Joe Elliott of Def Leppard performs onstage during the Summer Stadium tour at Truist Park on July 13 in Atlanta.Paras Griffin/Getty Images
One for the money and three for the show, veteran arena blasters Def Leppard, Journey and Cheap Trick rocked for the aged at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday. Toward the end of a long night that was two-thirds successful, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott sang about still having the power, still having the glory, and “long live rock ‘n’ roll.” This was proud, defiant flag-planting on a hill that some people feel is still worth fighting for.
Def Leppard is a British metal band from the 1980s whose radio-friendly hooks and crunch still exhilarate. Is it corporate? Sure, but so is Coca-Cola. Don’t undervalue a proper fizz.
To look over the band’s discography is to remember an era when rock music still ruled. Pyromania, Hysteria, Adrenalize and Euphoria – the album titles read like a list of psychophysiological effects caused by the band’s music.
The performance was as tight as the spandex no doubt in some of the fans’ closets, with Def Leppard’s fun sound and fury filling a Blue Jays baseball stadium where hits have been hard to come by this season. On the set list were Foolin’, Armageddon It, Animal, Bringin’ On the Heartbreak and Photograph.
The finale was 1987′s Pour Some Sugar on Me. “You got the peaches,” Elliott sang, “I got the cream.” Subtlety was never Def Leppard’s bag.
The preceding set from San Francisco’s Journey was much the same, albeit with more filler and time-killing between the familiar material (Stone in Love, Who’s Crying Now, Wheel in the Sky, Don’t Stop Believin’, Any Way You Want It and more.)
With its emotive balladry and squealing guitars, Journey is Broadway’s idea of a rock band. Indeed, the hit stage musical Rock of Ages (named after the Def Leppard song) features a pair of Journey songs. Moreover, the group’s current singer, Arnel Pineda, was basically an understudy to the original frontman, Steve Perry, who left the band in 1987. Pineda previously toiled as a Perry clone in a Journey cover band.
Sticking with cover bands, Cheap Trick sounded like a bad one. Singer Robin Zander struggled vocally and the group’s approach was loose and painfully loud. The classic Surrender was a suggestion they should consider; closing song Goodnight summed up Cheap Trick’s current state of affairs.
Overall, fans leaving the stadium would not be out of line in thinking, “they don’t make bands like that anymore.” Certainly, rock ensembles no longer dominate the pop charts as they once did. But here’s the thing: Not only are we not seeing bands like Cheap Trick, Journey and Def Leppard these days, we’re not seeing any bands at all.
Forty years ago, groups and duos accounted for 42 of Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 songs of 1984. Guess how many bands are on the same list at the moment? Put away your calculator – the number is zero.
Hip hop used to have groups: Public Enemy, N.W.A, Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys. Today, not only is there no Wu-Tang, there are no clans.
There are number of reasons why solo artists dominate today. The big factor is social media, which is much more a solo endeavour than a group one. The rise of Idol-type talent searches also plays a role. And, obviously, groups are more expensive to maintain. A young band can’t always afford rehearsal space, but a laptop and microphone are well within the means of a bedroom musician.
Oasis co-founder Noel Gallagher recently spoke on the issue, recalling popular rockers Blur, Pulp, Primal Scream and his own band. “What the music business doesn’t like is the mainstream being a load of fellows on drugs being drunk half the time on a Tuesday,” Gallagher said on the online journal Rock and Letters. “They don’t like that. They like people like Harry Styles. Yeah, they say ‘wear this dress and shut it. Wear this, sing this and go home.’”
Ironically, the big bands of the 1970s and ’80s contributed to the demise of groups as well. At Rogers Centre, the highest-charting singles for each act were slow songs: Def Leppard’s Love Bites, Journey’s Open Arms and Cheap Trick’s The Flame. Bands such as Foreigner, Aerosmith, REO Speedwagon and Chicago also struck gold with soft-hearted material. Ballads don’t require a band, though, just a singer – bass players, drummers and guitarists just take up space on the tour bus.
Be it ballads or bangers, pop hits by rock bands are a thing of the past. On Def Leppard’s Rock of Ages, the song’s call is “What do you want?” The response, “I want rock ‘n’ roll.” And while live audiences today continue to confirm the taste for rock, the charts suggest otherwise.