Def Leppard
Returning to the Spotlight and Recycling Influences With Yeah!
2008-02-26
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Say what you will about Def Leppard, but if you rocked in the ’80s you probably owned Pyromania and/or Hysteria. And loved it. The components were simple, and mercilessly effective: gang vocals, power ballads, dueling guitar riffs, Joe Elliot’s emotive rasp, expensive ripped jeans and flawlessly teased hair. Empires were built from less. But after a decade of pop-metal ruling the charts, the pendulum was to swing back to a more stripped down rock sound, emanating primarily from Seattle. Def Leppard, along with their hair farmer peers, would be forced from the spotlight.
But not for long.
“I think it’s true to say that things do go around in cycles,” reflects Rick Allen, Def Leppard’s iconic drummer. History has proven his assessment correct, especially where it comes to the arts. Popular entertainment is fickle at best, and enslaved to the cyclical nature of what’s hot (or not). Today, androgynous makeup-wearing rockers with tight jeans, silly hairdos and no shortage of attitude once again rule the airwaves. Come turn-of-the-century, the rock world collectively rolled up its sleeve, brandished its razor, braced itself for emo and prepared for the cutting. Looking to the past for inspiration, bands like Avenged Sevenfold and My Chemical Romance cued in on the peacock presentation of ’80s rock, mixing popular glam with chic Anglo alternative and that decade’s American metal resurgence. This, mixed with general nostalgia, was to re-open the doors for Def Leppard.
“With a band like us, really, all we had to do was stay together for another 10 years and it was going to come around,” says Allen. “A lot of the Seattle bands kinda self-destructed; they didn’t stay together. With a band like Def Leppard, we never saw ourselves breaking up or going the way of the dinosaur.” This revelation is notable, given the death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991, and the 1984 car accident in which Allen lost his left arm. In fact, 2006 saw a resurgence for the band, climbing back onto MTV and VH1 rotation with a rendition of David Essex’s “Rock On” from Yeah!, a covers album which pays homage to Def Leppard’s ’70s glam rock influences.
“We are putting a covers record out at the moment, which is kind of a treat, and will allow people to see where we came from when we were on the other side of the fence, looking at the bands we looked up to.”
Currently Def Leppard is on tour with fellow classic rock legends Journey, an apt pairing says Allen. “I think at the end of the day, there aren’t too many bands like us left. Really, there aren’t too many rock bands left doing it.” Having survived a decade’s death of decadence, the members of Def Leppard are finding themselves in a career renaissance, with their fans from the ’80s now bringing their own kids to Leppard shows.
While butt rock is still the butt of the joke in some circles, its influence on pop culture is impossible to deny. And even if the joke’s at their expense, Rick Allen is still laughing. When asked his thoughts on The Bloodhound Gang’s single, “Why’s Everybody Always Pickin’ on Me?” the world’s most famous one-armed drummer immediately begins to chuckle.
“‘The drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm?’ That was great!” he laughs. “I couldn’t believe it. When I first heard it on the radio, I was like, ‘Did I just hear what I heard?’”
But not for long.
“I think it’s true to say that things do go around in cycles,” reflects Rick Allen, Def Leppard’s iconic drummer. History has proven his assessment correct, especially where it comes to the arts. Popular entertainment is fickle at best, and enslaved to the cyclical nature of what’s hot (or not). Today, androgynous makeup-wearing rockers with tight jeans, silly hairdos and no shortage of attitude once again rule the airwaves. Come turn-of-the-century, the rock world collectively rolled up its sleeve, brandished its razor, braced itself for emo and prepared for the cutting. Looking to the past for inspiration, bands like Avenged Sevenfold and My Chemical Romance cued in on the peacock presentation of ’80s rock, mixing popular glam with chic Anglo alternative and that decade’s American metal resurgence. This, mixed with general nostalgia, was to re-open the doors for Def Leppard.
“With a band like us, really, all we had to do was stay together for another 10 years and it was going to come around,” says Allen. “A lot of the Seattle bands kinda self-destructed; they didn’t stay together. With a band like Def Leppard, we never saw ourselves breaking up or going the way of the dinosaur.” This revelation is notable, given the death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991, and the 1984 car accident in which Allen lost his left arm. In fact, 2006 saw a resurgence for the band, climbing back onto MTV and VH1 rotation with a rendition of David Essex’s “Rock On” from Yeah!, a covers album which pays homage to Def Leppard’s ’70s glam rock influences.
“We are putting a covers record out at the moment, which is kind of a treat, and will allow people to see where we came from when we were on the other side of the fence, looking at the bands we looked up to.”
Currently Def Leppard is on tour with fellow classic rock legends Journey, an apt pairing says Allen. “I think at the end of the day, there aren’t too many bands like us left. Really, there aren’t too many rock bands left doing it.” Having survived a decade’s death of decadence, the members of Def Leppard are finding themselves in a career renaissance, with their fans from the ’80s now bringing their own kids to Leppard shows.
While butt rock is still the butt of the joke in some circles, its influence on pop culture is impossible to deny. And even if the joke’s at their expense, Rick Allen is still laughing. When asked his thoughts on The Bloodhound Gang’s single, “Why’s Everybody Always Pickin’ on Me?” the world’s most famous one-armed drummer immediately begins to chuckle.
“‘The drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm?’ That was great!” he laughs. “I couldn’t believe it. When I first heard it on the radio, I was like, ‘Did I just hear what I heard?’”
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