10 Greatest Rhythm Guitarists In Rock History
2. Malcolm Young - AC/DC
The entire vocabulary of AC/DC has been pure rock and roll from day one. Taking the same styles that came at the genesis of rock and roll like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, the Young Brothers managed to build their empire by putting a lot more bad boy attitude behind your traditional songs about going out to raise hell. Though it's easy to pick out the man who runs around in a schoolboy uniform for a living, the brother in the back is the reason we still talk about AC/DC.
The entire sound of Malcolm Young has come from just how simplistic a lot of his rhythm parts were. If you listen back to the usual AC/DC track, you can probably pick it up fairly quickly on your first week playing guitar. The key was the way that Malcolm locked into the groove, taking something like 3 basic chords and turning it into the battering ram that became Back in Black.
That's not to say that Malcolm didn't have his fair share of flashy moments either, and a song like Beating Around the Bush may be the biggest example of his talent, having the same bluesy structure but with a much sharper tone that almost verges on punk rock. No matter what style of rock and roll that you think of, the tone that you hear in your head for 'rock guitar' is most likely what Malcolm pioneered.