#leppard's writing

[quartersety-of-a-holsety]

So y'all remember that Robin!Leon AU from ages ago? Yep, you guessed it, I am back on my bullshit! This is a sequel to Wyverns titled Bedtime Fairytale, which contains a little bit of pre-canon backstory for this AU

Enjoy!

[steveinscarlet]

Another vintage Kerrang article for your delectation. This one is loooong. Text below the cut...

THEY'RE ALL concerned and they all want answers. Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, hauling ass down Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, in a sparkling silver Corvette, certainly does. So does Blackfoot mainspring Ricky Medlocke, a recent unexpected apparition within the Marquee's glistening vaults. So does just about everyone I've met in the course of recent field-trips. They're all wearing that 'there but for the grace of God' look and they all want to know. So do I...

"Every time you speak to Rick on the phone you come away with a big grin on your face because he's in such good spirits. He's handling it better than I thought he would. He's matured 10 years overnight. He's totally accepted the fact that he's only got one arm and he's being very realistic about coming back into Def Leppard. He's mad to go for it, though, and we're mad to let him try."

That drummer Rick Allen will try, however, isn't in doubt. He's adamant about it and Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott is equally adamant that the band will give him their unrestrained support. As they've said all along, the decision is totally his "We aren't trying to show off or get sympathy," spells out Joe, "it's just the way we are. Def Leppard is simply five lads - we could have been a football team, we could have been international bank robbers. Rick's a mate, and just because he's had an accident doesn't mean he can't still be in the band. If he physically can't do it then obviously there's going to be problems, but with the technology available today I don't see why he can't play snare drum with his left foot, say. And if he can do that, and maybe have tom tom fills already recorded on a trigger, then the kit would look exactly the same. "Bill Ludwig, who builds Rick's kits, actually got in touch with him as soon as it happened, and it seems that there's a lot of one-arm drummers, guys who came back from Vietnam, y'know. The thing is, they tend to play Holiday Inns and places that like that; it's a different approach to drumming. Rick has a very John Bonhamish style - I mean, the quy doesn't need monitors, he's ridiculously loud! - and he'd never be able to do with one hand what he did with two for an hour and three quarters. It would kill him! So he's gonna need the technology. It's just down to whether he can accept the fact that there are gonna be people in the crowd trying to peer through the cymbals to see a plastic arm. He'll have to wear a shirt now, whereas before he'd always go bare-topped..."

THE DETAILS of the car crash that removed 21- year-old Rick (temporarily at least) from the Leppard ranks have been pretty well documented, grabbing column inches in the Nationals and beyond. The bare facts seem plain enough: at 12.50pm on New Year's Eve, while driving his Corvette along the A57 from Sheffield to his parents home in Dronfield (Derbyshire), Rick was involved in an incident which sent his car spinning out of control, turning over several times, injuring his female passenger and removing his left arm in the process. He remembers what happened vividly, and really can count himself fortunate to be alive. When the debris from the accident was examined it was found that the top half of the steering wheel had been bent back, Rick's particular power clearly preventing the steering column and dashboard from crushing against his chest. But why did it happen?

Picking through the events with Elliott it soon becomes obvious that the whole story is a little more complex than yer typical life-in-the-fast-lane pile up. Think about it...

When you're young and successful, with a streamlined US car and a female companion to match, it can sometimes sting the nasal membrane of the folks you've abandoned to a dole queue existence in your humdrum hometown rut. People have been known to glow green with jealousy, and on New Year's Eve people have been known to take a drink. Sometimes even a life...

"Yeah," says Joe quietly. "There was another car involved in the accident."

Mucking Rick around, you mean?

"That's right. But the people have denied it and there's nothing we can do. The coppers have interviewed them but it's no good I'd love to go round and kill 'em!"

Joe takes a moment to collect his thoughts, then continues... "The arm was placed in a bucket of ice gathered from all the houses nearby and Rick was in hospital (the Royal Hallamshire) within 19 minutes, which is unbelievable. He underwent an 11-hour operation; his arm was back on by ten to one the following morning, but infection set in and after three days they had to take it off.

"His nerves are still alive, though. They've got them wrapped up like spaghetti, and it's possible to have them connected up in a way that can give movement to a prosthetic arm. So the Steve Austin 'Six Million Dollar Man' thing is not beyond the realms of possibility one day. Rick still feels his arm because of the nerves."

When did you hear what had happened?

"I heard at about ten to four the same afternoon and I couldn't believe it. I cried like a baby for about three hours - my face was hurting. Peter (Mensch, manager) rang and said, 'Rick's had an accident, his arm's off, but they've sown it back on'. I've heard of that working before but unfortunately it was torn off, not cut off, so everything snapped and stretched in different places, which made it more difficult."

How soon after the accident did you visit Rick in hospital?

"I saw him two days after it happened... it was the worst experience I've ever had... but he was walking a week earlier than expected and telling the nurses to f**k off after three days because he was fed up having his bandages changed. He sounds in fine form now and wants to get back; drumming's all he's ever done, and he's done it very well."

"It's just up to him if he can stand the strain. I mean, he's going to go through some crap. He's not had it yet, but he's gonna suffer from depression; bad depression. He's being very realistic about it, though. He said to me, 'When it comes, it comes.' He wants to come out here to Holland but he knows he can't."

Presumably he won't be ready to play a part on the forthcoming tour?

"No, and he knows that. Somebody will guest with us until we know the result of Rick's convalescence." Would you consider using two drummers on any subsequent tours?

"Possibly, yeah, and Rick could do specific bits. We've definitely thought about that, but he's got a lot to learn first. I mean, there's certain things that are now a fact of life. If Rick wants to wear baseball boots, for example, he's gonna have to wear Velcro ones. And he's probably gonna need press-stud trousers. He's got to learn to bath himself even..."

"The thing is, at the moment his right arm doesn't work. The ball is smashed so they've had to pin it. He's got a six inch pin as big as a poker in there. Imagine if your elbow was sown to your hip; well that's all the movement he's got. I guess he's a bit of a mess, though mentally he's the best he's ever been."

What would happen if Rick returned to the band yet clearly wasn't cutting it? Would you have to tell him? "No, because he'd know himself. He's said that to me on the phone. He's being realistic- if he can't do it he can't, but he's definitely gonna try. There'll come a time when Rick will say, I'm ready, and we'll get together in a rehearsal room for a month and see what he does. He'll either turn round and go

'Yes!' and we'll go 'Yes!', or else he'll say 'Sorry, I'm not coping with it.'

"The important thing is that he tries, otherwise he'll never know, and that would be awful. I know he'd rather fail than not try at all. Besides, it's no big secret that we use drum machines on the records so, whatever happens, he could still be involved on that side. We would just take a session drummer out on the road."

"At the moment, we're trying not to get too depressed about the whole situation, but we were mega-depressed at first. I was in a real state, like a zombie for five hours, and for quite a time after I just didn't want to get into a car. I know it's daft, but it's true

A BONHAM of the biscuit tins, a Titan of the tupperware, since the age of 11 Rick Allen has thought of little outside of drums and drumming. At the moment he's at home, probably watching Cheech & Chong videos on the new system bought for him by Phonogram Records. But chances are that his thoughts are elsewhere, no doubt wafting with the music around the booths and corridors of Wisseloord Studios near Amsterdam, Holland, where Leppard are recording their fourth, as yet untitled, LP. As always, he's with his colleagues 110 per cent (for now it can be in spirit only), a continued commitment that should spur him on through the tough weeks and numerous hospital visits ahead.

Prior to the accident, he'd laid the groundwork for eight backing tracks, and the remaining two songs on the album were always destined to feature a less human touch, the band specifically wanting a more clinical punch, so there's no problem on that front. As for his work on backing vocals, well, Elliott can easily deputise in that department, leaving Rick free to concentrate on the speediest recovery possible and, as Elliott puts it, "Learn to live again. He's having all these drums built and a special car designed, all sorts of stuff..."

All things considered, '84 certainly wasn't an easy year for Def Leppard, a rude awakening for an almost unbroken streak of good fortune. First longstanding associate 'Mutt' Lange proved unable to produce the new LP, likewise his replacement Jim Steinman (though for different reasons - read on!), and then came The Accident, which instantly eclipsed all previous hassles, reducing apparent mountains of doom and dismay to easily skirted molehills. But, if anything, adversity has caused the four active members of the Leppard clan to virtually graft respective beaks to the grindstone in a collective consummate effort to make their next album their best.

