Malcolm Young was born on January 6,
1953 in Glasgow, Scotland. Malcolm is the sixth child of the Young
Family. He was ten when his family moved from Scotland to settle in
Sydney, Australia. Upon arriving in Australia, Malcolm wasted little
time in earning a reputation as a schoolyard brawler. He left school as
soon as he could and found employment as a machine
maintenance engineer for a bra company.
Malcolm picked up the guitar while he was still at school. He graduated
quickly from acoustic to electric and picked up tips from his older
brother
George whenever the Easybeats
returned from a tour. The salary from his work allowed Malcolm
to buy more professional guitars.
Eventually Malcolm put a few small bands together. During 1971
he joined up with Australia's Velvet Underground. The Velvet
Underground went through a number of line-up changes during
their brief career but never made a lasting impact.
During 1973 George Young, along with his partner Harry Vanda,
were working on an album under the name of the Marcus Hook Roll
Band at Albert Studios. The project had begun in London as a
casual, tongue-in-cheek diversion but took on a more serious
aura after EMI's American division expressed interest in a full
album. In the process, George and Harry recruited Malcolm and
Angus as supporting players. That was the first thing Malcolm
and Angus did before AC/DC.
The Marcus Hook Roll Band project had had a profound effect on
Malcolm, who decided that the standard process of overdubbing
tracks one by one went against his idea of how rock 'n' roll ought
to be made. He decided that his band would never record in this
mannor.
When the Velvet Underground fell apart Malcolm was determined to
put together a new band. At first this was to be a one-guitar
band, with a keyboard player being drafted to fill out the
sound. But a sudden change of heart on Malcolm's part led to his
decision to get in a second guitarist to play alongside with
him. He turned to his brother Angus. Malcolm's new band called
AC/DC rehearsed energetically, playing cover versions. The
band's first gig took place in the Chequers Club in Sydney on
December 31, 1973.
