ROCK OF AGES DEF LEPPARD FULL
Melodic color: Like its most successful peers, Def Leppard has a bag full of big hooks that don’t require much in the way of thought or nuance. Elliott’s ability to belt big choruses to the back of an arena but also live in the melodic crannies is unparalleled among the commercial rock singers of his day. His presence remains strong his singing contains just the right amounts of bravado, lovesickness, bite and charm, allowing him to perfectly play his part and read his lines as the quintessential bad-boy waiting to be tamed. The through line of Elliott’s voice has allowed Def Leppard to maintain its voice as a band.
Guitarist Phil Collen made the band in 1982, and Def Leppard’s newest member, former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell, has 23 years under his belt, joining the lineup in 1992. Singer Joe Elliott and bassist Rick Savage have been all in since the beginning - 1977 - while drummer Rick Allen was added a year later. While Def Leppard isn’t made up of all original parts, its longevity is worth noting. Some bands of its ilk have swapped lead singers or tour with just a founding member or two. With Def Leppard on its way to the Missouri State Fair on Friday, here are five reasons it should be considered the once and current head of its class of arena rockers.Ī singular voice: Perhaps the most admirable thing about Def Leppard is that, unlike many of its peers, the band has maintained a remarkable consistency across its lifespan. What’s more, the band has aged better than many of its peers. “There were many bands that rocked harder (and were more dangerous) than the Sheffield-based quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well.” “In many ways, Def Leppard were the definitive hard rock band of the ’80s,” AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote. Yet, the band set itself apart from a pack of other acts, that were similar on the surface, competing for hearts, minds and hairstyles. Like any band, Def Leppard can be charged with the crimes of its time - an unnaturally lustrous appearance, overreliance on the cowbell, a lack of lyrical depth. But, if history ever wishes to judge that arena - filled, as it was, by expensive pyrotechnics, outstretched lighters and screaming guitars - I’m confident it would declare Def Leppard winners of its day. It is hard to imagine much space in our history books will ever be devoted to 1980s hard rock.
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