Shock to the System: How AC/DC Plugged In!​

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It’s 1973 in Sydney, Australia. Glam rock rules the UK charts, Led Zeppelin dominates arenas, and the Rolling Stones are living large. But two Scottish immigrants, Malcolm and Angus Young, think rock and roll has lost its raw spark. Malcolm, the older brother, was the quiet strategist on rhythm guitar, a master of tight, driving riffs. Angus, five years younger and still a teenager, was the firecracker lead guitarist who’d soon become famous for duckwalking across stages in a schoolboy uniform. The Young family knew a thing or two about rock and roll dreams. Their older brother, George Young, had already found fame with The Easybeats (best known for Friday on My Mind). When Malcolm asked George for advice, he didn’t just offer tips, he helped produce AC/DC’s early records with his Easybeats bandmate Harry Vanda, giving the fledgling band a foot in the studio door.

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The name “AC/DC” came courtesy of their sister Margaret, who spotted it on her sewing machine, meaning “alternating current/direct current.” It summed up their electric sound and relentless energy. Margaret also suggested Angus wear his old school uniform on stage; it stuck, becoming one of rock’s most iconic images. The early lineup shifted often. Their first singer, Dave Evans, had the look but not the grit. Enter Bon Scott, a Scottish-born singer with a wild glint in his eye, a raspy howl, and the reckless spirit the Young brothers needed. Bon had knocked around the Australian music scene for years, singing, drumming, even driving trucks. His swagger and humor brought AC/DC’s songs to life, a perfect match for their punchy, blues-based rock. Before they filled arenas, AC/DC paid their dues in the rough-and-tumble Aussie pub circuit. These gigs were rowdy affairs: sticky floors, flying bottles, and a crowd that demanded maximum volume. Malcolm’s tight riffs and Angus’s frantic solos, plus Bon’s bawdy banter, turned them into legends of the local scene.

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Their early Aussie albums, High Voltage (1975) and T.N.T. (1975), were hard, raw, and refreshingly simple. When High Voltage was repackaged for international release in 1976, it gave the wider world a taste of what was brewing down under. With songs like “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll)” (complete with bagpipes!) and “T.N.T.,” they announced they were here to blow the doors off stadiums. The rest, of course, is history: Bon Scott’s tragic death in 1980, Brian Johnson’s arrival, Back in Black becoming one of the best-selling albums ever, but it all started with two brothers, a borrowed amplifier, a few power chords, and a name lifted off a sewing machine. Fifty years later, AC/DC’s plug is still in the socket proof that when you keep it loud, raw, and real, rock and roll never runs out of current.