The Guitarist Angus Young Called The Most Imitated In The World

In the music business, it’s not unusual if a musician gets inspired by another artist or imitates someone in the music efforts they create. Although those inspirations turn into rip-offs and feuds in some cases, it’s without a doubt that most of the musicians embark on a musical career after being inspired by another’s musical talent.

Angus Young, who began playing guitar back when he was just around six years old, was also inspired by Little Richard when he became interested in music. Moreover, he was also influenced by Keith Richards, Muddy Waters, and Chuck Berry in terms of their performing style. Although Young created his unique style out of his inspirations, there was a guitarist who he thinks is the most imitated one in the world. Let’s see who Young was talking about.

Angus Young Said Pete Townshend’s Guitar Playing Style Is The Most Imitated Around The World

In an interview conducted back on July 23, 1978, Angus Young was asked whether he listens to other bands. When Young revealed that he doesn’t, the interviewer asked him if he liked listening to other guitar players. As a response, the guitar icon stated that he wouldn’t like it if he knew he could do what they could.

Following that, Young revealed he likes watching flamenco guitarists. He then said whenever someone asks him to listen to a guitarist; they sound all the same. According to Young, there are many great guitarists in the world, but one loses interest after noticing this fact.

Later on, Young gave Pete Townshend of the Who as an example and said he made a breakthrough when he first started. He then said that Townshend’s style ended up being the most imitated in the world. Moreover, Young said there are many great guitarists around, but he didn’t buy any record in years except for a Muddy Waters record.

As reported by Ultimate Guitar, the interviewer asked Angus Young the following:

“Do you listen to any other music?”

Young responded:

“No, not really.”

Then, the interviewer asked him:

“What about other guitar players?”

In response to this, Young said:

Not if I know I can do it myself. I like watching flamenco guitarists. People say, ‘Listen to this,’ and it just sounds like the guy next door. There are a lot of good guitarists in the world, but you just lose interest. It’s like if you saw Pete Townshend when he first started off, it was all bang, bang the hell out of the guitar. But the style he plays is probably the most imitated in the world.

Eric Clapton was happening, but he got too technical. He made 12 bars seem like a big thing. There is a hell of a lot of good players around, so many you can’t keep track. But I haven’t brought a record in years except for something like Muddy Waters.”

Angus Young thinks that there are many great guitar players globally, and one can’t even keep track of them. However, they all start sounding the same as they imitate each other. As it seems, Young believes the most imitated one of them is Pete Townshend.