Def Leppard squashed the last shimmering shard of hope held close to my rocker-chick heart that they still maintained a bit of coolness. They appeared live on Dancing with the Stars. No really. Live. As ballroom dancers whirled around them in sequins and bad self-tanner. I know, I know…people love this wholesome, family entertainment. Which is exactly why it disturbs me that Def Leppard would appear there. In the midst of pondering the horror, I (the marketing/PR girl that I am) wondered if Def Leppard was: 1) appealing to the demographics of the show; 2) Trying to spit shine their image; 3) earning some quick cash; or 4) losing their marbles.
Now granted, in the grand scheme of rock star reputation, Def Leppard was no Guns N’ Roses. They probably didn’t trash many hotel rooms or assault groupies with live aquatic animals but they weren’t exactly clean cut. The drummer, afterall, wore the union jack for shorts! (Gasp!) And I’ve seen that one-armed drummer in action and he is BAD ASS. Do not be mistaken, Def Leppard was the master of Pyrotechnic British Heavy Metal in the 80’s. They were one of the early saviors of MTV, with catchy videos and smashing good looks. (Joe Elliott…sigh…)
Def Leppard has been crowned, however, the most unluckiest band in Rock n Roll. Their excesses caused them to lose not only the arm of their drummer, Rick Allen, but original guitarist Pete Willis who was kicked out of the band for severe alcoholism (how bad are you when you are fired from a rock band?); Later guitarist Steve Clark died from an overdose of drugs in combination with alcohol, making him the official 110th rocker to die from his own vomit (Ok I made that number up). So really, after all those bad mishaps, its just too late to try and salvage any sort of reputation you may have once (if at all) had.
Ok, so we’ve established Def Leppard’s status in the world of the rock n roll lifestyle. Yes, they could be trying to appeal to an older sophisticated Generation X’er crowd that once banged their heads to Rock Rock (Til You Drop) and now enjoy B-listers doing the Fox Trot to Pour Some Sugar on Me. Ok, granted, Pour Some Sugar on Me was the pop-phase of Def Leppard and it was all pretty much down hill from there. Even I acknowledge it to be Def Leppard’s least shining moment. But Def Leppard as entertainment for Dancing with the Stars? No. Not my generation. Not me. Not ever.
I believe the biggest (unfortunate) likelihood is that Def Leppard simply sold out. Their last two new albums have been less than stellar money-makers and even their compilation (greatest hits) albums have not scored big. My guess is the High n Dry funds are high and dry.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Rest in Peace
Last June one of the soldiers from my husband's unit was killed in Iraq. Of all my personal experiences with the burdens of Iraq, memories of Sgt. C stuck with me oddly, even though I didn't really know him or his family.
Sgt. C did his first tour in Iraq with my husband in a National Guard military police unit. When they returned, for reasons I will never understand, Sgt. C joined the regular Army and was stationed in Ft. Bragg, NC. Soon after he was sent back to Iraq.
He was later killed by a roadside bomb. He had five children and a wife at home. He was due to return home in September.
We were never real close friends at all with the Sgt. C family. But Sgt. C and his kids were active in my son's little league and they went to the same schools as my kids. We used to see them often at the ball park...their five kids beyond rambunxious. Even if you didn't KNOW them, you always knew when they were around.
What was innocent wildness from a pack of kids with little supervision and an absent father turned into haunting memories for me that will never leave my head. I remember when the unit first left to Ft. Polk, LA for training before shipping off to Iraq. The yellow ribbon ceremony was in a hanger at the local airforce base. The general told us how this mission was the most dangerous mission of all for the state's national guard. (That was real reassuring.) The local restaurant fed us barbeque. The yellow ribbon magnets were selling like hotcakes...so naturally they upped the price from $3 to $4. Nice gesture to the departing war heroes. We said our miserable goodbyes and the soldiers were put on a bus to head out.
The Sgt. C kids were balling...and I mean BALLING. And when five kids scream and cry, again, you can't miss them. I remember thinking how I wished they would just calm down. They were overwhelming eachother with emotion...like a chain reaction....all clinging to their mother, slobbering and sniveling. And the chain reaction was spreading to my kids. And probably for selfish reasons I just wanted them to quiet down. "Just calm down, just calm down" I kept thinking to myself, so we all didn't have to hear the wrechedness, like a wailing injured cat you just want put out of its misery.
