Revisiting Scott Carr’s In Memoriam on Malcolm Young five years later.
Read MoreRemembering Malcolm Young - by Scott Carr
Remembering Malcolm Young ( January 6, 1953 – November 18, 2017 )
If you follow my ramblings on Pencil Storm you already know I am a huge Kiss and Alice Cooper fan. I am also a big fan of the thunder from down under known as AC/DC. It is with great sadness that my first writing about the Aussie rockers comes with the passing of rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young.
Generally when people talk about AC/DC they are quick to mention the zany antics of lead guitarist Angus Young, younger brother of Malcolm. The praises thrown at Angus are very well placed but often overshadow the importance of his big brother. Even Angus himself often spoke of the important role Malcolm played in the band.
Check out this excerpt from a Guitar World Magazine where Angus gives some insight about his brother...
"ANGUS YOUNG: Malcolm's really underrated. He makes the band sound so full, and I couldn't ask for a better rhythm player. Sometimes I look at Malcolm while he's playing, and I'm completely awestruck by the sheer power of it. He's doing something much more unique than what I do—with that raw, natural sound of his.
People like Malcolm, Steve Cropper, Chuck Berry and Keith Richards—they're all doing something better than the rest of us. I can't deny that Eric Clapton's and Eddie Van Halen's lead stuff has influenced a stack of people, but for me it's the rhythm thing that's way more impressive and important to a band. Malcolm is a big inspiration to me; he keeps me on my feet.
Even when I'm tired from running around the stage for two hours, I'll look back at what he's doing and it gives me that boot up the backside I sometimes need. [laughs] Also, he can always tell me if I'm playing well or if I'm not. Mal's a very tough critic, and I know that if I can please him, I can please the world.
A lot of people say, "AC/DC—that's the band with the little guy who runs around in school shorts!" But I wouldn't be able to do what I do without Malcolm and the other guys pumping out the rhythm. They make me look good. Mal is really a great all-around guitarist. I know it says "rhythm guitar" on the album jacket, but if he sits down to play a solo, he can do it better than me. Not a lot of people have picked up on this, but in the early days he used to play lead. But then he said to me, "No, you take the solos. I'll just bang away back here." And what's more, he actually plays rhythms. He just doesn't make a noise; he works them out, and he knows when not to play".
AC/DC was/is Malcolm's band. It was his idea and he was the man with the plan. He started AC/DC with Angus because he felt like there was no real rock 'n roll out there. With that he set out to fix things and for the next 40+ years he continued on the path to bring rock 'n roll to the people. Singer Brian Johnson recently commented that Malcolm gave rock 'n roll "a fist".
I guess it's fitting that I attended my first AC/DC concert with my older brother. We saw them on the Powerage tour in 1978 with Cheap Trick opening. That concert still stands as one of my all time favorite concerts ever.....a game-changer. I was still in grade school and my brother was six years ahead of me but he always let his little brother tag along to all the cool concerts even though his peers would rag him pretty hard. My brother played guitar and was in a band, so he was an early inspiration on my future musical endeavors.
Nothing can really take the place of that brotherly connection, so reading what Angus said about Malcolm really hits home.
My first AC/DC show
Angus with Malcolm's 1963 Gretch guitar known as "The Beast".
Hearing AC/DC in 1978 was a real eye-opener. I had never heard anything like it. The guitar riffs were so big and crunchy and every song was instantly catchy and stuck in my brain. After hearing Powerage for the first time I began seeking out the bands back catalog that included several albums that I had no idea existed. Along with the records the band had released in the US, there were other records that were only released in Australia. I had to have them all, which took some time.
The release of Highway To Hell in 1979 took the band to whole new level and the band really started breaking worldwide. I got to see them again on this tour and I would say they had become my second favorite band just behind Kiss but if I'm being totally honest I probably played Highway To Hell way more than I did Kiss' Dynasty in 1979 and I love Dynasty.
Sadly in the dawn of the new decade while working on their follow up to Highway To Hell singer Bon Scott unexpectedly passed away. I was devastated at this news. I was even more devastated when it was announced that the band planned to continue on with a new singer, because I figured no one could replace Bon.
Back In Black was released on July 25th, 1980 with new singer Brain Johnson at the helm and the next chapter for AC/DC had started. At first listen I did not like hearing a new voice in the band but those big crunchy guitar riffs from Malcolm and Angus seemed to make it work. I guess it was then that I realized how important those guitars were to the sound of AC/DC. I did miss Bon and my interest in the band would drift with each record but the sound that the Young brothers created was undeniable and uniquely their own.
Malcolm will be missed and there will never be another quite like him but he has left behind forty years of big crunchy guitar riffs that will continue to shake foundations worldwide.
RIP Mal
Malcolm Young tribute in Melbourne Australia
Check out some of my favorite lesser known AC/DC songs below......
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps and Returning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.
