March 31, 2011 Posted by acdczone in News

Happy Birthday Angus Young!

Happy Birthday Angus McKinnon Young. Born March 31st 1955, turns 56 today. An Australian musician who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Angus is also the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of AC/DC.

Angus was inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is recognized for his energetic performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and duck walking.

The youngest of eight children of father William and mother Margaret Young, Angus moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia in 1963 with older brothers Malcolm and George, who also became musicians, and their older sister Margaret. Older brother Alex, also a musician, remained in the UK.

Although Angus first started playing using banjos, restrung with 6 strings, he soon moved on to playing the guitar. His mother is credited with buying him his first guitar, an inexpensive acoustic model, which was bought second-hand.

It wasn’t until Angus was around 15 that he acquired his first Gibson SG, which was also purchased second-hand from a music store near his home in Sydney.

"I got out and got a Gibson SG that I played until it got wood rot because so much sweat and water got into it. The whole neck warped. I bought it second-hand, it was about a '67. It had a real thin neck, really slim, like a Custom neck. It was dark brown."

Although Angus tried a number of stage costumes including Spider-Man, Zorro, a gorilla, and a parody of Superman, named Super-Ang, he finally settled on his signature schoolboy outfit.

Angus married his Dutch wife, Ellen, in 1980 just before Bon Scott died at 33 following a night of heavy drinking in London. Although a smoker, Angus is well-known for being a teetotaler.

Angus is also well-known for his on-stage striptease act and for the use of his fingers to produce the appearance of devil horns.

Angus Young – We salute you!

Quotes:

I'm sick to death of people saying we've made 11 albums that sounds exactly the same. In fact, we've made 12 albums that sound exactly the same

Oh, we've had our share of hotels bein' smashed and all, but that was a long time ago. You get lousy room service... I mean, there's no use throwin' a TV set out the window for the sake of throwin' a TV set out the window. But if you get a lousy picture then you have an excuse

In those days girls were only interested in...well, not us

Style, I didn't think we had any! I just plug in and hit the thing really hard. That's my style...or lack of one!

Once you're on stage you can't go back, even when things go wrong people expect you to stay there and entertain them. When all else fails, you've got to try tap dancing

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Tags: Angus Young, Birthday
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