Date sent: Sun, 3 Sep 2000 19:47:38 -0700 (PDT) To: Hanspeter Niederstrasser Subject: Rolling Stone 1987 Typed by Mike Reinemann Def Leppard unleashes `Hysteria' By Rob Tannenbaum Rolling Stone Magazine 1987 Def Leppard's album `Pyromania', released in 1983, sold 6 million copies in the U.S. alone. It's no surprise, then, that people ask Def Leppard bassist Rick Savage for his autograph. The only problem is that when they approach Savage these days, it's often because they think he's Jon Bon Jovi. When you've spent most of the last four years hidden in recording studios, people forget who you are. Not that the Leps expected to spend so much time making Hysteria, the recently released follow-up to Pyromania. But from the moment they began, it seemed the album was cursed. They fired their first producer, then decided to produce themselves. Drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident, singer Joe Elliott had a recurrence of a childhood illness, and their third producer also had a car accident. In 1984, the group rented a house in a Dublin, installed a portable studio and began writing new songs. They expected to work with Mutt Lange, who had produced Pyromania and 1981's High n' Dry. But Lange had just finished arduous sessions for the Car's Heartbreat City. He told the band he would come to Dublin for a few weeks of preproduction but wouldn't be there for the album. Because Lange had been like a sixth member of the band - he got songwriting credit on all ten Pyromania songs - his absence was cause for "major trauma," Elliott says. The Leps looked for someone with a musical background as strong as Lange's; they selected Jim Steinman, known for his symphonic songwriting and production for Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler. By the summer of 1984, they had moved to a studio in Holland. From the first day, Elliott says, guitarists Steve Clark and Phil Collen thought [Steinman] was a a bozo." Elliott says Steinman preferred "angelic" background vocals while the band wanted to stick with it's "Neanderthal" approach. In Decmeber, the group resolved the conflict. "We fired 'im," Elliott says. Starting fresh Def Leppard hired Nigel Green, Mutt Lange's engineer, and decided to produce themselves. Then they went on a a Christmas vacation. On December 31st, 1984, in Sheffield, England, the band's home town, Rick Allen and his girlfriend took the sunroof off his Corvette and went for a drive. On a sharp bend of the A57 just a few miles outside Sheffield, the car slipped over; Allen's left arm was severed (His girlfriend had only minor injuries) "It really was very traumatic," Elliott says quietly. "It seemed worse than death at the time." "How's he gonna live the rest of his live if he can't play drums?" Savage asks. "That's all Rick had ever done." "I didn't give myself time to think about that." Allen says. While still in the hospital, he told the rest of the group that he would try to return. The band never auditioned a replacement. They knew that if Allen couldn't play well with one arm, he would be the first to say so. The doctors told Allen he'd be in the hospital for six months; he left after just four weeks to begin relearning the drums. He had an electronic Simmons kit modified, and he found he could compensate for his missing arm by using his left foot more. In February he returned to the studio. The other band members seem to have contributed to Allen's rehabilitation by treating him as they had prior to the accident. When Allen is asked if he's right handed, Elliott says, "He is now, " and the drummer's laughter rises above that his band mates. Back in the studio, the Leps became frustrated with their inability to dupicate the technical perfection Mutt Lange's had given them. Fortunately, Lange began stopping by the studio, offering advice. Eventually, Savage says, "he just kinda moved in." The recording continued, but not without further difficulties. Elliott lost his voice once during the sessions, and toward the end, when everything but the vocals was recorded, he was alarmed to discover he had the mumps. "Apparently, if you get them again, it can be disasterous in the old nether regions," he says, glancing at the crotch of his blue jeans. "They swell up like elephant balls." After recuperating in London, he returned to Holland the same day Lange shattered his kneecap in a a car collision. "It was like `What the fuck else can go wrong?'" Elliott says. "Bad luck's bad luck, but nobody deserves this much." Finally, in January, Def Leppard finished recording Hysteria, and the band began rehearsing for a few warm-up concerts in Europe. Concerned about Allen's ability to endure the upcoming tour, they hired Jeff Rich of Status Quo as a second drummer. But when Rich arrived late for a show, he was so impressed with Allen's performance that he told the band, "I guess I'm going home tomorrow." During Def Leppard's long absence, the band has been eclipsed by Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Poison and Motley Crue. Although the Leps don't want to claim undue credit for the number of hard rock albums currently at the top of the charts, Elliott says that many of these bands "sound like they've been listening to Pyromania." But the members of Def Leppard don't consider Bon Jovi their only competition. Despite Pyromania's phenonmenal sales, the LP never reached Number One on the album charts because of Michael Jackson's Thriller. Now, four difficult years later, Def Leppard has finially completed Hysteria, and Michael Jackon is set to release a new album, too. "Let him, " says bassist Rick Savage, his eyes gleaming. "We'll keep him from Number One this time."