Lessons learned from listening to Def Leppard

I first heard Def Leppard wafting out of our garage the summer before I started eighth grade. My dad had hired my cousin to paint his old Dodge pickup truck and said his cousin just happened to be into all kinds of loud hard rock and heavy metal bands. Through him, I would get my first tastes of rockers like Ozzy Osbourne, who scared me to death, and Whitesnake, which actually seemed a little ridiculous thanks to singer David Coverdale’s vocal histrionics.

But it was Def Leppard that snagged me. They had this amazing sound: thick layers of vocals, clouds of guitars, drums that crashed all around me like thunder. I was immediately hooked on these five guys from Sheffield, England and wanted to hear everything they ever did.

That was a long time ago, and I’ve moved on to mostly heavier things. But my interest in Def Leppard was reignited recently as the band released their first studio record since 2008. Along with that, Lep guitarist Phil Collen was readying a memoir called “Adrenalized.” Suddenly, I was jumping in the wayback machine, spinning Def Leppard discs and playing air guitar just like when I was a kid.

I know this sounds more cheesy than a 5-pound block of pepper jack, but Def Leppard had an immense impact on my life. They altered the person I would go on to be. They intensified my desire to learn to play guitar. They were the doorway through which I stepped to discover heavy metal. And with so much going on with the band right now, I thought it would be a great time to take a look back at the lessons I’ve learned, about both music and life, from listening to Def Leppard.

Lesson: Shredded Jeans Are Cool

If you’ve seen the video for “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” you know that singer Joe Elliot rocks a pretty awesome pair of shredded jeans. He created them by slashing them up with a razor then having his girlfriend put them through the wash sixty or seventy times. I thought they were so COOL and I had to have my own pair. So I thrashed one of my best pairs of Levis. My mom was not impressed. A sub-lesson: Clothes that look cool on rock stars may not look as cool on chubby dorks from Idaho.

Obstacles Are Meant To Be Overcome

Def Leppard was at the top of the hard rock heap when tragedy struck drummer Rick Allen. On New Year’s Eve of 1984, Allen wrecked his car, severing his arm in the process. Instead of dumping Allen and moving on with a new drummer, the band waited while Allen rehabbed and re-taught himself to drum on a special electronic drum kit. Later the band would mourn the death of founding guitarist Steve Clark and current axeman Vivian Campbell’s bout with cancer. The message: Life can knock you on your butt, but you can always pick yourself up again.

Most Folks Prefer Bands That Can Sing To Bands That Can Shred

I love blazing fast, technical guitar playing. I love blinding polyrhythms that make your head spin. But, I’m not most people. Most folks want melodies they can sing along with. They want anthems, not instrumental workouts. Def Leppard were never the most technically proficient band, but they did two things very well: They write really hooky, catchy songs, and they can sing really well. Those two things combined explain why they’ve sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Rock Lyrics Don’t Have To Be Poetry

If you listen closely to Def Leppard’s lyrics, you realize something: these guys don’t go in for elaborately poetic lyrics. Their tunes are about girls, booze and rock n’ roll. One song, “Rocket”, is just a list of bands and songs they grew up loving. Another song, “Man Enough” off their most recent record, asks “are you man enough to be my girl?” I’m not even sure that makes sense. Still, these guys play to huge crowds who sing their lyrics back to them. So maybe rock lyrics aren’t as important as the energy of the music.

The Secret To Life Is Pretty Simple

The Def Leppard boys know something that many of us (including me) struggle our whole lives to figure out: that you don’t need too much to be content. You just need a pretty woman (or man), good beverages and killer tunes to play really loud. Wine, women, and song. That’s pretty simple, right? How do we overthink that?