As it turned out, In the Studio episode #13 was a very lucky number for us in Summer 1988 because we were able to feature Def Leppard, the band which pretty much lit the match for the Pop Metal Eighties explosion five years earlier with Pyromania, at precisely the time when they were cresting worldwide in popularity with the blockbuster follow up, Hysteria. It had been a wonderful personal experience to watch the sweet, kind, grounded guys in the Sheffield England band Def Leppard grow up literally in public on their way to induction on the first ballot into the Rock and Roll Hall f Fame. I had the great pleasure of meeting and interviewing several of the band members in Memphis on their first U.S. tour supporting their debut, On Through the Night, when not one of them was out of their teens (drummer Rick Allen, at age 15, was working in the country technically illegally!).Their delight in being on the same bill as their heroes Thin Lizzy and Scorpions playing in America back then was positively puppy dog endearing, but three years later with their third album, January 1983 release Pyromania, suddenly the pecking order inverted almost overnight as the album went on to sell more than ten million in just the States, simultaneously setting the pop metal path that countless bands would follow throughout the 1980s. Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott, bass player Rick “Sav” Savage, and late ’82 addition on lead guitar, Phil Collen, joined me In the Studio for Pyromania.- Redbeard
Tag: “Rock of Ages”
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Def Leppard “Rock of Ages” Medley
This fabulous “Rock of Ages” medley by Def Leppard was unavailable in the U.S. for about twenty years, so to blow up the request lines at Dallas/Ft.Worth radio station Q102, I used to throw on this live mashup consisting of Def Leppard’s “Rock of Ages” plus Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”,”My Generation” from The Who, “Radar Love” from Golden Earring, “Come Together” from the Beatles, & Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”- all done by Def Leppard! Perfect to prime the pump for their thirty-fifth anniversary Hysteria visit here In the Studio coming August 1st. –Redbeard
( Ric Savage (L) and Joe Elliott performing with Def Leppard at Chicago’s Wrigley Field July 2022) -
Def Leppard- Story So Far pt2- Joe Elliott, Ric Savage
After World War II the worldwide success of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Cream, and a bit later Led Zeppelin all had a profoundly positive effect on the British self-esteem. All of these predecessors of Def Leppard were almost entirely influenced musically by the blues, rhythm and blues, and soul music of African-Americans, yet it is most telling that when the Sheffield England quintet compiled an all-covers tribute album a few years ago made up of their most-loved formative impressions, all but one were by white British musicians.
“We grew up on a bunch of British pop music that never even infiltrated the American psyche,” asserts Def Leppard lead singer/songwriter Joe Elliott.” Of course we dearly love bands like Led Zeppelin and (Deep) Purple,what you may call heavier album track bands, but I think when we first started listening to radio it was the British Top 40 on (BBC) Radio One and Radio Luxembourg, which was a little more adventurous with their playlist. They’re the kinds of songs that we obviously got to listen to a lot. We were fortunate that the British music scene from ’70- ’71 to ’74 had a lot of the bands like Slade and Sweet and David Bowie and T Rex were very guitar-based three minute pop songs, which by today’s standards may be called ‘hard rock’, because it was just big drums and guitars and big honkin’ choruses. Some of them cheesy, some not. But you have to weed through the dross. A lot of the Slade singles were top notch.”It became like a Greatest Hits package all on its own: Def Leppard’s July 1987 Hysteria album, one of the most popular albums ever at an estimated twenty-five million copies, yet as Joe Elliott and Ric Savage remind us here in part two of The Story So Far, it is a miracle that it ever was finished. The epic saga is revealed here behind “Pour Some Sugar on Me”,”Love Bites”,”Animal”,”Women”,”Armageddon It“, and “Hysteria” , plus Nineties and 21st century chestnuts “Slang”, “Now”,”Let’s Go”,”Dangerous”, and the uncanny Depeche Mode cover “Personal Jesus“, as Def Leppard are inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! –Redbeard
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The Band-The Last Waltz 50th- Robbie Robertson
Concluding our two-part In the Studio rockumentary on The Band, there is ample evidence in this classic rock interview as to why the late Robbie Robertson had always been one of my favorite musicians with whom to converse. A great storyteller gifted with rich language skills, the main songwriter and lead guitarist for The Band through seven studio albums 1968-1976 and the Rock of Ages legendary live set, took the opportunity to reveal, in great detail, the following long-debated issues about the first-ballot Hall of Fame quintet with the generic name:-why The Band (and Bob Dylan) moved away from Woodstock, New York after the legendary concert near there at which Dylan never appeared;
-the storied 1974 comeback tour with the re-emerging Dylan after eight years in self-imposed exile;
-detailed in-depth profiles of Band-mates Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm (sadly all deceased except for Hudson);
-and how the discussions which eventually led to the legendary Last Waltz Thanksgiving concert and subsequent Martin Scorsese-directed film never included Robertson threatening to leave the band, as has been misreported for years;
-Robertson’s highly-lauded autobiography, Testimony, in conjunction with the deluxe reissue of The Last Waltz film and soundtrack . –Redbeard
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Band-The Band Best pt 2-Robbie Robertson
There is ample evidence in this conclusion of our two-part In the Studio rockumentary on The Band as to why Robbie Robertson was always one of my favorite musicians with whom to converse. A great storyteller gifted with rich language skills, The Band’s main songwriter and lead guitarist through seven studio albums 1968-1976 and the Rock of Ages legendary live set takes ample opportunity to reveal, in great detail, the following long-debated issues about the first-ballot Hall of Fame quintet with the generic name:-why they ( and Bob Dylan ) moved away from Woodstock, New York after the legendary concert there at which neither they nor Dylan appeared;
-the storied 1974 comeback tour with the re-emerging Dylan after eight years in self-imposed exile;
-detailed in-depth profiles of Band-mates Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm ( the last three sadly all deceased);
-and according to Robbie, how the discussions which eventually led to the legendary Last Waltz concert and subsequent film never included Robertson threatening to leave the band, as has been misreported for years. –Redbeard
( Tuning up backstage 1974 L-R: Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm)