Nothing to do with the tube of the group Alphaville, released in 1984: the title of the documentary, Forever Young, plays here on the surname of the three Young brothers, Angus, Malcolm and George, respectively imp guitarist, rhythm guitarist and first producer of the group of Australian hard rock band AC/DC, which they co-founded in 1973.

Since then, “nobody else has been a hit with every album for fifty years,” recalls Murray Engleheart, Australian author specializing in AC/DC. Their records have sold over two hundred million copies in total. And the disappearance of singer Bon Scott (1980) then that, in 2017, of Malcolm and George Young did not affect their popularity.

AC/DC, stronger than death? Designed as a tribute, this unpublished does not address any controversial subject (conditions of Malcolm’s death, slump in the 1980s or more or less failed tours). On the other hand, it allows you to discover the “fucked up” attitude, the Easybeats (George’s first band) and the “glam” look of the beginnings.

He provides a pleasant moment by looking back on the group’s career using archived interviews (notably with Angus), extracts from concerts (much too brief: you have to wait thirty-five minutes to hear fifteen seconds of Highway to Hell) and interviews with former musicians or relatives, including Tony Currenti, their drummer in 1974, or Mary Renshaw, ex-friend of Bon Scott. Their testimonies converge to identify the key elements of their longevity.

An essential lesson

First mark the spirits, by their exuberance and their humor. The look of Angus, dressed as a schoolboy and crossing the stage in a frantic duck walk, has a lot to do with it. Even if the leader of the group was Malcolm.

Then have fun. The only serious thing is the music, which they work tirelessly. The film demonstrates that the simplicity of the music is only apparent. George teaches them an essential lesson very early on: “Keep your sound. AC/DC will never deviate from this.

Finally the clan, whose origins we discover in the poor childhood of the Young family, near Glasgow, in Scotland, before they joined Australia in 1963 – where the migrants are welcomed with fanfare, before being placed in camps. These difficulties forge what Michael Browning, their producer, calls “Scottish atavism”: they never give up.

Thus, after the death of Bon Scott, Angus leaves to meet the father of the missing singer before hiring Brian Johnson to succeed him. The album Back in Black that followed sold fifty million copies. Similarly, in 2014, Stevie Young succeeded his uncle Malcolm, and the release of Power Up, in November 2020, was welcomed as a musical miracle. Le Monde then salutes the “riffs of unstoppable simplicity”. Immutable… Since then, the rumor of a return to the stage has been circulating.