Pete Willis vs. the other guy...

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One of my all-time favorite rock leads. :thumbsup:



1. I've read that Pete played and co-wrote songs on Pyromania. Some of those leads do sound Willis-ish, but supposedly his tracks are rhythm only... Is this true?
2. How important would you say Pete Willis was to Def Leppard's success?
 
He definitely thew down the "Angus" factor. Considering how big they got with Hysteria I wouldn't say he was crucial to their success. But without knowing which songs he wrote and how much he was involved with writing it's hard to say on their gradual rise up until Pyromania. Definitely prefer him over Phil and who knows if it wasn't friction over direction away from straight up hard rock that led to him getting the boot. Considering how much Steve drank it's hard to imagine Pete was worse. But if G'n R can boot Adler for being too much anything can happen.
 
I would take Pete Willis over Phil Collen any day. Phil's first real contribution to Def Leppard was Hysteria and while this was a good LP, it does not even come close to High N Dry, Pyromania, or even On Through The Night. And we know what came after this. Mostly Garbage!!!
 
Pete was huge in the initial sound of the band, his fingerprints are all over the first two albums. Less so but still contributing to Pyromania. IMO, his name is attached to most of the songs I really like. I still feel like Steve Clark was the big riff man but you can't discount Pete's influence.
 
Willis & Clark were the essence of Leppard to me.

Not a fan of Collens wanking.
 
Pete Willis FTW... Phil who? Does he play guitar?

One song - Wasted! Now that is Def Leppard.
 
First two albums rock - the rest wasn't my thing, but hell, who can argue with the success…

Willis was the shit, especially on the first album before mutt got ahold of them… I'd say he had little to do with the incredible commercial success of the band, but if you like the first two albums, he's a huge part of it...

Steve
 
My favorite interview moment was when Vivian joined the band and Phil had to "teach" him how to play. WTF??? If anything Phil made him worse. Whatever he has is contagious.
 
Even the Big hit stuff was mostly Steve Clark riffs...not a fan of Phil and haven't written anything I like since Steve's passing...Im a fan of hook laden hard rock when done really well and this band had it but doesn't anymore and hasn't for a long time.
 




I have High n Dry on cassette and play 150 others regular on my Sony Sports Walkman at the gym, just call me analog Dan.
 
Phil does not even come close in the writing/riff dept as the Willis and Willis/Clark combo obviously kicked ass!!! Phil is severely overrated!!
 
yankeebulldog":3886hmie said:
My favorite interview moment was when Vivian joined the band and Phil had to "teach" him how to play. WTF??? If anything Phil made him worse. Whatever he has is contagious.
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Vivian knows his place in Leppard and that's a steady pay check for the last 2 decades. He can absolutely lay waste to Collen at any moment he chooses but that's not what he's there for. Vivian got a taste for real playing over the last several years thus the gig with Lizzy and doing the Dio thing again.
 
From all the old interviews it wasn't just that Pete had issue's with drinking, it was that he became a mean drunk who was uncontrollable. We've all been around guys who basically just want to fight when they get drink...not cool. Evidently that was Pete.
 
Agree with everything being said here...early Def Lep, Willis/Clark, that was the stuff. I remember working backwards through Def Leppard's discography when I was a kid, I already knew Hysteria and I liked Pyromania. Then I heard High 'n Dry and it was like "holy shit", why isn't this the album they are best known for??
 
I started with Pyromania. My older cousin had the cassette and I loved the cover, so I had to listen. I liked Hysteria a lot too, but as I've gotten older I like the older stuff better. More rock n' roll.
 
jabps":1tiu5gc7 said:
From all the old interviews it wasn't just that Pete had issue's with drinking, it was that he became a mean drunk who was uncontrollable. We've all been around guys who basically just want to fight when they get drink...not cool. Evidently that was Pete.
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+1

Also in the Def Leppard movie there is a scene where Lange calls Elliot in to the control room to listen to some part that Willis just recorded b/c it is so bad. At that point Eliot agrees Willis has to go. Not saying its true, but that was in the movie.


Man Im old, I remember when High N Dry first came out. Rocked it hard, and still do.You guys from my era, Im sure you remember. It was so diffrent then. There were some new-wavers around but basically everyone liked rock music. There were chicks at most rock shows, except Motorhead or whatever but just about everyone liked rock. Now? Man theres kids from suburbia wearing dropped drawers, hats sideways, rapping about living in the hood. WTF?
 
My first exposure to Def Leppard was High 'N' Dry so the bar was set high for me.
 
I like both players. They are different eras of Def Leppard. I personally think Steve Clarke was the soul of that band. Once he was gone it was just a hole that could never be filled. The DNA changed. I liked their last album, but Pyromania will always be my favorite.
 
I am all about Pete Willis and Steve Clark but later realized Rick Savage also had a hand in many of their great early songs. They don't really let him write anymore (if they did, they wouldn't be pumping out so much crap). There is no replacing the Clark/Willis/Savage combo and Def Leppard nowadays is just a cover band.
 
Idk but he had some sick ass Hamers :love:

Steve Clark was the fucking man....just imagine the epic shit he could have written had he lived :(
 
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