Founding member and guiding force of AC/ DC
NEW YORK — Malcolm Young, the rhythm guitarist and guiding force behind the bawdy hard rock band AC/ DC who helped create such headbanging anthems as “Highway to Hell,” ” Hells Bells” and “Back in Black,” has died. He was 64.
AC/ DC announced the death Saturday on their official Facebook page and website. The posts did not say when or where Young died, but said the performer had been suffering from dementia. He was diagnosed in 2014.
While Young’s younger brother, Angus, the group’s school- uniform- wearing lead guitarist, was the public face of the band, Malcolm Young was its key writer and leader, the member the rest of the band watched for onstage changes and cutoffs.
AC/ DC were remarkably consistent for over 40 years with its mix of driving hard rock, lusty lyrics and bluesy shuffles, selling over 200 million albums, surviving the loss of its first singer and creating one of the greatest rock records ever in “Back in Black,” the world’s second best- selling album behind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
Several musicians paid their respects to Malcolm Young on social media.
“It is a sad day in rock and roll. Malcolm Young was my friend and the heart and soul of AC/ DC. I had some of the best times of my life with him on our 1984 European tour,” Eddie Van Halen tweeted on Saturday.
“The driving engine of AC/ DC has died. A tragic end for a sometimes unsung icon. One of the true greats. RIP,” Paul Stanley, of Kiss, wrote on Twitter.
Scott Ian, of Anthrax, posted a photo of his Malcolm Young tattoo and said “what he means to me is un- quantifiable.”
The Glasgow- born Young brothers — who moved to Sydney, Australia, with their parents, sister and five older brothers in 1963 — formed the band in 1973. They were inspired to choose the highenergy name AC/ DC from the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister, Margaret.
The band’s original singer was fired after a few months when they discovered Bon Scott, who was originally hired as the band’s driver.
By 1980, the band was on a roll, known for its high energy performances and predictably hard- charging songs. Their album “Highway To Hell” was certified gold in America.
But on Feb. 18, 1980, everything changed — Scott died of asphyxiation after choking on his own vomit after an allnight drinking binge.
The band decided to keep going and hired English vocal- ist Brian Johnson. The newly reconfigured group channeled their grief into songwriting and put out 1980’ s “Back In Black,” with the songs “You Shook Me All Night Long,” ” Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” and “Hells Bells.” The cover of the album was black, in honor of Scott’s death.
In the book “The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/ DC” by Jesse Fink, Angus Young said the formula worked. “We’ve got the basic thing kids want,” he said. “They want to rock and that’s it. They want to be part of the band as a mass. When you hit a guitar chord, a lot of the kids in the audience are hitting it with you. They’re so much into the band they’re going through all the motions with you. If you can get the mass to react as a whole, then that’s the ideal thing. That’s what a lot of bands lack, and why the critics are wrong.”