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Def Leppard |
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You would never get a better chance to rile your English teacher; the ten-letter band name Def Leppard has two major errors. But when you’ve sold over 45 million albums, who would dream of giving you punishment for such a minor thing?
By HANS VAN DEN HEUVEL
It’s the beginning of the 80s and it’s particularly in America that people are charmed by the five young boys from Sheffield, and the band becomes an absolute favourite on the radio. The biggest hit for the deaf leopards is their third long-playing record, Pyromania that almost equals Michael Jackon’s Thriller in sales numbers in 1983. This is partly due to producer Mutt Lange, who isn’t just responsible for most of their fantastic sound, but also has a big say in the songwriting. This causes some trouble when Lange isn’t involved with the recording of its successor in the Wisseloord studios in Hilversum initially. For months they slave away, fine-tuning it and starting all over again. There are even T-shirts on sale, saying: ‘No, the record isn’t finished yet. Release date? 1984? 1985? 1986? 1987?’ And to make matters worse, drummer Rick Allen is involved in a car accident that costs him his left arm. The end is near, it seems, but to each and everyone’s surprise there comes the announcement that a special drum kit has been developed, enabling Allen to play the drums using his feet principally.
‘When you listen to the radio and hear Madonna, Michael or Janet Jackson, they really sound good. If you can’t compete with the best of them, you’re left behind. You’re out of date,’ is Phil Collen’s explanation for the time it took them to record the album. ‘Even a band like Metallica goes about their work in the studio a lot more clinical than most people think. They also need an awful lot of time. Those are the artists we compete with. Do you have any idea how hard it is?!’
Twenty-five years have passed since, and Def Leppard have proven they play a significance role in the history of pop. A group that makes surprising digressions from their effortless mixture of hard rock and pop every so often. Like letting country singer Tim McGraw lend them a hand on their new CD Sparke Lounge. ‘The entire record has a seventies feel to it’, tells singer Joe Elliot. ‘We think it’s a very adventurous album. Alright, it’s not like OK Computer by Radiohead, but some of our fans will definitely think we made a left turn somewher
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