View Full Version : Pete Willis - The only REAL Def Leppard
I've said this for many years the first two Def Leppard albums are masterpieces and they started to fall apart after pyromania.... and I have no interest after Hysteria.
This thread is dedicated to only Pete Willis era Def Leppard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v010TI4f378
http://www.steveclarkguitar.com/wp-content/flagallery/steve039s-band/sband03.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v8836v6jcA
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/8/7/1344330628491/DEF-LEPPARD-008.jpg
http://www.steveclarkguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Steve-Pete-1980.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuU0csS1HiM
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zE9Q2d7ORVU/maxresdefault.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2117/1831942794_78885aa0b4_z.jpg?zz=1
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kze_y7Y-aZY/maxresdefault.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBy1jx5PQxM
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Def_leppard_wasted_single.jpg
binnie
08-02-2015, 02:32 PM
You're not excited about the new record then, WARF?
cadaverdog
08-02-2015, 02:33 PM
Never noticed how much High And Dry sounded like an AC/DC song. This is the first DL song I remember hearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMNVVQXHaek
You're not excited about the new record then, WARF?
Fuck no!
Unless they bring back Pete Willis and dig up Steve Clark!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMNVVQXHaek
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Def_Leppard_Rock_Brigade_Vinyl_Cover.jpeg
Here's one of the best reviews of High N' Dry I ever saw on youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuwZjofeS6E
binnie
08-02-2015, 02:55 PM
Fuck no!
Unless they bring back Pete Willis and dig up Steve Clark!
I never got 'Hysteria' until a couple of years ago. I was juding it as a 'metal' record. When I realised it was a 'rock' record, my ears were opened. It is an absolutely stunning piece of work.
Agree that those first two records have so much energy, however....
binnie
08-02-2015, 02:58 PM
I reviewed 'On Through The Night' here:
http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?56621-Album-Reviews/page12
Seshmeister
08-02-2015, 04:12 PM
I never got 'Hysteria' until a couple of years ago. I was juding it as a 'metal' record. When I realised it was a 'rock' record, my ears were opened. It is an absolutely stunning piece of work.
Agree that those first two records have so much energy, however....
The computer drumming kills the energy on Hysteria. I know it sounds a bit harsh but Def Leppard really suffer a bit from the drumming post arm loss.
Not long afterwards the technology improved so that sequenced drum tracks could be given a 'human' variance in the timekeeping which would help a bit.
On a related note why is it about Pour Some Sugar that it has been decided to be the DL song by DJ's and everyone else, I hate that pat a cake shit song.
Hysteria is a good pop record. It's the thriller of Pop Rock.
It's just not what I define as Def Leppard.
Gods of War is my favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neuoqmqt1HE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZpyq38zqnY
Best Def Leppard song ever!!!!!
Sesh.
If anyone posts anything post 1982 Def Leppard please remove it...
Remove it faster than a flappo popgear....
Let's pretend Phil Colon is a member here and his music is personal info, just like another shitty local bar band and guy with a double chin cried about internet harassment over a bar that was shut down anyways....
uh uh uh uh u hu hu hu hu hu h uh uh u hu h uh uh uh uh hu
Just kiddin LARD...
Love you mean it.....
I've said this for many years the first two Def Leppard albums are masterpieces and they started to fall apart after pyromania.... and I have no interest after Hysteria.
This thread is dedicated to only Pete Willis era Def Leppard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v010TI4f378
I don't know anything about this band and had no idea there was an 'original' DL... what's the story with this guy? This material blows away anything I've heard from them.
http://defleppardforever.weebly.com/uploads/9/3/2/5/9325845/9281538_orig.jpg
I don't know anything about this band and had no idea there was an 'original' DL... what's the story with this guy? This material blows away anything I've heard from them.
Dude, get HIGH N' DRY and listen from beginning to end!
They fired Pete Willis. He did the first two Leppard albums.....
Pete Willis is the reason Dimebag picked up a guitar!
Hails to Pete Willis and fuck Def fucking Leppard mates!!!!
vandeleur
08-02-2015, 06:14 PM
Isn't Pete Willis the guy who always got pissed and was a bit of a nob and got banned from def leotard ?
Kept telling people he was there from the start , helped create the whole thing. Was in the band years before everybody else.
So warfy what's the appeal :D
Here's a bold statement...
I'll take the first two Def Leppard albums over the first two Van Halen albums....
