Page 132 - Classic Rock - The Complete Story of Def Leppard 2019

FLASH METAL SUICIDE,

DEF LEPPARD EDITION

Pearl Leppard? Def Garden? When the
Sheffield rockers went ghastly grunge.

Give a band enough time, and they’ll create their
own Music From The Elder or Hot Space; that one
dreadful, wrong-headed disaster of an album.
Case in point: Def Leppard’s 1996 descent into the
muck of Seattle grunge, Slang. Lep? Grunge?
Jesus, fellas.
“We didn’t know what we were gonna do with
Slang but we knew we couldn’t make a typical Def
Leppard album in the mid 1990s,” explains Vivian
Campbell. “Grunge was very much happening and
our stuff was anathema at the time. We were
damned if we did and damned if we didn’t.
“Even for me, I feel like we went a little too far
left-field,” he says. “I knew we had to, but it’s
a question of how far do you take it? Personally
I think we could’ve bolstered the songs with a little
more of that Def Lep fairy dust we usually sprinkle
on to records but instead we went: ‘No, let’s keep it
raw; no backing vocals; let’s not do that part
because it’s too melodic, let’s be more monotone.’
“We were listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam just
like everybody else, and especially to Soundgarden
– the Superunknown record. That was the record
that we referenced in terms of the sonics and the
mood of it when making Slang. At least it gave us
the chance to grow up a little. We live in a state of
arrested development in this band, singing songs
like Let’s Get Rocked. So we did get to write some
grown-up lyrics. And we were going through a lot
of shit at that time – Sav’s dad died on the eve of
the first recording day, both Joe and Phil were going Led Zeppelin when we were younger. It’s very
through divorces… So it gave us an opportunity to flattering, and it’s very invigorating. It gives us the
write lyrics that reflected the reality of our lives.” will to keep going, and makes us feel like we’re not “We enjoy what we’re doing, and we manage
Incidentally, Slang isn’t a bad grunge record, it’s just playing to diminishing returns; that we’re still things properly so we’re not away from friends and
just a really bad Def Leppard record.
growing our audience, even after all these years.” family for too long,” says Elliott. “From an artistic
Of course, even with all this optimism there is point of view, I know we’ve got more songs in us.
with many miles left to roam and many hearts still some scary arithmetic to consider. Thirty-eight Will we ever do another album that will do as well
to conquer. And for some, it still feels that way. years since they formed is a mind-boggler. But if as Hysteria? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean
“I still get keyed-up before we go on,” says they want to shoot for 50 years’ existence, that’s that some of the songs on this new album aren’t
Savage. “That’s the reason we started this band: gonna be a gruesome spectacle. as good, or even better. And that doesn’t mean we
for the buzz. We wanted to show off for ninety “This definitely doesn’t feel like the end,” says don’t have many more shows in us.”
minutes. It’s a little bit more natural when you’re Elliott. “It feels more like we’re in the middle. And with that it’s over. The whole show is
twenty-one, but to be in your fifties… I know it’s not. We’d be pretty fucking ugly at packed up and shipped off to the next town. Collen
I mean, it still kinda feels like you’re twenty-one. the end if we were in the middle. But unless leaves with his family, the rest mingle with the
And not in a sad way, either. It just feels cool.” something catastrophic happens, I don’t see crew before slinking off for a few quiet hours on
“Joe said something very astute just last the end any time soon.” the bus. And rock’n’roll can sleep easy tonight,
week,” Campbell says. “He said that even though That sentiment is echoed by the rest of the band. knowing that Def Leppard are still out there,
physically it’s hard, it’s much cooler to be in your There is no finale in sight. There’s only the next gig, roaming the earth with their flashy pop-metal
mid-fifties doing this than it was in your forties. the next record, the next knee-buckling encore. guitars, keeping the heart of Saturday night beating
That was a transitional period, when you’re just “We just don’t talk about it,” says Allen. “It’s the loud and strong. Maybe not forever, but certainly
old and over the hill. But if you’re doing it in your elephant in the room, but we ignore it. I think it’ll for as long as we need them to.
fifties, you’re a survivor. When young kids come be so obvious at that point that we won’t even need “If we’re the last men standing, that’s great,”
to our shows now, they see us the way we saw to say anything.” Rick Allen says with a wink. “Happy to do it.”

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