The rock band AC/DC’s Angus Young called a “poor man’s Led Zeppelin”
While many bands try to reinvent themselves with each new record they produce, AC/DC are the opposite. Rather than shedding their skin, they have stuck with the same thrilling stadium-friendly sound that has served them well since the 1970s and even refuse to change their high-school aesthetic.
Only a few bands are capable of competing with AC/DC when it comes to live shows. They may no longer have the same seismic energy levels as they did in their 20s, but the group has a priceless amount of experience that shows when they step on stage at venues like Wembley Stadium.
They have mastered the craft of performing live and expertly use all of the tricks of the trade they’ve picked up during their concerts. Even in their heyday, the stage was much more of a natural home for the Australian rockers rather than the studio.
Performing is the one area of rock ‘n’ roll, and the prowess of AC/DC can’t be downplayed. While Brian Johnson takes centre stage, Angus Young is the key ingredient that makes the band tick, on or off the stage.
As Young takes immense pride in the art of stagecraft, he’s unafraid to be highly critical about those he doesn’t believe are up to scratch. There are few people that bands would less like to see waiting in the wings judging their performance than Young, who has a knack for saying it as he sees it.
Even before AC/DC were internationally renowned superstars, Young was gutsy to take shots at those that were vastly more successful. On one infamous occasion in 1977, Young brashly decided to attack three huge groups that he felt had lost their way.
For further context, at this point in AC/DC’s career, they were still climbing the greasy ladder. Their fortunes dramatically changed three years later with Back In Black, which remains one of the best-selling records of all time. In contrast, at the time of his comments, Led Zeppelin had been giants of rock music for a decade, but Young didn’t believe they warranted their position in the musical hierarchy as a live act.
After seeing them perform, the guitarist shared his disappointment with Classic Rock: “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.”
Young was merely warming up with his cutting analysis of Led Zeppelin. He also felt The Rolling Stones had become a shadow of their former selves, remarking, “Them and the Stones. They’re not playin’ it. The Rolling Stones get up and play soul music these days. This is supposed to be rock ‘n’ roll. Leave that to the people who do it best, the black people. If the Stones played what they do best, they’d be a helluva lot better. They’d probably find themselves at ease.”
Fast forward seven years, and the AC/DC guitarist pointed the gun toward Deep Purple. Although his band had once supported the English rockers, Young had also paid to see them previously with his own money, which left him feeling short-changed. “I saw Deep Purple live once and I paid money for it and I thought, ‘Geez, this is ridiculous.’ You just see through all that sort of stuff,” Young told Guitar World in 1984.
Despite Young having a history of scathing remarks about Led Zeppelin, he accused Deep Purple of being a pale imitation of their compatriots, showing how little he thought of them. “I never liked those Deep Purple or those sort of things. I always hated it. So I always thought it was a poor man’s Led Zeppelin,” he added.
As Young admitted that he had never liked Deep Purple, they could have brought out all the stops, and he’d still have felt it was a waste of an evening. They were a band, for whatever reason, that didn’t connect with him on an emotional level, and watching Deep Purple perform merely reaffirmed his loathing.
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