The band's first LP, 'On Through The Night', produced by (Colonel) Tom Allom, took a mere 18 days to record and remains something of an embarrassment in Elliott's eyes (someday he'd like to remix it and touch up a few of the vocal parts), while the second, 'High 'N' Dry', with Lange now at the helm, was laid down in three and a half months, including a month's pre-production, bang, bang, bang, 'Mutt' clearly wanting to capture the excitement generated by these 21-year-old 'let's go for its'. But 'Pyromania' now that was a different story, with band and producer (Lange again) making a conscious decision at the outset to pin back the ears of a generation with something of genuine lasting quality; an attempt to update the glories of Queen's 'Sheer Heart Attack' and 'Night At The Opera' LPs...

They went for it in a big way and 10 months later came up trumps, creating a slice of history that many have doubted they'll be able to top; an album that left the whole of the music industry wide-eyed and open-mouthed, and caused bands both big and small to almost instantly re-assess their directions and aims. A (hard) labour of love still selling around a thousand a week, it broke taboos and set fresh standards right down the line.

"Hopefully, it'll be an Heavy Metal 'Sergeant Pepper...'," says Elliott, "who knows, but we've got to do more. It'd be tragic if our best album was our third and we end up doing 17 LPs."

Whatever the next album sounds like, however, Joe's convinced that it's gonna be slated by the press. He's resigned himself to the fact (not having heard the record beyond a few notes ricocheting out of the studio doors, I really can't comment), but, along with bassist Rick Savage and guitarists Steve Clark/Phil Collen, he's ploughing on regardless, helping to create something different to 'Pyromania' in content yet as good, if not better, overall.

"Since 'Pyromania' we're two years on technically," he explains. "The Fairlights are better, the keyboards are better and the microphones are better. And we're two years more experienced, of course. Actually, we keep putting on 'Pyromania' and listening to it back-to-back with what we've done; you have to imagine it without the mix, but it's definitely up there to my ears."

JOE ELLIOTT leans forward in the chair, tucks a fold of his rather battered dressing gown tight against private parts and pours himself another glass of one cal Coke. This for the moment is home, and has been since the middle of August: a simple hotel room in Holland ten minutes drive from the studio complex. Originally, the band were due to play the 'Mick Wall Festival' in Rio, but they eventually decided against it on grounds of not wanting to interrupt recording. So while certain jammy so-and-so's were sunning themselves on the Copacabana sands (maaaan!!), Elliott and co, tax exiles all, were trudging across frozen lakes, wrapped up tight against temperatures of 25° below! Still, there's always next year And if nothing else, in their present position the four are conveniently cut off from all domestic distractions. Through the hotel room window I can see Dirk, Elliott's treasured Renault 12 (and centrespread star of Kerrang! 79), basking quietly in the hazy sunlight, the central motif on an idyllic pastel canvas shaded only by the distant foghorn fuming of an adrenalised Peter Mensch. Somewhere, behind closed doors, he's informing an unfortunate Halfin that a five-piece outfit close to the latter's wallet have been 'stiffing' horribly in the South, and he doesn't mean Torquay! Let's just say he's on form...

Later, on the flight back to London, having persuaded Mensch to fund my purchase of a duty free Sony Walkman in tasteful pink, I tentatively suggest that the forthcoming Leppard biography should be titled 'Me & My Whine'...

"OH, YEAH, DAAAN-TAY!!" he snaps, blood vessels popping like balloons, "AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO THINK THAT ONE UP???"

Back to business...

"We've always upheld the theory," theorises Joe as things quieten down, "that we don't want to put out a record every nine months. We'd much rather put out a record every two to three years that's of real good quality

"When we started this album 'Mutt' was involved; we did pre-production with him in Dublin, Ireland, which is why we've put him down again on the songwriting credits. It's an honesty thing with us. He doesn't write anything as such; the six of us just sit round a table with a piece of paper in front of us and guitars turned down really low, then whoever chucks in an idea - be it Rick or 'Sav' or me or 'Mutt' - we play with it."

"Steve, for example, will come up with an idea and 'Mutt' will say, 'Change that round', 'Use this', 'Do it in another key', ' or whatever. It just creases me up to think that there are some people out there who look at us and say, 'Ha! They can't write their own songs', which isn't true at all. And even if it was, I'd much rather be involved with an album that sold six million copies co-written with a producer than one that sold 200,000 copies that wasn't."

Surely helping with the arrangements and so on is part of a producer's job, though "Yeah, right, but it's almost as if it's some kind of crime to let your producer be involved. That's what a producer's there for - to kick you up the arse and bring out the best that you can do. We encourage 'Mutt' to be involved and we repay him by sticking his name on the songwriting credits. Who cares! It's only a bloody song anyway..."

Isn't it true, though, that a lot of producers are really just glorified engineers and can't make the extra step up to that level of involvement?

"Yes, that is true, but 'Mutt's an exception anway because the guy's a musician, he's been an engineer since he left school - he's been doing it for 17 years and he's only in his early thirties now and he's also a brilliant singer and great songwriter, so you've got everything going for you! Whereas an engineer will be able to tell you if something's out of tune, 'Mutt' can go further than that and say, 'It doesn't feel right' or 'Sing it this way, shape your mouth like this, let's alter the phrasing'. "With most engineers, if it's in tune and it's what you want then it's a take, and that's all their job is, because if it's that way round it's normally the band who are producing, the way we are with this album. I noticed in Kerrang! it implied that Nigel Green is now producing – he's not, we are. Nigel's assisting." "Actually, he's worked with us on our last two albums, though not as main engineer. Mike Shipley was always our main engineer. Nigel's as good as Mike, it's just that at the time he was involved in other projects; so when Mike took a holiday or went to the dentist Nigel would come in. We've never worked with him on a long term basis before but we do know him."

What happened with 'Mutt' Lange, though? As I understand it, he originally agreed to produce the album as well as help out on pre-production...

"Yeah. In fact, he was still going to do it last February. We started with pre-production, as you've mentioned, but it soon became obvious that 'Mutt' was in no state to see the whole thing through. The Cars' album ('Heartbeat City') nearly killed him; our last album nearly killed him, and the Foreigner record ('IV') the same. I think he's just reached the stage now where to attain certain standards you're talking about grafting for a long time."

"The way we worked on 'Pyromania', for example, we were doing 20 hour days and the guy was sleeping on the couch in the control room. You just can't do that forever, so for the sake of his health he made a wise decision not to do our album. At the time, we were panicking; we thought, 'Oh, Christ!', cos things had all been planned. It wasn't a case of us being afraid of what the album would sound like if 'Mutt' wasn't there, it was simply the availability of other producers that we were concerned about. With top people like Ted Templeman, Mike Stone or Trevor Horn, you've got to book 'em years in advance, you can't just get in touch two weeks before you want to start..."

"Actually, we did approach Templeman just to see how much he wanted, and I don't think he was too keen to do it; he put in such a ridiculous money offer that no band in the world would have accepted it! But then we really wanted somebody a bit different, anyhow. We were interested in the people I've already mentioned initially because we thought, well, these are the names that we've listened to, Bob Ezrin, y'know. But then we started to think about people like Alex Sadkin, who we found was doing the new Foreigner album ('Agent Provocateur'). Trevor Horn would have worked with us in England, but Chris Thomas (Roxy Music, Procol Harum) turned us down flat - he obviously doesn't like us. We actually tried to get Phil Collins, who was interested but tied up with the latest Clapton LP ('Behind The Sun')."

So you were looking at people outside the world of heavy rock...

"Yeah, we were looking at up and coming producers like Terry Manning, who's engineered for ZZ Top, and Steve Lillywhite, who's yet to do a hard rock album but possibly could do a good one. Some of us were interested in him, some of us weren't. I like the fullness of Simple Minds' 'Sparkle In The Rain' LP, it's brill, but sounds are really no problem for us now, we can get good sounds; the thing we always like to have is musical input, and that's where we thought Steinman would come into his own. I mean, the guy's a good songwriter and he's had a hell of a lot of success with what he does."

He worked on the last Billy Squier album, 'Signs Of Life', with Tony Platt, didn't he?

"Yeah, well, he 'navigated' it is what Squier says. We thought, OK, we'll get the sounds and let him do the producing, but it turned out that Jim wasn't really what any of us thought he would be. In fact, I wonder how he's ever got a production credit on anything - especially with Squier, the kind of ego he's got. I can't understand why he even let Steinman's name appear on his album cos we're not putting it on ours."

