The three bands that AC/DC dismissed as “posers”
There was no other explanation for the rhythmic talents of AC/DC, aside from the fact that they were a pure gift from god.
The band naturally possessed a sonic aura that many could only dream of cultivating. But there they were, blitzing up their own ranks as well as the rest of the scene, and all anyone else could do was stand there, mouths open, in utter awe. If you need anything to testify to that, look at the sheer volume of tributes that were paid after Malcolm Young died – it was almost like the line-up for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in itself.
The overarching point in all of this is that Young, in particular, was very much in a different league, and boy, did he know it. Without wishing to paint him as an out-and-out narcissist, it was fair to say that the guitarist carried a certain level of awareness and swagger in terms of knowing his own gifts. The byproduct, however, was that he also knew no one else was quite as good.
To be clear, this is not to say that Young lived in a total blissful bubble where he only had room for his own music and no one else’s. There were many bands and artists that he was quick to celebrate as absolute heroes and icons, as reverential as the rest. But by the same token, there were also a lot of others who, let’s just say, he wasn’t quite as keen on.
Led Zeppelin were first in the firing line. “Me and Angus went to see Led Zeppelin once,” he once offered up in a classic interview. Sounds promising, but “We left after a couple of songs.”
The reason? “Singer was a blonde feller. Bit of a poser.”
Listen, it’s true: no one likes to see someone who is a bit too full of themselves. Yet it seemed that Young possessed the unerring ability to spot this personality flaw in many frontmen of bands who others would go wild for, leaving him less than impressed. However, with an air of that teacher at school who you always suspected only ever wrote the same thing on everybody’s report card, the criticisms were much the same when it came to Nirvana.
It was the early ‘90s, and when asked whether he was on board the train of the new rock and roll revolution, he simply deadpanned: “Seen a few of them bands on MTV. Hell, me daughter listens to that band,” before finally blowing off Nirvana with a classic “Naaaaah. Singer’s a blonde feller. Bit of a poser.”
At the very least, when it came round to slagging off The Rolling Stones, Young’s brother Angus possessed a more expansive critical vocabulary – mainly because, thankfully for them, they didn’t have a blonde singer. But the Stones were famously one of the siblings’ favourite bands, so what went wrong? Ageing, that’s what.
“The Rolling Stones get up and play soul music these days,” Angus moaned. “This is supposed to be rock ‘n’ roll. Leave that to the black people who do it best. If the Stones played what they do best, they’d be a helluva lot better. They’d probably find themselves at ease.”
And with those parting words, AC/DC have left the rock and roll world with not only the gift of their huge legacy, but also something to think about. While the sales of brunette hair dye among lead singers might be on the up, the irony is that their criticisms were far more rooted in vanity than many of their proteges would even have the humility to realise.
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