Great rock and roll needs no explanation; it hits you so squarely in the chest that you start feeling good long before your brain has had time to figure out what happened. AC/DC know this. For 16 years they've been making powerful, masterful rock and roll – without pretense, self-analysis, or the slightest regard for the never-ending parade of fashion.

Those 16 years are summed up beautifully on AC/DC's new live album, Live – a collection of classic after classic from the quintessential live hard-rock band. Through it all, Angus Young's lead guitar rages like a forest afire.

He stands no taller than five feet, but he throws every ounce of his compact frame into each power chord and stinging lead, playing with brutal conviction. As singer Brian Johnson says, “You cannot bullshit the kids.” AC/DC wouldn't know how to try.

In New York to promote Live, Johnson and Young come on like a duo from a Charles Dickens novel: a boisterous highwayman from the chilly north of England and a diminutive, wise-cracking Artful Dodger.

Though Angus has not lived there for years, his speech is still peppered with the sharp cadences of Australia, where he and his brother, Malcolm, started AC/DC all those years ago.

With each wry observation, Angus squints one eye behind a perpetual cloud of cigarette smoke that trails up and gets lost in his fine, auburn hair. He and Johnson throw themselves wholeheartedly into the business of talking barre chords, bared bottoms, and other rock essentials along the Highway to Hell.

Your performance style is so strenuous, Angus. Have you ever hurt yourself onstage?

Angus Young: “Sure. I've lost teeth. I mean I don't go out there to do myself a deliberate injury. But when you're on the road for that length of time, you're bound to twist an ankle or something. I once had splints on my fingers. I soon learned how to play slide with them on! I've jumped off amps and fallen ass over tit – made a complete fool of myself.”

What was your most embarrassing moment onstage?

Young: “Well, I've had my pants fall off. All of a sudden my wedding tackle was out there for all to see. You know, I've even had my shorts stolen a couple of times.”

What's the origin of that time-honored part of your show where you strip off and moon the audience?

Young: “A lot of that came from the days when we'd be playing clubs and it'd be hot inside. So I'd take off my jacket, and half the audience would go ‘whooooooo.’ Especially with my physique – I'm not exactly Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So it's all built off that. I'd take off my shirt and the drummer would go ta-dump. A bit of cheap cabaret, really.

“And the mooning thing... well, it's a great way to shut up a heckler. Or to get attention back up on the stage.

“One time we were playing this big festival in England and there was this woman photographer with a real Dolly Parton physique, you know? She gets up and walks across the front of the stage. And of course more than half the audience are hotblooded males; so they're all following her like this. [rolls his eyeballs to the right] And my brother says, ‘You better do something quick to get their attention back.’ So I mooned 'em. That certainly jolted them back quick. Very popular with the law, too.”

I'll bet!

Young: “Oh, yes. On one of the early tours of Britain we had the vice squad on tour with us the whole time. 'Cause Bon... [the late Bon Scott, AC/DC's first singer]... he took the French language, you know. Well, he had a colorful language anyway.

“I remember there was many a time in Australia, playing in these outback places, where we'd have to put up bail money. And if we did anything wrong – like me pulling my pants off or Bon swearing or anything – we'd lose the bail money.

“The mayor and the councilmen would come along to the show to monitor us. They thought it was a great thing. They invented it. Not us. It was their way of trying to stamp us out.

“I remember once Bon getting up there and saying, ‘I've been told we can't say ‘fuck.’ Okay, we won't say ‘fuck.’ I've been told we can't say ‘shit.’ Okay, we won't say ‘shit.’ They left out ‘suck.’ But we won't say that either...’ You know? Our bankbook didn't grow, but our popularity did.”

You've said somewhere that you can't play guitar well unless you're jumping around like a lunatic.

Young: “Yeah, well I go with the guitar, because I'm pretty small. On most people, a Gibson SG looks small – like a violin. On me, it looks like a big guitar. I've got small fingers, too.

“Now, when most people bend a string up, their finger bends the note. With me, my whole body's got to go. [He falls into Angus stage move number 1, miming how he uses his entire forearm to bend a string.] I hug the guitar, if you want to get technical about it. Now for vibrato... [he convulses with laughter as he illustrates]... I've got to shake me leg a little. When you're a little guy, there's not much pull on the strings – especially with the heavier gauges.

“The most important thing for me onstage is playing the guitar. The whole epileptic routine – whatever I do up there – comes out of that. I do become a little... possessed, as Malcolm says. But there's nothing Satanic in it. I do become another person. But that other person comes from me concentrating really hard on playing the guitar.”

Do you feel that AC/DC are essentially a live band?

Young: “I think that all good bands are essentially live bands. The great ones – the ones that last – are the ones that had that approach. Your Stones, Who, whatever. Your only real gauge for AC/DC is if we play someplace and people come to see us the next time we play there. That's the only way we know if we were good the last time. You can't trust the hype side of it.”

