In a new interview with Anders Bøtters Tiny TV, legendary AC/DC guitarist Angus Young spoke about the musical inspiration for many of the band’s classic early records.
Angus said: “The thing is a lot of what goes in those albums, when we were younger, that’s where a lot of it all goes back to, at that point — like when I was an early teenager; 13 or 14. Music excited me, still at that age. And I think back, in my time, what I liked music-wise, I had to wait up all night.
“I would be there all night, and then at about two o’clock in the morning, there was a man on the radio, and he would play rock music of this time. He was an American man. And I had a little radio, and I would sit there in my bed and wake up just for this guy. And there I was. And he would bang out the latest stuff. I heard [Jimi] Hendrix on there, I heard CREAM — people like this. And later on, you started to get your [LED] ZEPPELINs and bands like this.
“And especially when Jimi Hendrix, when I heard ‘Purple Haze’, boy, that was it,” he continued. “I was so excited. And then I thought, ‘How am I gonna find out about Jimi Hendrix?’ I was out walking anywhere. I went up to a magazine store, and I’m trying to look if they’ve got a magazine from England, ’cause I knew he was in London. And I found a little picture of this guy with a guitar, and I was going, ‘Wow! I wanna look that cool.'”
“I’m just trying to give you the excitement of that time,” Angus added. “I refer to that my whole life; I still think that. When I get on a stage, it’s the same thing. I get on a stage and I play, I’m playing to the new kid who’s 13 [or] 14 who’s never seen me before. And I go, ‘Okay, a lot of these older ones out there, they’ve seen me before. They know what you’re about. But that new kid, he’s not seen me before.’ And I’m going, ‘I’m gonna impress him. I’m gonna play for him.’ And it pumps you up. That’s all I need to do. I see some younger faces, and I go, ‘Here I come.'”
You can watch full interview at the end of this article.
Power Up, the long-awaited comeback album from AC/DC, was released on November 13.
The follow-up to 2014’s Rock Or Bust features AC/DC‘s 2020 lineup of Brian Johnson (vocals), Phil Rudd (drums), Cliff Williams (bass), Angus Young (guitar) and Stevie Young (guitar).
