Malcolm Young: The Beast, open chords and the backbeat of AC/DC | Ultimate Guitarist Reunion

Why fans still care

MALCOLM YOUNG co-founded AC/DC, played rhythm guitar under his brother’s lead for nearly 40 years and shared the songwriting credit with him on every album up to Rock or Bust, by Spin’s count. When he died, Recording Academy head Neil Portnow called him “one of the most important rhythm guitarists in the history of hard rock”.

Back in Black, which he co-wrote and played on, was certified 27 times Platinum in the US in August 2024. That’s the third-highest certification of any album in US history.

Early life

He was born in Glasgow on 6 January 1953. The family emigrated to Australia in 1963, when he was 10, and settled in Burwood in Sydney, SBS reports.

His older brother George Young played in The Easybeats and went on to produce AC/DC with Harry Vanda. His younger brother was Angus, Who’s Who number 35.

Career chapters

1. 1953Born in Glasgow
2. 1963The family emigrates to Australia
3. 1973AC/DC’s first show, Chequers, Sydney, New Year’s Eve
4. 1975High Voltage, AC/DC’s first album
5. 1980Bon Scott, Who’s Who number 3 in · Ultimate Aussie Pub Rock Reunion (story coming soon) dies; Brian Johnson, Who’s Who number 1 in · Highway to Hell (story coming soon) joins; Back in Black
6. 1988Leaves the Blow Up Your Video tour; nephew Stevie Young fills in
7. 1990The Razors Edge, number 2 in the US
8. 2003Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
9. 2010Grammy for War Machine; last show, Bilbao
10. 2014Retires from AC/DC
11. 2017Dies in Sydney, aged 64

Chequers and the first years 1973 to 1979

He described the start simply: he “got together with a few guys interested in having a jam”, he told Louder. AC/DC’s first show was on New Year’s Eve 1973 at Chequers, a Sydney cabaret bar, with Dave Evans singing, Larry Van Kriedt on bass, Colin Burgess on drums and Angus, Who’s Who number 35 on lead.

On AC/DC’s first album, High Voltage (1975), the brothers co-wrote all but one of its eight songs, mostly with Bon Scott, Who’s Who number 3 in · Ultimate Aussie Pub Rock Reunion (story coming soon). Track one, Baby, Please Don’t Go, is a Big Joe Williams cover. AC/DC’s own statement on his death called him the band’s “founder and creator”, alongside Angus, Who’s Who number 35.

Back in Black 1980

After Bon Scott, Who’s Who number 3 in · Ultimate Aussie Pub Rock Reunion (story coming soon) died in February 1980, Brian Johnson, Who’s Who number 1 in · Highway to Hell (story coming soon) joined. The sessions began that April at Compass Point in Nassau, with Mutt Lange producing, and the mix was done at Electric Lady in New York in May.

Sound On Sound says the riffs for Back in Black were put together by the two brothers and the songs were tracked as full-band takes. Malcolm sang backing vocals with Lange and Cliff Williams, Who’s Who number 21 in · Highway to Hell (story coming soon). The album went to number 4 in the US and went platinum there that October.

For Those About to Rock to The Razors Edge 1981 to 1990

For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) gave AC/DC their first US number 1 album. During the Blow Up Your Video tour he left for treatment for alcohol, and Stevie Young covered for him on the 1988 US dates. “It was just the drink, dragging me down,” he told Q in 1990.

He was back for The Razors Edge, which reached number 2 in the US in 1990 and sold more than five million copies there, Ultimate Classic Rock says.

Black Ice and the last tour 2008 to 2010

Lung cancer was treated successfully around 2008 to 2010, and a heart condition later needed a pacemaker. Angus, Who’s Who number 35 said in 2014 that Malcolm’s memory and concentration problems went back before Black Ice, and that he had care with him on the 2008 to 2010 tour. AC/DC won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for War Machine in 2010. His last show was in Bilbao that June.

Retirement and Power Up 2014 to 2020

He stepped away from the band in April 2014 and retired that September, and his dementia became public. Stevie Young took his place on Rock or Bust. He died in Sydney on 18 November 2017, aged 64, a few weeks after George.

Power Up, in 2020, credits him as co-writer on all 12 tracks. Angus, Who’s Who number 35 has described it as a dedication to his brother.

Craft, sound and style

The Beast

His main guitar was a 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird, originally red, handed down to him by Harry Vanda and George Young. It left the factory with two FilterTrons. He took out the neck pickup (and later a humbucker he’d added), stripped off the finish, and he played it for about 40 years. People called it “The Beast”.

The holes tell the story, Guitar Player says. The big one in the middle came from fitting a humbucker between the two FilterTrons and later taking it out again. The one below the neck is where the neck pickup used to be.

“But other than that it’s the Gretsch on everything,” he told Guitar World in 2003. The one exception, by his own memory, was High Voltage, when the Gretsch was broken and he thinks he used a Gibson L-5.

In 2017 Gretsch’s Custom Shop built a run of 40 Salute Jets. The production G6131-MY Malcolm Young Signature Jet followed in 2018, with a chambered mahogany body, one TV Jones Power’Tron and routes copying his own pickup removals.

Amps and the room

On Back in Black, Guitar.com says, he played through a 1971 Marshall Super Bass into Marshall 4x12 cabinets with Celestion G12-65 speakers. Engineer Tony Platt told Premier Guitar he liked older 50 and 100-watt Marshall heads with simple tone controls. Sound On Sound says each guitar was miked with two Neumanns, a U67 and either a second U67 or a U87.

The volume was lower than people think. “If those amps are on 3, that’s a loud night for me,” he said, via Guitar Player.

The brothers didn’t like reverb, echo or effects. Platt used only a very slight delay to spread the two guitars apart. Guitar.com adds that Malcolm, unlike Angus, didn’t use the Schaffer-Vega wireless.

Open chords and heavy strings

Guitar Player’s lesson on his style comes down to open chords instead of barre chords, hard strumming and very little distortion. He used heavy strings, 12 to 58 with a wound G, Guitar Player reported in 2021.

Angus, Who’s Who number 35 put it his way: “He certainly doesn’t tickle it.” In another interview he said Malcolm “stamped that backbeat, very driving, very confident”. Platt heard the two of them as one part: they “basically play in unison, just in different positions”.

Who picked it up

Scott Ian of Anthrax says his percussive right hand is modelled on Malcolm’s. Josh Homme told Mojo he tried to play riffs like Malcolm while he was starting Queens of the Stone Age. Tom Morello, Who’s Who number 22 called him the greatest rhythm guitarist in rock history in his 2017 tribute.

Stories people still tell

1. Let There Be Rock for Malcolm.

   In November 2017 Foo Fighters opened a festival set with Let There Be Rock and dedicated it to him.

Legacy

AC/DC called him “the driving force behind the band”. Eddie Van Halen, Who’s Who number 34, Tom Morello, Who’s Who number 22 and Ozzy Osbourne, Who’s Who number 29 in · Highway to Hell (story coming soon) all posted tributes when he died. Gretsch still builds his signature Jet, holes and all.