Do you see a lot of fans from the beginnings of your career – 1976?

Young: “Sure we do. There's a lot. You can tell. The older ones are in the back.”

Brian Johnson: “We're just about on first-name terms with some of them. Some guys have got a standard pass to get in. They know the crews and all.”

Young: “Europe accepted us before America did. So when we went through Europe last time it was like an army following us. Kids with tents coming out and stuff. You walk in and they give you the set list they want you to play.”

Johnson: “We feed 'em, too. There's always a lot of food backstage – more than we can eat. So as we're leaving the venue, we say, ‘Okay guys!’ And the kids come in with haversacks and fill them up – so they can get to the next gig.”

Young: “They've got great networks, the fans. They can tell you what happened the night before. Like if you played a few different songs or did a song a bit faster the previous night, they know all about it.”

Is it kind of like the Grateful Dead phenomenon?

Young: “Naaooowww. I mean, the last four letters of the Grateful Dead say it all, don't they?”

Brian, you joined AC/DC in 1980, after the band had enjoyed a bit of success. Did the band live up to your preconceptions of what they were like?

Johnson: “Well, I hadn't known about AC/DC long enough to have a preconception of them. I was up in Northern England. And it was just six months before I auditioned for them that I first heard them.

“A couple of me buddies... Malcolm Waley, I'll never forget... he brought back an album, 'cause he'd seen them at the Newcastle Mayfair. And he said [his voice drops even lower than usual], ‘You gotta fookin' hear these! Fook!’ [To Angus] You know Mal.

“At the audition, we started doin' Whole Lotta Rosie; I knew it 'cause there was a big buzz in England on that song.

“Europe and England were the first places where the boys were really gettin' red hot. It was great 'cause it was right in the middle of the big punk thing. Now, I heard punk and I said, ‘I fuckin' don't get it. I know everybody's raving about it...’ But I didn't like it at all. So with the boys, at least there was something out there that was decent. Ya could tap ya foot to it – know what I mean?”

Young: “At that time he's talking about – the middle Seventies – we were giving punk music a good name. Because that was the word they used to describe us – punk band. They'd get a wrong idea. We weren't a punk band, but they'd put us on the same bill as punk bands. And they sure got a shock when they started spitting at us and we spat back.

“We were never ones for getting slumped under a tag or filed under A, B, or C. We started as a rock and roll band. That's what we play – what we do best. We never claimed to be anything else. And then in the Eighties, they'd slump us in as a heavy metal band. Even before that they had other things: power pop. Crap.”

Johnson: “You put all the names together and it spells bullshit.”

Young: “It's true. I mean, okay, the word ‘blues’ conjures up something definite. You know where you're going. It says it right. But the heavy metal thing? I immediately think of men in armor. And then that split leg routine. You know what I mean?

“There's more to playing the guitar than being able to do a leg split and wearin' a pair of tights. The heavy metal tag offended me more than the punk thing. 'Cause I thought, ‘Jesus, what have they conjured up now?’ Then just because you call an album Highway to Hell you get all kinds of grief. And all we'd done is describe what it's like to be on the road for four years, like we'd been.

“A lot of it was bus and car touring, with no real break. You crawl off the bus at four o'clock in the morning, and some journalist's doing a story and he says, ‘What would you call an AC/DC tour?’ Well, it was a highway to hell. It really was. When you're sleeping with the singer's socks two inches from your nose, that's pretty close to hell.”

Presumably it's gotten a little better now.

Young: “It has. He can do his laundry now.”

Johnson: “I've got two pair of socks now.”

So Angus, did you listen to a lot of blues early on?

Young: “Sure. That was my diet. Other kids would come to school with the latest Top 40 thing. I was always buying a lot of imports: Muddy Waters. That music.

“When I was young, one of the earliest records I heard was Little Richard's You Keep a Knockin'. I think I nearly invented rap with that record: I'd take the needle and keep putting it back to the same spot, to the blues bit, over and over again; 'cause that was the best part of the song. My mother said, ‘You touch that needle one more time and you're going to have a very sore fist.’ But I couldn't help it. I just loved that one bit.

“I was never a lover of the harmony-type stuff. For some reason that seemed too... eeuuuewww... it brought in that sweetness. When I heard the Beach Boys, I just thought it was an older version of the Chipmunks.”

Johnson: “Hah – at the real speed!”

Young: “You know what I mean. 'Cause it was like [sings in a hilariously nasal California accent], ‘We're suurrfun Yew Ess Ayyy.’ Then when my family immigrated to Australia [from Scotland, in the mid Sixties], you'd see these kids that had nothing to do with the real thing, but they all looked like they came out of Hawaii Five-O. Standing there with these great wooden lumps of board.

