Page 138 - Classic Rock - The Complete Story of Def Leppard 2019
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a hit here. America was easier, because it
was bigger. The UK was so much more
difficult. There was only one radio station.
In America there was two per town –
twenty-four hours a day. What did we
have? Tommy Vance doing two hours on
a Friday night? We tried and we tried, and
in the end Bon Jovi did it for us. In between
Pyromania and Hysteria, Bon Jovi came out
with Slippery When Wet and put rock back
on the radio. Which made it a lot easier for
Leppard to finally get accepted in the UK.
Before that, though, you were being
trashed even by the rock fans in the
UK; the flash bastards that had sold out
and taken the Yankee dollar.
We got trashed for being the band that sold
out to America, because we wrote a song
called Hello America. That was me in
You moved into a flat in London that “We’re gonna be moment onwards I went to just about every a basement with no natural light, dying to
belonged to one-time Leppard big!” Even in the gig at the [Sheffield] City Hall – Sparks, get out the basement. And that’s all that
drummer Frank Noon that you later very early days Roxy, Skynyrd, Lizzy, Budgie. Rush’s first was. We wanted America just the same
they were full
described as “a frat house”. of confidence. ever gig in the UK was at Sheffield. One way Maiden wanted it. But Maiden didn’t
It was fantastic. There was me, Bernie week I saw Styx followed by The Clash. get trashed for it like we did. We wanted it
Tormé, Frank, Colin Bond who played bass the same way that Zeppelin got it. We
[for Stampede]. It was a bedsit, basically. And yet by 1979-80 you’re a ‘new wanted it but we wanted it everywhere.
A hundred and thirty pounds a month. wave metal’ band, whether you like We wanted global domination. We didn’t
it or not. see ourselves as this little local band. We
How old were you when you started to I was glad we were in Sounds, but you’d had that mind space of wanting to be the
see real money coming in? look at articles about us and go: biggest band in the world.
We were on thirty pounds a week “Look, man, where do you see
even up to Pyromania, when we were “We were on a correlation in the musical styles You were helped in that ambition
selling out arenas. When I was living between us and, say, Vardis?” because early on you ditched your
in Isleworth with my girlfriend we thirty pounds Lumping us in with NWOBHM home-town management team and
were both signing on. Once we were a week even up was like lumping us in with Duran signed with former Mercury A&R
on tour we got a hundred dollars Duran and Spandau Ballet. executive Cliff Bernstein and his
a week. You wonder how anyone to Pyromania, partner Peter Mensch, formerly of
ever got pissed. Things changed for you once you Lieber-Krebs, then one of the biggest
I remember we were in Las Vegas when we got to America, though. rock management companies in
in September 1983, and I actually were selling When we got to the States we were America, looking after Aerosmith,
finally went out and bought a video just Def Leppard. They weren’t AC/DC, Scorpions et cetera.
camera because I wanted to record out arenas.” comparing us to anyone. They just We had already signed our record deal
some of this stuff. It cost five embraced it and put it into the vast before Peter and Cliff became involved. We
hundred pounds. I had to get [Leppard bucket of various things they would play didn’t meet Peter Mensch properly until we
manager] Peter Mensch to advance me it – on American FM radio. did the AC/DC Highway To Hell tour [in
and we’d sold six million albums by then. October 1979]. Rick Allen said to Mensch:
Was it always the aim to be big in “I want you to stand outside this door and
Even though Leppard became America? listen to the conversation” with our
associated with the NWOBHM era – It wasn’t the pot of gold at the end of the original managers, Frank Stuart-Brown
specifically through your coverage in Original guitarist rainbow, it was part of the big picture. It and Peter Martin. Because they just didn’t
Sounds magazine – your musical Pete Willis, whose wasn’t the end game. You know how hard get what we were trying to do. One day
problems would
influences actually had very little to do eventually lead to we tried to break the UK. You know how [Leppard guitarist] Pete Willis said to Frank
with metal. You were a major Bowie him being fired. much it meant to us when we finally had Stuart-Brown: “Why don’t we stop the
fan, you loved Queen, Rod Stewart, show in the middle and do a juggling thing
Elton John… with some playing cards?” And the guy
Yes. My favourite Bowie period was from went: “Great idea!” Pete was like: “I’m
Space Oddity to Diamond Dogs, because it taking the piss, you fucking idiot!”
was glam rock. Mott The Hoople was That’s when we had a meeting and said:
another band I loved. When Queen came “Peter, we want you to manage us.” He said
in and Bowie went to what he called his fine, but there will be consequences. And
‘plastic soul’ period with Young Americans, we basically had to write off [royalties]
I loved that record but I was playing more from the first two albums to Martin and
Queen now. Maybe I just gravitate to Stuart-Brown because that’s where the
bands. The gang factor, you know. I mean, contracts were. Though it worked out well,
the first two gigs I ever saw were T.Rex and because the first two albums didn’t sell as
the Faces. Chalk and cheese but awesome! well as everyone thought they would. Steve
I was eleven or twelve. The next gig I saw [Clark] was reluctant to get rid of Pete
was Hunter-Ronson, March seventy-five. Martin cos he was his drinking buddy, but
I was sixteen. It was amazing. From that the rest of us were up for it.
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