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Celebrity Interview: Def Leppard
By AskMen Staff

They've had some good times, bad times and downright nasty times. Find out
why they're in the Guinness Book of Records.  

Tuesday, September 03 2002 
Why are they famous?

They've been around since the very beginning of the '80s and their mega-
selling albums Pyromania and Hysteria have placed them in the "Diamond
Club."

In 1979, Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark walked into the rehearsal of
the Sheffield-based band and threatened to quit if they would not get on
stage and play a live gig. With that, the members of Def Leppard began a
journey that would see them play all over the world, overcome tragedy and
sell 46 million records in t he process.

Along with bassist Rick Savage, singer Joe Elliott and drummer Rick Allen,
guitarist Pete Willis and Steve Clark made up the original lineup that
made Def Leppard part of the New Wave of British Metal, first on 1980's
On Through The Night and on 1981's High 'N' Dry, the latter being produced
by producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. 

While MTV began to play "Bringin' On The Heartbreak," metal fans ate up
"Lady Strange," "Let It Go, " "Another Hit And Run," and "Mirror, Mirror"
-- the latter being a good example of what the band's next album had to offer.

Growing up in Sheffield meant different things to different people, but
for many it meant a relationship with the bottle. In 1982, guitarist Pete
Willis was asked to leave the band as his drinking problem had grown too
unbearable. 

In came Londoner Phil Collen. Asked what he could come up with when given
a tape, he showed up the next day and offered the solo to "Stagefright," a
blinder of a tune with a raucous solo that would become their concert 
opener for years to come. Suffice it to say, Collen was in.

1983's Pyromania ignited radio stations and set store shelves on fire. The
band crafted the blueprint that would be copied and duplicated for the
better part of the 1980s. With Marilyn Monroe starring in "Photograph,"
and hits "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'" in heavy MTV rotation, the album went
on to sell 9 million albums, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Charts. Only
Michael Jackson's Thriller kept Lep from the throne.

As the band's tour winded down, December 31, 1984 marked the day that
drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident. While most bands
would have disappeared after such a setback, Leppard came back stronger
than ever. After having Status-Quo's drummer Jeff Rich serve as a backup
for a few warm-up gigs, the Thunder God showed that he was able to keep
the beat and then some. 

Hysteria was released in 1987 and it was a DJ's dream. The album's entire
Side A spawned 6 hit singles, notably "Love Bites" and "Pour Some Sugar
On Me." Side B offered the title track. Touring "in the round," the album
went on to sell over 12 million, putting the band in the elite Diamond
Club.

As the band began the process of hitting the studio for a follow-up,
tragedy struck again as the "best kept secret in rock 'n' roll" was
unearthed: guitarist Steve Clark succumbed to his alcohol and
painkiller addiction. The band members mourned Steve's loss, but knew
that they had to move on.

Deciding to record Adrenalize as a four-unit band, the album came out in
the midst of the grunge so und. The album offered some of the band's best
music: "White Lightning," "Stand Up" and "Tonight" are some of the
album's standouts.

By now, Leppard had recruited Vivian Campbell, formerly of Dio and
Whitesnake. The gifted virtuoso fit in like a glove and was part of the
lineup that offered Slang, Euphoria and now, X. 

We sat down with bassist Rick Savage and talked about 25 of the most
eventful years in rock music.. . 


Q: Rick, you have sold over 46 million records, yet every single time you
release a new album, you almost have to prove yourself again -- how does
that make you feel as an artist?

Well, I think it's good and that's how it should be. I don't think you
should relax and say that the last album was big so we do not have to
prove anything anymore. You want to get totally behind new albums and you
should always want to have something to prove because there are always new
people that can listen to the band.

Q: Quite true. This is the fourth album written with the current lineup of
Phil Collen and Vivian C ampbell. Can you compare the dynamics of this
lineup with the one that included first Pete Willis and Steve Clark, and
then Steve Clark and Phil Collen?

I think that it is hard to compare them really because the lineups were in
place at different ages. In the early days, there was a lot of naiveté in 
the band. There was some raw untapped talent in a sense; nowadays, because
of the experience we have gained, we feel that we have improved as
people and songwriters. We kn ow more about the industry. In the past, it
was like kids making mistakes. But that is how you get the experience, I
suppose.

The one thing I would say is that the feeling within the band -- that of
the 5 guys -- is the same as always. There is a chemistry and feel between
us, whether we are on stage or in a room, it is hard to explain but that
has been the biggest similarity across all the lineups, between then and
now. We still feel like we are 21, it does not make a difference if it is
1982 or 2002.

Q: Well, you guys have always been the perfect model of democracy in rock
'n' roll, so I think that Vivian's coming from a background in which he
worked with Dio and Whitesnake must have been very comfortable for him,
right?

