![Angus Young on His Brother’s Battle: ‘Every Now and Then He’s Still the Malcolm I Know’](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2014/11/ACDC-Hulton-Archive.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Angus Young on His Brother’s Battle: ‘Every Now and Then He’s Still the Malcolm I Know’
The retirement of Malcolm Young from AC/DC due to dementia has put the famously private band in the unusual position of having to open up about their founding guitarist's health. In a new interview, Angus Young described what it was like when his brother's symptoms first started to manifest in 2008, during the recording of 'Black Ice' and its subsequent lengthy tour.
"It was hard work for him," he told the Guardian. "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.”
As difficult as it was for them to watch, singer Brian Johnson added that “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.”
Young said that, despite the illness, Malcolm nonetheless goes out for a daily walk and cup of coffee, and that once in a while, he doesn't show signs of his condition: “Every now and then he’s still the Malcolm I know.”
AC/DC's Real Life 'Spinal Tap' Stories
Angus Young's and Other Rockers' Yearbook Photos
More From Ultimate Classic Rock
![AC/DC Gave Us Rock’s Best Drinking Songs: Study](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2023/09/attachment-acdc-80s.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![AC/DC Launches First Tour in 8 Years: Videos, Photos, Set List](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2024/05/attachment-ACDC-2024.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![AC/DC Auditioned a Surprising Singer Before Hiring Axl Rose](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2024/05/attachment-Angus.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Why the New Movie About AC/DC’s Bon Scott Will be ‘Fictionalized’](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2024/03/attachment-ACDC-Bon-Scott-YouTube-Image.jpeg?w=980&q=75)
![AC/DC Announce The Pretty Reckless as Opener on 2024 European Tour](http://townsquare.media/site/366/files/2024/03/attachment-ac_dc_angus_young_power_up_tour.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Bon Scott Biopic Lands Its Star](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2024/03/attachment-Bon-Scott-movie.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![AC/DC’s Most Historic Concerts](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2015/04/Historic-AC-DC-Concerts.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![AC/DC Announces 2024 ‘Power Up’ Tour Dates and New Lineup](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2022/12/attachment-acdc.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Chris Slade Calls AC/DC Stints a ‘Job, a Good Job’](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2018/11/slade.jpg?w=980&q=75)