Angus Young defends never changing AC/DC’s sound: “This is what we do best – we make rock and roll”

AC/DC guitarist Angus Young has spoken out about the band’s approach to their signature sound – which has remained largely the same throughout their career.

Speaking to Waleed Aly of Australian TV show The Project, Young addressed the band’s unchanging sound. “With us, it’s to be expected,” he said. “As my brother [the late Malcolm Young] used to say, when somebody said, ‘every album you‘ve ever made sounds the same,’ he‘d said, ‘Yeah. It’s the same band.’”

“When we started, we weren’t reinventing the wheel,” Angus added. “This is what we do best – we make rock and roll.” It’s a wheel that clearly didn’t need reinventing – PWR UP, the band’s latest record, has shot to the top of numerous album charts – and landed amongst generally positive reviews.

AC/DC’s refusal to reinvent themselves is perhaps the most divisive thing about them. A negative review of an AC/DC record is just as likely to cite sonic similarity as a positive review is. For example, Kitty Empire’s Guardian review of PWR UP notes, praisingly, that “If deja vu is a familiar sensation with AC/DC, few outfits have managed to eke so much variety out of so few constituent parts,” calling the band “these stalwarts of reductio ad absurdum.”

Regardless of the reception of critics, however, it’s hard to argue with a formula that’s seen the band’s comeback record hit the Number One spot in 18 countries, and be celebrated by fans. And, given Angus’ thoughts on the matter, it’s unlikely they’ll change their approach for album number 18.

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