What was the problem with Steinman then?

"Ahh... I wouldn't be lying if I said that you could have done it as well. I mean that. The guy just sat there reading 'Country Life' all day and going, 'Yeah, yeah, that sounds good', when it plainly wasn't. He's simply not used to recording the way we record. When we said, 'Listen, this is the way we work, you'd better get used to it', he tried and he couldn't. He just could not hear if something was wrong."

Were your standards too exacting for him, do you think?

"Possibly, yeah. It sounds strange to say that, though, cos to me those standards are normal. Doing 'Pyromania' was like going to college; I've grown up listening to things a certain way. As far as I'm concerned, getting the timing, the tuning and the feel spot on is the usual way to work, but Jim Steinman for all his reputation - could not hear it."

"After a while, we just thought, well, this is silly, we're wasting our time and money and wasting his time, though we weren't too bothered about that cos he wasn't too bothered about the project. I honestly don't think he was doing it for any reason other than credibility in the States. "We'd say, 'Right, we start at 12', and he'd wander in at 3.30. We'd stay till 12 or one in the morning, then he'd go back to his hotel and start writing songs for his own future projects, and he'd be up till nine o'clock doing that. So when he finally got round to us, he'd only had five hours sleep. he wasn't there half the time. I mean, he was there in body but not in mind. We found more and more that we were doing the work, which was fine, we didn't mind doing it, we just thought, why the hell should we be giving this guy so many points and so many dollars to sit there reading 'Country Life'!"

So how much did you manage to accomplish with Steinman?

"We did about eight backing tracks and scrapped them; almost everything has been done again. And even the things that went down were our decision Steinman never overruled us on anything. If he said a certain take was good and we said it was bad, we'd do it again."

Who was actually getting the sounds at this stage?

"Us and Neil Dorfsman, Steinman's engineer. He was good, actually, cos he was doing all the work. Jim was the ears of the partnership, but the ears were plugged up, I think..."

"Y'know, it annoys me intensely when a producer walks into a control room and says, "This carpet has got to go!' Sod the desk, that's not important. An SSL desk, 150,000 quid's worth of equipment, and the carpet's got to go! He even had the carpet changed in his hotel room. The guy was living in a suite while we were happy in rooms with a fridge and a cooker. Obviously, we paid for it all..."

"And the food! He went out to the North of Holland and had a 12 course meal! Which is fine, that's his personality, but when somebody walks into a studio and says the carpet has got to go... if I'd been there I'd have decked him. Seriously. Who gives a flying s**t what the carpet looks like!"

How long did Steinman last, then?

"Oh, we dumped Jim about November, we gave him a fair chance. We thought, well, alright, we're doing the spadework, what he might consider the boring side of the album, let's see what he's like on vocals, maybe that's his strongpoint. He did tell us that he spent something like five weeks trying to get Meat Loaf to sing one line, so we thought, OK, the guy's definitely got stamina."

"But when it came to doing vocals with me, it was exactly the same situation as with the backing tracks - everything was my decision. He'd say, 'Yeah, that's good', and I'd go, 'Jim, it's f**king useless!' I'd run out of breath at the end of a line cos I wasn't quite familiar with what I was singing, and he'd say, 'It's got a bit of feel'. Isn't that pathetic?!"

"I mean, Steve and Phil wanted to get rid of him two weeks after he was here. But I just kept saying, 'Give the guy a chance, blah, blah, blah' made meself look a right arsehole. But it was only fair to let him get to the vocal stage of things."

"Anyway, when Steinman went we all sat down and asked Mensch to sort out which other producers were available. We put down everybody we thought might be good. Mike Shipley couldn't do it cos he was off co-producing the new Loverboy album, so we just suggested Nigel. We were doing a better job than Steinman, so we thought, well, what's the point getting in another producer? We send 'Mutt' the odd tape now and then and he sends it back saying, 'It sounds brilliant to me', which shows that we can do it, so we are."

Has having Phil Collen involved from the start of this album (he became a Leppard member during the recording of 'Pyromania', replacing guitarist Pete Willis) made things different in any way?

"Yeah, it means that the songwriting's changed a little; Phil's input is better than Pete's ever was. Steve will always be the major songwriter, I think, but he's really encouraged Phil a lot. He doesn't just sit down and say, 'I want to write all the songs', stuff like that. In fact, everything that Steve's written, he's written with Phil in the same room... Phil's probably involved in eight of the 10 songs on the album."

And what about 'Sav'? He writes too, doesn't he?

"Yeah, but 'Sav's weird; I can't get to grips with him sometimes. More than anyone else in this band he likes your Journeys and your Bryan Adams, occasionally even the odd Duran Duran song, yet he was the one who came up with 'Stagefright' and 'No No No'. And on this new album he's got a number called 'Ring Of Fire' - not a cover of the famous Johnny Cash song! which is an uptempo, thrash, crash, Metal job. He just never writes like the people he listens to."

Will Steve and Phil be sharing the guitar breaks on the new LP?

"Oh yeah, 50/50, right down the middle. Actually, they argue about who's gonna do 'em; not in the sense of, 'I wanna do this', but Phil's telling Steve that he should do a certain solo and Steve's saying, 'No you do it, it's more up your street'. I remember hearing stories about KK (Downing) and Glenn (Tipton) from Priest not talking to each other for four months at a time, but it's the other way round with Steve and Phil. The only thing they argue about is who's gonna buy the drinks!"

What about you, though? You play a bit of guitar...

"Badly!"

...have you written anything on the new record?

"Er... I did come up with some stuff but I don't think it got used. I wrote little bits on the last album, but my main worry is obviously melodies, lyrics and vocals."

"Sometimes, though, we'll have a vocal line and work the backing around that. We've got this one new song, 'Armageddon It', which is Piltdown, just two chords all the way through; it's based around a tongue-in-cheek vocal thing."

Is it a 'Rock Of Ages' type number?

"I suppose it is a bit, yeah. The vocals come out from all over the place once it gets going. It's just a totally stupid lyric... like 'Rock Of Ages', just a piss-take of ourselves, though not mocking the fans in any way."

"And then there's 'Ring Of Fire', which I've already mentioned. It's actually about an Indian meal, the day after, but nobody would ever know that... well, they will now!"

When you're writing lyrics, do you ever think about how the song will work live?

"Not really, no. Obviously, a number like 'Rock Till You Drop' is a stage song, and the same with 'Stagefright', but I've never consciously sat down and thought, well, I'd better come up with two songs about 'Rock This Place To The Ground', or whatever, and one meaningful one about Vietnam, and another about a vigilante in New York. They just turn out that way. You do it in moods. I was probably watching something about Vietnam on TV and 'Die Hard The Hunter' (from the 'Pyromania' LP) came out, and I'd probably been to see 'Deathwish' when I wrote 'Billy's Got A Gun' (also on 'Pyromania'). I can't remember, I just do it."

"I actually wrote 'Photograph' (ditto) while I was sitting on the bog. I was stuck for a chorus and I had a picture of Marilyn Monroe staring me in the face... Bob's your uncle!"

When you made the decision to go for something extra with the 'Pyromania' album, were you confident that you could pull it off?

"We were confident, yeah, very confident, because 'Mutt' was producing. We just had so much faith in the guy and in return he had total confidence in what we were doing. We didn't see how we could go wrong, though Mensch was tearing his hair out when we were nearly a million pounds in debt and the record company were drumming their fingers waiting. I think we had to sell 1.2 million copies of 'Pyromania' to break even, we were in a real big mess..."

"I mean, I nearly had a nervous breakdown, I just couldn't handle it. I was going through so much crap towards the end - do it again, do it again... I got what a lot of singers get, 'Lastitis', which comes from the pressure of finishing. We went through a lot of hell on that record..."

Including, of course, the slightly wobbly exit of young Mr Willis...

"Yeah, but in all honesty I think that did us more good than anything. The thing is, you sometimes take situations for granted and then all of a sudden something like that happens and it's like, wow, it's different, there's only four of us, he's gone, really gone. I mean, Phil joined the day after, but then he almost joined back in '81."

