Def Leppard

Cover Feature

DEF LEPPARD:

ARE THEY ROCK’S LAST GREAT ROCK BAND?

by Tom Lounges

In today’s disposable world of rock, it seems highly unlikely that there will ever be another band like The Beatles, the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin?

One is hard pressed to think of any artists of the last quarter century who even come close to the level of those groups.

The one exception that comes to mind is Def Leppard, who as teenagers, roared out of England’s working class city of Sheffield in 1979 and have never looked back.

Def Leppard have survived, thrived and arrived intact despite (or perhaps because of) an enormous amount of hardship that has challenged them during their 28 years together.

There is something to be said of “character” and from the onset, the Def Leppard have had in by the bushel.

This writer remembers spending time with Def Leppard on their first American tour. It was the winter of 1980 and their debut LP, On Through The Night, had just been released.

Def Leppard was slamming through most of the songs from that album while opening for Ted Nugent at the Rosemont Horizon. Knocked out by their show and their pizzazz, I had to learn more about this teenage rock brigade.

Though I had gone to cover Nugent, I spent most of the evening with the young Brits – Rick Allen, Steve Clark, Pete Willis, Rick Savage and Joe Elliott – who aside from being great rockers, revealed a real talent for pounding down beer.

Before calling it a night, myself and the five Leppards managed to wipe out a 55-gallon plastic garbage can that had been jammed full of cold brewskis.

“Oh my, that was my first time at the Rosemont and I remember it very well,” said Leppard’s drummer Allen when reminded of that night during a phone interview to promote the band’s August 5 date with Bryan Adams at South Bend’s Coveleski Stadium.

“We had just started playing arenas at that time,” continued Allen. “I remember being on stage at Rosemont, looking out and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the size of the place.”

Allen described it as being one of those galvanizing moments when you suddenly realize that you have “made it.”

And ‘making it” is something the Leppards have never taken for granted.

“We’ve all done the occasional things on our own. Phil has a project his dabbling with at the moment, Joe has done one and I’m working with my wife who is a singer/songwriter,” noted Allen. “Quite honestly, Def Leppard is a full time job for us. We are all very involved in the band on a day to day basis and to keep the whole thing rolling takes work. It takes staying in touch with each other and working closely together.”

Even while still teenagers, a very strong chemistry and work ethic between the members was evident.

That chemistry and the bonds of friendship forged between the time when the boys all worked together in a spoon factory and when they first tasted fame – served them very well when tragedy hit the group not once but twice.

Their story is well known from the docu-drama film, “Hysteria”, and from VH1’s “Behind The Music”, so we will not rehash the sordid details here.

Suffice to say, that Pete Willis was fired due to his excessive drinking and replaced him with Phil Collen; Rick Allen lost his left arm in a nearly fatal auto accident on New Year’s Eve 1984; and guitarist Steve Clark died in 1991 at the age of 30 from alcohol poisoning.

“The incredible, unstoppable human spirit is what has kept me and kept this band going,” said Allen. “People say to me – ‘Gosh, I don’t know what I would have done...’ and I say, ‘Neither did I.’ It’s not like I was ready for this thing to happen. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was going to do after the accident. I didn’t think I was going to be in the band because of my own thinking and decision making. The guys were very supportive of me.”

“My brother brought my stereo system into the hospital and I started listening to all the songs that I grew up with and loved. The songs that made me want to play rock ‘n’ roll in the first place. IT was then that I realized that I could still play all the basic rhythms. I knew that if I simplified things a bit that I could nail it. A lot of it was simply necessity. I think it is true what they say, that when you lose the use of one part of your body, than you compensate for it with the other parts of your body. My right arm now is way more dexterous that it ever was before. I think our bodies sort of re-wire themselves to help us go on.”

Losing Steve Clark was another tragedy that hit the band. “It did cross out minds,” he said of how the band almost cashed in their chips and called it a day after Clark’s death. “It was like ‘What’s the point? Why are we doing this?’ Then we realized that Steve would have wanted us to go on and we realized that in the end it was still about the music and our friendships. So we didn’t hold on to those negative thoughts for long. We just moved on.”

They moved on with the help of guitarist Vivian Campbell, who had made a name for himself with Dio and Whitesnake. He came on board during the band’s 1992 Adrenalize tour and has been with them ever since.

Turning the hardship of overcoming from his accident into something positive, Allen founded a non-profit charitable organization four years ago.

