Angus Young Talks About AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ and His Old School Days
AC/DC guitarist Angus Young made an interview with Paste Magazine recently. During their conversation, Young talked about his trademark schoolboy uniform he’d worn on stage including how he was like in school.
He also explains the story of Bon Scott contributing to the band’s 1980 classic “Back in Black” in past.
Angus Young expressed that the school suit was what got him noticed and told how he decided to wear it in the first place:
“It was really my sister’s suggestion. And also my brother George- he said, ‘That’d be really cool, Angus! They’ll see you like this little kid up there, and you’ll really attract attention – it’ll be a great gimmick!’ And then Malcolm said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got to do that.’ And I was more or less locked into it then, like, ‘OK, if this is what I’m gonna do, then I’m gonna do it!'”
A little after, Young was asked what kind of student he was. And his answer sounds surprisingly unbelievable. Can’t think of him a being invisible person. But it also makes sense his skipping school, though.
“Well, as a student, I would probably say… I was very invisible. If I could avoid school, I did, and I was pretty good at not showing up. In fact, I think the principal once had said to me that he didn’t really feel that I should be at the school, and I said, ‘Well, that’s one thing we can agree on!’ And when one of your parents would show up at school, suddenly the headmaster was all very nice to you, and I’d go, ‘Well, that’s not what you said before!'”
The relation between Back in Black and Bon Scott
During their conversation, Angus Young also was asked about the stories of Bon Scott‘s top-secret record, singing some ‘Back in Black‘ songs which are played and heard at some music industry party.
“Yeah, But no. There’s never been one. Bon never really got the chance. At the time, me and Malcolm were writing songs, which became the songs for ‘Back in Black.’ We were in London in a rehearsal room, and Bon had come down, too. And what used to happen was, me and Malcolm would get together and get a drum kit, and Malcolm would get behind the drums sometimes, and I’d get on the guitar and just tap out a riff. Or other times, Malcolm would get on the guitar and he’d get me to just knock out a simple beat on the drums.
Anyhow, we were working away, and it was on an intro which was actually what became the intro for ‘Hells Bells.’ So Bon showed up, and Malcolm said, ‘Oh, great, Bon! You can get behind the kit!’ Because originally, Bon started as a drummer. So Bon got behind the drum kit so we could try and work out this intro, how we wanted to do it.”
Angus Young replies and tells how Bon joined AC/DC actually while he is also clarifying that Bon Scott had actually made an intro for Hells and Bells, but not involved in Back in Black.
“So we sorted that out how we wanted, and the other one was ‘Have a Drink on Me,’ a riff Malcolm was playing around with. So we worked out the intro on that and how the song was gonna go. So he had Bon tapped to do a demo for that. So that was it, really.”
Bon helped AC/DC with demons on the drums
“If you were looking up what Bon had done, it was really just to help us with those demos on the drums. And he even said to us, as we were knocking off in the night time, ‘Look, we’ll hook up next week.’ He’d been working on some lyrics, and said, ‘We’ll hook up next week and maybe the three of us can just start going through stuff.’
But unfortunately, he passed before that. And it’s kind of strange, in a way, when I think back because when Bon first joined us as a band, that was the first thing he wanted to do – he took me and Malcolm and said, ‘Come on!’
And we went to a friend’s place who had a studio, and when we got there, Bon got behind the drum kit and said, ‘Alright, come on you guys! Start playing!’ And Malcolm said, ‘Look, Bon – we’ve got a real good drummer. We don’t need another drummer. What we need is a really good rock ‘n’ roll singer!’
But with Bon, what you saw was what you got. He had his own approach to this, and he lived that character. I mean, sometimes you’d be doing a gig somewhere, and he’d show up with some people, and then he’d be gone for a few days. And he’d have been out with some guys drinking moonshine up in the hills. He’d just met them, but they were all like his long-lost friends, ya know?” Angus Young finishes his explanations after he recalls his talented old friend.
Before we finish, we want to remind you that AC/DC now has a new album out titled “PWR/UP,” after reuniting with Brian Johnson, bassist Cliff Williams, and drummer Phil Rudd. In case if you might also want to take a look at our other articles about AC/DC.