A Picture of Robin Zander, Bun E Carlos and Bon Scott Drinking and Shooting Pool?
Why Isn't Cheap Trick in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? is playing two FREE shows this weekend. Click here for info.
Click here to purchase your very own, limited edition "Why Isn't Cheap Trick in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame?" T-Shirt to help the cause.
I ranked every single Cheap Trick song with links and videos. It takes five hours to finish. Call off work and then click here to see that.
Click here to hear me on Ken Mills' very cool Cheap Trick podcast discussing Why Isn't Cheap Trick in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
and.. #inductcheaptrick
Now, have your rock 'n' roll loving eye-holes got a load of this…..You are welcome. - Colin G.
How cool is that? The bands were very tight and big fans of one another. I think Robin just talked some trash.
Top Ten Rock Vocalists: Part One - by Wal Ozello
I'm sure this list will bring on comments-a-plenty, but I'm also sure to surprise you on the way.
Let me set the ground rules for my list. Only those with vocal talent are on it. These aren't front men. Don't expect to see David Lee Roth, Mick Jagger, or Bruce Springsteen on my list. Just because they can shake their ass, dance around, or have a shitload of stage presence doesn't mean they can actually sing. And just because they are an amazing songwriter like John Lennon or Billy Joel doesn't mean they have a voice that transcends the ages.
These singers use their voice as an instrument. They know how to sing a phrase, turn a note, and add color. They know when to rip out lyric with power or suddenly add that magical breathiness. Most importantly, they are distinctive and instantly recognizable. You hear them and you know it. A band without them is just a bunch of musicians.
My runners-up for this list were (in no consecutive order): Jim Morrison, Axl Rose, Don Henley, Grace Slick, James LaBrie from Dream Theatre, Dio, Geoff Tate from Queensryche, and David Gilmour from Pink Floyd.
#10: P!nk. And right out of the chute I'm sure to get people to say WHAT???? Yeah, I said it. P!nk. There's got to be a woman on this list and it's not going to be Janis Joplin with her whiskey voice. Remove the fact that P!nk's a pop sensation. She's got shitload of talent, blues, power, range, and dynamic. She can cross many genres and pull all of them off. Yeah, she's known for her pop and I can't blame her for wanting the fame and fortune and everything that goes with it. You still think I'm crazy? Listen to her rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow at the Oscars. Sure, it's not rock... but it's bluesy as all hell.
#9 Eddie Vedder Eddie's voice reminds me of a string double bass that strums around in the lower range and every now and then works down the neck to surprise you with a higher note. He's able to bring emotion to a phrase without overdoing it - which is something most singers can't do. Listen to the opening notes of his song Release. At first, you'll mistake them for a low end note of a synthesizer.
#8 Roy Orbison I got to reach back to good ol' days of rock n' roll for at least one singer on my list. It's not going to be Elvis. It's not going to be one of The Beatles, either. Roy has an amazing voice and complete control of it. He has range like none other and that soft, gentle voice that makes you think everything is going to be okay. I fell in love with this song during my Blue Velvet days. Cue the candy colored clown they call the sandman.
#7 Bon Scott This guy is like an angry Bob Dylan with a range - sometimes you can't understand a word he's saying but that gravely bluesy angry voice makes you want to f'n rock. There's raw power in his voice but don't be fooled. He's not your ordinary angry hard rocker. The guy knows how to sing like a growling tenor saxophonist in a dive bar on Bourbon Street. Listen to the phrasing and rhythmic melodies he creates, entwining the lyrics in between the drum beats.
#6 Geddy Lee from Rush. Geddy doesn't have the panache like most of the singers on my list and ends up on more "best bassists" than vocalists lists. But after personally singing his stuff over the past 20 years of my life, I can attest that it's extremely challenging. Just try hitting the high notes in Temple of Syrinx or the baritone notes of Trees. Geddy makes it all look effortless while he's playing the most complicated bass licks and keyboard parts. There's a certain beauty and awe about his melodies - they are a bit odd and different but that adds to the magic that is Rush. Here's one of my favorites.
Check out Part Two - Vocalists #5 through #2
Wal Ozello is the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars and was the lead singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.
Learn more about Wal Ozello and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here
In 1979 Ricki C. Had Lunch With AC/DC. No, really, seriously.......
(apropos of last week's Bruce Springsteen "Highway To Hell" video-grab, we at pencilstorm thought we would run Ricki C.'s close encounter with Bon Scott & the boys in AC/DC, which originally ran in Growing Old With Rock & Roll back in April, 2012.)
