RIP - George Young

George Young, the eldest brother of AC/DC co-founders Malcolm and Angus Young, has died at the age of 70.

A former member of THE EASYBEATS, George co-produced AC/DC's early albums, including "TNT", "Dirty Deeds Done Cheap" and "Let There Be Rock". He started his own production company when THE EASYBEATS split in 1970 and was inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 1988 and again as a member of THE EASYBEATS in 2005. He returned to co-produce AC/DC's 1988 album "Blow Up Your Video" and 2000's "Stiff Upper Lip".

AC/DC said in a statement the band would not exist without Young's "help and guidance".

"As a musician, songwriter, producer, advisor and much, much more, you could not ask for a more dedicated and professional man," the statement read.

"You could not ask for a finer brother. We will always remember him with gratitude and hold him close to our hearts."

Albert Music, the publishing company that handled both THE EASYBEATS and AC/DC, mourned Young's death. "It is with great sadness that Alberts acknowledge the passing of George Young," Albert CEO David Albert wrote in a statement. "A consummate songwriter, trailblazing producer, artist, mentor and extraordinary musician, George was above all else a gentleman who was unfailingly modest, charming, intelligent and loyal — a man with a wonderful sense of humor. George was a pioneer who, with close friends Harry Vanda and [company namesake] Ted Albert, created a new sound for the Australian music industry."

Australian singer Jimmy Barnes also paid tribute to George Young, tweeting: "George Young RIP What a huge loss for music. A great songwriter, producer and a great human being."

That's a bummer. The Young family has had a rough couple of years.

I was mainly familiar with George's name from AC/DC album credits till fairly recently, when I read a book about the band that mentioned his time in the Easybeats. I looked some of their stuff up on YouTube and it was pretty good listenin'.

I'm sure he had a huge influence on his little brothers getting into the music biz in those early days of the band.

That's a shame. I knew of him but knew little about him. The Young family's had a bad stretch over the last couple of years.

Rest in peace.

Didn't he also write a song for Accept?

Lari wrote:

Rest in peace.

Didn't he also write a song for Accept?

That was a different Young brother, Alex. Angus and Malcolm were only 2 of 8 Young siblings. Alex (or George Alexander as he was known), wrote 'I'm a Rebel' with the intention of AC/DC recording it. For whatever reason, they passed and Accept ended up recording it.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Lari wrote:

Rest in peace.

Didn't he also write a song for Accept?

That was a different Young brother, Alex. Angus and Malcolm were only 2 of 8 Young siblings. Alex (or George Alexander as he was known), wrote 'I'm a Rebel' with the intention of AC/DC recording it. For whatever reason, they passed and Accept ended up recording it.

Okay, thanks for the info. That's a pretty awesome family right there.

Lari wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Lari wrote:

Rest in peace.

Didn't he also write a song for Accept?

That was a different Young brother, Alex. Angus and Malcolm were only 2 of 8 Young siblings. Alex (or George Alexander as he was known), wrote 'I'm a Rebel' with the intention of AC/DC recording it. For whatever reason, they passed and Accept ended up recording it.

Okay, thanks for the info. That's a pretty awesome family right there.

According to Wikipedia, AC/DC did record it, but it's never been released...

Quote :

"I'm a Rebel" was recorded, but never released, by the popular Australian hard rock band AC/DC. They had recording sessions outside Albert Productions without George Young and Harry Vanda. After a show in Maschen, Germany, promoter Rudy Holzhauer asked the band to record Alexander Young's song in Studio Maschen. AC/DC then recorded the song in a few hours. Bon Scott was very drunk when the song was recorded. Nevertheless, Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann claimed in an interview that this recording was "way better" than Accept's result.

The AC/DC recording remains in Albert Productions' vaults, and was not included in the Bonfire nor Backtracks box sets which released much of the band's rarities.

Yep, the AC/DC demo of "I'm A Rebel" is the Sasquatch of AC/DC recordings. Everyone's heard OF it but no one's actually heard it.

Other than his credits as producer on AC/DC albums, here's how I remember George Young.  Vocalist for late 70s new wave act Flash 'n' The Pan.  I still listen to their albums from time to time; they were just so....different.



I used to get crap from other people in the dorm my freshman year for playing this song all the time...

RIP George, between AC/DC and Flash 'n' The Pan you gave me a lot of musical memories.

Fat Freddy wrote:

That's a bummer. The Young family has had a rough couple of years.

I was mainly familiar with George's name from AC/DC album credits till fairly recently, when I read a book about the band that mentioned his time in the Easybeats. I looked some of their stuff up on YouTube and it was pretty good listenin'.

They sounded like early Beatles and The Who.

tohostudios wrote:

Other than his credits as producer on AC/DC albums, here's how I remember George Young.  Vocalist for late 70s new wave act Flash 'n' The Pan.  I still listen to their albums from time to time; they were just so....different.



I used to get crap from other people in the dorm my freshman year for playing this song all the time...

RIP George, between AC/DC and Flash 'n' The Pan you gave me a lot of musical memories.

He also put out the Marcus Hook Roll Band...



I picked up the reissue a few years ago. It was hyped as featuring the first appearance of both Malcolm and Angus before they were in AC/DC. It's not a bad listen but it's a far-cry from what they'd end up doing.

I read George also played bass for AC/DC in their early days.

I kinda like that. I'm a sucker for slide in a rock song.

That Flash n the Pan song has a bit of a Talking Heads feel.

Dark Horseman wrote:

That Flash n the Pan song has a bit of a Talking Heads feel.

Good call. Now that you mention it, a lot of their stuff has some Talking Heads vibe to it.

BTW, this summer I was rewatching the first 3 seasons of "Gotham" and in one of the club scenes the band on stage was playing a song that I immediately recognized. It was Flash N The Pan's "Walking In The Rain". I used to listen to that track all the time in college right after Pink Floyd's "Animals" album so you know what kind of state of mind you should be in to enjoy it.

tohostudios wrote:

I kinda like that. I'm a sucker for slide in a rock song.

It's a decent listen, but don't expect it to sound anything like AC/DC.

Here's the review I posted about it on Best Buy's website...

Quote :

Anyone expecting this to sound like AC/DC is going to be very disappointed. This is very much a product of George Young, Harry Vanda and the late 60's. Angus and Malcolm just happen to appear on it because of their family connection. Lots of piano, female backing vocals and saxophone along with guitar.

That's not to say I'm not enjoying it. Quite the opposite. It's an interesting album. A little all over the place style-wise. I think George and Harry were looking for a sound and tried a little of everything to see what stuck. Some of it actually reminds me of early Alice Cooper. The music, not lyrics or vocals. Some other early 70's rock too. A little funk in there too. It's pretty cool and a neat snap-shot of an era where bands were free to experiment.

Just don't think it's a long lost AC/DC recording. Pretty far from it actually.

R.I.P.

I was a Flash and The Pan fan and those two early albums were New Wave before the term New Wave existed.

Alex Young the other Young brother who was also a songwriter died a few years ago, so the last few years with Malcolm's illness, and now George's death have been pretty rough.