Absolutely. When we got Vivian in the band, we knew he was more of a
competent guitar player, songw riter and singer, but we knew that the main
reason for getting him was that he would fit in; he was one of us. He has
the same background, same personality -- literally from day one, it has
been great.

Q: You guys started working on this album, X, one year ago -- one year
Rick! What happens to you guys as you mature? Do you get quicker?

(laughs) A lot of it has to do with the fact that technology allows you to
do something in an afternoon that in the days of Hysteria would take
three months to do. In all fairness, the way that we produced albums
opened a new wave of recording that set off a lot of these improvements.
The way we did background vocals, production techniques, today you can
replicate that with technology. You do not need to spend too much time
going down the wrong alleys. With earlier albums, we tried things that we
never used...

What do fans have to say about the band writing music with people who
write for the Backstreet Boys ?

Q: This is not the first time that you write with an outsider: Mutt Lange
was one example. But to be fair, he was coming from AC/DC, which was a
hard sound. Then he worked with you guys -- still a hard sound -- and
then he moved to Bryan Adams and Shania Twain. This time, a devil's
advocate would say that you now co-wrote some tunes with people that have
written with Aerosmith and Ozzy, but you also wrote one song with people
that have written with *N Sync and Backstreet Boys. Rick, are you not
setting yourself up for scrutiny?

We do not mind it at all... Marti Frederiksen, he's worked with Aerosmith
and Ozzy, but he is now working with Faith Hill. We like working with
talented people. And that is why we worked with Per Aldeheim and Andreas
Carlsson. It does not matter to us; we always try to write the great,
classic song. The song is always the king with us.

When it came to Andreas Carlsson and Per Aldeheim, they really just sent
us a tape. We did not intend to write with them. They just felt that it
would be something that would sound like a Def Leppard song. We get so
many tapes with songs on them that people say "sounds like a Def Leppard
song." Nine times out of ten it sounds nothing like it (laughs). But this
time, it did have a "Love Bites" vibe. So we felt that we could do it. 

Then they invited us to Sweden and they wanted to produce it. So we said,
"great!" The beauty of this album for us and me in particular, was that
we did not produce every single song on it. We had co-producers on it. It
was great in that environment when all you had to think about was being a
musician. For me, it was very refreshing to let someone else have
control.

Q: It is refreshing that you do not have egos and acknowledge that the
song is king. What is one of the biggest lessons you have learned along
the way?

Actually, that may be it. Mutt Lange said to us: "never fall in love with
your own music." We are not too protective of our song, if someone comes
in and says that we should change the 16 bars in the middle, and if it
improves it, everyone benefits... that means taking input from other
members of the band as well as from outsiders.

Q: Exactly. Rick, every time I ask someone: "What is your favorite album?"
-- the artist tends to say "this most recent one." But you have been
there from Getcha Rocks Off -- what is your favorite Def Leppard album?

It is a tough question. You are absolutely right, every artist has a
tendency to say the new one: that is the one they believe in and that is
where their direction lies at that point. But I have an affection for
Pyromania . It was the first worldwide success album that truly opened
doors. 

It was the first time that we had the luxury of producing, writing and
recording an album the way we wanted to. The two albums were done on a
limited budget and in a limited time frame. So I do have an affection for
that album, the era, the timing, and mainly for what it did for the
industry -- it set a precedent. All of our albums were relevant but our
first album could have been done differently.

Q: For 1980, the guitars and drums on On Through The Night were unique.
High 'N' Dry ranks as one of the best metal albums, Pyromania is the most
influential rock album of the past 25 years and Hysteria could arguably
be the greatest studio album. Adrenalize was underrated and Slang showed
how versatile you guys were. I bring this up because Phil said that you
"should have gone on vacation the entire 1990s." He was saying it in a
tongue-in-cheek tone, but how do you feel that throughout the 1990s, you
put out great albums but were seen as uncool after being darlings in the
1980s?

Well it can be a little frustrating, but it is natural. We had a
tremendous run of success in the 1 980s, especially in the late 1980s. But
because of that, you create an environment where a particular sound
becomes very much copied. And the whole thing went over the top, everyone
started to sound very similar. That was not the fault of Def Leppard, it was
the sound of the music that we had created. It was inevitable that at some
point, someone would come up and do the total opposite of what we were
doing. And that is when the grunge thing kicked in. And that was good
because everything got stale.

The bands that came out of the grunge thing were absolutely everything
that Def Leppard was not. Because of that, we suffered from it. But we
did that when we came out, with the so-called New Wave of British Metal,
to bands like Journey and Foreigner. They pretty much disappeared. It
comes around and goes around. You have to believe in what you do, make
albums that you want, be selfish about it, and ride out of the storm.
Eventually, you come back and the music speaks for itself.

