The band Angus Young called “boring” live
For Angus Young, the crowd always comes before anything else. Whenever Young throws down a good helping of rock and roll with AC/DC, there’s never a moment where it doesn’t feel like he is dialled to 100%, looking like a man possessed when playing his leads across songs like ‘Back in Black’. Although the crowd may leave with a smile, Young has not minced words about how he feels regarding one of the founders of progressive rock.
When coming out of the woodwork in the early 1970s, AC/DC was the epitome of what rock and roll should have been. Whereas other artists were making bids to be the biggest bands in the world thanks to their political doctrine or conceptual rock operas, the Young brothers weren’t looking to think that in-depth about their music, taking songs with a few chords and turning them into the ultimate soundtrack of rock and roll.
As AC/DC was beginning, though, the progressive movement had already started planting its seeds in the public eye. In the wake of groups like Pink Floyd gaining traction, artists like Genesis and King Crimson were also coming out of the woodwork, boasting songs that went on for mile-long chord progressions that didn’t sit well with the impatient members of the rock crowd.
Although Young had a particular disdain for most progressive music, he got especially heated when talking about the band Yes. By far one of the most ambitious prog bands of their era, Yes was looking to test the boundaries of where progressive music could go, turning songs like ‘Roundabout’ into miniature epics that would have a drastic impact on future prog acts like Rush.
When talking about the band’s delivery, though, Young was not at all impressed, saying, “If I went to see somebody that was ‘musical’, I’d yawn my head off. I’d end up walking out to the bar. Bands like Yes would be a bore to see unless they had some Sheila strippin’ off.”
While Yes did put an enormous effort into making a sci-fi adjacent experience whenever they played live, Young still thought that power should come from the performance rather than the lights, recalling, “Yes would probably come on with a fantastic light show. I’ve never seen them, but they probably use a light show to cover up that they’re bored and their music is boring, and they’re not making people jump”.
As opposed to the massive stadium that Yes could fill with flashing lights, Young could get the job done through the sheer power of his performance. While he initially adopted his schoolboy uniform as a joke whenever he played onstage, he often let his body do the talking, sending himself into a frenzy whenever he played that made him impossible to look away from.
Then again, AC/DC did outgrow the raw aggression of their live shows, bringing out massive props like Yes did during their stadium tours, including the massive bell to kick off ‘Hells Bells’ and the cannons used on ‘For Those About to Rock’. AC/DC may have some visual spectacles when they take to the road now, but Young’s endurance whenever he takes the stage has been more than enough for any audience.