“I'd never seen a surfboard in my life. But they've all got these bits of wood, and they're all going, ‘Surrrfun Yew Ess Ayy.’ I went home to my mother and said, ‘Mum, I think they put us on another planet.’”

Johnson: “In Newcastle [England] we didn't know what water was.”

Young: “It was oil.”

Johnson: “The only water we had was what you put in your whiskey.”

Young: “That's right, Newcastle invented the word pollution.”

So you weren't impressed by the ‘American-ness’ of it all?

Young: “Oh, no, no, no, don't get me wrong. I love what's come from America, musically. But I don't think the people here see it for what it is a lot of times.

“For me, the culture is blues music. That's what I grew up on, and I have great respect for Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon... If those people weren't there, you wouldn't have your Stones, your Zeppelins, the Who... all the big blues-based bands. The Beatles – same thing.

“I mean, if Paul McCartney played in Boston tomorrow, he would finish off the night with seven or eight Little Richard songs. That, to me, is rock music. The other things are really the housewife, ‘cry in the tea towel’ shit. That ain't rock music.”

When did you start up with that SG, Angus?

Young: “Just as I came out of school. I saved up my pesos and went to the guitar shop. I always wanted an SG.

“I had a friend, an American guy, who had a Gibson catalog. As soon as I saw the SG, I knew that was the one I wanted; I think it was because the horn things [i.e., the sharp cutaways] reminded me a bit of myself. And the other thing, when I saw the Beach Boys with a Stratocaster, I think that also swayed me the other way. It didn't look right. And that surfin' thing was popular at the time.”

That Fender sound.

Young: “I'm not condemning it. You've got your Hendrixes and all that. But even he said he didn't like playin' surf music.”

The Who did.

Young: “Well, yeah. They were a strange case.”

So you discovered the guitar of your life pretty early on.

Young: “Well, not right off the bat. I mean, I played other guitars. I had an acoustic guitar first. My mum got it for 10 bucks when I was nine or so. She got both me and Malcolm one, so there'd be no fighting over it. There was always a guitar around the house, always some brother that had some guitar lying about somewhere.”

Were you influenced by your brother George being in the Easybeats? [The Easybeats were a mid Sixties beat group that had a worldwide hit with Friday on My Mind.]

Young: “Not that much, 'cause he formed that band as soon as we arrived from Scotland – formed it from the immigrant camp. So from the moment we arrived, he was out playing a lot. I never really saw him much. And then I had another brother, a saxophone player, who had also taken off. He went to London and then ended up in Hamburg, Germany, during the Beatles' times.

“My father wanted to get us all off the music kick – he thought we should be working. That was his thing. That's why he moved to Australia. So at school, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone that my brother was a member of a band. I remember one headmaster found out and gave me a hard time over it.”

Did you and Malcolm start your thing together?

Young: “Not really. We just used to play away. George would say to Malcolm sometimes, ‘Here Mal, pick up the guitar.’ Like if he was working out an idea or something. 'Cause Mal was very competent. He's a great all-around guitarist. I know it says ‘rhythm guitar’ on the albums. But for me, if he sits and plays a solo, he can do it better than me.”

Does he ever play solos on records?

Young: “In fact, there's a couple of solos from him on our first album. But even then it's the way he plays rhythm – it's got that distinct sound, especially with that Gretsch. I've tried to emulate his rhythm style myself, at home, with one of his guitars, and it's no easy task. He's got those .32 guitar legends big thick strings on it, like tram tracks, you know? It's all in his little wrist.”

You guys have an amazingly tight thing together.

Young: “I think that's part of the brother thing, too. It used to be a game, sort of. It becomes instinct with you. And my other brother George was so quick that you learned a lot when you were with him. Especially when you were 14 or something.

“He'd pick up a bass and hand you the guitar. And you'd think you were incompetent, but before you knew it you were playing with him. He'd go ‘G... A...’ And you were away.

“He also taught me... like, say you play a song five nights in one key, but on the sixth night the singer's throat ain't makin' it. You might have to go down a tone or so. George was really used to that, and he got me used to that.”

Instant transposition!

Young: “Right. And he was into some crazy things too, you know. Like he'd tell me the D string annoyed him. The G string too. ‘Too sweet for rock and roll,’ he'd say – so off went the G string! When I last saw him in the Easybeats, he had like four strings on that guitar. He was never a fan of light strings either – especially when those slinky strings came out. He'd say, ‘You can't tune 'em.’”

So now Malcolm uses real heavy gauge strings and you use lighter ones.

Young: “Well, Malcolm just seems to get heavier and heavier with his strings. Now he's at the point where they're not making that gauge any more, since the youth want them lighter and lighter. These days, you see, they all want to run from one end of the fretboard to the other. They want to practice their scales. I mean, that's all very good, so long as they do it at home.”

