For more than four decades, AC/DC has stood as one of rock music’s most powerful forces. With thunderous riffs, electrifying stage shows, and stadium tours worth tens of millions of dollars, the band has built a legacy few can match. But behind the explosive energy and massive success lies a story of deep personal loss that guitarist Angus Young still carries with him today.
In a candid interview about the band’s current touring era, Angus revealed that there are several songs from AC/DC’s early catalog that he now refuses to perform live. This decision surprised some fans, especially during a modern tour production worth more than $40 million, where audiences often expect to hear classic tracks.
For Angus, however, the choice isn’t about setlist strategy—it’s about memory.
The songs in question are from the era when AC/DC was fronted by their original lead singer, Bon Scott. In the late 1970s, Scott’s raw voice and rebellious energy helped define the band. Albums like Highway to Hell captured the hunger and determination of a band on the rise, fighting to break into the global rock scene.
Those years were intense, with the band living together, touring relentlessly, and pouring their experiences directly into their music. Many of the riffs and lyrics now considered legendary were written during nights spent in cramped rehearsal spaces or modest apartments while the band struggled to establish themselves in London and across Europe.
For Angus, those songs are more than just early hits.
“They were conversations,” he explained. Each riff and lyric brings back memories of a time when the band was still chasing a dream, unaware of the massive success they would eventually achieve.
Bon Scott’s tragic death in February 1980 at the age of 33 changed everything. He passed away just as AC/DC was on the brink of superstardom. The remaining members faced a difficult decision about whether to continue, but ultimately, they chose to move forward, bringing Brian Johnson in as the new lead singer. The result was Back in Black, one of the best-selling albums in music history, which cemented AC/DC’s place among rock’s greatest acts.
Despite their massive success, the memory of those early years and the loss of their friend never faded for Angus. He admitted that performing certain songs from the Bon Scott era can be emotionally overwhelming. These songs remind him of a time when the band was young, hungry, and united by a dream that Scott never lived long enough to see realized.
While fans often request these songs during concerts, Angus has chosen to leave some of them off the setlist entirely. For him, the emotional connection is too personal to be recreated in a massive stadium, surrounded by fireworks, giant screens, and roaring crowds.
“It takes me right back there,” he said, speaking of the emotional weight of those songs.
This decision reveals a side of AC/DC rarely seen behind the thunderous guitars and explosive performances. Beneath the global success and decades of iconic hits, there is a deep bond formed long before the band became rock legends.
For Angus Young, the music he created with Bon Scott represents the final echoes of a friendship that shaped their path. And sometimes, the most powerful way to honor those memories is not by playing the song again—but by letting it remain exactly where it was written: in a moment that can never truly be recreated.
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