AC/DC
AC/DC formed in Sydney, Australia, in 1973, built around the Young brothers — Malcolm's rhythm and Angus's lead — and a stripped-down, blues-rooted hard rock played with relentless drive. Powered first by Bon Scott's leering vocals and then, after his 1980 death, by Brian Johnson, the band turned out enduring albums like 'Highway to Hell' and 'Back in Black,' the latter among the best-selling albums in history. Their sound distilled rock and roll to its rhythmic essentials: a chugging riff, a stomping backbeat, and a shouted hook.
Angus Young's lead playing and the band's rock-and-roll foundation owe a heavy debt to Chuck Berry's riffing and showmanship; Young's onstage duck-walk openly nods to Berry, and AC/DC's twelve-bar-derived structures echo Berry's rock and roll.
listen forPut Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' next to 'Let There Be Rock' — both are built on driving, treble-bright guitar figures and a celebratory rock-and-roll momentum, with AC/DC cranking the volume and repetition higher.
The Chicago blues of Muddy Waters underpins AC/DC's sound, from the twelve-bar structures to the swaggering, call-and-response phrasing; the band's slower, dirtier grooves sit right on that electric-blues foundation.
listen forCue Muddy Waters' 'Hoochie Coochie Man' and then AC/DC's slow-burning blues 'The Jack' — listen for the same lurching twelve-bar shuffle and the leering, boastful vocal riding a heavy backbeat.
Little Richard's frantic, high-energy rock and roll fed AC/DC's up-tempo drive and Bon Scott's wild, shouted vocal delivery; the band's early rockers carry the same manic, pounding momentum.
listen forPlay Little Richard's 'Long Tall Sally' and then 'T.N.T.' — both barrel forward on a relentless backbeat and a hollered, exuberant vocal that treats the rave-up itself as the point.