The story of the band Def Leppard actually began in 1976 when Rick Savage, Tony Kenning and Pete Doubleday formed a band called Atomic Mas. There guitar player Pete Doubleday was later replaced by Pete Willis. On the same year of 1977 when Peter Doubleday was replaced by Pete Willis they had audition where Joe Elliott answered the call as a guitar player. On that same day they found out that Joe Elliott was a better singer than a guitar player.
Around that time Joe Elliott proposed to change the name of the band to “Deaf Leppard”. They agreed on changing the band’s name but Tony Kenning came with the idea changing the spelling of the new bands name to “Def Leppard”. In the following year of 1978 Steve Clark did an audition for the band. According to a story by Joe Elliott he played a song “Free Birds” of a band Lynyrd Skynyrd and was hired.
When the recordings started for their EP Tony Kenning there drummer left the band and was temporary replaced by Frank Noon until Rick Allen was added to the band as the permanent member. At that time Rick Allen was only 15.
Now the classic line up of this legendary rock band was in place and they started working on their EP. The sales of the EP did well and they had a track from that three track EP “Getcha Rocks” that got some good Radio airtime.
The classic line up was: Joe Elliott(vocals), Rick Savage (bass), Pete Willis (guitars), Steve Clark(guitars), Rick Allen(drums).
Def Leppard and a new guitar player.
They started to get a good following in the UK but the strange part is after releasing their first two albums “On Through the Night” in 1980 and “High and Dry” in 1981 they were accused of selling out to the US. This was because they were touring a lot in the US with ACDC and Ted Nugent.
After a long tour they started working on their 3rd album but unfortunately another change was coming for the band. Pete Willis was drinking too much and wasn’t doing his guitar parts and became a problem. He was replaced by Phil Collen and they finished the album “Pyromania” with a new guitar player.
The band toured extensively and the album did very good in the US. After the tour plans were made to start working on a new album after a short break. Around this time Rick Allen was involved in a car accident that cost him his arm. Most of the time bands replace there band mates when something like this happens.
They never did and waited for him to get well and continue to be Def Leppard’s drummer. He started working with Simmons to design him an electric drumkit were he could use his arm and feet to play his drum parts. This is what defines Def Leppard and how they feel about each other.
These guys are not just a band of mates, they are, good friends. Look at Pete Willis, he was replaced but the band never took his credits away and still receiving royalties for “Pyromania” there first big success. It’s a band of friends.
Rick Allen returned to the band and they start recording the new album. There were some recordings done in absence of Rick who was recovering from that accident and designing a new drumkit. On 1987 Def Leppard released “Hysteria” that went on to make history because of the big hits like (Animal, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rocket, Women, Armageddon It and Hysteria).
This was also the last album Steve Clark worked on. On 1991 he was found dead in his appartement and it was later mentioned he died of alcohol poisoning. This was a big blow for the band, not only they lost a great guitar player but also one of the main songwriters of the band.
The line-up after “Pyromania”: Joe Elliott(vocals), Rick Savage (bass), Phil Collen (guitars), Steve Clark(guitars), Rick Allen(drums).
The line-up after “Hysteria”: Joe Elliott(vocals), Rick Savage (bass), Phil Collen (guitars), Vivian Campbell(guitars), Rick Allen(drums).
Def Leppard’s new album and a new time.
On 1992 Def Leppard released “Adrenalize”. The time of the release was around grunge was big in the US with bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam. But Def Leppard kept to there music and the album was released with big hits like ‘Let’s get Rocked’ and ‘Make love like a Man’. And surprise to all the album did well and sold over 6 million copies.
It says something about the band and how they think about there music. On 2022 Def Leppard went on a Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts that was well received. Around that time there were rumours on a World Tour with Mötley Crüe and it is confirmed that they will hit the road together. Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe will do a World Tour with Alice Cooper.
It’s awesome to see that they are still rocking the world with there music. You can put there hit song “Rock of Ages” out there cause they are still doing it. They have released 12 studio albums, four live albums, four compilation albums, 2 Ep’s and 60 singles.
Check out a playlist on Spotify http://bit.ly/40Oi6sz
The website for the World Tour http://bit.ly/3YKpCCZ
Def Leppard still going strong.