Def Leppard’s tragic, hard partying ‘80s rock stardom revealed in new book

nypost.com:

Def Leppard had not one but two albums that went diamond: 1983’s “Pyromania” and 1987’s “Hysteria.”But even while cranking out hits such as “Photograph,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Love Bites,” the British band had a rocky road through all that headbanging.In fact, while Def Leppard was crushing it on the charts, things came crashing down for them when drummer Rick Allen’s left arm was severed in a car accident on Dec.

31, 1984.“It was unimaginable,” writes lead singer Joe Elliott in the new book “Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard.” “For two or three hours, we assumed that Rick would have to leave the band.

Because there’s no such thing as a one-armed drummer.”After the harrowing accident in Sheffield, England, Allen was in a coma for three weeks.“During that time, they put my arm back on and then took it off again because it had got infected and I didn’t know a thing about it,” Allen recalls in the book. “When I came around … I didn’t want to be here anymore.

I just wanted to disappear … I just felt completely defeated.”But it didn’t take the percussionist long to find his groove again.“Rick got a piece of foam for the bottom of his bed so he could push himself upright and tap at it with his feet and make beats and sounds with his one arm and two feet,” writes Elliott. “Within a week or so of the accident, he was convinced he could continue.”And so he did — thanks to a specially designed drum kit with electronic foot pedals that allowed Allen to play what he used to do with his left arm.