Why should we have to hear it?

Young: “Right.”

A lot of your greatest hooks are single-string riffs where you alternate between fretted notes and playing the string open – like Thunderstruck, for example.

Young: “Yeah, I was just fiddling with my left hand when I came up with that riff; I played it more by accident than anything. I thought, ‘Not bad,’ and put it on a tape. That's how me and Malcolm generally work. We put our ideas on a tape and play them for one another.

“Malcolm came in to see me once when we were on the Highway to Hell tour and said, ‘I've got this riff and it's driving me nuts.’ It's three o'clock in the morning and I'm trying to sleep, and he's saying, ‘Well, what do you think of this?’ I said, ‘It sounds fine to me.’ And that was Back in Black. Bang.”

So you like being in a band with your brother, then?

Young: “Well, it's good and bad. When I play something in the studio and the producer says, ‘Oh, that's great,’ I always look around and say, ‘Yeah, but what does Malcolm think?’ 'Cause Malcolm knows me, and if he says yay or nay, it's the difference between getting to go home or sitting in the studio all night.

“So, sometimes it's like having two producers. But that's good, because it keeps you on your toes. And if I really get disheartened, I can just hand Mal the guitar and say, ‘Here, you try it.’ Then he'll show me up and I'll say, ‘Right, I'll beat him.’”

What can you recall about your first tour of the States?

Young: “When we first came here, we toured around with a station wagon. We got put on with Kiss. This was when they had all the makeup and everything – the whole hype. They had everything behind them, the media, a huge show and stuff. And here we were – five migrants, little micro people.”

Johnson: “Migrant workers – that just about describes it! ‘Where's your green cards?’”

Young: “It was tough to even get into the show with that station wagon. Many a time they wouldn't let us in the venue 'cause they didn't see a limo. [Another nasal Yank accent] ‘Wheeahs duh limo? If yaw duh rock band, wheeahs yaw limo?’”

When was this?

Young: “1977 was the first time we got to America. So this would have been '78. It was pretty strange. I hadn't even heard of a lot of the music here at the time – I thought there would be more rock. But when we got here it was a disco-type thing.”

It was a dismal place in 1977.

Young: “What was real strange was that although the media was pushing this really soft music, you'd get amazing numbers of people turning out to hear the harder stuff. We were playing big stadiums and getting a great reaction.

“We'd be on the bill with a whole heap of acts – like in Oakland, playing a Bill Graham ‘Day on the Green’ event. We were on at 10:30 in the morning – the first act. But at 10:30 in the morning there were 65,000 people. And they knew what we were about when we came on. We were only on for 35 minutes. But in 35 minutes you had to do a lot. It was fun. It was exciting. I'd do it again.”

Johnson: “Yeah, yeah, that was excitin' times, that. Pick yer best and go out. Pow!”

Young: “Sometimes we could be real mercenary. Like if another band was givin' us a bit of stick – the headlining band or something. We get on and just sort of say, ‘Okay, we'll just turn up to 11 here, and let's go.’ Blow 'em away. We were good at that, too.”

Johnson: “Fuck 'em. Hah!”

Were you overwhelmed by the groupie scene here?

Young: “No, no, no, no, no. In those days, girls were only interested in... well, not us. You met more of that when you started in clubs and pubs. Because in that time, you got rich people coming to slum it, and other people coming to see what the fuss was about. So those were your times when you could meet more of the weird and wonderful women. The crazy people. But during those first tours in the States... no. No more than what would be now. Same thing.

“We were never that sort of band, anyway. I never ever saw a girl out there that would faint over me. Maybe she'd look and go, ‘Mmmm, I've never seen something as ugly as this!’ Maybe I'd get some of that. But not a – what would you call it? – a fan sort of thing.”

Johnson: “The Top of the Pops syndrome.”

Young: “But in a way that's always worked for us. You don't see an audience of young little girls screaming for us. So other people say, ‘Now that's a real band. That I like. It's real.’ 'Cause we aren't the prettiest things in the world. With AC/DC, it's not like we're here to steal your wife and your girlfriend and your daughter. We may borrow them, but...”

Johnson: “Only for a while.”

But don't girls like the schoolboy suit?

Young: “Well, they used to come out in England. But then, the English have been known for their craziness in the, um, sexual department.”

Johnson: “The public toilet department. ‘Vicar please, take yer hands off me. It's not yer turn!’”

Young: “I guess there's something a bit sexy in the blues element of what we do. That's probably more what's associated with the old strip club routine. I think that's somewhere in the back of people's heads when they hear that sort of music: the strip club image, you know? The smoke-filled room and the girl onstage. Well, I would like to believe that.”

