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Def Leppard

Def Leppard

35 articles

Audio interviews

Def Leppard's Joe Elliott (1991)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1991

The Leppard frontman looks back at guitarist Steve Clark's descent into alcoholism and eventual death: how it impacted the making of latest album Adrenalize; guitarist Phil Collen stepping up in Clark's absence; how it is possible for rockers to grow old; the essential escapism of metal, and how marvellously uncool it is.

File format: mp3; file size: 45.4mb, interview length: 47' 15" sound quality: ***

Def Leppard's Joe Elliott (2006)

Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, 2006

Joe Elliott tells tales of the road, talks about his heroes (and one or two villains), and looks back at Rick Allen's accident and Steve Clark's alcoholism and death.

File format: mp3; file size: 66.6mb, total interview length: 1h 9' 24" sound quality: ****

List of articles in the library

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Def Leppard: The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal — Part Two

Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 16 June 1979

BY DEAF BARTON ...

Def Leppard: Mayfair, Newcastle

Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 25 August 1979

Big cat's big let down The Def Leppard backlash starts here (what, already? — Ed) ...

Def Leppard: Def or Glory?

Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 1 March 1980

THE LEPPARDS CAUGHT IN AN A'N'R INDUSTRY STRANGLEHOLD. WILL THEY BE THROTTLED? ASKS GEOFF BARTON ...

The Lustre of Heavy Metal

Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 July 1980

Mary Harron takes a trip to Sheffield and discovers a surprising rock revival. ...

Letter from Britain: Iron Cookies From Island Nations

Column by Penny Valentine, Creem, August 1980

MY FRIEND Nigel looked at the queue winding its way two blocks round the Rainbow Theatre and made his pronouncement: "Bored punks who never got ...

Def Leppard Breaks the Heavy-Metal Mold

Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 2 October 1980

KANSAS CITV, Missouri — Oblivious to the sticky heat and the rancid aroma of animal fat from the rendering plants across the Missouri River, the ...

The Luxury Of Real Fur: Def Leppard/More: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 8 August 1981

SUBTLE AS THE brain-scalding squeals of a skewered pig on the barbecue, roasting alive. Ass-kickin', rabble-rousin', atom-splittin', hard-livin', ever givin'. More had the ear-ringin' toned ...

Def Leppard: The Leppard Doesn't Sleep Tonight

Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 6 February 1982

ROUGH NOTES/ROUGH NOTES (Prelude) ...

Def Leppard, Rock Goddess: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Kerrang!, 24 March 1983

A WILD and ferocious Def Leppard leapt at the throats of its audience and claimed another killing on the first major Lep safari in many ...

Def Leppard: Pyromania (Mercury)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, May 1983

IT ALL COMES down to how many ways there are to conjugate the regular verb "to rock" in a context that suggests endurance of a ...

Spot Checking Def Leppard

Interview by Dave DiMartino, Creem, May 1983

LONDON – Directly or indirectly, Eric Clapton is responsible for my being here. ...

Def Leppard: What's 'New'?

Comment by Deborah Frost, The Village Voice, 1 November 1983

DEF LEPPARD is a band that's been greeted with total indifference by everyone except the four million and counting people who bought their third album. ...

Def Leppard unleashes Hysteria

Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 10 September 1987

DEF LEPPARD'S album Pyromania, released in 1983, sold 6 million copies in the U.S. alone. It's no surprise, then, that people ask Def Leppard bassist ...

Def Leppard: Royal Centre, Nottingham

Live Review by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 12 September 1987

SUGAR ON THE ROCKS ...

Def Leppard: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 19 September 1987

WHAT A sorry charade this is. Stuck for jokes I am, as the Lepers churn out their wall of John Bull nothingness to the adoring ...

Heavy Metal: The Sound Too Dense to Die

Comment by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 16 October 1987

TWENTY SUMMERS ago, it was love. In 1987 it was metal, pop-metal, ushered in by Bon Jovi's much less musicianly 7-mil play on Van Halen's ...

Def Leppard: Hysteria (Polygram); Guns N' Roses: Appetite For Destruction (Geffen)

Review by Deborah Frost, Creem, December 1987

WAS IT REALLY worth the wait? Four years and nearly two million dollars later, Def Leppard has finally unveiled their new "masterpiece." What Hysteria's constipated ...

Def Leppard: Loadsamoney!!

Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, May 1988

They talk in units of a million. They plan tours like military invasions. They know the rules, Def Leppard: it takes craft, hard graft, spectacle ...

Rock's New Gift of Garb

Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 3 November 1988

Once maligned, concert merchandising is now rock's hottest business ...

NWOBHM: Wave from the Grave

Retrospective and Interview by Howard Johnson, Kerrang!, 1 September 1990

For those off us old enough to remember, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was the start off the greatest period ever for Metal ...

Obituary: Steve Clark — Hard Rock Hero

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 January 1991

THE DEATH of Def Leppard's guitarist Steve Clark, aged 30, on Tuesday morning was the latest disaster to strike the Sheffield group. On New Year's ...

Cod Piece In Our Time

Overview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 19 January 1991

Bring your good taste to be slaughtered! To mark Iron Maiden's ground-breaking success (any bleedin' excuse — Ed), STUART MACONIE investigates the subtle and many-faceted ...

Def Leppard: Adrenalize (Bludgeon Riffola 510978)

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, May 1992

NARROWA five-year wait! Layered guitars! Walls of harmony! It can only be Def Leppard... ...

Various Artists: The Freddie Mercury Tribute, Concert For Aids Awareness, Wembley Stadium, London

Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 2 May 1992

IT'S, UH, KINDA TRAGIC ...

Def Leppard: Cherry Pie In The Name Of Love

Profile and Interview by Steve Mascord, On The Street, 5 May 1992

"I DON'T think there’s any danger we’re going to turn into Journey or Foreigner because they never had balls, those bands," Joe Elliott's Yorkshire twang ...

Def Leppard: Slang

Review by David Quantick, Q, June 1996

FOR DEF Leppard, it really ought to be That Time Of The Career. ...

Def Leppard: Sheffield Arena

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 November 1996

Rusty metal with extra irony ...

Def Leppard: On The Road: Again….

Report and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, October 1999

"RIGHT," SAYS Joe Elliot. "I think it's time for a few drinks." ...

Def Leppard

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

Frank Noon (replaced by Rick Allen, b. 1 November 1963); Steve Clark, b. 23 April 1960, d. 8 January 1991, London (replaced by Vivian Campbell, ...

NWOBHM: Never Mind The Bollocks

Retrospective by Paul Elliott, MOJO, February 2007

Threatened by punk, Led Zep, Sabbath and Purple came under fire in 1977. A year later Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon led a New ...

Def Leppard: British Steel

Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), October 2011

Considering Def Leppard's Phil Collen generally performs gigs shirtless, it's little wonder the hard rock guitarist enjoys performing in the warmer climes of Australia. First ...

Def Leppard: "We never wanted to smoke weed and stick two fingers up to The Man"

Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 21 July 2020

ON THE FIRST day of December 1987, Def Leppard arrived for a concert at the Tacoma Dome in Washington state. Embarked on the initial North ...

Michael Hann: Denim and Leather — The Rise and Fall of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (Constable)

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, Financial Times, 15 February 2022

AS INELEGANT acronyms go, NWOBHM was at least onomatopoeic: an approximation of metal's thudding, bludgeoning bass registers. Certainly the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal", ...

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