“STEVE CLARK IN PARTICULAR WAS BEGINNING TO CREATE A VERY INTERESTING AND DISTINCTIVE GUITAR SOUND ALL OF HIS OWN”

SOURCE: DEF LEPPARD – TWO STEPS AHEAD | BY DAVE BOWLER and BRYAN DRAY (1996)

DEF LEPPARD – TWO STEPS AHEAD was published in 1996 and is a very good account of the Def Leppard story up to that point. Shared here are some excerpts of key segments written about Steve Clark and his musical ability which began in his childhood and subsequently went on to use to help propel the band to the dizzying heights of superstardom in the 1980s. The importance of Steve Clark’s musical input to Def Leppard’s success cannot be underestimated.

[Steve] Clark was not a conventional guitarist by any means. Another Sheffield lad, born in the Hillsborough district on 23rd April 1960, he had received his first guitar as a Christmas present from his parents in 1971. The present was given on the understanding that Steve would study classical guitar and indeed he took a series of lessons, learning pieces from Bach and Vivaldi. By the time he was into his teens though, rock music had taken its hold on his imagination and pretty soon Bach was replaced by [the likes of] Blackmore as a musical hero. Nevertheless the classical lessons had been a vital part of his musical education, providing him with a vocabulary that few contemporary players could equal. It was obvious that here was a precocious talent, greater than that of anyone else in Def Leppard, so it’s understandable that Willis should balk at the idea of bringing him into the band. After all, someone like Clark who knew what he was doing might easily eclipse the rest of them…

If Willis was unsure of Clark’s value to the band, Joe Elliott had no such reservations. A couple of days after his meeting with Willis, Clark bumped into the two of them in the bar of the City Hall prior to a Judas Priest gig. Following Joe’s rather warmer encouragement and impressed by his hopes and dreams for Def Leppard, within a matter of days, on 29 January, Steve was rehearsing with them.

Almost at once he became an integral part of the band, sharing their vision of a glorious future together.
As 1978 wore on, rehearsals began to become stale and musical progress was painfully slow. Steve had been in a number of groups that had talked a good game but then failed to do anything about it and it was starting to dawn on him that perhaps Leppard were just another in the long line of time wasters. By the end of June he had had enough and taking refuge in the Dutch courage offered by several pints of bitter, he told the band that if they didn’t start looking for gigs, then he was leaving.
This came as something of a bombshell to the rest of the band who had been content simply to work hard in practice. Joe admitted that ‘I panicked because I knew if Steve left, it could be the end of the band’. Less naturally gifted performers than Clark, they were understandably nervous about making the next leap forward onto the concert stage and there was a general feeling that they weren’t ready yet, having been together for just a few months. Steve’s decision to quit backed them into a corner and, despite their individual anxieties, they realised that they couldn’t take the risk of him leaving the group for he was beginning to show promise as a songwriter too. Clark’s game of Russian roulette had paid off and on 18th July, Def Leppard played their first ever concert.

  • Pages 13 – 14

The other three tracks on High n Dry were especially important, each in their own distinctive fashion. Steve Clark’s ‘Switch 625’ made it clear that here was a guitarist and writer of real distinction. Although it didn’t really fit into the overall concept of the album, it demanded inclusion. The lead guitar line was excellent and the track could have been taken from the soundtrack to a European thriller. It was clear that Leppard’s horizons really were broadening.

  • Page 62

Equally interesting was Steve Clark’s “Gods Of War”. Musically, in similar territory to “Switch 625” at times, the brooding introduction and spellbinding guitar figure made it clear that here was a more mature work, dark and intense. The anti-war statement ‘Why are we fighting?’ was scarcely new, but it’s a sentiment that bears repetition. The song marked Clark’s emergence as a major writer and offered such promise for the future, promise that would never be fulfilled.

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