Angus Young has named his least favourite AC/DC song. Asked by Vulture Magazine to name the song from the band's 193-track catalogue he regrets the most, the guitarist plumped for the band's one and only ballad.
"On our first album, High Voltage, we did a love song called Love Song," says Young. "That was very different for us. I didn’t know if we were trying to parody love songs of the time, because Bon [Scott] wrote the lyrics. I don’t even remember what the words are.
"I remember that song because the guy who worked for us at our record label told us that’s what was on the local radio at the time – very soft music. His thought we should release that song, because it’ll probably get some airplay. I remember thinking, 'Who in their right mind would want this to go out?'"
It all ended well, however. "We were very fortunate, though, because all of the radio stations who had seen us live knew this was not who we were," adds Young. "So these stations started to flip the record over and play the other song, which was a cover of a blues standard called Baby, Please Don’t Go. We actually scored a hit from the B-side! That was the one saving grace of the song."
When Classic Rock ranked all of Bon Scott's AC/DC output, we placed Love Song at number 56 out of a possible 57 songs, underperformed only by the band's novelty instrumental Fling Thing, a risible version of the Scottish standard The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond. Fling Thing probably sounded amazing at the Glasgow Apollo in 1978, but almost certainly qualifies as torture under any other circumstances.
Meanwhile, speaking to writer Paul Elliott in an exclusive interview in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, Young suggested that Power Up, the veteran group’s seventeenth studio album, might not be their swan-song.
‘Who knows?’ says Young. ‘But I can tell you, there’s still plenty of ideas and stuff. As soon as I’m finished with an album, I start looking for the next song.”
The new issue of Classic Rock also features The Struts, UFO, Metallica and Keith Richards, plus the ultimate guide to the year in rock. It is on sale now.
