Page 37 - Classic Rock - The Complete Story of Def Leppard 2019

In 1979, five kids from Sheffield entered the studio for the first
time to record their debut EP for £150. This is the real beginning of

the Def Leppard story…

Words: Paul Elliott Pictures: Ross Halfin

979 was a life-changing year for the five Three songs were chosen for the E.P. “We wanted out. A second pressing of 1500 also sold fast. “We
young members of Def Leppard. It to show the different sides to the band,” Joe says. didn’t make any money out of it,” Joe says, “but as a
began with the release of their debut “So we picked Ride Into The Sun, a pop song, Getcha promotional exercise you couldn’t beat it.”
record, The Def Leppard E.P. And before Rocks Off, a full-on rock song, and The Overture, This became apparent when Def Leppard had
the year was out, the band had signed a which was this mad seven-minute epic.” their first national radio airplay after Joe had
major deal with Mercury/Vertigo, The backing tracks for Getcha Rocks Off and The ambushed John Peel, one of the most famous and
performed in 3000-capacity concert Overture were both done in one take, and Joe’s respected DJs in the UK. “Peel did a Radio 1 event at
halls opening for Sammy Hagar and AC/DC, and vocals were recorded in the evening and on the Sheffield University one night,” Joe recalls.
made their first album, On Through The Night, in a following morning. After a quick “I jumped on stage then gave him
mansion that was once home to John Lennon. tea break, the three songs were the E.P. and says, ‘I’m in this band
“It was insane,” singer Joe Elliott recalls. “Before mixed, and at 3.45pm the band – play it!’ The next day, around five
we signed to Vertigo I was a working as a emerged from Fairview with in the afternoon, he called. He
deliveryman for an ironmongery firm, driving a copies of the three tracks on two says, ‘I quite like it, so I’m going to
clapped-out old Ford Escort van. And when we cassette tapes. “The studio bill was play a song at half past seven
made the album, I remember saying to my mates, £148.50,” Joe says, “so with the tonight.’ I rang the other guys and
‘Can you believe that this is going to come out on £1.50 in change we all bought a just shouted down the phone:
the same label as Thin Lizzy?’” celebratory bag of fish and chips ‘Peel’s going to play us!’ I was
The Def Leppard E.P. was the first small step on a before we drove back to Sheffield.” sitting with my mum and dad
long road that led to the band becoming one of the The very next day, Joe asked when it happened – John Peel
biggest in the world, and it was the singer’s father, Frank Noon if he wanted to join playing Ride Into The Sun on Radio
Joe Elliott Sr, who gave them the £150 they needed Def Leppard. Out of loyalty to The 1. Amazing.”
to record it. “My dad literally emptied out his bank Next Band, Frank declined, a decision he looked All across Sheffield, in their separate homes, the
account,” Joe says. “That’s how much faith he had in back on as “the biggest regret of my life”. Within a other members of Def Leppard shared in the
his son, God bless him.” week, Rick Allen, having just turned 15, was experience. “It was one of those moments when
In November 1978, a week before the band’s installed as the new drummer. As Rick says, “Frank time stood still,” Rick Allen says. “I remember
two-day session at Fairview Studios in Hull, original could quite easily have stepped into Def Leppard, thinking, wow, this band is really something now.”
drummer Tony Kenning was fired. As bassist Rick but the planets lined up for me.”
Savage explains: “Tony didn’t fancy doing this as The EP was a wholly independent release for y the summer of ’79, as Def Leppard
much as we did. So a decision had to be made.” which the band chose a tongue-in-cheek name as embarked on a UK club tour, several major
The next decision was to call in a friend, Frank the record label – Bludgeon Riffola. The phrase had Brecord labels entered into a bidding war for
Noon, drummer for The Next Band, a power trio been used in a scathing review by Record Mirror of the band’s signatures. “What we didn’t know at the
formed in Lincolnshire but relocated to Leppard’s Leppard’s performance in September 1978 at The time,” Joe says, “was that somehow a copy of the EP
hometown of Sheffield. And after intensive Limit, where they had opened for another rising had ended up in Chicago on the desk of the head of
rehearsals with Noon, the band arrived in Hull on a group from Sheffield, electro-pop pioneers The A&R at Mercury records, Cliff Burnstein – and that
Friday night, checked into a cheap bed-and- Human League. Guitarist Pete Wills had remarked Cliff had phoned his equivalent in the UK and says:
breakfast joint, and promptly got pissed. that ‘bludgeon riffola’ sounded like canned Italian ‘By no means let this band sign with any other label.
“We were pretty hungover on the Saturday food. The joke stuck. Whatever it takes, sign them.’ The Americans
morning,” Joe says. “But as soon as we started The Def Leppard E.P. was released in January 1979, wanted us so bad that they made sure we signed to
recording, all of a sudden we felt great again.” and within a week, all one thousand copies sold the UK label, Vertigo.”
The deal was confirmed in August, a day after
Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Pete Willis and the band’s
other guitarist, Steve Clark, attended a Led Zeppelin
concert at Knebworth Park. Rick Allen, still legally a
minor, had his parents sign the contract on his
behalf. And once the deal was done, Cliff Burnstein
quit his job at Mercury to co-manage Def Leppard
with Peter Mensch, who, as manager of AC/DC, É

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