When Angus Young first stormed the stage in his now-iconic schoolboy outfit, Gibson SG in hand and legs flailing like he’d been struck by lightning, the world of rock guitar changed forever. He wasn’t the fastest, nor the flashiest. But what Angus lacked in technical precision, he made up for tenfold with raw power, unforgettable riffs, and pure, unfiltered energy.
Long before he co-founded AC/DC and carved his name into the heart of hard rock, Angus was just a wiry kid soaking in the sounds of the 1960s. His heroes weren’t the ones on television or in books—they were the guitar gods tearing up stages with fire in their fingers.
Born into a musical family in Glasgow and later raised in Sydney, Angus Young had music stitched into his DNA. When he and his brother Malcolm formed AC/DC in 1973, they weren’t just chasing dreams—they were building a freight train of sound that would flatten everything in its path. But before Back in Black or High Voltage, there was a wide-eyed kid watching legends from the crowd, soaking it all in.
One of the first true sparks came from The Yardbirds. Speaking to Guitar Magazine, Angus recalled seeing the band live when he was just 12 or 13, standing beside Malcolm in the audience. “We had seen people like The Yardbirds,” he said. “They had come to Australia… when we saw them, they didn’t have Jeff Beck – they had Jimmy Page on guitar.”
Even then, Page’s tone hit like a lightning bolt. “At that time, that kind of sound, especially for guitar—it jumped out at you,” Angus remembered. That moment would leave a lasting mark. The Yardbirds were more than just a band—they were a proving ground for three titans of guitar: Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. And Angus Young was watching.
But no one hit harder than Jimi Hendrix.
When Hendrix arrived on the scene, it felt like the sky cracked open. Angus was stunned. “When along came Hendrix,” he recalled, “you kind of went, ‘Woah! This is another level on guitar.’” It wasn’t just admiration—it was revelation. The song that truly turned his head? “Purple Haze.”
“When I first heard the song, I was totally enthralled,” Angus said. “‘How’s he doing that?’ I was just so impressed with it.”
Sure, AC/DC didn’t lean into the psychedelic stylings of Hendrix. Angus preferred hard, no-frills rock and roll. But like Hendrix, he understood the value of performance—the thrill of putting on a show, of turning a riff into a riot.
And in the end, that’s what Angus Young took from his heroes—not just their licks, but their fearlessness. Page, Beck, Clapton, Hendrix—they didn’t just play guitar. They commanded it.
Angus Young took that torch, lit it on fire, and ran screaming across the world stage.
