【The End of the World】Def Leppard's Love and Righteous Man

British rock band Def Leppard recently released Diamond Star Halos, their first new work since 2015, and the band's twelfth studio album. The human foot is still the same, it is still the lineup after the last personnel change in 1992, and it will be thirty years in the blink of an eye!

At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, there were a hundred schools of thought contending in the British music scene, what New Wave (New Wave), New Romance (New Romance), as well as a variety of different music types mixed experiments, full of vitality and freshness. In fact, there is also the so-called the new wave of British heavy metal (the new wave of British heavy metal), but not too many people pay attention. It's strange that when it comes to heavy metal music, few people will mention the musicians from the UK, it always seems to be the US that counts. The more famous ones, such as Iron Maiden and Motörhead, are only average in the United States.

When this craze started in the UK, there was a group called Girls who mixed Glam Rock. At that time, some musicians and groups were influenced by David Bowie, and they would also apply makeup and dress up. This group of Girls came to Hong Kong to sing at that time, but it was only three or two years before the band disbanded, and the guitarist Phil Collen passed by Def Leppard, replacing Peter Willis who left the group as the second guitarist, until today. He and another lead guitarist, Steve Clark, worked like a duck to water and established the band's style, and the appreciation of the cooperation with gold medal producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange was also the key to success.

They are from Sheffield, which is relatively rare, and the new wave of heavy metal is on top of heavy metal music, plus other elements, sometimes even very fluid, after their success, many people jokingly called them Pop Metal . They also insist they have no guitarists, which is a bit different from other American rock bands like Foreinger, Styx, Journey or REO Speedwagon. But that doesn't mean they didn't use harpsichords or electronic instruments at all, especially when Robert John "Mutt" Lange played the dick, with a little slurp for effect.

I got to know them on their third album, Pyromania (1983), when I was studying in Toronto and talking about music with my classmates a lot. When their "Rock of Ages" came out, there was a vocal line in the opening, but it wasn't in English, and no one knew what it meant. But some people found that the voice and tone of speech are very similar to one of our classmates. After he mentioned it, everyone scrambled to hear it, and it was agreed that 90% of the discussions were similar! Everyone can't help but wonder if he really secretly went to record? Everyone scolded and criticized the classmate. We made him laugh and laugh. We kept learning that paragraph, laughing until our stomach hurts. That song became popular in our circle like this, and then there was another "Foolin'", and I was completely convinced.

They can pull out six or seven singles on one album, which is really admirable. You can say that it is the power of gold medal supervisors, but their abilities cannot be erased. During this period, the two albums sold more than 10 million copies in the United States, and they were ten times platinum, which is diamond sales. But that "Pyromania" could only rank second on the pop chart, because when it came to Michael Jackson's "Thriller", only King of Pop could overwhelm King of Pop Metal. However, our goodwill towards them also comes from their affection and righteousness in the face of adversity.

On New Year's Eve in 1984, the musician Rick Allen was involved in a car accident while driving home. His left arm was broken at the shoulder and could not be dismissed. For any musician, losing a hand is a huge disaster, and life is better than death. But Allen's perseverance and optimism are beyond ordinary people. When recovering from the injury, he already imagined that he might use his feet instead of his hands and continue to play drums. His teammates also gave support and encouragement, and there are absolutely no plans to find someone to replace him. Singer Joe Elliott told Allen that everyone would be waiting for him. Before fully recovering, he had discussed with the designers of the percussion company how to get the drum stand to suit him. Designing is actually the easy part. To use it, you have to learn it from scratch. When his teammates wrote and practiced songs in the recording studio, he practiced hard in another room by himself. It was a bit like a retreat. While practicing, he learned and learned a set of his own mental skills and stick skills. The one-armed drum king of this family! And his teammates are even more excited than him. This kind of friendship is not a man's romance, the so-called Bromance.

Another difficulty the band faced was the loss of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991. His alcoholism problem has always been serious. When the problem affected his work, the members thought it should be dealt with seriously, and specifically allowed him to take six months off for treatment. Unfortunately, he died suddenly at home during this period. The remaining four continued to work, with Collen serving as the dual guitarist. After the album was completed, even Collen was interested in the fence. He couldn't do both, and the loss of a good partner was a big blow to him. Luckily there were several outstanding guitarists looking to be dropped, and they settled on Vivian Campbell, who joined in '92, and the band hasn't changed since then. It is very rare in the music circle, which is a habit, and it can be seen that the love and righteousness between them are very important.

On October 23, 1995, they performed three concerts on three different continents on the same day, and were recognized by the world record. First in Tanglers, Morocco, Africa, then back home in Sheffield, UK, Europe, and finally to Vancouver, Canada, North America, taking advantage of the time difference loophole to barely complete the trip on the same day. A year later they released their new album "Slang", and one of the special editions came with a CD of the live recording of a small Acoustic concert in Singapore, which I'm pretty sure is the only CD I have of Live in Singapore, too. It can be seen that their popularity is permeating the world.

It must be "late" to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, but it seems "premature" compared to another British band, Roxy Music, who was inducted together with them. And it was nominated by another famous British band Queen, or Brian May personally introduced and awarded the award. If it wasn't for May's meticulous presentation, I would not have known that the relationship between them was so deep.

The new work is not even the slightest old-fashioned, still full of vitality, not much like the heyday, fans should be happy to hear it, and the memories will return to the sun. They officially debuted in 1977, and they are another group that is preparing to move towards fifty years. As far as the results of this album are concerned, there should be no problem.