AC/DC Talks Malcolm Young's Final Days With Band: 'He Was Brilliant'

Former AC/DC rhythm guitarist, Malcolm Young, was diagnosed with dementia this fall and the Australian group announced his departure in unison with the horrible news. Brian Johnson and Angus Young (Malcolm's brother) recently offered more details and said Malcolm has been suffering for years. They called his work on the final tour "brilliant."

A source from the Young family said, "If you were in the room with [Malcolm Young] and walked out, then came back in one minute later, he wouldn't remember who you are. He has a complete loss of short-term memory. His wife, Linda, has put him in full-time care."

In a recent Guardian interview, Brian Johnson and Angus Young (Malcolm's brother) offered more details, and said Malcolm has been suffering for years.

"He was not well when we went to do [the 2008 album] Black Ice: his symptoms of dementia were starting then, and he got through it," Angus said. "I had said to him, even before we did the album: 'Are you sure you want to do this? I have to know that you really want to do it.' He was the one who said: 'Yes! We've really got to do it.'"

But there was a feeling of separation.

"I thought that at times it was not Malcolm with me," Angus said. "He would say at the time: 'I have good days and I have bad days.' Later on, when he got diagnosed - he had brain shrinkage, and he got diagnosed in America and they gave him some medication to help him - I said: 'Are you going to be fit for this? Because it's going to be a hefty tour.' And he said: 'We'll do it. We'll do it.' That was how he was. It was hard work for him. He was relearning a lot of those songs that he knew backwards; the ones we were playing that night he'd be relearning. He was his own driver. He himself had that thing, where you've just got to keep going."

The group had to treat Malcolm as if everything were normal.

"God knows what went through his mind in some nights when he wasn't that well," Johnson said. "He'd go onstage and ... 'Oh s---!' Can you imagine knowing you're not sure about [what's happening]? Y'know where you are, put it that way, but your mind's playing tricks. He was brilliant. He did brilliant."

He added: "It was tough. But you couldn't say anything or do anything, because it would have been like giving pity. You had to treat it like a normal day. So we did."

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AC/DC, Malcolm young