Time to party like it's 1989
My palms are sweating. My heart is aflutter. I think I might puke.
I'm about to interview Joe Elliott, lead singer for Def Leppard. I don't usually get so nervous for telephone interviews with marginally famous musicians – I certainly didn't expect to get nervous for Joe Elliott, the frontman for a band I have little opinion of, positive or negative.
But this is different. Def Leppard – whether I like it or not – was the music of my youth. Past generations grew up with the Beatles, or the Who, or Motown. I endured acne, junior-high dances and breaking up with the love of my life, (fill in name of girl I have since forgotten), with the help of hair-metal bands and groups with keyboards instead of guitars.
During the 1980s, there was an "underground" music scene, sure, populated by bands such as the Replacements, the Pixies and the Smiths. But I discovered those bands much later; during the '80s, my feet were planted squarely "above ground." The Top 40 was my domain, my ear peeled to the radio every Sunday morning as I sat in my parents' car, waiting for them to emerge from post- Mass coffee and donuts.