In June of 1979 I was working in the warehouse of a K-Mart discount store on the West Side of Columbus, Ohio, and writing for a rock weekly called Focus. My one and only cover story for the magazine came when they sent me to interview Bon Scott of AC/DC at a downtown hotel and then cover their concert that night. (Said cover story is reproduced below.) My boss at K-Mart, Mike Mills (not the later bass player of REM), gave me an extra-long lunch break to go downtown for the interview, which was scheduled for 11 am. I thought that was an unusually early call for a rocker like Bon Scott, and I was proved correct. A few minutes before noon Bon staggered into the Holiday Inn conference room I had been ensconced in by an Atlantic Records publicity woman. She had run out of excuses for Bon’s tardiness about a half-hour earlier and had left me to my own devices.
Bon was great. He was already drunk at 11:55 in the morning, introduced himself and we got right down to the business at hand. By my third question – "Have you ever had an orgasm onstage?" – I think Scott had realized that this wasn’t going to be a pro forma interview. He grabbed my notebook away from me and demanded, "What else you gonna ask me then, if I ever fucked me mudder?" By 1 pm when the Atlantic Records woman came in to call a halt to the proceedings Bon and I were laughing along like old friends. I got him to autograph my baseball glove (I was big into softball from my 20’s to my 40’s) and then had to explain the entire concept of the sport to Bon, which he claimed never ever to have been aware of. "Sounds stoopid," was his one-word estimation of America’s pastime, "doesn’t anybody ever get punched in the mouth like in rugby?"
Publicity woman said, "We’ve got to go now, Bon, lunch is ready." We shook hands as I stood up to leave and Bon said, "Where do ya go now?" I told him I had to go back to the store where I worked. "’Ave you had lunch, then?" he asked. "No, I’ll have something at work," I replied. "Well, stay and ‘ave lunch with us," Bon said. "He’s not having lunch with us, Bon," the Atlantic Records lady cut in. "Do you wanna stay and ‘ave lunch?" Bon reiterated. "Yeah, I’d love to," I said. Ms. Atlantic was now staring daggers at me, she was totally pissed at my lack of professionalism, but my only thought was that I was going to get a much better lunch out of this deal than the K-Mart cafeteria had to offer.
At lunch I was seated across from Angus and Malcolm Young, all the way at the other end of the table from Bon. I think that was my punishment from the publicity woman for cadging my way into the meal. They had cordoned off a corner of the dining room for the band because back in the day you had to have a coat & tie to eat in the dining room of the Downtown Holiday Inn. (The hotel is still there, it’s the one right across the street from the Greyhound Bus Station. I’d be willing to bet that you don’t have to have a coat & tie to eat there anymore. And I also bet that nowadays you just might be able to get crack from room service, or at least from a bellhop.)
Angus and Malcolm never said a word to me. And I soon discovered that Angus couldn’t order his own meal. I just sat and stared as he perused the large, leather-bound Holiday Inn menu, then turned to his older brother Malcolm and slurred, "WhasshouldI’ave, Malcolm?" "Have whatever you want, Angus." came the curt reply. Malcolm didn’t even look from his own menu to answer his little brother.
Angus returned to looking intently at his menu, narrowing his eyes and hunkering down to make it abundantly clear he was really giving it his utmost consideration. "ShouldI’avebreakfussorlunch, Malcolm?" It was a plaintive question from the notoriously fierce little lead guitarist. "Have whatever you want, Angus!" was the testy, shot-back reply from Elder Sibling.
In the end, of course, Malcolm wound up ordering Angus’ meal for him. Just as inevitably, when the food arrived, Angus took one quick look at his plate, one longing look at his brother’s dish, and asked sheepishly, "Can I have some of your food, Malcolm?" Malcolm never replied, completely ignored his little brother, and the two never exchanged another word for the rest of the meal. There would be no sharing. It was genuinely sad to watch Angus pick at his food in that swank hotel dining room. He couldn’t have eaten more than four bites.
That was my first glimpse into the bubble that rock stars exist inside of on big-time rock & roll tours. To this day I don’t know whether Angus Young just couldn’t decide what he wanted to eat that afternoon or if he literally COULD NOT READ the menu. At any rate, the editors at Focus took out virtually all of my lunch story, as they thought it would piss off Atlantic Records if I implied in print that Angus Young was illiterate. (I had already caused RCA Records to pull all of their advertising for two entire issues when I suggested that Canadian metal-clowns Triumph "wouldn’t know rock & roll if it fucked them in a closet," in a derogatory live review earlier that year.) They also changed Bon Scott from already drunk at noon to hung-over.
Eight months later, February 19th, 1980, Bon Scott was dead from some combination of alcohol poisoning, aspiration of vomit or hypothermia, depending on which magazine you read and who you believe. At any rate, massive amounts of alcohol were involved. When I heard about it I thought back to that June afternoon. Bon Scott was the happiest pre-noon drunk guy I had ever or have yet ever encountered. Some rock stars just are not supposed to get old. Would I enjoy watching a 65 year old Keith Moon embarrass himself on some endless Who-reunion tour in 2012? Nope. Do I wish Pete Townshend had lived up to his hope and died before he got old? Sometimes.
Bon Scott, salut.
