The Accident of a Rock Drummer and How His Life Changed

There have been a few bands that suffered losses in their careers - most noteably Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane crash, not to mention drug related deaths such as those in The Pretenders.

But none is more significant, more amazing, than the fate of Def Leppard's drummer, Rick Allen. The band could have easily split had they wanted to, but Allen has made a massvie comeback since his incident and get this folks, at almost 60 he is still going strong!
Def Leppard 1989.

What happened?

 It all started back on New Year's Eve 1984 when Rick Allen and his girlfriend, Miriam Barendsen were driving home from the Ladybower Reservoir in his hometown, Shefield UK. On the A57 bypass (something like an American freeway or divided highway), Allen was rear-ended by an Alfa Romeo behind him and hit a wall with his Corvette Stingray.

Take a look at the post-accident damage below. One photo is look towards Shefield, while the other one is looking away from Shefield.


Help came quickly and Allen was hospitalized with doctors successfully being able to secure the left arm.

But that wasn't the end of it.

 Although the arm was successfully placed back in by surgeons, it had to be amputated after it was discovered that Allen had an infection practically undoing the work of the surgeons. Allen was released from the hospital in late January and a month later, he met with the band to keep working on what would be their fourth album.

All was not lost, however, Allen spent a year learning to play a custom drum kit made with an acoustic/electronic combination and foot petals. These petals created, with MIDI, the sound that would have otherwise been created by playing with both hands.

They soldiered on

 This accident was not the end of Rick Allen, or Def Leppard for that matter. Despite the upheavel, their fourth album, 1987's Hysteria (a title actually coined by Allen in the months following the incident), became a massive worldwide hit selling 25 million copies and landing the top spot in the UK Albums Chart and US Bilboard 200. It also yielded a whopping seven singles - including their signature song, Pour Some Sugar on Me.

It wasn't the end of tragedy for the band either. In 1991, guitarist/lead songwritter Steve Clark died as a consequence of alcohol poisoning. He has since been replaced by Vivian Campbell.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Davorin Popovich and Indexi

Image
In the former Yugoslavia, there were many successful artists, but one of the most important, and even overlooked sometimes, was a popular band called Indexi (The Indeces). They had an awesome lead singer. The late, great Davorin Popovich today is remembered for has raspy, tenor voice - to me, a bit comparable to Burton Cummings of The Guess Who fame. Over the years, he has earned various nicknames such as Dacho and Pimpek. They were the seeds for other bands. Formed back in 1962, Indexi set the stage for what is now known as the Sarajevo School of Pop Rock - a movement that would live for the next three decades (a la before the Yugoslav wars). Their name, by the way, is the plural of Index - a student's gradebook. Each student was expected to record and maintain their own grades. The core  members, aside from Popovich, consisted of late guitarist Slobodan Bodo Kavachevich and bass player Fadil Redzich (pronounce "dz," like "s" in "risotto)."
Read more

Jimmy Stokley and Exile

Image
  Although of minor significance, today is 35 years since we lostJimmy Stokley of Exile. A little known Kentucky band, Exile is perhaps only known for their 1978 hit Kiss You All Over . In the 80s, the band shifted to more of a country sound, and has not made any noteable chart hits since. A Jagger-like frontman Born James Carr Stokley on October 18, 1943, Stokley joined The Fascinations in 1963, who then became Jimmy Stokley and The Exiles, featuring future Exile guiarist J.P. Penington  Jimmy Stokley and The Exiles, were, towards the end of the decade, shortened to simply The Exiles, before the plural form was dropped in the mid 70s, becoming Exile. Interestingly, Stokley's attire and attitude on stage led to many calling him the American Mick Jagger. One hitters In 1978, Exile issued their LP Mixed Emotions  through Warner Bros. records. The record features the disco-ey hit Kiss You All Over , written by producer Mike Chapman (also notorious for working with Blondie). Despite co
Read more

Bijelo Dugme - Former Yugoslavia's Greatest Rock Band

Image
In today's blog post, we will examine perhaps one of the GREATEST rock bands of the former Yugoslavia. Bijelo Dugme (The White Button), which by sound is largely influenced by the heavy metal likes of Deep Purple, Zeppelin, and Sabbath; however in culture, they were most simillar to the Beatles. In fact, there was a Dugmeania in the former Yugoslavia in the late 70s akin to Beatlemania in the US in the 60s. The brainchild of the band was a young man named Goran Bregovich, aka Brega. He was born on 3, 22, 1950 in Sarajevo to a Serbian mother and a Croatian father. At some point, his mother enrolled him into a music school with violin as a chosen instrument, but around twelve he was expelled showing lack of interest. Consequently, his mother bought him a guitar in his early teenage years. Brega's first bands were high school bands. He played bass guitar for Beshtije (The Beasts). At a  br in 1969, Bregovich met Zeljko Bebek who was part of a band called Kodeksi (The Codexes)
Read more