"I tried to get him cos we were having trouble with Willis in America. I rang Phil up and said, 'Can you learn 16 songs in two days?' He said, 'I'll try', but that was just totally out of desperation, there's no way he could have done it. However, when Pete started to act in the studio like he did on tour, which was making Keith Moon look like a bloody vicar, it was time for him to go."

Why doesn't he get some help?

"Well, I think he's beyond help, to tell the truth. He doesn't even realise he needs it, he doesn't accept he's got a problem, though the guy's been in hospital twice as a result of drink and drugs. He had a collapsed liver or something, and epileptic fits, God knows what."

That hasn't happened to the rest of you, though, and you're all the same age, you've all worked your way up together...

"No, it's just him. Pete's always had something to prove, y'see, probably because he's a midget. The guy thought he was 10 feet tall when he was pissed and he'd be taking on people as big as you it didn't work. He was like a gigantic ball and chain around our ankles..."

THE LATEST whisper on Willis is that he's currently swanning around the environs of Sheffield, complete with Rolls Royce and minder, recounting tales of some hush-hush supergroup he might be throwing in his frets with. Elliott finds it hard to take the whole thing seriously, and I think it's fair to say that the recording of album number four is proceeding all the smoother for the wee man's absence.

Already, a number of lead vocals are complete, and the band (employing two studios simultaneously) are steadily piecing together their ten new songs, ready to convince a waiting world that Life After 'Pyromania' does exist.

So what's on the boil? Well, in no particular order, there's 'Armageddon It' and 'Ring Of Fire', already mentioned, 'Excitable', 'Gods Of War', 'Fractured Love', 'Don't Shoot The Shotgun' (Stonesy, I'm assured), 'Animal', 'Love Bites' (a ballad), 'Run Riot' and the enticingly handled 'Women', all proudly produced by the Leppard members themselves, who, without the invaluable 'Mutt' Marten to administer the prods, are taking great and serious pleasure in booting each other up the bum! "Actually, I never envisaged us producing ourselves," admits Joe, "I thought it might be the one thing that would lead to us falling out. It's always been dead important to us that Leppard is a friends situation; we want to keep the element of why we started. Five mates who can still go into the same bar and look each other in the face after seven years. Happily, that's the way it's remained, and producing ourselves is working really well..."

The new album, which now looks set to be mixed by Lange in the UK, an added bonus, should be available by August, after which the band plan to tear up the tarmac on a world tour of, well... y'know. The idea, it seems, is to blow away the studio cobwebs with about eight shows in Ireland, some in smaller places, then steer a course for the UK, perhaps for a September stint (the British dates have already been put back four times!) of 20 or so gigs. A headline appearance at Wembley Arena isn't too far off for the boys, according to Queen's Brian May, a staunch Leppard supporter, but this time around I reckon they'll settle for something a little more cosy.

Next tour, though Europe too seems odds on to cop a visit, particularly as 'Pyromania' has now shifted over 100,000 copies in France and is making a late burst for the tape in Scandinavia as well. Business in Germany, however, remains a little slow, and as for Holland... well, now we're talking about a massive 639 units shifted. Still, at least it means the band don't have to worry about being recognised. Def what?!

By December Leppard should be into America, after which it's likely they'll travel to Japan, though probably not Australia, that stage of the tour having lost them around 60 grand last Feb. Indeed, all in all, their schedule will be less arduous than last time, including more days off to recover and recharge. The band should certainly feel healthier as a result, but then with the Rick Allen episode having shocked the Leppard camp into a highly body-conscious state, that's the way things are heading anyway "I don't want to waste away and vegetate," explains Joe. "I'm 25, I'm supposed to be at the peak of my fitness; I'm supposed to be Glenn Hoddle but I wasn't. I'd run a mile and be out of breath. Now I can run a six minute mile, no trouble, and I do half an hour's worth of exercises every day. 'Sav', Phil and myself all go jogging too - we take less for granted now than we did before..."

[littlemissheavenonearth]

Hello there! Could you write an imagine Joe Elliott x reader when he gets a little bit ( a lot) jealous when other guys speak to his girlfriend?I'd love to see it

Thanks for your time! ✨ 🌟

Here it is!! I'm sorry it's so short!!

You're Mine {Joe Elliott x reader}

“What was that?” The singer's anger rang through my ears.

“What was what?”

“Why were you talking to Sav?”

“Because he’s my friend…?” I honestly did not know why Joe was so angry. 

“..But you touched him.”

Oh.. “Joe,” I looked into his eyes, “Are you jealous?” His expression softened, still he did not admit his jealousy.

Hi, I’m y/n and you're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. My boyfriend is Joe Elliott, the lead singer of Def Leppard.  Joe took me to one of his band’s shows and I began talking to the rest of the band. Rick Savage to be specific, I took an instant liking to him, but not romantically, just as a guy. He’s a good guy. 

It was at the next show Joe took me too that things went downhill. Sav and I got to know each other pretty well at the last show, but Joe didn’t see us talking to each other. 

I walked backstage with Joe, but he went straight to his dressing room. I began following him, when I bumped into Sav. 

“Sav!” 

“Y/N! How are you doing?” 

“Great! I’m excited for the show.” 

“That’s good to hear!” The show would start in five minutes and Joe walked out of his dressing room, “Hello Sav, hi babe,” He smiled at both of us and then walked towards the stage. I looked at Sav, “Good luck, love. You’re gonna do great!”

“Thank you!” He beamed and I fixed his shirt a little bit. Little did I know that Joe was watching us from afar. 

“Now go kick some ass!” I shooed him away, he nodded and grabbed his bass from the stand. I walked away to go find Joe.  When I found him, he stared at me in frustration.

That’s where we are now. 

“I’m not jealous.” He said.

“If you weren’t you wouldn’t have gotten so angry.” I stated in a matter-of-fact tone. He just stared at me, he really had no way of coming up with good excuses.

“Joe, just admit that you were jealous.” He sighed deliberately and nodded, “Fine, I was jealous.”

“Thank-,” 

“I was jealous because I love you! I love you so much and when you talk to the others, I just, I mean…it hurts.” I watched him as he spoke, I stepped a little closer to him.

“Joe, babe, you’re mine, it’s only you because I love you! Please trust me on this, I would never leave you for the other guys, never ever…” I wrapped my arms around his neck and his arms went around my waist. He leaned down to kiss my lips and I melted. I was truly the luckiest girl on Earth to have Joe as my boyfriend. 

[elliotts-personal-property]

I Think I Love You (Joe Elliott x Reader)

A/N: Hey y'all, as promised here's the Joe one shot. Feeling super nervous rn, considering this is the first time I’ve posted my writing on here. I'd love to hear your feedback so I can improve on my writing. I'm open to any and all constructive criticism and encourage it! Anyways… I won't keep stalling for any longer. I hope y’all enjoy this one!!

Warnings: Mentions/references to making out/smut but nothing actually explicit happens.

Ps, if you really want to feel the vibe of this one shot I'd suggest listening to "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family while reading this💗

With love, Kris<3

-

Sheffield, 1982

I'm sleeping

And right in the middle of a good dream

Like all at once I wake up

The poor guy had been tossing and turning all night.

Joe couldn't get his mind off of you.

Just the thought of you disrupted his sleep.

From something that keeps knocking at my brain

In his eyes you were perfect. You were the only girl in the world he wanted. Of course that also meant you were the one girl, who in his eyes, had got away. The one he could never have. Why? Because you were his best friend.

For months upon months he was stuck in this endless cycle.

It went a little something like this:

He'd think about you so much so that he'd convince himself that he had to go tell you.

Then he'd work up the courage to say it.

He'd find the perfect time to confess but then start to reconsider his choice. He always would hold it back when he decided it wasn't a good idea after all.

He'd then go back to thinking about how perfect of a moment it would've been and mentally kick himself for not saying a thing.

And the cycle would repeat.

It went on and on and on.

Before I go insane

As a result of this, he hadn't had a good nights sleep in a while.

That night was different though.

I hold my pillow to my head

Something had finally snapped.

And spring up in my bed

He had known how he felt for a long time. But he had never actually come to terms with the gravity of it.

Screaming out the words I dread

I think I love you

All at once it hit him like a brick wall. He realized he truly loved you.

-

On the rare occasion that your best friend felt brave he'd indirectly hint at something more. After a while of not getting any knowing looks from you he just assumed that you were oblivious to all of his side comments. You in fact were not.

After a while you started to get impatient with him.

You wanted to shout it out loud, right in his face, "Dear God Joe just ask me out already!"