Johnson: “I was startin' to feel good.”

One last thing: what's the origin of the schoolboy?

Young: “My sister. As a kid, I'd come right home from school and pick up my guitar, without changing out of my school suit. At dinner time, I'd still be in the school suit, playing away. My sister always remembered that. She thought it was cute.

“She was the one who said to Malcolm and me, ‘You know, it would be great if he'd get onstage with that school suit. It'll give people something to look at.’ I suppose she was right. At least it's worked for us.”

This interview was originally published in Guitar World magazine in 1992.

After publishing a brief social media tease earlier this week, Slash has now finally announced details of his long-awaited blues solo album – and with it, he’s unveiled the guest stars he’s recruited for the ride.

Slash’s sixth solo album – a blues cover record officially named Orgy of the Damned – was first revealed to be in the works back in 2023, when the Guns N’ Roses titan surprisingly shared the fact it would take the form of a fully fledged blues record.

Since then, anticipation surrounding the LP has only grown, with an all-too-brief audio clip posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday of this week heralding the onset of the album’s marketing campaign.

Now, the floodgates have opened, and the Gibson Les Paul loyalist has revealed both the tracklist (complete with a full list of guest musicians) as well as its lead single – a cover of Howlin’ Wolf classic, Killing Floor, which features AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson.

Johnson will be joined on the 12-track album by Tash Neal, Beth Hart, Paul Rodgers, Iggy Pop, Dorothy, Chris Stapleton, Billy Gibbons, Gary Clark Jr. and Chris Robinson, as well as pop star-turned rock artist Demi Lovato, whose own involvement in Orgy of the Damned had already been confirmed.

Neal, who sings on a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Living for the City, will also make up part of Slash’s blues band, which is rounded out by his ‘90s-era Blues Ball collaborators Johnny Griparic (bass) and Teddy Andreadis (keyboard), as well as drummer Michael Jerome.

The ensemble can be heard (and seen) in action alongside Johnson for Killing Floor, which also features Steven Tyler on harmonica.

For it, Slash swaps his Les Paul out for a more traditionally blues-style, Bigsby-clad ES-335, which plays host to his swampy 7th chords, shuffle-y arpeggios, and a guitar solo that leans heavily into B.B. box bends and searing pentatonic runs.

“Killing Floor is one of my favorite Howlin’ Wolf songs, but also one of the iconic blues riffs that turned me on as a young guitar player,” Slash reflects. “I've always wanted to cover it in some capacity and this record was the perfect vehicle. 

“But playing it with this band, and with Brian Johnson singing, it was an achievement I would never have imagined back then. Let alone Steven Tyler providing the harp.”

Johnson added, “I had a ball with Slash in the studio, and I think we did this great old song justice.”

Not only is it set to be an all-star blues party, Orgy of the Damned is also positioned to be a celebration of the genre that has had a deeply influential impact on Slash’s own style.

Having been introduced to blues and British rock ‘n’ roll early on by his family, Slash immediately took to the music of B.B. King. Since then, the blues has had an informative presence on his playing.

“Orgy of the Damned showcases a lesser-heard aspect of Slash’s musical prowess,” a statement reads. “While he has always embraced a broad range of styles and genres, the album offers a rare opportunity to explore a unique side of his playing and bring to the forefront a rollicking journey through his strong, blues inspirations, that have long been in the background of his illustrious career.” 

As Slash himself has previously stated, “I'm a rock guitar player that's firmly rooted in blues. If you were to listen to anything that I do, you can see how big the blues influence is.”

Orgy of the Damned will see Slash tackle historic blues standards and some lesser-known cuts originally penned and performed by the likes of Robert Johnson, T. Bone Walker, Albert King, Willie Dixon, Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins and more.

There is also one new original track that has been composed by Slash for the record: Metal Chestnut.

A full tracklist can be found below.

1. Crossroad Blues feat. Gary Clark Jr. (written by Robert Johnson)
2. Hoochie Coochie Man feat. Billy F. Gibbons (written by Willie Dixon)
3. Oh Well feat. Chris Stapleton (written by Peter Green)
4. Key to the Highway feat. Dorothy (written by Charles Segar, William Broonzy)
5. Awful Dream feat. Iggy Pop (written by Sam (Lightnin’) Hopkins, Clarence Lewis, C Morgan Robinson)
6. Born Under a Bad Sign feat. Paul Rodgers (written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones)
7. Papa Was a Rolling Stone feat. Demi Lovato (written by Barrett Strong, Jesse Norman Whitfield)
8. Killing Floor feat. Brian Johnson (written by Howlin' Wolf)
9. Living for the City feat. Tash Neal (written by Stevie Wonder)
10. Stormy Monday feat. Beth Hart (written by T-Bone Walker)
11. Metal Chestnut (written by Slash)

• Orgy of the Damned is available to preorder now via Gibson Records ahead of its release on May 17.