Discuss....
Isn't Pete Willis the guy who always got pissed and was a bit of a nob and got banned from def leotard ?
Kept telling people he was there from the start , helped create the whole thing. Was in the band years before everybody else.
So warfy what's the appeal :D
I'll tell you the appeal you limey bastard....
Pete Willis was fired from Def Leppard for being a drunk when the rest of the band were piss faced drunks....
The loss of Pete Willis is equivalent to the loss of David Lee Roth in Van Halen....
Bring back Pete Willis and fire that Smelly faggot who played for Dio... Vivian Campbell... the smelly Irish pussy....
And fire that other faggot married to a negro tranny!!!!!
vandeleur
08-02-2015, 06:22 PM
Charming :biggrin:
ahhh fuck it....
Bring back Rick Allen's other arm too......
So basically what i'm saying mate is....
1) bring back Pete Willis
2) Dig up Steve Clark
3) Implant Rick Allens other arm
4) Give Joe Elliot vocal surgery....
5) Murder Rick Savage
vandeleur
08-02-2015, 06:27 PM
ahhh fuck it....
Bring back Rick Allen's other arm too......
Hahaha
In america Vandy, homeless people drink newcastle brown!
vandeleur
08-02-2015, 06:36 PM
If you drink enough of it the same thing happens here :)
ahhh fuck it....
Bring back Rick Allen's other arm too......
This is the comeback show we all think will never happen!
If I can build this site in less than 7 days....
I can build back Rick Allen's arm....
Have faith in me VAIN....
rotharmy.com : the land of miracles....
one shot at a time....
Seshmeister
08-02-2015, 10:00 PM
I'll tell you the appeal you limey bastard....
Pete Willis was fired from Def Leppard for being a drunk when the rest of the band were piss faced drunks....
Well that's the thing, to get fired from that band at that time does seem to show he was insane out of control and he says as much these days.
Steven Alder syndrome... :)
Half of Def Leppard's membership is gone (original 2 guitarists and half of a drummer) and clearly it was the better half.
High and Dry is the best album they ever made. Gotta wonder what Pyromania might have been if they finished it with the original lineup.
Rarely listen to Hysteria anymore, and never bothered at all with any of the albums after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmkZCekGQw
twonabomber
08-03-2015, 05:54 AM
ahhh fuck it....
Bring back Rick Allen's other arm too......
Supposedly the arm stayed in the Corvette and the nerves pulled out of it. Allen mentioned in an interview once that the nerves were "balled up" and sewn into his shoulder.
25 years later and the guy has figured out how to wipe his ass etc with one hand, maybe getting a replacement isn't high on his list of priorities.
Rarely listen to Hysteria anymore, and never bothered at all with any of the albums after that.
Adrenalize, Euphoria, and X are pretty bad. I don't mind Slang.
Collen and Elliott's Cybernauts project, a tribute to Mick Ronson, was good.
Mr. Vengeance
08-03-2015, 09:30 AM
I like those early albums but really, the loss of Pete Willis doesn't consume much of my time in oh, say, 30 years.......
Seshmeister
08-03-2015, 09:52 AM
Supposedly the arm stayed in the Corvette and the nerves pulled out of it. Allen mentioned in an interview once that the nerves were "balled up" and sewn into his shoulder.
As I remember the arm was put on ice at the scene and they sewed it back on but it didn't take and had to be cut off again.
He did of course still manage to get himself convicted for spousal abuse I assume using his left foot to do what he would usually do with his left fist.
private parts
08-03-2015, 10:11 AM
Hysteria was a candy ass effort.
This is Def Leppard and the first guitar riff I learned.............
Von Halen
08-03-2015, 10:21 AM
Of course I like the first 3 albums the best. Especially the first one, but I like Hysteria too. Not as much. But I do like it.
Pyromania was pretty good too I guess but they were heading too much into the commercialized MTV era.
I can't stand this band now and refuse to see them live.
Vivian Campbell is such a waste of space..... I thought they would go back to their roots when they hired DIO's guitarist....
Turns out he's more bubble gum than Phil Collins ( Colon ) whatever.....
Von Halen
08-03-2015, 10:34 AM
I think Campbell has dropped out because of his cancer. But I agree. I really thought he would provide more edge than he did. I think he was just a hired gun, and really had no input. This has to be Elliot and Collen's band now. I believe they ruined it for radio, and can't figure out how to get back to their roots. Which wouldn't work in the climate of todays music and music business, anyway.
