Stevie Young

AC/DC will Rock or Bust without Malcolm Young

AC/DC fans got a bit of bittersweet news that we all feared (and knew) was likely coming.

The good: The band’s newest studio album, “Rock or Bust,” releases December 2.

And the boys will tour next year!

The bad: Founding member and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young is retiring from the band due to an undisclosed illness (the band is notoriously private and close-knit) widely believed to be a stroke. Fans knew he wasn’t appearing on this newest AC/DC album, and now we know he’ll never partake in one again–so debilitating is his illness.

His nephew, Stevie Young, played rhythm on Rock or Bust and will tour with the band. Fans will be cool with this because Stevie’s toured with them before to spell his Uncle Malcolm, who entered rehab for alcohol in the 80s. Stevie’s family, and that’s the only way AC/DC can possibly continue to exist. You cannot replace Malcolm, who’s really the band’s backbone (along with brother Angus), but AC/DC can and will continue. And I’m glad. As long as the boys feel they can play and tour and not lose what makes them great, they will.

Most importantly, I pray Malcolm recovers enough to hopefully enjoy the remainder of his life, and to fully appreciate how thankful his fans are for his contributing to the rocking soundtrack of their lives.

AC/DC and Pink Floyd to release albums this year!

OK, so, how the hell does AC/DC or Pink Floyd have anything to do with horror?

Easy. AC/DC’s album Who Made Who served as the soundtrack for Stephen King’s movie, Maximum Overdrive. King’s a big AC/DC fan and even directed Maximum Overdrive, which, well, might go down in history as the best movie ever directed by Stephen King. Um, let’s move on. Stephen King writes horror, likes AC/DC, hence, the horror connection.

And since I would gladly burn my feet on hot coals at a Tony Robbins convention just to see the band plug in their amps, you might consider me a die-hard fan, too.

This leads me to doing the Snoopy Dance over the news that AC/DC has finished recording its latest studio album, which likely means a fall release! This will be a bittersweet album for reasons AC/DC fans know well. Founding member and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young won’t appear on the album because he’s recovering from a serious illness (widely believed to be a stroke). So the band enlisted Young nephew Stevie Young to fill in for him. Stevie substituted for Malcolm during the late 1980s Blow Up Your Video tour so that Uncle Malcolm could go to rehab for alcohol abuse. Fans will gladly accept Stevie wielding a Gretsch in his uncle’s stead. And chances are Malcolm had some input in writing the tunes, so he’ll be involved with the album in some respect.

And, oh, by the way, Pink Floyd is getting in on the act, too! I’m not a huge Pink Floyd fan, but my sister is, and this should make her happy: the English psychedelic (whatever you want to call them) rockers will release their first studio album in 20 years! It’s titled The Endless River. Now, even though keyboardist Richard Wright sadly succumbed to cancer a few years back at age 65, the band was able to take some recordings it did during its Division Bell tour and spruce it up with Nick Mason’s drums and, more importantly, David Gilmour’s guitar (and I’m assuming, voice). Band founder, bassist and lead grump Roger Waters had zero to do with this album.

It’s fair to say both Pink Floyd and AC/DC fans will listen to these albums with a fair amount of wistfulness, knowing that key members couldn’t be involved due to illness, death, and being pissed off for 35 years. Such is life, and while we have some left in us, it’ll be nice to rock out or do whatever you do to Pink Floyd as 2014 winds down.