Sam Fender returned to his home city of Newcastle, England, last week for two mammoth headline shows at St James' Park, during which he shared the stage with not one, but two Geordie music heroes, for a cover of AC/DC's Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long.

The first, legendary AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson, took to the stage with Fender alongside a lesser-known hero – one Phil Martin, who had been Fender’s old guitar teacher back during the Seventeen Going Under superstar’s youth.

Seeing Johnson and Fender blast through the classic rock hits is a spectacle in its own right, one of epic proportions, but the rendition remained rooted to reality and took on a relatable, wholesome edge thanks to Martin’s presence.

It wasn’t just a novelty cameo, though. In Fender’s own words, Martin “showed the entirety of St James’ Park how it’s actually done”, wielding an ebony Epiphone SG to channel prime Angus Young for a genuinely awe-inspiring showing.

Any player or teacher worth their salt will have some grasp on these two iconic riffs, but Martin goes way beyond that, absolutely nailing the riffs, solos and everything in between with ridiculously silky licks, plenty of Angus attitude and some individual Martin flair.

After the show, Fender paid an emotional tribute to his old master, writing, “I also brought out my first guitar teacher who showed the entirety of St James’ Park how it’s actually done. 

“Phil Martin, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this if it wasn’t for your tutelage and back when I had my first band (when we were bairns [children], 14 or 15) you let us rehearse in the Gasworks practice rooms for free. We need more people like you in our community.”

It’s a genuinely stirring moment – something that doesn’t happen too often in the guitar world – with Fender serving a timely reminder to remember all those who’ve helped you in your own music journey, and to stay in touch with where you’ve come from.

“What he's achieved in a very small period of time, I haven't seen that done before,” Martin told ITV after the event. “And the way the Geordie nation's took him to their hearts, for every right reason. He is what he says he is and we can all verify that.

“It was absolutely incredible. Probably the most positive feeling I've ever had. The love out there for Sam is incredible. I think he deserves it."

Despite Martin’s show-stealing performance, we mustn't forget the equally awe-inspiring presence of Johnson – another Newcastle hero who had an equally influential, though far more indirect, impact on Fender’s career.

“Sharing the stage with Brian Johnson was a dream come true,” Fender went on to say. “When we first started seeing success with our band, me and Dean used to watch interviews of Brian to keep ourselves grounded – he is the prime example of a Geordie who has never forgotten his roots.”

Another notable aspect of the evening was Fender’s electric guitar of choice for certain songs – a custom Fender Jazzmaster inspired by the songwriter’s beloved soccer team, Newcastle United.

The model, featuring the team’s bold black-and-white stripe aesthetic, was gifted to Fender by, er, Fender as a surprise, and has seen much live action over the past few months.

The St James’ Park double-header was a significant milestone in Sam Fender’s stratospheric career, having been the subject of numerous “jokes” by the band, who always aspired to perform at their prestigious home venue. 

In a separate post, Fender wrote, “This day has been the subject of a joke for about 15 years of my life. When I formed my first band at 14, we would joke about playing here – but it was genuinely just a joke, we didn't believe it was possible, who would? 

“We fucking did it boys. We fucking did it. Thank you so much to every one of you, my friends, my family, my fans. You are the ones who made this happen, I am in debt to you all.”

Brian Johnson has remained remarkably tight-lipped over his onstage future with AC/DC, citing an agreement with his bandmates not to talk about plans under any circumstances.

In a new conversation on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Johnson, when asked about what’s in store for his live future with the band, replied [via Blabbermouth]: "I'm not answering that. Why should I?

“First of all, there's five members in this band, and to ask one member isn't fair.” When Eddie Trunk tries a different line of questioning, instead asking not if there are any concrete plans, but just if he wants to play live with the Aussie rock titans again, Johnson remains steadfast, responding: “Eddie, I cannot answer that. I’ve been told not to by everybody. It’s the official line.”

Johnson also refuses to speak about a potential followup to their 2020 album, Power Up.

Justifying his silence, Johnson continues: “It's gettin' tabloidy here. You're gettin' tabloidy. If I say one thing, it'll be blown out of all proportion. You just can't afford to talk now. There's too much blabber on the internet. And I'm not on any kind of Face-thing or social media at all – never have been. It's just gossip.”

So there you have it: don’t expect any big AC/DC announcements any time soon, we suppose. Or perhaps Johnson is intentionally throwing us off, and there’s something right around the corner. If so, we’ll keep our ears to the ground for any further updates.

AC/DC embarked on their last tour in 2016, with Brian Johnson sitting out mid-tour due to issues with hearing loss. On that trek, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose filled in for Johnson on the dates he couldn’t make.

