Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: ACDC

  • Friday on My Mind The life of George Young

    Friday on My Mind The life of George Young

    In the early 1960’s the Australian music scene was booming with bands such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs,  Ray Brown and the Whispers, rocker Johnny O’Keefe  was belting out the sounds, Elvis Presley was considered as King, the Beatles were arriving and the Rolling Stones were not too far away.

    The main problem was the bands making the headlines were all doing it with covers, all-be-it rather well, there was nothing original in the sounds coming out of Australia. A terrific sound with a captivating beat was coming out of Britain and given the overarching title of Mersey Beat.

    George Young, a recent immigrant to Australia, a member of the Young family from Glasgow, and resident of the Villawood Migrant Hostel was beginning to believe that he and his mates could come up with a better sound and original pieces. He, his sister Margaret, brother Malcolm and friend Brian Lee attended The Beatles concert held at the Sydney Stadium on 18 June, 1964; in among more than 70,000 screaming fans George realised they had the beat and the ‘chops’, but most importantly their work was all original!

    This concert was the true formation of big name bands, the Easybeats, AC/DC and Flash and the Pan. George was to go on to be a founding member of The Easybeats, formed in 1964 that became the most important rock act in Australia for the next six years, rivaled only for top spot by The Beatles. When the Easybeats broke-up a new ‘rock and roll’ sound was beckoning, leading to George, Malcolm and Angus forming AC/DC and the rest is rock history.

    Jeff Apter in Friday on my Mind has gathered together the life and times of George Young, a man who for almost all of his life, managed to keep a relatively low profile as far as his fame, occasionally infamy and private life was concerned. Known for his direct approach to people, business and his music he was the steadying hand behind the Easybeats early years, then AC/DC from 1973 for almost the entirety of their years of fame. His songs penned with Harry Vanda, long-time friend and band member, a saw the pair rise to a level of fame seldom rivalled in the music industry.

    George Young and Harry Vanda met and became firm friends at the Villawood Migrant Hostel neither ever envisaging they would spend their adult lives working together and playing in high profile bands.  Between them, the pair would chalk up a songbook which is considered as Royalty in the music world, writing and producing for John Paul Young, Ted Mulry, Stevie Wright, AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, Cheetah and many, many more.

    Jeff Apter has the wonderful ability to bring the characters alive on the pages, returning to the heady days of the 1960’s in the Australian Music Scene, the heartbreak of trying to break into the very tight British and US music scenes, felt and experienced by so many top Australian bands and singers during the 1960’s and ‘70’s, the heady days of wild success that led to destruction and for so many early deaths.

    George Young remained a private man, deeply involved with his family until his death in 2017 in Singapore, where he had lived for some years.  His legacy will live on, his music a tribute to the many that came, saw, believed and became devoted fans. He and Vanda, along with Malcolm and Angus took music to new frontiers and because of his and their faith in Music a new beat was born that still influences music today.

    Certainly can’t do better than that!

  • Malcolm Young The man who made AC/DC

    Malcolm Young The man who made AC/DC

    Jeff Apter has written a heartfelt tribute to Malcolm Young who, but for his sheer determination and brilliant ability on lead guitar, would have been just like any other young kid in the 1960’s who could play a guitar; having a heap of fun, but destined for another career.

    Malcolm Young, like many others began his life in Australia as an immigrant living at the Villawood Migrant Hostel; not the best place to be in Australia, but a place that was to prove a breeding ground for groups such as the Easybeats, and then the legendary song writing team of George Young, (Malcolm’s brother) and Harry Vanda.

    Growing up as the youngest child of eight, he was surrounded by music and somehow absorbed the ability to play the guitar well. The beat of the 1960’s was forming and when The Beatles toured Australia, Malcolm, George and sister Margaret where amongst the crowd at the Sydney Stadium to see them play. Malcolm was fascinated with the guitar skills of Lennon and Harrison.

    That day out was to change both George and Malcolm’s destiny’s, setting them on a pathway to the very top of their chosen professions, that of rock musicians and song writers.

    Malcolm was the driving force behind the formation of AC/DC, a name his sister Margaret saw on her sewing machine. Malcolm, as were his family, was so naïve it was sometime before the connotation of the name was made clear to him, but in the early days it helped the fledgling band get a number of gigs. As Malcolm and Angus were often wont to say, ‘we don’t play, we don’t eat’, which saw them travelling all over Australia to play for anyone who would hire them.

    The ethics imbedded in the Young family came from their parents working class background in Glasgow and stood them in good stead throughout the early years; the years they were trying to break into the US and British Rock scene and were ethics Malcolm stuck to all of his life.

    AC/DC struggled to form a solid sound until Bonn Scott joined forces with them in October 1974 and the rest is rock history. The band eventually found their place in the developing sound of the 1970’s rising to the very top of their profession, a place which was to hold for 40 years, and see them performing with Malcolm’s hero’s The Rolling Stones a number of times over later years.

    Known as the quiet one in the group, the discerning realised from the beginning the person who was AC/DC was Malcolm, a shrewd, capable and determined man, who was committed 100% to the band, the family and the sound. Anyone who thought otherwise soon found out to their detriment.

    Fighting his own personal demons, struggling with alcoholism and drug use, he still set the standard for the band which helped them survive the many shifting musical trends over their long and often scandalous careers.

    Malcolm Young passed away on 17 November 2017, only a month after the death of his brother George (22 October 2017), after a long battle with dementia. He was 64. In those years he set the standard high for rock, he created a juggernaut that will live on for many generations to come, keeping the sound and commitment to Rock alive.

    Angus is now the only member of the family in the much-reformed AC/DC, although Malcolm’s son Ross, who stood in on their last concert, while not quite as good as his father, is considered as almost as good. It is yet to be seen if there is anymore music to be made.

    But in the meantime, the world will keep on rocking to Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, T.N.T, Highway To Hell, Back in Black, and Fly on the Wall to name a just a few.

    Vale Malcolm Mitchell Young 6 January 1953 – 17 November 2017.