(Credits: Far Out / Spotify)
Sat 15 November 2025 9:00, UK
AC/DC are a simple band, but that simplicity is nothing to be sniffed at, as they’re well and truly one of rock’s best.
It’s hard to pin down when they officially found their style, but a real turning point for them was when they made Let There Be Rock.
Angus and Malcolm Young both knew that they wanted to play good guitar music, but it was this album that they realised just how desperate they were to continue operating within this boundary of music, even if the music industry was moving away from it. When asked about his favourite AC/DC album, Angus said Let There Be Rock is definitely up there.
“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,” Said Angus, “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’.”
That cemented AC/DC’s style, as they became obsessed with creating simple but catchy riffs using just a few chords. Now, when you listen back to the band’s discography, you’ll hear a plethora of different riffs, neither of which imitate one another, yet they don’t extend outside of that classic rock sound. They are the masters of riff-writing, and in their wake they have left a huge contingent of great music.
Of course, while the two guitarists have a fond love of writing great riffs, it was one of their most famous that has persistently been a thorn in the side for them. Out of all the AC/DC riffs, ‘Back In Black’ is probably the number that people are most familiar with, but when Malcolm Young first recorded it, he did so as a frustrated musician who couldn’t get the sequence out of his head and wasn’t sure if it was any good or not.
“Malcolm had the main riff for ‘Back In Black’ for about three weeks,” recalled Angus Young when discussing the track, “He came in one night and said, ‘You got your cassette here? Can I put this down? It’s driving me mad. I won’t be getting any sleep until I put it on cassette.’ The funniest thing is he said to me, ‘What do you think? I don’t know if it’s crap or not.’”
Malcolm wasn’t the only one who grew somewhat frustrated with the classic riff. While Angus Young has been playing the opening live for decades now, he still grows annoyed at himself for believing that he’s not doing it right. Given they’re a band who pride themselves on their live show, it’s not a surprise that Angus wanted to get the riff right, but he feels as though it keeps escaping him.
“In fact, I was never able to do it exactly the way he had it on that tape,” said Angus, letting out his frustration, “To my ears, I still don’t play the thing right!”
‘Back In Black’ remains one of AC/DC’s biggest songs, and the iconic riff is a huge part of that, but it didn’t come easy, as both guitarists have become frustrated by it at some point.
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