While the hard rock legends haven’t been onstage as a unit since then, Brian Johnson has graced the stage, most recently with Lars Ulrich, Justin Hawkins and members of Foo Fighters at the latter’s tribute show to Taylor Hawkins at Wembley Stadium, London.

Earlier this year, we unearthed a 1984 Guitar World interview with AC/DC lead guitarist Angus Young, in which he spoke about his longstanding love for the Gibson SG.

"I liked the SGs because they were light,” he explained. “I tried Fenders but they were too heavy and they just didn't have the balls.” 

In the same interview, the guitarist – who’s renowned for his soloing ability – spoke of his approach to crafting leads for AC/DC, and knowing when they’re not necessary.

“I don't regard myself as a soloist,” he said. “It's a color, I put it in for excitement. It's not great loss if a solo has to go. We've made songs without solos.”

Last week we caught a glimpse of AC/DC front man Brian Johnson’s guest spot with the Foo Fighters on a cover of his band’s immortal 1980 anthem, Back in Black.

Now pro-shot footage of the full performance, which took place at Global Citizen's Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, has been released. You can check out Johnson tearing through the song with Grohl and the Foos above.

Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World took place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on May 2 and aired on a variety of outlets on May 8. The event was hosted by Selena Gomez and, in addition to the Foo Fighters, also featured performances from Eddie Vedder, Jennifer Lopez, J Balvin and H.E.R., who performed Glory alongside 125 Fender Play Foundation students.

Beyond their collab with Johnson, the Foos also bashed through a handful of their own hits during their short set, including Everlong and Best of You.

For more performances from the event, head to Global Citizen’s official YouTube page.

And for more Foo Fighters, check out Guitar World’s recent cover story on the making of the band’s latest release, Medicine at Midnight.

The Foo Fighters appeared at Global Citizen's Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World event at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on May 2, and – among the band’s six-song set of Foos classics like Everlong and Best of You – they also squeezed in a cover of AC/DC’s immortal 1980 anthem, Back in Black – with none other than Brian Johnson on vocals.

While no official footage of the pairing has been released, one of the 27,000 fans in attendance managed to capture some of the performance on video. You can check out the clip above.

As for the event itself, Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World will air on May 8 on a variety of outlets, including ABC, CBS, YouTube and iHeartMedia. The show is hosted by Selena Gomez, and – in addition to the Foo Fighters – also includes performances from Eddie Vedder, Jennifer Lopez, J Balvin and H.E.R. For more information, head to Global Citizen.

Recently, Grohl and his 15-year-old daughter Violet covered X's Nausea with Krist Novoselic and Dave Lombardo. You can check out that performance here.

Last week, we told you about French figure skaters Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres and their rather unconventional choice of Disturbed's cover of "Sound of Silence" as the soundtrack to their routine. This week, we have an even wilder merging of the worlds of hard rock and Olympic figure skating to report, courtesy of Hungarian skater Ivett Toth.

Toth, it seems, is a major AC/DC fan. Not only did she soundtrack her routine to a medley of the band's songs ("Back in Black" and "Thunderstruck"), she also wore a studded leather vest with an Angus Young patch on the back.

You can watch Toth's hard-rocking routine—which, sadly, did not earn Toth a medal—via NBC here.

Malcolm Young—the co-founder of AC/DC, and one of the greatest rhythm guitarists of all time—died on Saturday, November 18, at the age of 64. He had been battling dementia since 2014, when he was forced to leave the band.

Young's rhythm parts were the backbone of AC/DC, one of the most commercially successful and influential rock bands of all time. His rock-solid playing inspired untold thousands to pick up a guitar themselves, and it's difficult to imagine a hard-rock landscape without the lasting influence of his tone and style.

Unsurprisingly, guitarists around the world mourned his untimely passing over the weekend, paying tribute to him and his influence on social media.

• Below, you can see a selection of these tributes, beginning with one from his longtime bandmate and brother, Angus Young, who said "As his brother it is hard to express in words what he has meant to me during my life, the bond we had was unique and very special. He leaves behind an enormous legacy that will live on forever. Malcolm, job well done."

Aside from a surprise cameo—with Robert Plant—at a Paul Rodgers show in May, Brian Johnson has mostly kept a low profile since his departure from AC/DC due to hearing issues last spring. Over the weekend though, Johnson turned up onstage at the Reading Festival with headliners Muse to sing the AC/DC classic, "Back in Black."

Muse frontman Matt Bellamy merely shouted "he's back!" at the audience before letting Johnson take the lead. The performance came at the beginning of the band's encore.

No pro-shot video of the entire performance exists—you can watch a clip of pro-shoot footage courtesy of the BBC though—but you can watch a fan-shot (but incredibly fun) video of the full performance below.

