Pete Willis Interview from 1989!

[Mr Badguy]

I don`t rate Pete Willis at all.

What the fuck has he done since 1982?

Leps first three LPs were definetly their best rock wise.

I think Mutt Lange, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen (to a lesser extent) should be blamed for their change in direction.

If Willis wasn`t a Bum and stayed in the band I think they would still be where they are at because, how it looks to me anyway, Joe Elliott is the boss of that band and the rest do what he tells them.

Every band who has a guy who makes the bottom line decisions: Steve Harris in Iron Maiden, Pete Townsend in The Who, Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin etc.

In Leppard, it`s Joe`s way or the highway, always has been.

That`s probably why they got Vivian Campbell in as well.

At the time there were rumours of John Sykes joining but he would have been too forceful a personality and that would have caused clashes in leadership and direction.

[WARF]

Def Leppard died the day Pete Willis was kicked out!
End of story...

[Terry]

I don`t rate Pete Willis at all.

What the fuck has he done since 1982?

Leps first three LPs were definetly their best rock wise.

I think Mutt Lange, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen (to a lesser extent) should be blamed for their change in direction.

If Willis wasn`t a Bum and stayed in the band I think they would still be where they are at because, how it looks to me anyway, Joe Elliott is the boss of that band and the rest do what he tells them.

Every band who has a guy who makes the bottom line decisions: Steve Harris in Iron Maiden, Pete Townsend in The Who, Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin etc.

In Leppard, it`s Joe`s way or the highway, always has been.

That`s probably why they got Vivian Campbell in as well.

At the time there were rumours of John Sykes joining but he would have been too forceful a personality and that would have caused clashes in leadership and direction.

My understanding is that Pyromania was already written and most of it had been recorded prior to Collen joining...that he laid down some solos and rhythm tracks over what was already there.

I'd agree Def Leppard morphed into Joe Elliot's band by the time Pyromania rolled around, and I'd credit Lange as much as anybody else with their commercial success (they had to scrap most of their Hysteria demos and recordings they did before Lange eventually signed onto produce, and the albums they've done without Lange are nothing special).

Willis really didn't end up doing much after Leppard in terms of projects with high visibility, and when I look at those promo vids for Bringing On The Heartbreak and Let It Go, Willis from a visual aspect stands out like a sore thumb (bit of a short, goofy looking bastard). But fact remains that High N' Dry was their last great hard rock effort. Rest of their stuff is power pop rock.

[Mr Badguy]

My understanding is that Pyromania was already written and most of it had been recorded prior to Collen joining...that he laid down some solos and rhythm tracks over what was already there.

I'd agree Def Leppard morphed into Joe Elliot's band by the time Pyromania rolled around, and I'd credit Lange as much as anybody else with their commercial success (they had to scrap most of their Hysteria demos and recordings they did before Lange eventually signed onto produce, and the albums they've done without Lange are nothing special).

Willis really didn't end up doing much after Leppard in terms of projects with high visibility, and when I look at those promo vids for Bringing On The Heartbreak and Let It Go, Willis from a visual aspect stands out like a sore thumb (bit of a short, goofy looking bastard). But fact remains that High N' Dry was their last great hard rock effort. Rest of their stuff is power pop rock.

I`m pretty sure all Phil Collen played on "Pyromania" was a few leads, the ones Pete Willis was too pissed to play.

If only he`d joined UFO.

Being that gassed was part of the CV for any of their guitarists.

It may only be the way I hear it, but "High N dry" sounds very AC/DC while "Pyromania" is very close to Foreigner`s "4" album, two bands produced by "Mutt" Lange either side of Leppard.

A coincidence?

[Seshmeister]

No. I remember hearing a Bryan Adams song a few years back that was identical to Def Leppard.

I wasn't surprised to find out Lange produced it.

[Nickdfresh]

Not the most dangerous music in the world...

Danger? Ha! If I want danger, I'll get a Haitian, smack-addled, hooker with frequent blood transfusions...

The song has one of the best melodies I've heard in a rock song. Not the album version so much, but when it was played live pre-release at Donnington in 1986...

I guess Willis can take a little comfort in the fact that if he had stayed in the band there would be good chance that he'd be dead by now.

He's lucky he got his money(according to wikki he has a property company), so many don't.

That shows that DL were probably decent guys and right after all is done and said...

[GreenBayLA]

Pete drank himself out of the band, I guess Steve Clark did too.
High n Dry is far and away the best Def Lep album in my opinion.
Pyromania was good but they lost me after that. Too poppy and commercial.