Anyone who knows anything about music knows AC/DC whether they want to admit it or not.
They're behind some of the most quintessential rock anthems in the world, songs that have
brought entire stadiums to their feet.
Malcolm and Angus Young have been the backbone of AC/DC from the beginning, and it's not
surprising their music speaks to the everyman in a completely non-pretentious, honest way
we can all understand.
That's because their own lives haven't been smooth sailing, and because believe it or
not, they've been on some of the same difficult journeys as their fans.
Ten Pound Poms
Brothers Malcolm and Angus Young might be larger-than-life on stage, but in person,
it's a bit of a different story.
Respectively standing only 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-2, there's a pretty heartbreaking reason for
their small stature: lead pipes contaminated the drinking water on the Glasgow housing
estate they lived in.
The brothers had early years shaped by the perpetual unemployment of their father and
seemingly endless poverty, and the winter of 1963 was the last straw.
It was the worst in recorded history, and as temperatures plunged into the subzero range,
sunny Australia started looking pretty good.
The Youngs signed up for a government program designed to encourage immigration to Oz, and
it cost the entire family just £20.
When they got there, though, they were still at the very bottom and living in the tin shelters
of a migrant hostel.
Losing Bon Scott
AC/DC came to a major crossroads early in their run with the tragic passing of front
man Bon Scott, and just what happened on the last night of Scott's life alone, in a Renault
5 parked on a London street is still a bit of a mystery.
Even though the original cause of death was given as acute alcohol poisoning, it was later
changed to asphyxiation with the official ruling he had choked on his own vomit after
an all-night drinking binge.
That's a horrible way to go, but not everyone is convinced that's what happened.
According to a 2017 biography by Jesse Fink, the actual cause of death was heroin use.
Fink says he interviewed a series of people who were with Scott in the days leading up
to his death, who say they were all using heroin.
Was Scott?
It's unlikely anyone's going to ever come up with a definitive answer.
What is known is that the rock world lost a legend that night.
Malcolm Young's alcoholism
AC/DC released Blow Up Your Video in 1988, and a tour followed right on the heels of
the album.
But all was not well behind the scenes, and before the tour even started, Malcolm announced
he was going to be stepping out of the spotlight to take care of a problem that had been steadily
becoming worse: his alcohol addiction.
He said:
"It caught right up to me and I lost the plot.
Angus was going: 'I'm your brother, I don't want to see you dead here.
Remember Bon?'
So I took that break and cleaned myself up."
"I wasn't brain dead, I was just physically screwed by the alcohol."
Nephew Stevie Young stepped in to take his uncle's place on the tour, and while he was
back in time for their 1990 album, it's clear Malcolm's addiction had a major impact on
the band.
When Megadeth joined them on tour, Dave Mustaine remembered,
"Someone said, 'Can I get you a bottle of something?' and someone else said, 'All they
do is drink tea and smoke cigarettes.'"
The deadly concert
AC/DC concerts tend to get crazy, but in 1991, a Salt Lake City concert ended in tragedy
when three teenage fans were crushed by a crowd surging forward.
There were about 4,400 people crammed into festival-style seating, and witnesses testified
to a scene where crowds pushed forward, knocked people over, and buried others under a pile
of bodies.
Just what happened in the chaos differs based on the source, but everyone agrees it was
a tragedy.
Ten years later, AC/DC returned to play another show at Salt Lake City.
Brian Johnson spoke about the lasting effect it had on them all, saying,
"No matter how long ago it happened, you still think about it.
You hope and pray it never happens again.
[…] That was an awful incident, and it hit us very hard."
Losing Malcolm Young
Malcolm Young lost his battle with dementia on November 18, 2017.
When AC/DC announced his passing on Facebook, Angus wrote,
"As his brother it is hard to express in words what he has meant to me during my life, the
bond we had was unique and very special.
[…] Malcolm, job well done."
His passing came long after his condition was announced in 2014.
Originally vague about his health issues, AC/DC only said he was going to be taking
a break and nephew Stevie Young would fill in for him.
It wasn't until later that they went public with the fact Malcolm's dementia had started
during their Black Ice tour
Later, Angus would talk more about his brother's fight against dementia, saying,
"Sometimes you would look and he'd be there, and you'd be, 'Malcolm!'
[…] And other times, his mind was going.
But he still held it together."
Brian Johnson's hearing issues
In 2016, rock fans were treated to a confusing moment when AC/DC abruptly announced Brian
Johnson was out and Axl Rose was in.
Shortly after, Johnson issued his own statement on what was going on his doctors had told
him he had only two choices: quit or face complete hearing loss.
He went on to say he was stepping aside not necessarily to protect his hearing, but because
he felt it was compromising his ability to perform.
He explained:
"Our fans deserve my performance to be at the highest level, and if for any reason I
can't deliver that level of performance I will not disappoint our fans or embarrass
the other members of AC/DC."
As of 2018, he was enjoying retirement, and told The Sunday Times, quote, "The way I look
at it, I had a great run."
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