This past Sunday night (May 14), Robert Plant and former AC/DC singer Brian Johnson joined Paul Rodgers on stage for a performance of “Money (That’s What I Want)” at the New Theatre Oxford.

The performance, which was a complete surprise to the audience, was a highlight of Rodgers' ongoing Free Spirit tour.

The fan-shot video below features most of the Barrett Strong cover—which has been recorded by scores of bands, including the Beatles and the Flying Lizards—and captures Johnson, Plant and Rodgers trading off during the chorus.

Johnson was forced to abandon AC/DC’s Rock or Bust world tour early last year because of potential hearing loss. Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses appeared in Johnson's place, marking first time AC/DC used a lead vocalist other than Johnson since January 1980.

Brian Johnson has made his first recorded appearance since leaving AC/DC earlier this year due to hearing problems.

The singer appears on the Greg Billings Band’s track “Old Friends Don’t Come Easy,” the latest in a long series of collaborations between Johnson and Billings, who has been a fixture on the Florida music scene since the early Eighties. The song is featured on the group’s upcoming album, Boom Boom All Night! which also includes a guest appearance from Cheap Trick frontman Robin Zander.

Johnson was forced to take time off from AC/DC last March after doctors told him he would go deaf if he continued to perform. The group carried on with Axl Rose and concluded its world tour this past September with a series of U.S. make-up dates for the concerts cancelled due to Johnson’s health issue. (Johnson did make an appearance in May on the new album from Saturday Night Live alum Jim Breuer, but that was most likely recorded before his hearing damage was detected.)

Since leaving AC/DC, Johnson has tried out a new hearing aid that delivers louder and better sound while minimizing the risk of hearing damage. The singer says he was “amazed” after testing the product.

In addition to his work with Billings, Johnson is busy as the host of The Producers, a new online radio program from Planet Rock that explores the lives and careers of some of rock’s best-known producers.

Over the weekend, AC/DC issued a statement confirming frontman Brian Johnson's departure from the venerable band.

It also confirmed AC/DC's—at least temporary—hiring of Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose, who will fill in for Johnson during the remainder of the band's Rock or Bust tour.

Earlier today, Johnson isused a revealing statement of his own.

Here it is, in full:

"As many AC/DC fans know, the remaining shows for the 2016 AC/DC Rock or Bust World Tour, including 10 postponed U.S. shows, are being rescheduled with a guest singer. I want personally to explain the reason because I don't believe the earlier press releases sufficiently set out what I wanted to say to our fans or the way in which I thought it should be presented.

"On March 7, after a series of examinations by leading physicians in the field of hearing loss, I was advised that if I continue to perform at large venues, I risked total deafness. While I was horrified at the reality of the news that day, I had for a time become aware that my partial hearing loss was beginning to interfere with my performance on stage.

"I was having difficulty hearing the guitars on stage and because I was not able to hear the other musicians clearly, I feared the quality of my performance could be compromised. In all honesty this was something I could not in good conscience allow.

"Our fans deserve my performance to be at the highest level, and if for any reason I can't deliver that level of performance I will not disappoint our fans or embarrass the other members of AC/DC. I am not a quitter and I like to finish what I start, nevertheless, the doctors made it clear to me and my bandmates that I had no choice but to stop performing on stage for the remaining shows and possibly beyond.

• "That was the darkest day of my professional life.
• "Since that day, I have had several consultations with my doctors and it appears that, for the near future, I will be unable to perform on stage at arena and stadium size venues where the sound levels are beyond my current tolerance, without the risk of substantial hearing loss and possibly total deafness. Until that time, I tried as best as I could to continue despite the pain and hearing loss but it all became too much to bear and too much to risk.
• "I am personally crushed by this development more than anyone could ever imagine. The emotional experience I feel now is worse than anything I have ever in my life felt before. Being part of AC/DC, making records and performing for the millions of devoted fans this past 36 years has been my life's work. I cannot imagine going forward without being part of that, but for now I have no choice. The one thing for certain is that I will always be with AC/DC at every show in spirit, if not in person.
• "Most importantly, I feel terrible having to disappoint the fans who bought tickets for the canceled shows and who have steadfastly supported me and AC/DC these many years. Words cannot express my deep gratitude and heartfelt thanks not just for the recent outpouring to me personally of kind words and good wishes, but also for the years of loyal support of AC/DC. My thanks also go to Angus and Cliff for their support.
• "Finally, I wish to assure our fans that I am not retiring. My doctors have told me that I can continue to record in studios and I intend to do that. For the moment, my entire focus is to continue medical treatment to improve my hearing. I am hoping that in time my hearing will improve and allow me to return to live concert performances. While the outcome is uncertain, my attitude is optimistic. Only time will tell.
• "Once again, my sincere best wishes and thanks to everyone for their support and understanding.
• Love,
• Brian"