Seshmeister
08-03-2015, 10:41 AM
Pyromania was pretty good too I guess but they were heading too much into the commercialized MTV era.
I can't stand this band now and refuse to see them live.
Last time I saw them we left after 6 songs.
We were there to see Steel Panther support them.
private parts
08-03-2015, 10:42 AM
Pyro was pretty good. Actually saw that tour from the front row (actually smashed up against the barricade) of festival seating (the good ole days).
But Hysteria just got to tedious with all the guitar and vocal layering and techno sound effects.
I think Campbell has dropped out because of his cancer. But I agree. I really thought he would provide more edge than he did. I think he was just a hired gun, and really had no input. This has to be Elliot and Collen's band now. I believe they ruined it for radio, and can't figure out how to get back to their roots. Which wouldn't work in the climate of todays music and music business, anyway.
They would sell a shit ton more records if they went back to at least their pyromania sounds. They are alienating their old fans and not bringing much new fan base with anything they did in the past twenty years. I think they just wanna sell out shows based on the nostalgia of their 80's hits ( Viva Hysteria tour ) and they don't really care if they sell copies. I heard they have a deluxe edition of SLANG , bwahahahahahaha. I remember when I heard that WHEN LOVE AND HATE COLLIDES song and wondered how the fucking the mighty Def Leppard has transformed into NSYNC.... then I did some research they had the same writer.... seriously. What a fucking shit band!
private parts
08-03-2015, 10:45 AM
all the guitar and vocal layering and techno sound effects.
Aka "Pussification" which BTW got them a lot of it.
Last time I saw them we left after 6 songs.
We were there to see Steel Panther support them.
Def Leppard should be supporting Steel Panther.
This was the last decent Def Leppard song.
It's not greatness but it at least shows some flashes of Pyro/Hysteria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSH3NWks7m4
I also dig a couple tracks from RETROACTIVE mostly because they are Steve Clark recordings PUSSIFIED by Phil Colon....
But I still think is a really solid Def Leppard track, the best since Gods of War....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUTDyKofPCA
What do you think?
Seshmeister
08-03-2015, 11:08 AM
I remember when I heard that WHEN LOVE AND HATE COLLIDES song and wondered how the fucking the mighty Def Leppard has transformed into NSYNC.... then I did some research they had the same writer.... seriously. What a fucking shit band!
I just checked the setlist of the show we walked out of. :)
Rocket
C'mon C'mon
Make Love Like a Man
Armageddon It
When Love and Hate Collide
Nine Lives
It took most of song 5 to ask everyone(there were 6 of us) if they wanted to go so we walked out as 6 started.
The bill was exactly upside down
Def Leppard
Motley Crue
Steel Panther
Seshmeister
08-03-2015, 11:10 AM
I'd never even heard 'C'mon C'mon' before, what a sack of Pop Idol shit that is.
SunisinuS
08-03-2015, 04:02 PM
Some of his later work:
Never noticed how much High And Dry sounded like an AC/DC song. This is the first DL song I remember hearing.
No question that Ac/Dc was a big influence on their early sound. In fact, there's a live video of "Problem Child" on one of Ac/Dc's recent video box sets. The performance was for some UK TV show called "Rock Goes To College" in 1977 or 78, and there's this group of poodle-haired kids near the front of the stage banging their heads along with the music. The camera doesn't stay on them long enough for a positive ID, but it looks a lot like the teenaged Def Leppard to me. They would have formed the band shortly after this, so perhaps that's where the inspiration came from.
You mean this , FORD?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYcLXBTxR30
Yep, that's the one. Didn't even look for it on YouTube, because I figured the RIAA fascists would have already yanked it.
And sure enough.... they did just that. I swear those leeches watch this website.
cadaverdog
08-03-2015, 08:36 PM
No question that Ac/Dc was a big influence on their early sound. In fact, there's a live video of "Problem Child" on one of Ac/Dc's recent video box sets. The performance was for some UK TV show called "Rock Goes To College" in 1977 or 78, and there's this group of poodle-haired kids near the front of the stage banging their heads along with the music. The camera doesn't stay on them long enough for a positive ID, but it looks a lot like the teenaged Def Leppard to me. They would have formed the band shortly after this, so perhaps that's where the inspiration came from.