Recently those side comments from Joe had stopped. You would've said something to him if he hadn't stopped. But now you weren't even sure if he still cared, or if he had just given up and moved on. It would be stupid to lose your friendship over this. So you stayed quiet just to be safe.

It was a shocker to both you and everyone else how you two hadn't gotten together already.

There were so many signs. It was only a matter of time.

-

This morning

I woke up with this feeling

I didn't know how to deal with

Another night of restless sleep had gone by. It was worse than usual, so much so that by dawn he had already come up with a plan.

He knew what he had to do. He was going to tell you the only way he could. In the only unique love language he knew, through music.

If he was gonna do it, it had to be big and flashy. Joe wouldn't have it any other way.

He couldn't let his feelings lie dormant anymore. No, he thought, this time will be different. This time I won't back out.

And so I just decided to myself

I'd hide it to myself

And never talk about it

He had kept his feelings to himself for the past few years. Joe wanted to tell you, he really did. But in the back of his mind he worried about ruining the relationship you guys already had.

Joe loved you so much that he was willing to hide his feelings just so you wouldn't walk out on his life. He didn't want to lose you over some feelings he had. Ones that he couldn't guarantee you'd reciprocate. So, he believed it was best to keep it to himself.

And did not go and shout it

When you walked into the room

I think I love you

Joe didn't just think, he knew.

Joe was dead set on what he had to do. He just needed to get a few things sorted. First off was getting the guys on board with it.

-

Joe gathered his closest friends together. They were less like bandmates and more like brothers to him. He knew they would help him out. All it would take was a bit of convincing.

"Can you please help me out?" Joe pleaded.

He assured them about his plan.

"It's just one, and it'll be real quick."

"Alright, fine," the bassist answered for them all, "What song is it anyways?"

Joe told them his song of choice and they all gave him odd looks.

Sav cocked an eyebrow at the song choice.

"The Partridge Family? Are you serious?"

Phil chimed in, "You really think a band like us should be playing a song like that?"

Steve rested his hand on his head, "Everyone's going to make fun of us."

Joe tried to defend his choice, "You know it can't be that bad. We're playing in a pub for god's sake. It's not like the whole world's gonna be there."

The rest of the guys seemed unconvinced.

"Come on guys, you said you'd help me. Please?"

He kept on.

"Just help a bloke out, alright?"

And on.

"Please I promise I'll never ask for anything ever again."

Rick half-whispered to Sav.

"You know he's never gonna let it up. Not until we say yes at least."

Sav knew he was right. Joe wouldn't stop bugging them until they agreed.

"Okay fine, but it's only one song."

Joe nodded enthusiastically, "Mhm yeah, just one."

It was settled, they would help. Now all that was left was to get you there.

-

I think I love you

So what am I so afraid of?

The thought of telling you was exciting to him, yet terrifying.

I'm afraid that I'm not sure of

A love there is no cure for

His heart raced as he drove over to your place.

I think I love you

Joe was already cheery about just the thought of you going.

Isn't that what life is made of?

He hadn't felt this excited over something in a long time.

As he pulled onto your street he tapped on the steering wheel. It was due to the mix of both the pure joy of excitement and an ever growing anxious feeling that was building up inside.

Though it worries me to say

That I've never felt this way

-

Believe me

You really don't have to worry

"You'll be there tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," you answered with a wide smile, "You guys go on at eight, right?"

God he loved your smile. It could light up any room.

He melted just looking at you. Anytime you spoke to him he lost all train of thought.

You snapped your fingers to get his attention.

"Joe?"

"Oh- um, yeah. Eight, we'll be on then."

I only wanna make you happy

After you said yes he began going through that same cycle again. He started doubting his whole plan. Wondering if it would work or not.

There was no way he could back out now though. For the past few days they'd been practicing that song, not stopping until Joe felt satisfied with the final product.

He wondered if you would stick around after all of this.

Would you tell him to "beat it" and move on with your life without him? Or would you stay there by his side?

And if you say, "Hey, go away"

I will

Joe crossed his fingers, hoping for the best outcome possible.

But I think better still

I'd better stay around and love you

He was determined to make sure you stayed.

Do you think I have a case?

Let me ask you to your face

Do you think you love me?

Tomorrow night he'd get the long awaited answer to that question.

I think I love you

-

You arrived early, wanting to make sure you were right up front. This is what you always did. It was your way of showing Joe you cared. You mindlessly tapped your fingers against the small stage, waiting for them to come out.

Meanwhile Joe was there fixing himself up in their tiny dressing room, (if you could even call it one). It was fairly small. The owner had "renovated" one of their small back rooms into a "dressing room".

He stood in front of the vanity mirror fluffing out the rest of his hair. Joe was doing any and everything in his power to keep his mind off of the plan. He looked at his reflection as he told himself to just smile and hope for the best. Whatever happens happens, it was no longer in his control anymore.

After waiting for what felt like forever the guys finally came out on stage. As Joe got on he stopped in front of you and sent you a quick smile before turning his attention to the other patrons of the bar.

You cheered along the whole time as they went through their usual set list. It didn't matter how many times you'd seen them, you were always captivated by their showmanship.

Time always seemed to fly by whenever you watched them play.

By now you had memorized their set list and were almost sure they were closing out now, having just played Wasted. They always saved it for last and were just about ready to leave.

That was before Joe had something to say.

The cheering in the room died down as Joe placed the mic back in its stand. He adjusted it right to his level, getting ready to speak.

"We have one last song for you all tonight. We're gonna take a little change of pace if that's alright with you."

He took a glance around at his bandmates, giving them all a quick nod before adding on.

"This one goes out to a very special someone. Someone who means the world to me."

His eyes drifted down to the people in the front row, moving one by one until eventually landing onto you.

"This is for you, Y/N."

Taking one last deep breath in he calmed himself before counting the guys in.

All of them started in, "Ba, ba ba ba, ba ba ba ba, ba."

You giggled at the ridiculousness of it before fully realizing the gravity of this song.

You knew what it was the second they sung the first line.

You hadn't heard it in such a long time and had practically forgotten about it, forgotten how much you loved it. It was always one of your favorites, and Joe had known that for a while now.

All thoughts completely left your mind when Joe began to sing.

"I'm sleeping,

And right in the middle of a good dream,

Like all at once I wake up,

From something that keeps knocking at my brain,

Before I go insane,

I hold a pillow to my head,

And spring up in my bed,

Screaming out the words I dread."

The rest of the guys joined in on the next line.

"I think I love you!”

This was his confession.

His eyes couldn't help but drift towards you.

"I think I love you."

While preforming Joe tried to keep his attention with the rest of the audience equal, but he kept on letting his eyes go back to you, like some sort of magnet that couldn't be pulled apart.

If him dedicating this song to you wasn't the most obvious thing, you'd say his looks alone were enough to tell you that this was for you.

You couldn't help but feel a smile tugging at your lips. Your cheeks started to feel sore from the excessive smiling.

"So what am I so afraid of?"

Every time his eyes caught yours you felt your heart skip a beat.

"I'm afraid that I'm not sure of a love there is no cure for."

Joe really did care about you, deep down inside he did, he always did.

Soon the song came to a close with their repeated "I think I love you's" becoming more and more quiet as they faded off.

They all came front and center, taking a short bow together as the crowd in the bar cheered them on.

The girl next to you had to have already been out of it.

"You're a lucky girl, huh?" she practically yelled into your ear. You couldn't blame her though, she was standing directly in front of an amplifier the whole time.

It snapped you out of the trance you seemed to have slipped into.

"Oh-uh yeah," you smiled.

"Look," she said, swinging her arm to point at the guys in front of you.

The rest of them were making their way off, leaving through the stage left.

Joe was the last one still up there.

You stayed staring at him in disbelief, not even knowing what to do. He had finally said it... or well sung it, same difference. What was there you could do?

He tilted his head to your right gesturing off to the side of the stage, to what you only could assume led to their dressing room.

He flashed you a quick smile before sending a subtle wink your way.

If it was anybody else, you'd say you were surprised by their actions, but for Joe? Well that's a different story.

With both of her hands the girl next to you latched onto your arm.

"Ooh looks like someone's gettin' some action tonight!"

Your cheeks flushed red and you prayed to god no one else heard.

Immediately you turned to Joe, hoping he hadn't heard the girl's remark.

