Def Leppard finally entering RRHF
After years of eligibility, Def Leppard are finally entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. While they’re best known for the sonic maximalism exhibited on such mega-hit albums as 1983’s Pyromania, 1987’s Hysteria and 1992’s Adrenalize, a look at the creation of Def Leppard’s very first EP -- released 40 years ago this month -- reveals a DIY aesthetic as crude as the operations of contemporary U.K. crust-punk luminaries such as Discharge and Crass.
“We got together in my parents, well my bedroom in my parents’ house,” singer Joe Elliott said during a 2017 interview with the Life In The Stocks podcast. “I met [original guitarist] Pete Willis in the street and just said: ‘I just bought this Les Paul copy.’ Thirty quid from a junk shop on London Road. And you know I was inspired in ‘77 by the likes of the Pistols and The Clash who, you know, even I could tell they weren’t exactly musicians in the sense of playing guitar like Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen or whatever. And I thought well if they can, I can.”
Yet in spite of the primitive exterior of The Def Leppard E.P. -- its cover a cheeky take on the band’s name in a send-up of the His Master’s Voice logo (which Elliott’s mum helped assemble) -- the initial lineup (Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, guitarists Willis and the late Steve Clark, plus session drummer Frank Noon) was already gunning for a position far above the underground from the get-go. Post-punk might have been in the periphery of the band’s world in Sheffield, England (Pulp and The Human League were gearing up for takeoff around the same time as Def Leppard) but these guys were still very much high on the glam albums of their youth, looking to bring the glitterbomb pop of Marc Bolin and David Bowie into the intense nature of England’s new wave of hard rock and heavy metal.
(Billboard)
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