From: "Mike N. Reinemann" Date sent: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 03:34:36 -0400 Subject: Def Leppard -- almost gone in the '90s, not forgotten in the '00s Def Leppard -- almost gone in the '90s, not forgotten in the '00s By Mark Voger Gannett News Service published: September 17, 2000 The musical group Def Leppard is composed of, from left, Phil Collen, Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Vivian Campbell and Rick Savage. We have this unshakable memory of Def Leppard: British boys posturing and grimacing in polished MTV videos of the '80s, lip-syncing to pop-metal delights Rock of Ages, Photograph and Pour Some Sugar on Me. But there's more drama to the Def Leppard story. In 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a New Year's Eve car crash. In 1991, guitarist Steve Clark was found dead in his apartment after ingesting a deadly combination of alcohol and pain killers. Not nearly as tragic was the fact that Def Leppard bottomed out during a heavy-metal backlash in the '90s. But things have been looking up since those dark days. Allen taught himself to play the drums with one arm, two legs and a whole lotta willpower. And Def Leppard was back on the radio with Promises, a track from its 1999 album Euphoria (Island/Def Jam Music) which sounds like it was recorded in 1983. And we mean that in a good way. Leppard guitarist Phil Collen believes the pendulum has swung back -- that the band's '80s sound is palatable again because grunge and alternative rock have run their course. "It was just obvious that music was changing again," Collen says. "Even with artists like Ricky Martin and Britney (Spears) and all that -- you could see it changing. People were fed up. "That's always the thing: reaction against reaction against reaction. There's going to be a new sheriff in town every five or 10 years." Def Leppard formed in Sheffield, England in 1978. Collen joined the band in '83, supplying lead guitar and backing vocals for Leppard's breakthrough album, Pyromania. Collen recalls that Leppard singer Joe Elliott initially invited Collen to record "just two guitar solos." "Two solos turned into five," Collen laughs, "which turned into some backing vocals, and then I ended up finishing off the record with the guys. But initially, I was just going to come in and play lead guitar. "It was really, really cool, because we didn't, obviously, know what the album was gonna do. But it did sound very different to me. It was kind of ripe, really, for the time. It was one of those perfect hybrids: rock and something a bit more commercial, like pop rock or whatever you want to call it. "We did a little European tour, and then Pyromania just went ballistic in the States." At the height of Leppard's good fortune came Allen's devastating car accident. But Collen recalls that Allen seemed to take it better than the rest of the band. "That was the amazing thing," Collen says. "We walked into the (hospital) room, and Rick was going along as if nothing had happened at all -- as though he'd just had a little scrape. He said, 'Oh, yeah, I'm going to play drums with my feet now.' He was actually practicing on the edge of the bed with a pillow." Leppard's next album, Hysteria (1987), kept the band on top, but then the '90s arrived. The band briefly departed from its signature sound with 1996's Slang, but album sales were disappointing. "In the whole of the mid-'90s, I think anything we would have done wouldn't have done very well," Collen says. "I think anything kind of mid-'90s or post-Nirvana, really, was going to be a struggle for a band like us. Because a lot of the stuff, the alternative explosion or whatever, was kind of a reaction against what had come before. "And unfortunately, we'd got lumped in with a lot of the ('80s) bands. You know, a lot of the Poisons and Cinderellas, which we don't really consider ourselves to have anything to do with. I think that's one of the reasons why there was a backlash." Collen believes Euphoria brought Def Leppard back to doing what Def Leppard does best. "It enabled us to do music that was kind of uplifting," Collen says. "That's why we went back to that kind of style, if you like." getting there... Def Leppard performs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 19, at AmSouth Amphitheatre at Starwood. Tickets: $31.50-$41.50 available through TicketMaster. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Tennessean's Living Dept. can be contacted via email at living@tennessean.com