His eyes darted away from you. Before Joe left you saw him trying to suppress his chuckling, but ultimately failing. His smug smile was the last thing you saw as he walked off the stage.

Of course he had to have heard it, why wouldn’t he?

The girl let go of you when you told her you had to leave. She told you something along the lines of, "Have fun tonight!" before you left.

You went around the corner finding the door that you guessed led backstage. The door was locked from the inside and there was no way of getting in. You didn't worry though, knowing that the guys would come out soon enough.

After a couple minutes of waiting by the door an ecstatic Rick swung it open. The rest of the guys shuffled their way out, but with their lead nowhere in sight.

You turned your attention towards the last member to come out.

"Is he?"

"Third door to the right," Sav answered before you could even finish asking your question.

"Thanks."

He gave you a warm smile, still holding the door open for you, letting you slip through to the back hallway.

"See you in a bit," he said, letting the door shut behind you.

Even though there was no reason to, you counted to yourself as you passed by each of the doors.

One...

Two...

You felt your heart race as you got closer to the last one.

...Three

You stood there for a moment trying to see if you could hear anything on the other side. You didn't and knew it was time to stop stalling.

After taking a deep breath to compose yourself you rested your hand on the cool doorknob.

Here goes nothing.

You slowly opened the door as quietly as you could and after shutting it watched the scene play out before you.

He stood there in front of a vanity mirror facing away from you. He hadn't noticed you but you could see his face clear as day through the reflection.

Joe was humming a tune while brushing his hair. You immediately recognized what song it was.

He was humming the one he had just played. His tone was full of pure joy.

Once he was done he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to shape it some more.

The man in front of you looked fine already but seemed to be getting ready for something more.

He adjusted the collar of his shirt before picking up a small bottle of cologne. Adding just a spray to his neck and one to his wrist before turning around.

Joe's humming abruptly stopped and his eyes widened.

"Oh… you're here?"

You'd been caught staring.

At this point any embarrassment that you could have had got washed away whenever he decided to dedicate that song to you.

"Sorry, I-"

"Don't be," he cut you off.

He set the bottle down and slowly approached you, seeming to take his time with it.

You watched carefully as he took every painfully slow step.

You didn't know where to start, but knew you had to say something.

"You guys were great."

"Thank you."

You had to bring it up, you couldn't bare to wait any longer.

"That song you played. Did you?"

You stopped, taking a quick glance around, noting that it was just the two of you in the room, before finishing.

"Did you really mean that?"

His gaze softened at the question.

"Yes."

He paused before stepping closer, leaving barely any room between the two of you.

"I meant every word of it."

Your heart sped up with every word he spoke.

"Y/N I mean it."

His hand moved up to tuck the loose hair behind your ear.

"I think I love you."

You had been longing to hear those words for such a long time. Never in your lifetime did you think it would happen, but it finally did.

He said that to you, and you only.

After all this time, you heard those three words you loved the most.

"I love you."

His hand moved down to cup the side of your face. You lightly nudged your face against his warm palm. Closing your eyes you took a deep breath in, wanting to smell more of the cologne that rested on his wrist.

When you opened your eyes his hand moved down to carefully tilt your chin up.

Your eyes faced him now.

"I love you too."

This was the moment. The moment you waited forever for.

Heart racing and eyes wide you both slowly drew in closer. It felt like the longest seconds of your life, waiting for him to connect with you.

You looked into his emerald green eyes before letting yours flutter closed.

Soon enough you felt the feather light touch on your lips. It felt like heaven to you.

You brought one hand up, letting you fingers run through his light brown hair.

You felt Joe's other hand reach down to the small of your back, gently pulling you closer into him.

All you could do now was relax your body and take in the overwhelming smell of his cologne.

After what felt like an eternity, the two of you finally pulled away from one another. You already missed the feeling of his soft lips on yours.

You refused to back up from him, leaving hardly any gap between you two.

His warm breath fell on your lips as he mumbled, "You don't know how long I've wanted this."

"Me too."

Joe's hands dropped down and his fingers latched onto the belt loops of your jeans before lightly tugging at them, pulling you closer.

Your hips were pulled forward and you lightly bumped against him before falling back and resting mere inches from him.

Joe's eyes quickly scanned over your face as if he was looking for a cue of some sort.

Though you had never seen this look on him before, you knew exactly what it meant.

"Please Y/N."

That short plea was more than enough to get you going.

Your arms almost instinctively wrapped around his neck, letting him know you were okay with it.

"Come on," he said, slightly lowering himself to reach the back of your legs. He lifted you up and stepped back to sit in the armchair placed in front of the mirror

Your legs were pinned close on either side of him, resting between his outer thighs and the arms of the chair.

Without warning the two of you crashed into each other once more, desperate for each other's touch.

He hummed into the kiss, making you relish in the feeling he gave you.

-

You didn't know exactly how much time had gone by, but you knew a decent amount had passed.

Slowly, you drew away from his neck and let out a shaky breath, still wanting more. It had now been a little while since you first got in there and you knew it would only be a matter of seconds until someone barged in looking for two of you.

Your eye contact with him continued as you calmed your breathing.

Lightly pushing yourself away, resting your hands on his stomach, you finally spoke up.

"We should go. They're pry wondering what's taking so long."

Joe thought about it for a second. Seemingly weighing the pros and cons of both staying and going.

"Who cares? Let 'em wonder."

You planted one last quick kiss before making an offer.

"How about later, yeah?"

A wicked smile spread across his face, already thinking of what was to come, "Yeah."

You pulled yourself off of him and tried to fix the newfound wrinkles in your clothes. After getting up he did the same and you stayed there fixing yourselves up.

Just as the two of you were about to walk out you stopped him.

"Wait."

He turned to you.

"You’ve got a little…," you trailed off as you brought your thumb up to the corner of his mouth.

"Something," you finished as you wiped the last bit of red lipstick off of him.

Feeling content with how the two of you looked, you set off out of the dressing room and back down the hallway.

He held the door open for you and led you out into the main room.

You both scanned your eyes around the bar floor trying to find the guys.

Joe grabbed onto your hand and held on as he guided you through the crowd. He led you over to the round booth where they were all seated. As you approached the booth he gave your hand a light squeeze before letting go.

It took only one glance at the you two for the teasing to start.

"Woah!" Phil exclaimed, "What happened in there?"

"Nothing," Joe replied making his best attempt at a deadpan tone.

"You sure about that?"

The rest joined in on by adding "ooohs," sounding exactly like a group of kids in elementary who just found out one of their classmates was called into the principals office.

This was only the beginning of the never ending teasing that was to come.

Phil raised his eyebrows, "Just couldn't wait until you got home, huh?"

Joe rolled his eyes at his bandmates teasing.

Sure you had been gone for a bit, but you knew there had to have been something else causing their reactions.

You looked between yourself and Joe quickly noticing the culprit.

Though you had made sure to get all your lipstick off his face you forgot to check the collar of his shirt. The sloppy kisses had caused you to completely miss his neck in some spots and just get his shirt. The shirt in question being a white one didn't help your case.

There was no sense in trying to rub it off now, and not like you could anyways.

Rick and Sav scooted around to make room for you and Joe.

As you sat down you both noticed all the other guys were already starting their night off with their drinks in hand.

Joe looked around at each and every one of them, "You started without us, aye?”

"We waited for a little while, but you guys took too long," Sav replied.

Joe turned to face you, "How 'bout a round?"

You smiled, "Sure."

