Tag: Def Leppard
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Book What The Cat Dragged In: A New Look At Glam Metal
Glam metal. Perhaps one of the most thoroughly ignored genres of music of the last forty years. The trouble is, when your music is a silo of strange, make-up-infested faux-cowboys with ludicrous hair, flaming codpieces and guitars featuring primary colours that even The Wiggles would find garish, it’s very difficult to get anyone to take…
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$903 For Your Vintage Rock Concert T-Shirt? Yes Please…
One of the problems of not having a time-machine (and there are many) is the difficulty in predicting exactly which bits of accumulated old tat you should throw disdainfully in the nearest skip, and which you should wrap in linen and ceremonially preserve in a casket in the loft with full military honours. The Egyptians had…
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Why Listen To Poison When You Can Listen To Husker Du?
Twenty five years on from the peak of heavy rock’s commercial popularity in 1988, this series asks why heavy rockers no longer dominate the charts and seeks to highlight the crimes that Heavy Rock is accused of, and give you the cases for and against. At the end of each debate, you will have the…
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Heavy Rockers: Misunderstood Originators Or Blatant Lazy Rip-off Cliché Merchants? Part 2
Whatever Happened To My Rock n Roll Part 5 I’m putting heavy rock on trial! Have Your Say! Twenty five years on from the peak of heavy rock’s commercial popularity in 1988, this series asks why heavy rockers no longer dominate the charts and seeks to highlight the crimes that Heavy Rock is accused of,…
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Could Heavy Rock Be Just A Teeny-Weeny Bit Sexist?
I’m putting heavy rock on trial! Have your say! Twenty five years on from the peak of heavy rock’s commercial popularity in 1988, this series asks why heavy rockers no longer dominate the charts and seeks to highlight the crimes that Heavy Rock is accused of, and give you the cases for and against. At…
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Is Heavy Rock Guilty Of The Worst Lyrics Ever? The Defence
The Accusation: Heavy Rock lyrics are ridiculous and adolescent In my previous post I set out the case for the prosecution: This post sets out the defence: Do you think heavy rock’s lyrics are bad just because these guys were wearing denim and leather? You can’t judge a book by its cover. Those working class,…
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Is Heavy Rock Guilty Of The Worst Lyrics Ever…? The Case For The Prosecution
I’m Putting Rock On Trial! Have Your Say! It is the 25th anniversary of Bon Jovi’s first UK number one album, “New Jersey” – a moment when heavy rock had confirmed its place in the mainstream, capping the momentum built by the likes of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard (number 1 in the US with “Love…
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Ten Ways To Spot A Bon Jovi Fan In Hiding
In Britain today there are nearly two million people who share a dark and (for many) shameful secret. Although these people used to be readily identifiable, out of shame they have been forced to go underground and it is no longer always easy to recognise them. They walk amongst us. They may be driving your…
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Ten Reasons Why It Was Okay To Like Bon Jovi In The Eighties
If you have been reading some of the rubbish I have come up with over the last eighteen months you may have built up a Sherlockian picture of me, although instead of observing the type of sand on my shoe (mentally noting I must live by the sea), or the bruise on my otherwise clean…
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Hysteria – A Look Back on the 25th Anniversary of Def Leppard’s Second Best Album…
It seems incredible that Def Leppard’s Hysteria album is twenty-five years old. I might have yoghurt in my fridge that is older than that. I bought it on the day of release. It was the first album (lead singer Joe Elliott told us at the time) that was made for CD rather than vinyl, clocking…
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What’s The Best Souvenir You Have Taken From A Gig?
Grabbing a souvenir from a gig is one of life’s rare pleasures. Oh sure – you can go to the merchandise stall at the back of the hall and pick up a Black Sabbath tea towel or Iron Maiden cutlery set or whatever they sell nowadays, but getting something for nothing is where it’s at.…
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Rock of Ages: Here We Go Again
So where do you stand on Rock of Ages? A bunch of ‘80s rock tunes crow-barred into an unfeasible story, with way too much hairspray and make up? Hmmm. But then it worked with Queensryche’s Operation Mindcrime… What could possibly go wrong? With Def Leppard having re-recorded their classic song Rock of Ages (from Pyromania)…
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Donington ’86 – Monsters of Rock: Ozzy, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Motorhead and More Bad News…
My first Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington (that’s Download for the youngsters) was headlined by Ozzy Osbourne in 1986. Although a Winged Chariot would have been a more appropriate vehicle to take us to this most holy of heavy metal shrines, we settled on taking a National Express coach from outside John Menzies in Chelmsford,…
Every record tells a story 