The forgotten 1967 hit that paved the way for AC/DC: “I liked what I’d heard”
When we think of the thunderous music of AC/DC, we think of Malcolm Young and Angus Young’s exciting approach to hard rock. However, there was more to it than that.
It’s not enough for bands to just have great members who can write excellent songs, as they also need to surround themselves with people who are willing to take their ideas and run with them. For AC/DC, one of these pivotal people was George Young, the brother of Angus and Malcolm. While he may not have been in the band, he helped produce their first five albums and was happy to really push any ideas the brothers came up with.
Without such assistance, the AC/DC we know and love today may not have existed, so when George passed away in 2017, the band shared a message announcing the sad news and highlighting just how important he was to their growth. His production style and general attitude towards music meant that when Malcolm and Angus were acting against industry trends on their initial few records, they could do so with complete freedom and confidence.
“It is with pain in our heart that we have to announce the passing of our beloved brother and mentor, George Young. Without his help and guidance, there would not have been an AC/DC,” the band wrote, “As a musician, songwriter, producer, advisor and much, much more, you could not ask for a more dedicated and professional man.”
George’s talent for knowing a great song when he heard it and bringing out the best in musicians wasn’t necessarily a natural talent, though. Before working with his brothers, he was in a band called The Easybeats, who saw success in the late ‘60s with their track ‘Friday On My Mind’. That’s certainly an achievement, but such a hit didn’t come easily.
George and his writing partner, Harry Vanda, took a range of tracks to Shel Talmy, who had already worked with bands like The Kinks and The Who. Talmy liked their sound but thought the songs weren’t good enough, and so essentially sent them on a writing mission to continue churning out track after track until they brought something decent to the studio. That eventually happened with ‘Friday On My Mind’.
“They approached me via their then-manager,” said Talmy, “I liked what I’d heard, but I didn’t like the songs. So, I said to them, ‘Guys, go home and write a bunch of songs, come back once a week, and play me what you got’. This went on for about seven weeks. I kept rejecting stuff until after the seventh week I heard ‘Friday on My Mind’, and I said, ‘That’s the one we’re doing’.”
George knew from that point on, thanks to the success that he had with the single, just how high the bar was if you wanted to stand out within the industry. As such, when his brothers, Angus and Malcolm, came to him and said they wanted to make a hard rock album in a world that was steadily starting to move on from hard rock, he knew that in order for the whole thing to pan out, the tracks needed to be of the highest possible quality.
“Let There Be Rock, for me, is the album,” said Angus Young, “My brother, George, [asked] me and Malcolm… ‘What sort of album do you wanna do this time?’ And Malcolm just looked at me, and he said, ‘We just want an album that’s just gonna be pure hard rock guitar’.”
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