-

Thank you so much for reading!! I hope you liked it💗

[too-young-to-fall-in-love]

Turned Night Into Day

summary:

There's no reason why Illya should want to talk to him. Really, there isn't. So why's he showing up at his hotel room with a bottle of Scotch and something like an apology on his lips? Or, most of Amor Magnus Doctor Est chapter 8 in Napoleon's POV!! <3

notes:

inspired by Amor Magnus Doctor Est by @cha-melodius

tags:

POV Napoleon Solo, Napoleon solo has no self confidence, insecure Napoleon solo, Reunions, the happy ending to just like me, Mild Sexual Content, inspired by another fic, Napoleon Solo Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Professors

excerpt:

“I’m sorry,” Illya whispers, the words ringing like a gunshot in the otherwise dead quiet of the room. Of all the things Napoleon was expecting, it was definitely not that. “I heard what you and Gaby were talking about,” and “Did you really get Victoria fired to try and win me back?” seemed the most obvious. He’s only able to stare at Illya as the words rattle around in his head. In the silence of the room it seems that Illya might want to take it back. He finds himself hoping he will, because while there’s nothing he wants more than Illya, he’s only good for being left behind. He hopes equally as much that he won’t, because even in the face of reality he still wants him more than he’s ever wanted anything else. “What for?” he asks, head tilted to the side, brow furrowed. Illya huffs out a sound that could be a laugh, but it’s too harsh, too bitter to be classified as such. It’s so sudden that Napoleon actually flinches from it. “Everything,” he answers, like it’s obvious. Like he’d done anything wrong. Leaving him may have been the best decision Illya’s ever made. He can’t imagine how that could be wrong. “For blaming you when it wasn’t really your fault. For shutting you out. For not—” Illya’s voice catches in his throat, and he takes another swallow of liquor. Napoleon shuts his eyes against Illya’s next words, “for not being there for you when I should have been.” A feeble sense of hope takes root in his heart, growing until it threatens to choke him.

read more on ao3

[appetite4savage]

Your Heart or Mine (Rick Savage)

-

Here’s a little snippet for you all. I hope you all have had an amazing year - I have some fun things planned for 2024. 🥰

-

The tension had been building between us all day. We both knew we fucked up when we let the other walk away. “I’m done for real this time!” Yeah, right.

I’m not sure who came crawling back the fastest, but it didn’t matter at this moment. We were here now.

The warmth of his breathy pants against the back of my neck as he held me was a reminder of what we had just done, along with various articles of clothing spread across the room.

How many times will we go on like this? This is exactly why two people with big egos shouldn’t be allowed to be together. Something about him just pulls me back in every time.

He looks at me with those stupid big eyes and suddenly I’m under him again. It’s a terrible cycle.

I don’t even know what started the fight this time.

“If you think any harder, your brain will explode.” He whispers in my ear, running a hand down my exposed side.

“Shut up.”

“Admit it. You don’t want to leave.” He chuckles.

I turn to face him. That stupid fucking smirk and those stupid fucking doe eyes make me want to smack him.

“How do you have this impact on me? Why can’t I just stay away?”

His hand brushes by my face, pulling a strand of hair away from it. “Because you love me as much as I love you, sweetheart. We have no control over who steals our heart.”

The words that just came from that beautiful mouth of his make me want to melt into a puddle beneath him.

“You’re right.”

He pulls me closer and puts his lips on mine, eventually pulling me on top of him. He chuckles again between kisses. “I always am.”

Here we go again.

[friccinfricks]

Joe Elliott x Reader head canons: penpals edition

- of course when the guys go on tour, you and Joe have an agreement to try to call at least three or four times a week, especially right before he goes on stage

- but sometimes those short phone calls aren’t enough to get everything out that you need to say to each other (keep in mind, these are international tours we’re referring to)

- so before the tour, you and Joe sit down over (what was supposed to be just one, turns into three) coffee and go over all the different hotels he’ll be at, explicit addresses, and the exact dates.

- it brings a smile to your face, watching how intently he sifts through piles and piles of paperwork, just so he can be sure you’ve got a mailing address “just in case” you decide you want to mail him a letter.

- it’s February of 1983 and the band will be in America for over two months, and with the tour starting in England, you plan on clinging onto him and finding ways to pop in at his hotels when it’s not too much trouble to get there

- but as you go over the list, you realize how exact and precise your planning will have to be in order to get a letter to him. it’s daunting. they’ll be in an entirely new city, oftentimes state, every. single. night.

- he seems excited just to have had the conversation with you, though. he’s eager to maintain this new, sprouting relationship with you, despite the ever-approaching tour. three months is a long time to be away, but knowing you’ll be back home waiting for him makes his heart leap.

- in actuality, he has already started writing letters to you. he started just weeks after you met, but felt too bashful to actually send them, seeing as you went on dates every weekend and he tried to come over on nights when you’d had an excruciating long day at work and were in no circumstance to cook for yourself

- so now he’s found the perfect excuse to show you in writing, what his words have always wanted to tell you.

- ah, but you’ve got a little trick up your sleeve too, don’t you?

- you’ve got a friend in texas whose got a friend in the international airlines and you’ve landed yourself not just a ticket across the pond, but a few nights in Dallas, perfectly in time for just when Def Leppard’ll be playing.

- but you love seeing how excited Joe is. it thrills you knowing that at least every once in a while, you’ll get a letter from him.

- and so it begins.

- after starting the tour in Europe, you find a way to go to the airport with the boys and see them off.

- Phil and Sav are both making vomiting noises when they see Joe plant a tender, but firm kiss on your lips, to which you both respond to by giving them each the middle finger

- you watch as the five of them board the plane, Joe boarding last, and giving you a final wave.

- it’s bittersweet, only because you sent a letter to their first hotel a week and a half ago and alreadr made sure that they’d received it. Joe was absolutely thrilled when at check in, their tour manager walked over and said, “I don’t know how, but you’ve got a piece of mail.”

- much to your surprise, when you go home that day, you notice a thick envelope on your doorstep

- it’s not got any postage or any indication that it went through the postal service, so you’re trepedatious to open it

- you just smile and sigh in contentment when you look inside, seeing tons of hand written notes, all addressed to you as, “Y/N, my beloved,”

- there are poems, doodles, lists, photographs, a little bit of everything.

- one of the last notes you find says, “I’m sorry for the creepy delivery, I just had to be sure you got it today! specifically, today!”

- a few days later, you get your first call from America.

“Y/N!”

“Hmm, who is this? you sound so… American.”

“Oh, how funny.”

“Hello, Joe.”

“Hello, Y/N.” you can hear all sorts of sudden noises in the background now, mostly exclamations of your name.

“Hi, everyone.” you giggle. you hear a thump and a bit of static.

“Y/N, hi- it’s Rick. please, you have to tell Joe to shut up. I speak for everyone when I say he cannot stop lamenting over-”

“Lamenting? who are you? shakespeare? give me a fuckin break. Y/N, don’t listen to him. he’s a liar and a thief.” you hear Joe distantly in the background.

“Lamenting over how just heartbrokenly lonely he is.” this time it’s Steve who chimes in.

“It’s as if the man has never used his hand before.”

“Bollocks!”

you can’t contain your laughter, it just keeps rolling out of you, your sides hurt as you gasp for air.

- all of the calls right before shows are like this

- some, however, are made from hotel bedrooms, and include much more… explicit, dirty conversation.

- you listen intently as Joe tells you all of his most wild, urgent thoughts. you can feel your heartbeat throughout your entire body as you obey his commands through the phone receiver, accompanied by stern reminders that you have to be quiet, as you wouldn’t want to disturb your neighbors on the other side of your flat’s walls.

- it’s fair. you’ve had it coming, after all. with every new letter sent, there includes a page full of paragraphs of the most raw, animalistic urges you’ve had in his absence.

- and the pictures. oh, the pictures.

- Joe loses his mind every time you send him a new polaroid of some shocking nude pose you’ve gotten yourself into.

- the letters continue throughout the entire tour, back and forth, as do the calls.

- and let’s just say when you show up at his Dallas hotel room an hour before he checks in, clad in a mini skirt, a button up a few sizes too small, and a smile, he goes absolutely feral.

[quartersety-of-a-holsety]

Hey yo my dumb ass forgot to post this the other day so quick and dirty post it is. New Lepfic titled Hostility Brewing, a Ficmas present for a friend of mine. Here's your Rockfic link too

Enjoy!

[rickallensbarefeet]

TODAY IS THE DAY OMFG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RICK ALLEN!!!! BABYGIRL IS 60 TODAY AND IS STILL TO THIS DAY JUST A LITTLE BABY <3

Words cannot express how much you mean to me Ricky. Your story is the most incredible and inspiring I've ever known and you have changed the lives of so many people for the better, including mine. Without you I probably would not have decided to start playing drums again. Not only are you such a talented musician but you are so unbelivably kind, funny, smart and so wise. You're honestly my favorite person in the entire world and even though you'll never see this I hope you know how special you really are. Have the best day ever my love <3

[littlemissheavenonearth]

A Dance With Danger (Steve Clark x Reader)

a/n: This fic does cover some heavy topics, so if you are not comfortable with that, please do not read <3

January 7th, 1991

It was a nice day in London for Winter. I was in the home of my boyfriend, Steve Clark. He and I were watching some telly right after lunch. He hadn't said a word at all today and it worried me, not that he spoke much in general, but usually he would say something.

