Plato, Nietzsche and the Genius of Malcolm Young. Gifted Songwriter and Guitarist (eBook)

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Musicology - Popular music, The University of Western Australia, course: Philosophy, language: English, abstract: The essay discusses the importance of the popular musicians Malcolm Young and Angus Young for the rock group AC/DC. It makes particular reference to Malcolm as the leader and guiding force behind the group and analyses Angus’s work while making reference to Malcolm’s abilities. As part of this, it discusses the group’s history and the importance of the musical interplay of the two brothers Malcolm Young and Angus Young. The essay is an elaboration on an earlier work done at the University of Western Australia which was revisited in my lectures in Rome in 2019. For the ancient but important Greek philosopher Plato, music had been something which both touches and conditions the psyche. In fact, Plato had been able to see that music is a “philosophically oriented formation and education of the psyche” which contributes “to the philosophical cure of the soul as a very efficient manner of treating a vast array of psychic responses ranging from perception, emotion and desire to rational content.”