty portion of the issue to the Australian rockers who have rocked their way back into the spotlight with their latest album Black Ice and a tour that is currently underway.

In the excerpt of the cover article on their website, Rolling Stone talks with frontman Brian Johnson about the group’s lead guitarist, Angus Young, whose trademark schoolboy uniform certainly distinguishes him from his rock star peers in a very unique way.

Johnson also speaks about Young’s boundless energy on stage, a phenomenon I witnessed not all that long ago when I had a chance to review their No Bull DVD. But like Alice Cooper recently talked about, the man on the stage and the man off the stage are two quite different people.

When not gyrating around the stage during one of their hard-rocking performances, Angus Young is known as a “a passionate, quietly dogged craftsman pursuing the endless possibilities in Fifties-R&B and Sixties- British-rock guitar, in the fundamental slash and drive of Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, the early Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. Offstage, without the suit, in AC/DC practice and recording sessions, Angus is “dead still,” Johnson says. “He smiles, smokes, concentrates.”

And, as the article points out, Young actually plays while sitting down under those circumstances. Something that many AC/DC fans might find hard to picture.

For more, visit Rolling Stone.

Tags: AC/DC, Angus Young, Cover, Rolling Stone Magazine

New Interview With AC/DC Guitar Man Angus Young

With the release of AC/DC’s brand-new album, Black Ice, the spotlight is back on the group after the eight or so years since their last album we released. Lead guitarist Angus Young, famous for his school boy stage costume, talked recently with Australia’s Undercover website.

Some of the more interesting facts to come to light during the interview include word that AC/DC may not live up to the “bad boy” image that they have seemed to picked up during their hard-rocking career.

Young mentions another interview that was done with his brother Malcolm where a German interviewer asked him if he had any desire to toss a nearby television out a window. Answering with what the interviewer may not have expected, Young said he would rather just take it home.

Providing more evidence that he is more like a normal guy than some might suspect, Angus Young talks about how he would not be allowed into his own home if he showed up in his costume, and how he is instructed to wipe his feet before he comes in. Something a lot of us regular folks can relate to – excluding the costume, of course.

He also talks about how he handles the wealth that being part of a successful group provides and says that he has never been one to go for the flashy things like big houses with swimming pools. Although he does admit a “bimbo” on each arm might not be such a bad thing.

We also get a little insight into Young’s seemingly non-stop movement while on stage, often running back and forth from one side to the other. He reports that he does it partly in an effort to prevent hearing loss, which one could consider a serious possibility as a result of standing in front of a massive stack of speakers for too long.

The death of original singer Bon Scott is talked about, which was a very difficult thing for the group to deal with, and almost led to their break-up. Young reports that he was particularly close to Scott and that his loss was perhaps even more difficult than losing a family member.

This interview reminds me of the recent interview with Alice Cooper that was done up in Canada with the CBC because we hear more about the normal lives of these people, who are known to most of us only as rock stars on a stage, or on the radio and television. To me, it is always interesting to hear how normal many of them are when they are not performing, and how different their personalities can be in contrast to the characters they play for a living.

You can read the entire interview at Undercover.

Tags: AC/DC, Angus Young, Black Ice, interview