If any band can be classified as undefeated, it’s Def Leppard. Coming together in Sheffield in 1977, the working class English kids with the lofty goal of becoming the biggest band in the world have weathered every setback that would have derailed most groups.
After winning with 1983’s “Pyromania” album, Def Leppard spent an exhausting four years trying to repeat that success with a series of false starts, compounded by drummer Rick Allen losing his left arm in an auto accident at the end of 1984.
The resulting “Hysteria” was an even greater victory. But relentless touring, followed by the death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991, led to another four years before bouncing back with the 3 million selling “Adrenalize.” By then the sound of popular music had changed, leaving Def Leppard virtually ignored throughout the ’90s before rebounding as a popular summer tour draw throughout the past decade.
Their perseverance is not much different from a sports team that keeps fighting to win a playoff. “Undefeated,” the first single and one of three new studio tracks off their new live album, “Mirror Ball” (iTunes | Amazon), captures that determination complete with the floorboard-stomping rhythm of a classic sporting event anthem.
Def Leppard made sports crawl headlines two years ago, when singer Joe Elliott unknowingly upended the Stanley Cup during an NHL opening night concert. Elliott, who actually received death threats as a result of the incident, says he doesn’t know if he’s been forgiven by mocking bloggers and angry fans. But the traditions of American teams are mostly unfamiliar to him, a Sheffield native single-mindedly obsessed with English soccer for most of his life, he says.
Elliott, 51, spoke with The Life the day before Def Leppard began their summer tour in Palm Beach, Fla. He dissected the stadium appeal of “Undefeated,” and the direct connection of its lyrics to sports, in the process revealing that the similarity between a team and a band runs deeper than just sports analogies.
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