AC/DC’s Malcolm Young Stricken with Dementia?
It’s no secret that founding AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young has been suffering from serious health issues — he was forced to leave the group earlier this year after suffering a stroke.
What we didn’t know, however, was that the lauded guitarist may also be stricken with dementia. An unnamed source has told The Sydney Morning Herald that Young’s wife, Linda, has submitted him to Lulworth House in Elizabeth Bay, “a nursing home facility in Sydney’s eastern suburbs” which specializes in that illness. The source claims that “If you were in the room with [Malcolm Young] and walked out, then came back in one minute later, he wouldn’t remember who you are. He has a complete loss of short-term memory.”
Dementia can be caused by a stroke, but it can also come about due to plain old shit genetics and luck. In either case, according to Alzheimers.org, the results are horrible:
“The life expectancy of a person with dementia is unpredictable, and the disease can progress for up to around 10 years. It is estimated that a third of people with dementia at any one time will be in the later stages of the disease. Although dementia is a life-shortening illness, another condition or illness (such as pneumonia – an infection in the lung) may actually cause a person’s death. This other condition or illness will most likely be listed as the cause on the person’s death certificate. Pneumonia is listed as the ultimate cause of death in up to two-thirds of people with dementia.”
To say the news that Young may be suffering from this disease is tragic would be understating it. Although his brother and co-guitarist Angus has grabbed a larger percentage of the spotlight over the years, it’s no secret that Malcolm has been one of, if not the, key songwriters in AC/DC since its inception. The concept of AC/DC without Malcolm Young is akin to the concept of Slayer without Jeff Hanneman. This is truly heartbreaking.
To end things on a slightly less dispiriting note for AC/DC fans: the band has released the snippet of new song, “Play Ball,” via the below commercial the MLB postseason. The track will appear on the band’s upcoming album, Rock or Bust, which will be released on December 1. Reassuringly, it sounds like every other AC/DC song ever:
http://youtu.be/nztuVUM0o9U
