httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omtGwwsk8rI
“T’s very few rock & roll bands,” Malcolm Young explained to a Dutch TV interviewer around the time of AC/DC’s 2000 album Stiff Upper Lip.
“T’s rock bands, t’s sort of metal bands, t’s whatever, but t’s no rock & roll bands – t’s the Stones and us,” he chuckled.
When asked by the interviewer to explain the difference between rock bands and rock & roll bands, he replied, “Rock bands don’t really swing … a lot of rock is stiff. They don’t understand the feel, the movement, you know, the jungle of it all.”
Few rock & rollers have ever understood “The jungle of it all” like Malcolm Young, and fewer still have ever been as single-mindedly devoted to its perpetuation.
Such relative anonymity was perfectly fine with Malcolm, who was usually happy to let Angus, Bon or Brian handle band interviews.
Malcolm had clearly internalized the lessons he’d learned at the knee of older brother George Young, who’d taken on a similarly low-key role as guitarist, songwriter and producer with legendary 1960s Australian hitmakers the Easybeats, and who – in partnership with Easybeats guitarist Harry Vanda – had already become a successful producer of other acts by the time Malcolm and Angus formed AC/DC. Like George, Malcolm was never content with just a gut-punching riff, a swinging groove and a catchy chorus; everything had to be primed for maximum sonic impact, as well.
While the band’s management and record company pressured them to find a new singer, Malcolm was adamant that he and Angus direct their energies into finishing the songs that would eventually become the Back in Black album.