“It’s called the Raven Drum Foundation,” he explained. “Basically, through drum circles, we try to help special needs groups like women’s shelters and teenage penitentiaries. To me the drum circle itself is a metaphor for ‘community’. It’s the ‘community’ that makes us feel we are not alone in facing things. That was the only thing I really needed while in the hospital, was to know I was not going through it all alone.”

Allen’s mantra is – “The human spirit is the strongest thing there is. It can get you through anything if it’s strong enough.”

For more information on Allen’s foundation, log on at: www.ravendrum.com “People can get a sense of what we’ve been doing if they log on with us,” he added.

Given their longevity, their continued impact on the charts with each release, their steady catalog sales and the fact they can still sell out arenas on name value along – perhaps Def Leppard will indeed go down in the annual of history as “the last truly great rock ‘n’ roll band.”

After all, if one is known for the company that they keep, than Def Leppard is a shoe in.

In 1999, Leppard was honored in the U.S. by the RIAA with a prestigious “Diamond Award” for their LP, Hysteria.

Gold and Platinum awards (of which Leppard has many) look like tarnished brass next to a “Diamond Award”, which recognizes sales of over 10 million copies.

Hysteria has to date sold over 18 million units worldwide, bringing the band’s total career sales to an amazing 60 million albums. Only a handful of British artists have achieved that kind of retail success. This puts the Leppards in the company of Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Elton John.

Proving that Hysteria was no fluke, the band accepted a second “Diamond Award” for their Pyromania album in 2003. They are one of only five rock bands in history to score “Double Diamond” status. The others are Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Van Halen and Led Zeppelin.

Def Leppard are back on the radio once again with their rocking cover of the old Badfinger hit, “No Matter What.”

That tune is the only new studio selection included on the new 35-song, 2-CD anthology set – Rock Of Ages: The Definitive Def Leppard Collection – which clocks in at over two and a half hours.

According to Rick Allen, “No Matter What” harkens a forthcoming album of all cover songs from the band.

“We’ve got an album coming out in September called Rock On that is a collection of cover songs,” he explained. “The criteria was that any songs that influenced us prior to getting signed by a record company was fair game. These are all songs we grew up listening to as kids, songs that meant something to us on a personal level.”

Already recorded, the cover songs are being mixed down and mastered as you read this. An album of all new Leppard material is planned for 2006.

“We’ve just set up what we call the ‘Sparkle Lounge’, which is a room with sparkle lights, a couple of amps and a small drum kit,” explained Allen. “It’s where we work out ideas for new songs. Seeing as we’re so busy at the moment, it’s the only way we can work, unless we wait until we come off the road.”

And that would be a long wait, because Leppard will be staying out on the road longer than they anticipated.

“We were originally talking about doing some overseas dates once things wrapped up here at the end of August,” said Allen. “Now due to all the renewed interest in the band and because ‘No Matter What’ is being played on radio, we’re going to stay in the U.S. for most of this tour. That will keep us here through December.”

“The whole tour is not with Bryan, but our shows with him have been great. We’ve had Tesla on the road with us for some shows and we also did some dates with Montrose,” said Allen.

“It’s interesting, because a lot of the people who come to see either Bryan or us are already quite familiar with the music of both bands,” he continued. “We’re finding that the crowds are really enjoying the whole show. How often can you buy a concert ticket and listen to hit songs all night long.”

Leppard is pulling out a few chestnuts from their songbook for this tour. “We have been practicing ‘Rock Brigade’ just last night during sound check,” said Allen. “It’s been a long, long time since we’ve done that live. I haven’t played that song since I had two arms. We’re digging in and doing ‘Gods Of War’ and we’re doing a cover from the new album called ‘Rock On’ (the old David Essex hit).

The band has been having a great time revisiting their past with the new anthology collection and their forthcoming covers album, but Allen said that they are looking forward to the future and eager to start the next chapter of their history.

A chapter that will only further their reputation as the world’s last great rock ‘n’ roll band!

DEF LEPPARD perform with Bryan Adams at

Coveleski Stadium in South Bend, Indiana on August 5.

WIN DEF LEPPARD CONCERT TICKETS ON

TOM LOUNGES’ NIGHT ROCK SHOW ON X-ROCK 103.9FM

ON SUNDAY, JULY 31st

Back To Top

Web Design By:
Hungry Mind Design