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Heavy metal heroes

Best-selling heavy-metal band of all time set to rock Sudbury Arena

By Lara Bradley/The Sudbury Star

Thursday, August 07, 2003 - 11:00

Life - If you ever get a job taking off your clothes in Florida, chances are
very good that you will do the pole dance to Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on
Me.

That's how big Def Leppard is: what other hair metal band has had most every
stripper in Florida gyrate to their music? Or has had the Queen come to see them
perform?

They also produced Hysteria, which has sold 12 million copies, making it largest
selling hard rock-metal album of all time. In the 25 years that Def Leppard has
been touring, it has produced 10 albums and 40 million in album sales.

The band is currently on tour and will play Sudbury Arena on Aug. 10 as part of
its X Tour, named after its latest album. Singer Joe Elliot, bassist Rick
Savage, one-armed drummer Rick Allen, and guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian
Campbell will rock the arena. The opening act will be Ricky Warwick.

The Def Leppard story starts in 1977 in a small town in England. Teens Pete
Willis, Rick Savage and Tony Kenny got together on the guitar, bass and drums
and start bashing. They think up the cool name Atomic Mass. Then Joe Elliott,
18, joins the group. They think up the even cooler name of Deaf Leppard,
eventually dropping the "a" in deaf, to their English teachers' dismay.  Their
practising continues in a spoon factory, for which they pay five pounds a week
for a tiny room. (Why don't we have cool spoon factories here in Sudbury?)

Anyway, the next year another guitarist joins the group, 18-year-old Steve
Clark. But Clark says he'll only stick with it if the group does some "proper
shows." So they play Westfield School in front of a bunch of kids. One of the
teachers pays them out of pocket, making it a proper gig.

After a couple more shows, they vote to get rid of their drummer, replacing him
with Frank Noon. But Noon is also in another Sheffield band, The Next Band, and
he eventually leaves. Noon is replaced by Rick Allen, who is all of 15 at the
time.

Later that year, the band supported Sammy Hagar and AC/DC on short U.K. tours.
This produces much interest in the lads. The group is offered a contract by
Vertigo Records. On Through The Night, released in 1980, climbed to No. 15 in
the U.K. album charts. The band stages their first headlining tour of Britain
and plays parts of America.

In 1983, with the album Pyromania, there is the first change in the band's
lineup since 1979. Willis is sacked after showing up drunk for recording
sessions. This is, apparently, a serious no-no in the heavy metal world. His
spot is taken by ex-Girl guitarist Phil Collen. The album is the group's most
successful to date, climbing to No. 2 in the U.S.

But on New Year's Eve 1984, Allen is involved in a car crash and loses his arm.
The band waits until he has created a specially designed drum kit that makes it
possible to play many of the percussion instruments with his feet. This delays
the recording of the new album, Hysteria. Finally released in 1987, it sells 15
million copies worldwide, topping both the British and American charts, and
produces two top-five U.S. singles, Armageddon It and Pour Some Sugar On Me, as
well as the No. 1 hit Love Bites.

While working on the band's next album, Clark is found dead in 1988 in his
London flat, the result of a lethal mix of drugs and alcohol.

It wasn't until the 1990s, that the band was able to release its fifth album.
Adrenalize came out in March 1992, immediately scaling the charts in the U.K.
and U.S. The 1990s also saw the release of greatest hits compilations and a wife
assault charges for one-armed Allen. Many critics panned their new album,
Euphoria, in 1999, but it too clambered its way up the charts.

As for X, the band's latest release, well, it's been accused of being a cross
between "Bryan Adams and the new Bon Jovi." Metal lovers called it
'Def-Lep-Lite.'

As for the opening act on Sunday, Ricky Warwick grew up in Northern Ireland,
where, growing up, he had "a disdain for Abba." When he was with a band called
The Almighty, the group released ten top-40 U.K. hit singles, a top-five U.K.
album (Powertrippin'), and two top-20 U.K. albums (Soul Destruction and Crank).

The group won the Kerrang reader's poll for Best Live Act in 1994. with Warwick
winning both the title of Nutter Of The Year and Worst Haircut as well.

The band split in 1996, got back together and then split again. In 2002, he
signed a solo publishing deal with Peermusic with plans to go into the studio
with long time best mate, Joe Elliott of, you guess it, Def Leppard.

"To me, Johnny Cash is as much a rock 'n' roll rebel as Sid Vicious," he said on
his Web site.

Wise words indeed.

The $50.50 Def Leppard/Ricky Warwick tickets are selling steadily at the Sudbury
Arena, with only a couple sections left. One of the ticket sellers said she'd be
surprised if they didn't sell out. So fans get out there now, before it's too
late.

ID- 39932