Q: Yes, Def Leppard has endured some bad things. No need to go over those
now, but if I dare say, you fellas have been fairly lucky. You are
talented and have worked hard, but to sell 45 million records, you need
some luck. Agree or disagree?

There is not an artist that has become popular without some luck. Luck
comes in many forms. You have to have some sort of talent, substance and
say something special, but luck comes with time and that is when a song
is played at a radio station, or the right person hears it and wants to
pick it up, or just how the video turns out. You absolutely need some
luck to spark the chain reaction that leads to more things. But of
course, you need something to back it up. So yes, without that bit of
timing, some great albums have never seen the light of day. The line
between a successful album or a failure can be very thin.

Q: Roughly 25 years ago, you personally turned down a soccer career. In
hindsight, what goes through your mind when you watch the World Cup of
Soccer for example?

It's a little strange because what happened to me was that I was playing
and training with a club, Sheffield United. I did not really like the way
it was run. I also picked the wrong club, as I was a Sheffield Wednesday
fan (laughs). But the people were not very friendly: it was every man for
himself. I was probably a bit too young and a bit too shy, and it crushed
me. It was not what I expected it to be. So I did not feel like carrying
on. Maybe if I would have gone to another club, things would have been
different, with different people and different friends. But the fact that
the time that I turned my back on soccer coincided with the band starting
to take off sort of took care of that. So it was a natural progression,
the finishing of football and beginning of music.

Guess who the band measured themselves against when they first started
out... 

Q: Well, you say that you did not meet the right people in football, but
you obviously met the right ones in the band -- so it comes down to
people, right?

Exactly, that is our strength. You have hit the nail on the head. We met
the people in the band and we are friends. We can express ourselves
properly: there are no egos, no hidden agendas. It makes a world of a 
difference. You can be completely honest [and] in that environment, it
creates a pleasurable setting.

Q: Joe once said that "when we started, our yardstick was the Stones, The
Who, Led Zeppelin, we wanted to be #1, second place was never good
enough." In many ways, that was right; you are one of the few artists in 
the Diamond Club, but do you feel that you can still become bigger?

Oh God, we still have that burning ambition, we do not think that it will
necessarily happen but we think that we can always be the biggest band in
the world. You need to believe that. We were always perfectionists; in the
early days, we rehearsed for 6 months and the only reason we ever played
a live gig was because Steve Clark threatened to leave if we did not play
live. But the attitude remains: we wanted to be ready.

Q: You are known as perfectionists in the studio, but you are also known
to rock a crowd. What are the chances for a live album? 

I do not really know. The thing is that there will come a time when we
will do some variation of a live album. But we have always felt that live
albums are a bit of a rip-off, they have a stigma of a band trying to cash
in and make extra money. We never really wanted to do that. 

That is what makes a live show special: you have to be there and then be a
part of it. You can make a mistake and that is fine, that is what makes it
unique. I can see us doing a variation of a compilation of really old
recordings, new tours, and stuff like that. We save quite a bit of our
shows but we are more concerned with new albums, new music.

Q: On a lighter note, you have all done some side projects. What are your
thoughts on that?

Joe said that it is great because it's like going on a vacation: it makes
you appreciate your home, work and family more. It is good to see how they
approach things, how they learn; if we are still in the band when we are
70, we will still be learning. It refreshes things, when you get back to
Def Leppard, it feels like new again.

Q: Makes sense, final question: you went through two major blows: Rick
Allen's accident and Steve Clark's passing. As a human being, an artist,
a businessperson, a friend -- how did the two differ and affect you?

Well, with Rick, the initial reaction was obviously one of horror and
immediately worrying about his health because it was possible that he was
not going to survive. But once he got off the danger list, we came to
terms with his accident; it served as a great inspiration for us. Joe
said that sometimes we do not feel like going on stage, he may not have a
voice, we may be tired, but Christ -- what do we have to complain about?
I mean, this guy has come back from nearly dying and he is playing drums
better than ever and he doesn't even have two arms. It puts things in
perspective. It makes you a better musician and a better person, and it
has been that way since the accident.

With Steve, it was more of a complete case of sorrow and frustration over
a wasted life. To be honest, it was not really a massive shock when we
learned that he died. We always thought that he would recover from his
illness and alcoholism, but like Joe said, it is like your dear old granny
that is getting older and sicker. When she dies, it is sad but it is not
shocking.

When Vivian came in, there were no problems with Vivian, and he had a
tremendous amount of respect for Steve, so that made it easy for everyone.

Q: Thanks for your time. When will you hit the road?

We are due to start the tour properly in November, probably in the UK. We
get to America in December and Canada will be part of the North American
leg. The fan base we have in Canada is probably unheard of... 

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