Malcolm Young’s savage critique of Led Zeppelin: “They bored the audience”
When Led Zeppelin shot onto the scene, they were a breath of fresh air, and their brand of hard rock immediately captured the intentions of the masses. However, not everyone bought into the English four-piece and had to deal with their fair share of naysayers, including the late AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young.
Young, along with his younger brother, Angus, were initially intrigued by Led Zeppelin, and when they rolled into town, he made sure to be in attendance. However, the guitarist was less than impressed with their show, especially singer Robert Plant, who was responsible for changing his perspective on the band for all the wrong reasons.
Although Malcolm was born in the United Kingdom, he moved to Australia at an early age, which proved to be pivotal. He was one of eight brothers and sisters initially raised in the working-class suburbs of Cranhill on the outskirts of Glasgow. Unemployment ran rampant, and times were lean. When they moved to Sydney, things might have been sunnier, but they had isolation to contend with.
So, an ‘us against the world’ mentality developed between Malcolm and his brother Angus long before AC/DC formed, and they were always wary of any pretensions or show-offs. They had a fondness for the roots in things. That extended to their musical tastes, too. All of Malcolm’s favourite bands came from the nation of his birth.
During an interview in 1992, which was eventually published in Louder Sound after his death, the late guitarist explained how The Rolling Stones and The Who were the only bands that mattered to him as a teenager. Outside of those two, nothing else appealed to Malcolm, but when Led Zeppelin arrived on the scene, he was interested enough to catch them in action. Looking back on the show, he said: “Me and Angus went to see Led Zeppelin once. We left after a couple of songs.”
They were the hottest ticket in town, but the would-be rocker was not only unmoved, he was also a little offended. Young then explained the main reason for their premature was Plant, recalling, “Singer was a blond feller”, before adding, “Bit of a poser”. This posturing was enough to put them off and have them heading for the exits in search of something with a bit more sincerity.
While Angus hasn’t ever acknowledged his late brother’s claims about leaving a Led Zeppelin concert after two songs, he has a history of criticising the band, especially their live show.
Speaking to Classic Rock, the younger sibling brutally said: “I’ve seen that band live. They were on for three hours. For two-and-a-half hours, they bored the audience. Then at the end, they pull out old rock’n’roll numbers to get the crowd movin’. That’s sick. They’re supposed to be the most excitin’ rock’n’roll band in the world.”
He then went a step further and added: “Led Zeppelin and all that have just been poor imitators of The Who and bands like that. That’s when I reckon it stopped. The rest I wouldn’t even call progressive.” Even Plant has admitted that his band were prone to being “overblown”, and that is certainly the camp that AC/DC subscribed to.
However, despite his hostile comments about Led Zeppelin being “poor imitators” of their British peers such as The Who, Angus also previously claimed they were integral to developing his musical taste. He told Tiny TV: “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.”
Although Malcolm’s problem with Led Zeppelin was the “poser” role taken up by Plant, that’s precisely one of the main attributes required from a rock frontman and exactly why most people adored seeing the group in action.
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