Angus McKinnon Young, born 31 March 1955

AC/DC - Thunderstruck (Official Video)

"Thunderstruck" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released as the lead single from their twelfth studio album The Razors Edge (1990).

It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, No. 1 in Finland, and No. 5 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

In 2010, "Thunderstruck" topped Triple M Melbourne's Ultimate 500 Rock Countdown in Australia.

It is one of the best-selling singles of all time with over 15 million units sold.

Angus Young stated in the liner notes of the 2003 re-release of The Razors Edge:

It started off from a little trick I had on guitar. I played it to Mal and he said "Oh, I've got a good rhythm idea that will sit well in the back." We built the song up from that. We fiddled about with it for a few months before everything fell into place. Lyrically, it was really just a case of finding a good title ... We came up with this thunder thing, based on our favourite childhood toy ThunderStreak, and it seemed to have a good ring to it. AC/DC = Power. That's the basic idea.

The song has sold over a million digital copies since it became available for digital download.

In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the "most Australian" songs of all time, "Thunderstruck" was ranked No. 8.

"Thunderstruck" is widely considered one of the band's best songs. 

In 2020, The Guardian ranked the song number eight on its list of the 40 greatest AC/DC songs, and in 2021, the British rock magazine Kerrang! ranked the song number six on its list of the 20 greatest AC/DC songs.

In 2025 the song was voted 13 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

The track is a popular song to learn among beginning guitarists.

Writing for WRKR in 2025, Joe Davita expressed resentment towards children who play the riff in music stores, such as Guitar Center. 

He said: "You've probably heard AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' so many times that you change the station whenever it comes on the radio. Nothing against it, it's a monster song, but unless Angus Young is playing that riff, nobody needs to hear it, not even from you, kid who plays it pretty well."

He included the song on his list of the "10 Worst Guitar Center Songs Ever"

The song was reportedly used as part of the payload of a computer virus which attacked the Iranian nuclear program in 2012.

In an email sent to Finnish computer security expert, Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure, one of the scientists involved in the nuclear program was quoted as saying:

...There was also some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the middle of the night with the volume maxed out. I believe it was playing "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.

ACDC Debut Song - Can I Sit Next to You Girl 1974

AC/DC - Can I Sit Next to You, Girl was their debut single back in July 1974. BAND LINEUP Dave Evans - vocals Angus Young - lead guitar Malcolm Young - rhythm guitar Larry Van Kriedt - bass guitar Colin Burgess - drummer

ANGUS YOUNG

AC/DC

1955

            Angus Young is an Australian musician, and the lead guitarist and songwriter of the rock band AC/DC. He is the only remaining founding member left in the band and is best known for wearing schoolboy-uniforms. He is considered one of the best guitarists of all-time. AC/DC have had numerous hit albums as well as hit singles including, Highway To Hell, It’s a Long Way to the Top, You Shook Me All Night Long, and Hells Bells.

            Young was born in Glasgow, Scotland in a working-class area with high unemployment. He spent the first seven years of his life in Cranhill, after experiencing the worst winter on record in Scotland his family immigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1963. They initially stayed in Villawood and then moved to Burwood. At school Young enjoyed playing guitar and art classes, but dropped out of school aged 15. He worked at various jobs including at a butchers, a printer, and at a soft core magazine.

            Young’s family was musically talented and most members in the family could play a musical instrument. Young and his brothers Malcolm Young and George Young were in a band together and when he was 18, he and Malcolm formed AC/DC in 1973. His brother George founded the band The Easybeats in 1964. Their first single was later re-recorded with Bon Scott on vocals, it was their sister Margaret who came up with the name AC/DC who saw the term on the back of her sewing machine. Young experimented with different costumes before he settled on the schoolboy look which was created by his sister. They released their debut album, High Voltage in 1975 and became popular initially in Australia before becoming worldwide famous with Highway to Hell (1979). Bon Scott died from alcohol poisoning in 1980 in London. Five months later, Back in Black was released which became a best seller. After a few unsuccessful albums in the late 80s, they gained success once more with The Razors Edge (1990).

            Young is married and lives in Australia, England and the Netherlands.