Not sure about that but Phil Collen's picture is on the back cover of Deep Purple's Made In Japan. The picture was actually taken at a private school in England.
Seshmeister
08-04-2015, 05:59 AM
No question that Ac/Dc was a big influence on their early sound.
Their biggest influence was Mutt Lange and with him doing AC/DC albums at the same time as their early albums a lot of the sound would come from that.
There is no real reason to assume that Pete Willis leaving led to the pussification of DL. That happened over a number of years and maybe it was just in response to the fact that the more they went in that direction the more albums they sold.
By the end of the process the songs Mutt Lange was producing/writing with Bryan Adams even Shania Twain could just as easily have been on Def Leppard albums.
vandeleur
08-04-2015, 06:36 AM
They always seemed the least convincing of the bands that came through with the nwobhm bands.
They dropped the rock stuff as soon as money came their way and the stuff after the couple of albums mentioned are wetter than an otters pocket.
Does all that produced bollox even count as genuine music and the stories of how mutt arranged them sound more Meccano than rock n roll.
vandeleur
08-04-2015, 06:38 AM
Oh , I don't like def leopard :D
cadaverdog
08-06-2015, 02:42 AM
They dropped the rock stuff as soon as money came their way and the stuff after the couple of albums mentioned are wetter than an otters pocket.
Could you translate that into English?
Their biggest influence was Mutt Lange and with him doing AC/DC albums at the same time as their early albums a lot of the sound would come from that.
There is no real reason to assume that Pete Willis leaving led to the pussification of DL. That happened over a number of years and maybe it was just in response to the fact that the more they went in that direction the more albums they sold.
By the end of the process the songs Mutt Lange was producing/writing with Bryan Adams even Shania Twain could just as easily have been on Def Leppard albums.
Ac/Dc might well have been the only band who didn't pussify significantly with Mutt Lange producing. Yeah, you could say that Powerage had a slightly harder edge than Highway to Hell, but nothing to complain about, compared to what happened to Def Leppard, Foreigner, and others who turned into complete cheese factories after they started working with him. Hell, even Bryan Adams had a few decent songs on his first couple of records (they got a lot of airplay up here in Cascadia, naturally)
Green Manalishi
08-06-2015, 09:06 PM
Luv those first three albums especially On Through The Night and High N Dry . I saw them live back in that time period as well and thought they kicked ass for such a young band . Who was I kidding ? They were/are my age !
I do hear the AC/DC influence but can't help but notice a twinge of UFO as well .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1TSI8VVxV8
vandeleur
08-10-2015, 06:40 PM
Could you translate that into English?
Which bit , the words and stuff ?
Green Manalishi
08-10-2015, 07:17 PM
Lookin' back at my old ticket stubs I found these shows :
Tues - 6 - 17 - 1980 The Checkerdome - St. Louis : Ted Nugent , Scorpions , Def Leppard ( nutty crowd ! )
September , 1981 - Kiel Auditorium - St. Louis : Blackfoot & Def Leppard ( raggedy , nearly indecipherable ticket stub )
Sat - 8 - 20 - 1983 - The Checkerdome - St. Louis : Def Leppard & Uriah Heep
They were a young , up and coming rock band to be reckoned with for sure .
78/84 guy
08-14-2015, 05:43 PM
Here's a bold statement...
I'll take the first two Def Leppard albums over the first two Van Halen albums....
Discuss....
Sober up !! And they are great albums.
Mushroom
11-22-2015, 12:17 AM
Here's a bold statement...
I'll take the first two Def Leppard albums over the first two Van Halen albums....
Discuss....
You are a liar! :beers8:
Mushroom
11-22-2015, 12:25 AM
Def Leppard's First Strike is a collection of demos released in 1985 without the band's, and management's, authorization.
It's a great collection that shows off the band's raw hunger and creativeness. Some of the demos are better than the re-worked versions...
... Sorrow is a Woman
... Answer to the Master
... Wasted
Also includes a never-been released song "Heat Street"
Ride into the Sun was on an earlier set of demos and then totally pussified in 1987. I believe it was a B-side to a Hysteria single, but then included on the Remastered Hysteria release.
Mushroom
11-22-2015, 12:31 AM
If you hear somebody cruising the boulevard with Switch 625 blasting on the car stereo, it's probably me
Terry
11-23-2015, 09:28 PM
I dunno...I never really considered High 'n' Dry an astounding rock record. Even within the context of the NWOBHM. It was certainly one of Def Leppard's most straightforward records and had a consistent hard rock edge to it, but that type of material never quite came off sounding like stuff Leppard naturally gravitated towards. Like, the whole attitude on that album was one more of a sort of affected pose or posturing than material and performances the band moved toward organically or something they felt in their guts.
