The reason why Angus Young lost respect for The Rolling Stones after 1968: “Yawn”
Angus Young of AC/DC has said he lost interest in The Rolling Stones after 1968, arguing that their later work moved away from what he considered worthwhile rock ‘n’ roll. His view matters because it contrasts sharply with the widely held belief that the Stones entered one of their strongest creative periods in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Young praised the band’s early blues-influenced material and singled out 1968 singles ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and ‘Street Fighting Man’ as their last good songs. He also criticised their later use of soul music, while the article notes that the Stones had long drawn openly on Black American blues and rhythm-and-blues artists; it cites later albums including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. as evidence of the band’s acclaimed subsequent era.
- Angus Young says the Stones declined after 1968.
- He rates ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and ‘Street Fighting Man’ highly.
- The view conflicts with praise for the Stones’ later classic albums.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Young’s view is that rock ‘n’ roll works best when it is direct, lean and driven by blues-based energy, qualities he hears in the Stones’ earlier records and their 1968 singles. From that perspective, their later stylistic expansion into soul-influenced arrangements and more elaborate album work may feel less immediate and less faithful to the raw musical purpose that first made them compelling. His judgement reflects a preference for consistency, simplicity and a clear sense of genre identity rather than a denial of the band’s historical importance.
The case against
The opposing case is that the Stones’ late-1960s and early-1970s work represented creative development rather than decline. Albums such as Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. are widely admired for deepening the band’s engagement with blues, rhythm and blues, country, soul and rock, while producing many of their most enduring songs. Supporters would argue that drawing on a wider range of Black American musical traditions was continuous with the band’s roots, and that experimentation gave their music greater richness without abandoning its rock ‘n’ roll foundation.