Page 75 - Classic Rock - The Complete Story of Def Leppard 2019

who died in 1991 of alcohol-related complications,
was a master live artist who found Heaven on stage
and Hell in the studio. He can’t have had a great time
recording Hysteria, but he still gave it his all. In another
departure from the norm, Elliott’s lyrics reflected
bewilderment at the world leaders who ran the Cold
War for their own ends, leaving us mortals to suffer
the consequences.

s work moved towards the completion of 11
tracks, Lange was convinced they still didn’t
have an album – there was still something
A missing. With the budget bust, the money
men panicking and the band exhausted, no one
agreed with him. Until one day, during a break, Elliott
picked up a guitar and played a few notes of an idea
he’d had.
“I was just farting around,” Elliott explains, “when
Mutt came back from the toilet, or wherever, and he
said: ‘What the hell are you playing? That’s the best
hook I’ve heard in five years!”
They worked it up a bit into what became Pour Some
Sugar On Me, and then faced the job of convincing the
band that they had to record this one more track. “I
After almost four years knew there was going to be a problem with the guys,”
making Hysteria, playing live
was a great release. Elliott says. “I was into it because Mutt and I had put it
together, but everyone else was staggering over the
finish line. No one wanted to face another track. I
Phil Collen and Steve Clark remember seeing their faces when we said: ‘One more
prepare to trade, er, licks.
to go, guys.’ Steve put his hands over his face and
went: ‘Oh no…’ But when we played it to them they
realised how little needed doing to it, so we got away
with it.
“That was the only time anyone thought, we can’t
Backstage after wowing yet another
audience with their in-the-round show. go on, we have to stop. But it turned out to be the
most important song on the record.”
By early 1986 Def Leppard were stretched to their
emotional limits, and decided they needed to get out
of the studio. They booked a number of low-key
shows in Ireland, leading up to some European
festival dates over the summer. They also booked an
additional drummer, Jeff Rich, who at the time was
with Status Quo. The idea was to support Allen, in
case for any reason he couldn’t keep it together – a
thought that must have loomed large.
And it went to plan – until Rich didn’t make it to
one of Leppard’s shows. It wasn’t his fault: the
Leppard shows had to be booked to coincide with
Quo’s days off, and flying from Britain to Ireland
INSETS: ROSS HALFIN did so when the band played in Ballybunion; Rich
every day was bound to come unstuck eventually. It
arrived 40 minutes into the set and joined the show
late. But by then Allen’s confidence had a huge boost
confirm that bad things really do come in threes – primitive they had to be triggered manually. Slowly when he realised he could hold the show on his own.
they had to scrap all the recordings again. but surely, things began to come together. So the following night Rich was in the audience just in
“Binning all that work… It’s not something we Lange’s approach to the album involved finding a case, and Allen drummed alone. And did he
could do again,” Elliott says, almost shuddering at the some kind of production ‘hook’ for every song. Rocket brilliantly.
memory. “It was Mutt’s encouragement that helped us came together when Elliott heard a recording of tribal In a very cloud-and-silver-lining way, Elliott
do that. The thing is, it wasn’t terrible. What we’d drums, and was so inspired by the idea he stole the observed that Allen’s re-learning of his trade really
done was good enough – as good as Pyromania – but tape, looped it and built a song around it. The lyrics had paid off for the band. It meant Allen had had to
Mutt said: ‘Why do Pyromania 2? That was a leap from were a stream-of-consciousness concept, name- abandon some of his fills, and inventing new ones,
High’n’Dry, now we have to make a leap from checking all the things he’d grown up with from and as he built up his new technique around the
Pyromania.’ We were thinking: ‘Can we do this?’ It Ziggy Stardust to Gary Glitter. Hysteria production he was able to play exactly what
turned out we could.” Love Bites was a song Lange had written, based on the album needed.
At long last, it seemed as if things were starting to his country influences, but exposed to Leppard’s full If the world needed any further evidence that Def
happen. 16 months of work had been canned, but balladeering barrage. The cunning addition of little Leppard were back in business, it was presented at the
now it was time to clean up the mess, start again and squeaks and breaths, which Elliott refers to as “Simon Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington on
come up with the goods. The challenge was steep: Le Bon bits” added an extra dimension of character August 16 that year. No one wanted any kind of
Pyromania had sold six million; Hysteria would now which lifted the track just above the ordinary. The sympathy vote, so the plan was to ignore Allen’s
need to sell five million just to break even. Bean- abandonment of a set of backing vocals – insisting missing arm for performance purposes. But Elliott
counters shivered as the band attempted to refocus, they understood what he was trying to achieve but it recalls the feeling in the audience was so warm, so
forget the bad karma, and try to be brilliant. just wasn’t them – was the one and only time the genuinely sympathetic, that something had to be said.
When Lange spoke, they listened. Instead of using band vetoed any of Lange’s ideas. “Ladies and gentlemen – Rick Allen,” was it. And the
big amps they used Rockmans, small Walkman-like Gods Of War was based on the opening riff created crowd went wild. After that trip, finishing the album
machines that generated a sound you could control to by Steve Clark. It was one of his off-the-wall ideas off felt a lot easier.
the nth degree. They began exploring multi-layered which only a band of Def Lep’s persuasion could “We were back.” Elliott says. “It gave us so much
vocal effects, and experimenting with samplers so really grab onto and make work – and they did. Clark, confidence. When we went back to the studio

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