Welcome back to the Saturday Night Off The Charts Amphitheater. On tap tonight is the really great band from Sheffield England called Def Leppard. This 1983 concert was filmed at the Dortmund Festival in Germany Dec. 17, 1983. I'm pretty sure this is the song they closed the show with because all of the band members are stripped down to t-shirts, singer Joe Elliott has a towel draped over his shoulders and drummer Rick Allen has no shirt at all. Just one year later Allen would lose his left arm in an automobile accident due to what he described as an incident of road rage. After having his arm surgically amputated at the shoulder, and a lot of painful rehab, he then spent most of the next two years teaching himself how to play the drums one handed. If you've heard any of their music starting with their spectacular 1987
album entitled Hysteria, you know that Rick Allen pulled off a musical miracle. Four years later guitar player Steve Clark would pass away from a lethal mixture of alcohol and drugs. Despite experiencing the type of setbacks that have destroyed many bands, Def Leppard carried on. They are a tough, resilient group whose outstanding music deserves our attention. After selling more than 100 million albums they also deserve the attention of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Give it up for Def Leppard performing their mega-hit
Rock Of Ages
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