You may have noticed before clicking on this article that the title says AC/DC but the header image features only Angus Young. This may prompt you to ask, “Where’s the rest of the band?” Well, sad as it is to say, you’re looking at it.

At the moment it feels as though AC/DC is a once powerful armoured tank that is slowly limping through its final furlongs as pieces keep falling off of it. A fender here, a door there, oh look, there goes an entire wheel.

It began with the sad departure of guitarist Malcolm Young, who was forced to retire from the group due to struggles with dementia. Then troubles with longtime drummer Phil Rudd ensued and now we wouldn’t want him back in the band even if his house arrest was lifted.

The legendary hard rockers suffered another blow when frontman Brian Johnson, who replaced the iconic Bon Scott following his death in 1980, was forced to retire from touring due to hearing problems. He was replaced temporarily by Axl Rose.

With the band continuing their Rock or Bust tour with Rose, it was recently announced that Cliff Williams would be hanging up his bass following the conclusion of the tour, leaving Angus as the only remaining founding or longtime member of the group.

All of this has certainly placed a giant question mark over the future of AC/DC, one of Australia’s most important and influential bands. Of course, many are saying that the band simply doesn’t have a future and even Angus can see the writing on the wall.

However, those same critics were likely calling BS on reports that the frontman of Guns N’ Roses was set to front the group, which actually turned out to be an oddly well received though admittedly surreal move for AC/DC.

But maybe we should just let it end there. And by we, we mean Angus Young.

Speaking recently to Rolling Stone, Young admitted that he may have pushed the band “too far” following Malcolm’s departure. “That might be the case,” Young told RS. “But Malcolm was always one to battle through.”

“He would look at me in times of crisis and go, ‘We’ll just go in and do some work. We’ll sit and write some songs.’ He had that drive, and I feel obligated to keep it going, maybe because I was there in the beginning with him.”

It’s fair enough really. If Young truly felt like he had an obligation to his brother (and not to his bank account) to keep the band going, then the axe legend is in an unassailable position. But excuse our entitlement in saying that Young also has an obligation to AC/DC’s fans.

“At this point, I don’t know. We were committed to finishing the tour. Who knows what I’ll feel after?” Young told RS. “When you sign on and say, ‘I’m gonna do this and that,’ it’s always good to say at the end of it, ‘I’ve done all I said I would do.'”

Some might hear this and think, “Yep, it’s all over”, but we’re not so sure. After all, that whole Axl Rose thing was a real curve ball, and who’s to say Young doesn’t have another up his sleeve, regardless of how it tarnishes his band’s legacy?

“That was always the idea,” Young continued, “especially when we were younger – me, Malcolm, Bon. You had to show up and be on time. You’d be playing in a pub in the afternoon. Then late at night, you’d be playing a club. You got into that habit: ‘If we don’t play, we don’t eat.'”

It’s an oft-repeated mantra for working musicians who started off in the way that AC/DC did and James Brown had an almost identical motto (“Don’t work, don’t eat”). But with all due respect, Young is no longer playing pubs in the afternoon.

His net worth is estimated to be in the ballpark of $150 million and his band routinely sells out stadiums around the world. So as long as Young’s got enough bread to keep him full for the next dozen lifetimes, maybe it’s time to let AC/DC end with some dignity?

We’re not necessarily suggesting Young calls a press conference and announces the end of the group. Just… let it be. Young has well and truly done all he said he would do and maybe an ellipsis and not a full stop is an appropriate end future for Acca Dacca.

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