AC/DC guitarist Angus Young once offered his thoughts on Eric Clapton – and they weren’t particularly flattering.
The hard rock guru has scored international fame, rocking stadiums across the globe. The heart and soul of the Australian band, he’s the perennial naughty schoolboy in rock’s assembly hall, upsetting those around him.
Back in 1986, Angus Young sat down with Guitar World, and waxed lyrical about his influences. The Scottish-born guitarist enthused about rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Chuck Berry, his singular sound and the impact it has had on his own work.
Comparing Chuck Berry to Eric Clapton, it turns out Angus Young doesn’t hold the blues rock god in particularly high esteem. He said that Berry is “a lot better than Clapton will ever be” and never saw “what the big fuss” was about the former Cream man.
Expanding on this, Angus Young said: “Chuck Berry was never a caring person. He didn’t care whether he was playing his tune, out of tune, or someone else’s tune. Whenever he plays guitar, he has a big grin from ear to ear. Everyone always used to rave about Clapton when I was growing up, saying he was a guitar genius and stuff like that. Well, even on a bad night, Chuck Berry is a lot better than Clapton will ever be.”
Citing Clapton’s habit of mimicking his own blues heroes, Angus Young concluded: “Clapton just sticks licks together that he has taken from other people—like B.B. King and the other old blues players—and puts them together in some mish-mashed fashion. The only great album her ever made was the Blues Breaker album he did with John Mayall, and maybe a couple of good songs he did with Cream. The guy more or less built his reputation on that. I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with.”
So there we have it. AC/DC’s most recent studio album ‘Power Up’ landed in 2020; singer Brian Johnson recently appeared onstage with Sam Fender at Newcastle’s St James Park.
