X Marks the Spot
As any casual viewer of VH1's Behind The Music knows by now, few bands have had to face the kind of hardship and heartbreak that has dogged Sheffield, England's finest, Def Leppard, throughout their career. And even fewer have survived to tell the tale on Storytellers. Weaker-willed Behind The Music bands like the Bangles and Quiet Riot splintered simply because the didn't get along, but Leppard lost both their original guitarists (one, Pete Willis, was fired because of his alcoholism; the other, Steve Clark, drank himself to death) and their drummer, Rick Allen, lost his arm in a brutal car accident–and yet, the mighty Lep kept on rockin'. Glammy Londoner Phil Collen took Willis's place, Dio/Whitesnake veteran Vivian Campbell replaced the dear departed Clark, Allen learned how to drum with one arm, and now, a whole quarter-decade after Lep started, they're releasing their 10th album, X (the Roman numeral for 10).
…LAUNCH's managing editor Lyndsey Parker recently met up with Collen and Campbell at their San Fernando Valley rehearsal space, where they took a break from polishing their famously fun stage show to discuss their roles in one of rock's most tragic and triumphant sagas. Here's how it went:…