Malcolm Young

Malcolm Mitchell Young (born January 6 1953 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a founding member and rhythm guitarist for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Though his younger brother Angus is the more visible of the brothers, Malcolm has been described as the business brains behind AC/DC. As the second guitarist, he is responsible for the broad sweep of AC/DC's sound and he is co-writer of much of the material. But behind the scenes his word is said to be "law" on such matters as organising when and where the band go on tour, when to make an album, a film soundtrack, or meet the media.

Before AC/DC

Influenced by 1950s rock and roll, and blues based rock guitarists of the 1960s and 1970s, he is regarded as a leading rock exponent of rhythm guitar. His economic playing, his 'groove' and his riff-based compositions have been highly influential on subsequent hard rock and heavy metal music acts.

Malcolm Young picked up the guitar while he was still in school. He graduated quickly from acoustic to electric and picked up tips from his older brother George whenever The Easybeats returned from a tour. Malcolm left school as soon as he could and found gainful employment. He worked as a machine maintenance engineer for a bra company. Malcolm and Angus founded AC/DC in 1973. Malcolm was 20 and Angus was 18.

Malcolm married O'Linda early on in his career and lives most of the year in the UK returning to his East Balmain, Sydney home "Oncaparinga" nearly every Christmas. He is a devoted father of a daughter and son.

Equipment

Malcolm plays a 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird guitar (originally red) with the neck and middle pickups removed - for a short time he placed socks in the pickup cavity to stop it from feeding back. Originally he kept a white piece of plastic on it to cover the pickup cavities. During the "Let There Be Rock" era, he stripped the paint to the bare maple top. During the Powerage era, he removed the plastic and stuffed socks in the pickup cavities as above. He also changed the bridge from a stock Gretsch trapese tail-piece to an all-in-one Badass bridge, and put a black piece of plastic over the cavity where the original tail-piece was. During the Highway to Hell era, he removed the socks. The guitar stayed like this until 1995, when during the Ballbreaker tour he replaced the Badass bridge with the original tailpiece, removed the pickup ring that held in the bridge pickup and direct mounted the pickup to the body. This is how the guitar has been since then.

During this time Malcolm got an endorsement deal with Gretsch to produce a signature model based on his original guitar. Gretsch now makes Malcolm Young signature model guitars in single and dual pickup configurations.

He also used to have a 1959 Gretsch White Falcon that was used during the Back In Black and For Those About To Rock tours, but he said that after someone "fixed" it, it lost the sound he liked it for and he got rid of it. It was sold at a rock star items website a few years ago along with one of Cliff Williams's MusicMan bass guitars.

Angus and Malcolm both use Marshall amplification. The boys like the older ones. Angus' main amp is an old JTM45 which he uses both live and in the studio. When Angus plays live, he runs this through an isolation speaker box that sits under the stage that feeds directly into the PA system. When Angus wants a thicker lead sound he'll use a 100 watt amp. The amps stacked behind Angus and Malcolm on stage are '59 SLP 100 watt heads (reissues to the oringinal Super Lead Plexi) Each head powers two 4 x 12 cabs. Malcolm is also using WIZARD amps on tour. They are custom made.

Contributions And Accomplishments

Malcolm has written most of AC/DC's songs in collaboration with Angus and AC/DC vocalists Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.

Though Angus is billed as AC/DC's lead guitarist, Malcolm played lead on several early AC/DC songs, including "Soul Stripper", "Show Business", "You Ain't Got A Hold On Me", and "Can I Sit Next to You Girl".

Malcolm missed the band's 1988 tour because he was trying to rid himself of a drinking habit, not wanting to meet a demise similar to that of Bon Scott. It was publicly (and truthfully) announced that he was tending to his sick son. He won the battle with his drinking problem and returned to the band. During this tour he was replaced by his and Angus's nephew, Stevie (most fans could not tell Malcolm had been replaced, however, as Stevie bears a striking resemblance to Malcolm).

In May 2003, Malcolm Young accepted the "Ted Albert Award For Outstanding Service To Australian Music" and paid special tribute to Bon Scott.

Malcolm Young is listed in Who's Who In Australia for 2004-2005.