Put it this way: High 'n' Dry was a good hard rock album by Def Leppard standards.
Honestly, I think Hysteria was their best work. Even if roughly half the album was throwaway stuff songwise (Rocket, Don't Shoot Shotgun, Run Riot, Excitable, Love And Affection), the lesser songs were made slightly better by the production. And the remainder of the album were great pop rock tunes combined with that lush, dense, multi-layered production...
Pete Willis was fine for the band for what it was when he was in it, but I doubt Willis had the talent or drive the rest of the band did to take Leppard to the next level. Plus, his physical appearance was ridiculous (with a series of naff haircuts and a general look of someone's kid brother who was playing with the group only because the rest of the band were initially too nice to kick him out).
Now, when Steve Clark died, THAT I could agree was a demarcation point for Leppard. Their output in terms of quality went downhill steadily after Clark passed on.
Seshmeister
11-23-2015, 09:42 PM
Finally I find a music post you made I can disagree with. :D
I was nodding right up to the point you said Hysteria was their best work, Pyromania for me any time. I find Hysteria over thought and over produced. I hate that Pour Some Sugar has become the standard off that album with the pat-a-cake-pat-a-cake-bakers-man verse.
You're very correct to point out that half the album is fillers. I think the other major problem is the drumming which doesn't swing. The 60 layers of backing vocals are there to add the theatre and energy that should be happening from the groove of the drumming which isn't there.
There is a massive huge difference between Phil Rudd and a mid 80s drum machine...
Terry
12-13-2015, 09:33 AM
Finally I find a music post you made I can disagree with. :D
I was nodding right up to the point you said Hysteria was their best work, Pyromania for me any time. I find Hysteria over thought and over produced. I hate that Pour Some Sugar has become the standard off that album with the pat-a-cake-pat-a-cake-bakers-man verse.
You're very correct to point out that half the album is fillers. I think the other major problem is the drumming which doesn't swing. The 60 layers of backing vocals are there to add the theatre and energy that should be happening from the groove of the drumming which isn't there.
There is a massive huge difference between Phil Rudd and a mid 80s drum machine...
Well, at least you didn't retort with a lament on how I glossed over the 'fact' that Pete Willis was the most important member to ever pass through Def Leppard...or some nonsense about how High 'n' Dry was one of the best hard rock albums ever. Had that been the case, I would have found it necessary to fly across the pond and give you a swift kick in the goolies that would have made the most vicious Glasgow football hooligan wince in amazement.
Odd what you said about the drumming, because I think the drumming on Hysteria (certainly sounding more electronic than acoustic compared to Pyromania) 'swings' pretty well. Much more so than Pyromania, where whenever I hear a tune off that album it's almost as if I can hear the click track/metronome keeping time...granted Rick Allen certainly never was going to be confused with Terry Bozzio in terms of technical ability, but the drumming on Pyromania is so calculated and robotic it was devoid of personality: to me, oddly enough the Pyromania drumming despite being acoustic in origin sounds more cold and computer-generated than anything on Hysteria.
I'd have to agree that Pyromania definitely had less filler-tunes than Hysteria. In point of fact, the only tune on Pyromania that is disposable to me is Action, Not Words. However, the half of the Hysteria album that works does so much better for me than the best of Pyromania. And no small part of that is due to the production. Pyromania, soncially, just sounds too dry and mid-level in terms of EQ: no real bottom end, thus no real balls.
Fuck me, I'm expending way too much thought on these Sheffield jagoffs. :blah:
GreenBayLA
02-03-2016, 02:14 AM
Here's a bold statement...
I'll take the first two Def Leppard albums over the first two Van Halen albums....
Discuss....
I wouldn't go that far Van Halen I is a classic but as a 14 year old kid Van Halen II with it's softer approach was a bit of a letdown. Def Lep 1 was good but Mutt Lange made Hign n Dry a huge step forward and an instant classic. Sadly they peaked too soon.14105
Cool shot from Heavy Metal book by Ross Halfin and Pete Makowski
GreenBayLA
02-03-2016, 02:29 AM
14106
Posting from my phone 👿
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.