We
saw them again in concert, on tour for their newest album, self-titled. It sounds almost exactly like Songs
From The Sparkle Lounge, the prior album.
I’ve addressed them in a paragraph in an earlier blog, New Wave of
British Heavy Metal. Here’s more than a
paragraph, as the band deserves it.
The
NWOBHM was a…new wave of heavy metal…from Britain. The time period was the late 1970s and early
1980s. I suppose the first wave was
Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, with Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy and UFO
as mid-70s additions. The late 70s saw
punk and new wave take a major role in British music. Deep Purple had split up in 1976, Led
Zeppelin were touring less and strung out in the late 70s, and Black Sabbath
ended in 1978 with Ozzy’s departure.
These new bands, who finally broke out by sheer force of numbers, gave
us three major survivors: Iron Maiden,
Saxon, and Def Leppard.
Of
the three, Def Leppard quickly switched to a more commercial style. Unlike Diamond Head, who tried doing the same
thing (only to crash and burn), DL pulled it off. Good writing, catchy songs, excellent
production, and photogenic band members could share the blame for this success.
Joe Elliott. The singer.
He has a good voice and stage presence, enough wit and charm to impress
the audience and possibly the ladies.
Rick Savage. The bassist.
Did he pull all the birds? Well,
given that the bassist is usually a band’s most homely and least charismatic
memer – aside from exceptions like Paul McCartney and Gene Simmons – this guy
made the band more attractive to females, a necessary ingredient if you’re
going to go commercial.
Rick Allen. The drummer.
After Pyromania went big, he bought a Corvette and flipped it over
on the local roads near Sheffield, which cost him his arm. Initially despondent – how can you drum with
only one arm? – he found someone to rig a drumset which would allow him to hit
drums with an extra foot pedal. Voila,
problem solved. Good enough to get the
job done, and an inspiration to the rest of us.
Phil Collen. Guitarist #1. Not to be confused with Phil Collins. PC replaced prior guitarist Pete Willis, who
apparently didn’t get along with the rest of the band. He likes to play without a shirt, but hits
the gym often enough to make it work for him. He’s buffer than Vladimir Putin and well ahead
of Randy from Trailer Park Boys (to my knowledge neither of them play guitar). He prefers Strat-type guitars. Flashy?
Sure. But he’s good enough.
Vivian Campbell. Guitarist #2.
From Northern Ireland. He used to
be in Sweet Savage, another NWOBHM band, and also played with Ronnie James Snake
and WhiteDio. He was already well known
from those bands when he replaced Steve Clark, who drank himself to death. VC has been fighting cancer recently but
seems to be on top of it. It looks like
he’s taking 60% of the solos.
Honorable
mention: Steve Clark. Long blonde hair, low slung Les Paul or
Firebird, almost like a guitar version of Duff McKagan. He played well and was well-liked, but
couldn’t avoid drinking himself to death (1991).
Dishonorable
mention: Pete Willis. Despite writing
and playing on the first three albums, he pissed everyone off and got
fired. If it was just the band, he’d
have resurfaced, but his musical career died when he was canned.
Early
material. On Through The Night (1980)
was the first album. It’s not memorable
enough to even merit a single tune in the set, and it’s hardly distinguishable
from the other NWOBHM material out there dating from the same period. The term “Rock Brigade” which appears on much of the band’s merchandise seems
to be its only legacy. It went platinum,
but my guess is that most of those sales probably date from after Pyromania
broke big and fans decided to buy the prior albums.
High’N’Dry (1981). The second album. Produced by John “Mutt” Lange, who gave us
the killer trilogy of Highway to Hell, Back In Black, and For
Those About To Rock (AC/DC). Awesome
from start to finish, including the duo of “Bringing On The Heartbreak”
>> “Switch 625”. Mandatory
inclusion in every rock fan’s collection.
This went double platinum, possibly after Pyromania.
Pyromania (1983). The third album, which catapulted the band to
stardom. Phil Collen took over from Pete
Willis. Really this could be considered
their finest moment, though I prefer the prior one. Lange continued his work on this one, and the
band really fine-tuned the sound. 10x
platinum sales, or 5 times the sales of High’n’Dry. While I consider it more commercial than High’N’Dry,
it’s not nearly as commercial as Hysteria.
Hysteria (1987). A big delay because of Rick Allen’s accident,
but everyone was glad to see him back.
It’s also the last album with Steve Clark. Lange produced this one too. They made it a bit more commercial and slick,
and got 12x platinum sales, the highest selling DL album. This album essentially finalized the DL sound
from here on out.
Subsequent
albums: Adrenalize (1992) (last
album produced by Lange, also last album to sell at platinum level), Slang
(1996), Euphoria (1999), X (2002), Songs From the Sparkle Lounge
(2008), and Def Leppard (2015).
Of these, I only have the two most recent. They both sound the same, and my impression
is that they’re all somewhat substandard copies of Hysteria, a formula
which they found works for them. The
more recent albums haven’t sold very well, probably because we already had Hysteria.
Retro-Active and Yeah! The former is a collection of out-takes and
b-sides, the latter is a covers album.
None of the covers are metal songs, or anything that Iron Maiden or
Saxon would consider an influence.
Union Jack. It’s funny that more British bands don’t use
that, as the flag is distinctive. For a while
the band was waving it around and putting it on all the merchandise (they still
do, but less prominently than before), and Joe Elliott was prancing around in
Union Jack boxers. They also make it a
point to remind everyone they’re from Sheffield, basically the Pittsburgh of
England. And finally they are avid
soccer fans, a trait shared with Iron Maiden.
I believe their team is Sheffield
United, whereas the Irons (or at least, Steve Harris) are big West Ham fans.
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