Angus Young

Young tried a number of stage costumes, such as Spider-Man, Zorro, a gorilla, and a parody of Superman, named Super-Ang, before settling on his signature schoolboy look at the suggestion of his sister. To match this image the press and public were told that Young was born in 1959, not 1955. The original uniform was created by his sister Margaret and when it fell apart from wear and tear, he used his uniform from Ashfield Boys High School in Sydney.

Young was 18 when he and older brother Malcolm formed AC/DC in 1973. Angus was on lead guitar, Malcolm on rhythm guitar, Colin Burgess on drums, Larry Van Kriedt on bass guitar and Dave Evans on vocals. "Can I Sit Next To You Girl," their first single, was later re-recorded with Bon Scott as their vocalist. They decided upon the name AC/DC, suggested by their sister Margaret, who saw the letters "AC/DC" on the back of her sewing machine.

AC/DC released their debut album, High Voltage, on 17 February 1975. Over the next three years AC/DC cemented themselves as a popular hard rock act, especially in Australia, with the follow-up albums, T.N.T., Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock and Powerage. All their albums until this point were produced by Young's brother George in partnership with Harry Vanda. Their 1979 studio album, Highway to Hell, became their best-selling at the time and launched them to new heights of fame.

Young's playing style is influenced by straight blues playing in both the minor and major pentatonic twelve bar blues-type progressions. In AC/DC's earlier recordings, power chords can be heard in songs such as "T.N.T." and "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)". He also utilises touches of Scottish folk in his playing, and pull-off arpeggios (pull-offs played one-handed) are a popular trick, appearing in songs such as "Who Made Who", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Sin City", and live renditions of "Let There Be Rock". In 1976, the band recorded an instrumental arrangement of the Scottish traditional song "Loch Lomond", retitled "Fling Thing", which has appeared in their stage act over the years. The title refers to the Highland Fling. Young occasionally provides backing vocals along with Malcolm on songs such as "T.N.T." and "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap".

Young mainly uses Marshall 1959 100 watt Super Lead Plexi heads and model 1960 AX and BX 4x12 cabinets with Celestion G12-65 speakers. Later amplifiers included Marshall JMP 2203 and most recently, Wizard Amplifiers. Early wireless systems, the Schaffer-Vega Diversity System that he would begin using in 1977, was also used as a compressor and a booster in his signal to "fatten up" his tone. Ever since adding it to his rig, it was used on several albums in the studio for chosen rhythm guitar tracks and all lead guitar tracks. Beginning with Rock or Bust, due to the discontinuation of the Schaffer system, Young began using a replica of the unit's preamp with a commercial wireless unit from Shure. Contrary to popular belief, Angus and Malcolm have both stated in guitar enthusiast magazine interviews that very little pre-gain, if any, is used on the amps and the distortion comes from simply using a heavier right-hand attack on the strings.

However, their 1990 studio album, The Razors Edge, brought them back into the spotlight, reaching 5x multi-platinum in the US alone and selling between 10 and 12 million copies worldwide. Over the next 10 years AC/DC released two other studio albums, Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip, which confirmed their renewed popularity and success. After a lengthy eight-year hiatus, AC/DC returned with a new studio album, Black Ice. Black Ice debuted at number 1 in 29 countries and was certified multi-platinum in 14 of those, becoming one of their most successful albums worldwide, and was followed by a hugely successful world tour. In 2010, AC/DC released an album of songs used for the Iron Man 2 soundtrack they had put together; this reached number one in many countries around the world, including the UK, and number four in the US. Malcolm Young confirmed in 2011 that AC/DC were working on a 16th studio album.

In 2003, AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame and the following year they were ranked number 72 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 greatest artists of all time." VH1 ranked them number 23 on their list of the "100 greatest artists of all time" and number 4 in their list of the "100 greatest artists of hard rock."

On 24 August 2006, Young received Kerrang! magazine's Legend Award from the editor, Paul Brannigan, who called AC/DC "one of the most important and influential rock bands in history". On 16 May 2012, he was named the "Best Australian Guitarist of All Time" in a poll conducted by Australian Guitar Magazine.

Young has used Gibson SGs in various forms (his original, and the basis for his current signature model, was a 1968 - '70 SG Standard) throughout his career. He also used a modified version of the SG called the Jaydee SG, which was made custom for Young by Jaydee guitars. At least two of his SGs (whether modified Gibson product or ground-up construction) circa 1977 and the Paris "Let There Be Rock" tapings featured on-board wireless going to his amplifiers, the circuitry installed in a cavity routed into the back of the body. This practice was discontinued due to the potential for electrical shorts due to sweat, and at least one of these guitars would be repaired and used for the Rock or Bust tour. The Jaydee SG featured signature lightning bolt inlays on the fretboard. Gibson made a custom SG for Young with lightning bolt inlays to replace the Jaydee SG. Young's '68 - '70 SG has T Top pick-ups. Another 1964 SG that he used on the recording of Ballbreaker, has patent # pick-ups. All of these are vintage-output Alnico II or V pick-ups with matched coils typically reading 7.5k ohm. Beginning in 2009, Young started fitting Seymour Duncan humbuckers to all of his touring guitars. He uses Ernie Ball Super Slinky guitar strings (.009-.042) and Fender "Extra Heavy" picks.

In April 2014 Malcolm Young was forced to leave the band due to ill health, leaving Angus the last consistent member of the band. In May it was revealed that Stevie Young, Malcolm and Angus's nephew, would stand in for his uncle to record AC/DC's latest record. In September Malcolm officially retired and Stevie was made AC/DC's official full-time rhythm guitarist. AC/DC released Rock or Bust in the fall of 2014. In March 2016, after the departure of both Malcolm Young and drummer Phil Rudd, AC/DC was set back with yet another departure; long time lead singer Brian Johnson was ordered by doctors to stop performing or face total hearing loss. Angus, determined to finish what the band started, recruited Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose to stand in for Johnson for the remainder of the Rock or Bust World Tour. On September 30, 2020, the band's official Twitter account announced the pending release of a new album titled "PWRUP," with the lineup of Angus Young, Stevie Young, Brian Johnson, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd.