(Credits: Far Out / Harry (Howard) Potts)
Sat 27 September 2025 16:00, UK
While some complicated and mind-altering music is always fun to listen to, AC/DC are proof that the simple approach to music, done right, can also be a lot of fun.
In an ideal world, music would just be the product of the person (or people) who made it, a reflection of their minds and lives in that specific moment. The unfortunate reality is that’s not the way it works, so people often have to rely too heavily on trends and allow them to influence their sound.
This is what happened to a lot of bands throughout the 1970s, as the golden days of rock ‘n’ roll were suddenly fleeting. You had new genres that were beginning to break into the mainstream, including punk, funk and new wave. A lot of groups tried to adjust, and as such, what you saw throughout the decade were many transitional albums. While these might have been important for the bands, they didn’t necessarily sound good.
AC/DC were one of the only acts at the time who stood their ground. They saw the changing tides, but didn’t want to be swept up in them. Angus and Malcolm Young both had one intention only when they started making music, and that was to make some great guitar music. As such, when new wave started becoming popular, the brothers put their heads together and decided to stick to what they knew.
Angus Young refers to the band’s album, Let There Be Rock, as one of their very best, as it was the first one they made with this unrelenting mindset. “I thought it was great because everyone else in the world was into whole other genres, there was punk music, there was new wave; it was all this other stuff that was coming out,” he said, “And I just thought, ‘This is pure magic’. And that album defined AC/DC in my eyes. That’s when I went, ‘This is a great band’.”
While Let There Be Rock helped hit on their definitive style, it was their next Highway to Hell that really saw them chisel the sound to perfection. Considered a classic by fans around the world, the hard riffs, great vocals and killer guitar solos have rendered it its deserving timeless accolade. The titular track is arguably the best that AC/DC have ever come up with, and it’s one that Angus Young said he wouldn’t change a single note of.
“We were in Miami, and we were flat broke. Malcolm and I were playing guitars in a rehearsal studio, and I said, ‘I think I have a good idea for an intro’, which was the beginning of ‘Highway to Hell’,” recalled Angus Young, “And he hopped on a drum kit and he banged out the beat for me.”
The two of them knew that the song had potential, which is why it was particularly worrying for them when the recording they made of it during that rehearsal was almost destroyed. Had it not been for the DIY skill of lead singer Bon Scott, the AC/DC classic could well have been lost forever.
“There was a guy in there working with us, and he took the cassette we had it on home and gave it to his kid, and his kid unravelled it,” said Angus, “Bon was good at fixing broken cassettes, and he pasted it back together. So at least we didn’t lose the tune.”
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