(Credits: Alamy)
Fri 28 November 2025 20:30, UK
When we listen to rock music, it’s easy for us to get swept by the glitz of glamour of those band members who shine so well in the spotlight.
I’m talking, of course, about the lead singer and lead guitarist who are usually at the forefront of successful rock groups. They really steal the limelight, and in a lot of instances, this is justified, given they are a lot of fun to watch and play extravagant music that even the most docile of ears would open up to listen to; however, these aren’t the only members of a band.
Arguably, one of the best examples of a group where the rhythm section and background members don’t get the credit that they deserve is AC/DC. You can certainly understand why, as the performance styles of Brian Johnson and Angus Young were always the most eye-catching thing about the band, but the fact of the matter is that the whole thing wouldn’t work were it not for the backing members.
Malcolm Young remains one of the greatest rhythm guitarists of all time. Give the man eight chords and a BPM, and he will churn out decades worth of the best riffs that the world of rock has ever heard. All of the excellent riffs that AC/DC have produced over the years are completely independent of one another and yet are not overly complicated, either; there is beauty in the simplicity.
His brother, Angus, who often got a lot more attention within the band, was always willing to talk openly about how much of a quintessential part of the outfit his brother was. When he spoke about his favourite riffs, he would talk about minor inflexions that Malcolm would add in a bid to make their sound stand out in a crowded market.
“I would say ‘Bad Boy Boogie’,” highlighted Angus when talking about his favourite AC/DC riffs, noting, “[It] has got a flavour because it’s got a little bit of a twist in it. It sounds easy, but Malcolm had a little twist that I don’t think many could do […] How clever was he to do that? I still play it just for the fact that he just changed that little note around.”
Malcolm Young was always humble in his approach to rock, and therefore, he was never willing to accept he was the most important member of the band. Instead, that was an accolade he was happier to dish out to drummers around the world, arguing that songs wouldn’t be able to be built were it not for the talent of percussionists helping keep everything in check.
“That’s the main thing for us. If the drums aren’t right, it ain’t gunna work,” said Malcolm when he was talking about the importance of a good drummer in every band, “We’re both toe-tappers. When we sit down and play guitar, our feet are going.”
You can certainly hear this commitment to a drum beat in AC/DC’s rhythmic music, and you have to admit that a lot of the time, good drummers are often lost in the footnotes of history. The truth remains, without them, the world of music would be incredibly different to what we know and love today, and bands like AC/DC wouldn’t have quite as infectious a sound.
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