“I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with”: Angus Young’s thoughts on Eric Clapton – and the players he prefers

Angus Young wears his school uniform as AC/DC play Donington Monsters of Rock [left]; Eric Clapton is suited and playing a pale blue Strat in the mid '80s.

The famous writing on the wall read “Clapton is God” but not everyone was a believer. Sure, he helped write the book on British blues-rock, was electric guitar point man in the archetypical rock power trio Cream, and made acoustic blues platinum in the MTV era, but still there were doubters.

Some had little faith. Angus Young was one of them. Speaking to Guitar World in 1986 – granted, six years off Clapton’s triple-Grammy-winning turn on MTV Unplugged – the AC/DC lead guitarist admitted that he never understood all the fuss. Given Clapton or the Godfather of Rock ’n’ Roll, there was just no contest.