Send reply to: "Nikki Wiebe" Date sent: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 12:05:59 -0600 Subject: Falling On Def Ears ~ 1/7/00 For anyone who regularly watches VH1's Behind The Music (and what self-respecting LAUNCH reader doesn't?), the Def Leppard episode proved to be one of the more deserving. It's not every band that soldiers on in the face of such devastating adversity. Most bands break up at the slightest sign of discord, never mind a guitarist's death and the loss of a drummer's arm. Ironically, it took the VH1 show for the members of Def Leppard to realize the magnitude of their story. "It wasn't until we saw [Behind The Music] back that it really became apparent, like, 'Wow, this is actually really interesting,'" says Lep guitarist Phil Collen. "You know, we're watching ourselves and it was still really interesting. It sums a lot up." Nevermind the unpredictable whims of the music-buying public, who helped the band sell millions of albums (Pyromania, Hysteria) only to abandon them once "'80s music" was deemed uncool by the first wave of '90s alternative bands--Def Leppard have never concerned themselves with "coolness." Initially considered front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (a movement that included old-school Judas Priest and rhythmically intense Iron Maiden), the Leps were among the first to start mixing keyboards and lush background vocals with their razor-sharp guitars. "We were always a bit different," explains Collen. "There's definitely a big chest-beating machismo thing that went with a lot of hard rock that we didn't go along with. We actually thought it was ridiculous. But we were a rock band that played pop songs. It wasn't a lightweight pop group trying to rock it out. We were a genuine rock band. But we liked the power of song. Queen was a fantastic blueprint for us because they really rocked. Whatever they had going for them, they had great songs that really appealed to a lot of people, so that was really where we wanted to go." But no matter that Def Leppard stuck to their guns. Tracks such as "Rock Of Ages," "Photograph," and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" may have defined adolescence for many teenagers growing up in the mid-'80s, but once times started to change, the Lep identity got lost in the shuffle. "I personally think it was people just got so sick of the image of a lot of the bands, like Poison, Great White, and Whitesnake, all that stuff, all kinda looking the same and churning out all this formulaic stuff. We were kinda a bit bummed, because we were trying to write songs. It wasn't about image, it was about music," says Collen. A 1996 release, Slang, found Leppard trying to fit in with the more organic rock music in their midst. But for a band that spent years in the studio piling up innumerable guitar and vocal tracks to create the aural illusion of 3-D, the rough-hewn approach only further alienated whatever audience might be waiting for them. So, sensing that the world didn't need another band desperately aping the current trends, the Leps went back in the studio to record Euphoria the way they were used to making albums. "We went back to the old approach, which was write a song and analyze it," says Collen. "You go, 'Is it great? Does it suck? Is there any section that's really weak and could be improved?' That takes time." 11 months later, they emerged with an album that in no uncertain terms tells you that the days of compromise are behind them. The lead single "Promises" alone sounds like the band never went away. "We were really passionate with blending Marc Bolan with Led Zeppelin and trying to make it appeal to the masses," explains Collen. "There was a bit of a plan, a bit more substance, and I think over the years that's what comes through." Exclusive LAUNCH Feature by Rob_OConnor http://www.launch.com/Features/fs_Start.asp?contentType=INTV&FeatureMode=Interview&contentId=1227