Later, we all had the chance to visit with the soldiers in Alexandria, LA before they headed overseas. A last goodbye...again. I remember wishing I didn't have to do it. Sometimes you reach a point after a goodbye when you reach peace. Another goodbye just started another war of emotions. But I couldn't just NOT go. They left on our 15th wedding anniversary. Some way to celebrate.
Again, the Sgt. C clan was at the hotel where we were staying during this last-goodbye-again visit. The kids were WILD in the pool. It was quite hilarious at the time watching them go crazy while their mother tried to coral them. She didn't just descretely do it either...screaming at the top of her lungs, flinging her arms, all of them too fast for her lumbering, child-warn body to catch them.
I watched it all happen relaxing in the hot tub. Sgt. C got in, trying to relax I suppose, though his children pestered him. It was just me and him in the tub. We never talked or anything but I just remember him so clearly as if it were just today that I soaked with him. His tattoos, almost prison like. I thought to myself at that moment that he must have had a rough life and the military was his saving grace- from the law or maybe just financially. His look of exhaustion over what was to come was a look all the soldiers had at the time. The anticipation of what was to come was written on their faces and you could sense that no matter how much they loved their families, they just wanted to be there already. Their eyes looked passed their wives and mothers into the visions what might be waiting for them across the ocean. And the shadow of death weighed heavy on Sgt. C's shoulders.
And I remember the sounds of his kids crying as he left.
God bless his children today as they still cry.
Sgt. C did his first tour in Iraq with my husband in a National Guard military police unit. When they returned, for reasons I will never understand, Sgt. C joined the regular Army and was stationed in Ft. Bragg, NC. Soon after he was sent back to Iraq.
He was later killed by a roadside bomb. He had five children and a wife at home. He was due to return home in September.
We were never real close friends at all with the Sgt. C family. But Sgt. C and his kids were active in my son's little league and they went to the same schools as my kids. We used to see them often at the ball park...their five kids beyond rambunxious. Even if you didn't KNOW them, you always knew when they were around.
What was innocent wildness from a pack of kids with little supervision and an absent father turned into haunting memories for me that will never leave my head. I remember when the unit first left to Ft. Polk, LA for training before shipping off to Iraq. The yellow ribbon ceremony was in a hanger at the local airforce base. The general told us how this mission was the most dangerous mission of all for the state's national guard. (That was real reassuring.) The local restaurant fed us barbeque. The yellow ribbon magnets were selling like hotcakes...so naturally they upped the price from $3 to $4. Nice gesture to the departing war heroes. We said our miserable goodbyes and the soldiers were put on a bus to head out.
The Sgt. C kids were balling...and I mean BALLING. And when five kids scream and cry, again, you can't miss them. I remember thinking how I wished they would just calm down. They were overwhelming eachother with emotion...like a chain reaction....all clinging to their mother, slobbering and sniveling. And the chain reaction was spreading to my kids. And probably for selfish reasons I just wanted them to quiet down. "Just calm down, just calm down" I kept thinking to myself, so we all didn't have to hear the wrechedness, like a wailing injured cat you just want put out of its misery.
Later, we all had the chance to visit with the soldiers in Alexandria, LA before they headed overseas. A last goodbye...again. I remember wishing I didn't have to do it. Sometimes you reach a point after a goodbye when you reach peace. Another goodbye just started another war of emotions. But I couldn't just NOT go. They left on our 15th wedding anniversary. Some way to celebrate.
Again, the Sgt. C clan was at the hotel where we were staying during this last-goodbye-again visit. The kids were WILD in the pool. It was quite hilarious at the time watching them go crazy while their mother tried to coral them. She didn't just descretely do it either...screaming at the top of her lungs, flinging her arms, all of them too fast for her lumbering, child-warn body to catch them.
I watched it all happen relaxing in the hot tub. Sgt. C got in, trying to relax I suppose, though his children pestered him. It was just me and him in the tub. We never talked or anything but I just remember him so clearly as if it were just today that I soaked with him. His tattoos, almost prison like. I thought to myself at that moment that he must have had a rough life and the military was his saving grace- from the law or maybe just financially. His look of exhaustion over what was to come was a look all the soldiers had at the time. The anticipation of what was to come was written on their faces and you could sense that no matter how much they loved their families, they just wanted to be there already. Their eyes looked passed their wives and mothers into the visions what might be waiting for them across the ocean. And the shadow of death weighed heavy on Sgt. C's shoulders.
And I remember the sounds of his kids crying as he left.
God bless his children today as they still cry.
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