He stood up to grab a bottle of Vodka from the liquor closet in the kitchen. He took the bottle and attempted to chug it down, but I stopped him. He looked at me with frustration, but he didn't leave the room like some people would if they were angry.

It was difficult watching him suffer like this, but no matter how hard anybody tried to help him, he wouldn't allow it.

"Steve!" I cried, "Stop it, please."

"I can't, Y/N." He walked to the dinner table and sat on one of the chairs.

"Yes, you can."

"No, no, Y/N/N, I- I've gone too far." The pain in his voice was too much.

He really did go to far and he did want help, but never asked for it. He was addicted and every time he tried to get himself to stop, he'd keep going back for more.

"Oh God," I stood up from my knees and started breathing really hard.

Steve just watched me, the sadness he felt made his eyes go dark. He felt bad, really bad. For the entirety of the day, I kept him away from any kind of booze or alcoholic drink.

That's what I was gonna do from now on, I loved him too much to let him kill himself like this. He meant too much to me to let him go.

---

"Steve, can you take a walk with me?" I knocked on the closed door of our shared room. I heard sounds of somebody vomiting in the bathroom. I opened the door to our bedroom and walked to the bathroom.

He turned to me and opened his mouth to speak, but turned to vomit again. I sat against the wall as I watched him. Why did nobody try to help him earlier? Couldn't they see he was struggling?

"Oh Stev-"

"I'm sorry, Y/N/N, I'm sorry." You could really tell that he wanted to let go. It was his time, I tried to not think about it, but I just couldn't.

"Don't apologize, baby, you can't help it. Addiction is not easy." I wiped the corners of his mouth with the sleeves of my sweater that he gave to me in 1985, "But why didn't you ask for help at all?"

He looked down at the floor, ashamed, "I couldn't. Well, part of me didn't want help and the other part of me didn't have the guts to ask for help."

"Well, we can still try. Tomorrow, I will call the rehab center nearby so that I can take you."

"Ok," He gave me a soft smile.

"Just promise me that you won't try to keep drinking afterward." I do know drinking and booze was his way to escape his mind. He always had issues dealing with his own thoughts. And that was in fact understandable, but he never asked for help with that either.

---

That evening, I made him some roast beef for dinner, it was his favorite food and he looked the way I made it.

"Thank you, love." He smiled at me when I set his plate in front of him at the dinner table.

"No need to thank me, Dreamy." I winked and sat on the opposite side of the table.

As soon as he took the first bite he said to me, "Wonderful, as always."

I blushed, for years he has said that to me and it always makes butterflies in my stomach come alive. To be honest, just being there with him made the butterflies come alive.

After dinner, we went to watch TV again, like we did earlier today. We put on MTV, my favorite channel. The music video for Rock Of Ages was playing.

"Do you remember filming that video?" I asked Steve.

"Of course. I'm that's when we met, so how could I forget?"

"That's my favorite song for that reason." I smiled and moved a a little closer to him, I snuggled on his side after I kissed his cheek.

By ten pm the two of us went up to change for bed. We climbed into bed shortly after, "Good night, Steve, I love you." he grinned and said the same thing back and we kissed for a good eight seconds.

---

January 8th, 1991

I woke up at around seven in the morning and I turned to tell Steve that I was going to call the rehab center.

"Steve, babe, wake up." I put my hand on his chest where his heart was, "Steve?" I started panicking and tear started filling my eyes after not feeling his heart beating.

"Steve! Wake Up!" I was breathing really hard.

"Steve-" Then silence filled the room, I dropped to my knees on his side of the bed. He was gone, Steve was really gone, I was too late. I should've tried to help him earlier.

"Bloody hell!" I screamed and ran down to the landline in the living room.

I dialed Phil's number, "Y/N?" He responed,"What's wrong?"

"St-Steve,"

"What about him?"

"He's, He's g-gone." By now, I was full on sobbing, I was pretty sure Phil didn't understand a thing I was saying.

"Gone?"

"D-dead." I stuttered, there as murmuring on the other end of the phone.

"Hang on, love, we are on our way," At this point, I didn't bother hanging up, I let the phone hang as I dropped to the floor.

After some time, there was a knock on the door. So I moved to the door as best as I could and I opened it.

"Y/N?" Joe noticed my tears, "Come 'ere." He motioned for me to hug him and so I did.

"Where is he?"

"In the bed," I hiccuped. I followed the boys to the room, to see the blonde guitarist lying on the bed.

"I feel like this is my fault." I admitted.

"No, no, it's not your fault. We all tried to help him, but he wouldn't let us."

"When he did admit he needed help, it was too late." I whispered, tears filling in my eyes again.

Steve, I love you. You know that. I'm honored that I got to love you for 9 years. You've made me realize things that nobody else made me realize. You opened my eyes to several opportunities. I don't know what I would've done all those years if I hadn't known you.

I only wish that I could've been there for you, like you were there for me. It's going to be hard living with out you, but I hope that you watch over me and the rest of the Leppard guys. Would you hold my hand? Guide me to you when my time is near?

I just want to be with you, Steve. Thank you for every thing that you have done for us.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taglist:

@oldsoulgunsnrosesgirl @stevesfuzzypinkslippers @steveinscarlet @dreamy625 @the80srewinders @elliotts-personal-property @i-love-def-leppard @jimmysdragonsuit13 @nikkisix @moon-fashioned @make-me-your-animal @leppardcampbelllove @armageddonviv @joes-sha-la-la-la-girl @defsteria @wasted-my-time @genxrocker @terrortwinsfav @terrortwins @stardust-bitch @bludgeon-riffola and anyone else <33

[i-dont-want-your-hysteria]

I need him in my life so bad it actually fucking hurts

(scan via Rebecca Clark)

[rocknroll2024]

It's important

to give it all

you have while

you have the

chance.

- Shania Twain

[i-love-def-leppard]

[elliotts-personal-property]

Hey y’all how would we feel about getting a Joe one shot??

I have an idea in mind because I was listening to this song I love and like that… BAM inspiration hit me.

I’ve never posted any of my writing on here so that’s a bit scary but… if y’all are interested I will.

[eyes-of-rock]

Picture This

Rick Savage x OC {Casey Spencer}

Part: I

Plot: Casey Spencer is an aspiring rock photographer, who just got the chance of a life time as the photographer for Def Leppard new picture book. What she didn’t expect is to find love along the way.

A/N: Comments are always welcome!

Casey’s POV

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I can’t believe I’m actually doing it, that I’m here. That me, Casey Spencer, a rancher's daughter, is taking photos of Def Leppard. It’s been my dream my whole life to be a rock and metal photographer. I know it’s an odd dream for someone who grew up around cowboys and country music. Yet I've loved metal and rock since I first heard it as a kid. The first time I heard those screaming guitars, I was hooked, then I picked up a camera and realised my dream.

Of course I was born at the end of the 20th century, so unfortunately for me it’s not like you can exactly make a living off that alone. It’s not like people are scrambling for photos of old rock stars. So to make money I do wedding photography and other things on the side. I still go to tons of rock concerts and post the photos I take on my social media. I have a pretty large following, and I sell a few prints on my website as well, but I’m far from massive or well known.

I think that’s why it came to me as such a shock when I got the call. It was hard to believe I was chosen as the photographer for the Def Leppard photo book they plan to put out, and that I’d be with them for a whole tour. It almost feels like I’m back in the 80s, and I’m nervous as hell about it.

I know I can take pretty good photos, but Def Leppard are rock legends, good isn’t good enough. They need to be the best thing I’ve ever done, I want to impress them, after all this is a huge break for me. Not to mention def leppard is one of my favourite bands ever, I grew up with posters on them on my wall. I’ve seen them live like 4 times, and own all their records. I have to do them justice. I mean sure they’re all in their 60’a but they all still look good, and therefore deserve to be captured in the most beautiful way possible.

I take one final deep breath as I knock on the door of the dressing room, this is where I meet the band for the first time and my assignment begins. I’m supposed to get more than just staged photos and live shots, also some more candid photos of them backstage and offstage as well. It’s supposed to show all of the tour experience.

I smile as the door opens, and there stands Joe Elliott himself in the flesh a foot away from me. He looks a little shocked to see me standing there at first, but once he spots the camera bag hanging off my shoulder and the crew pass hanging off my neck I think he puts two and two together.

“I’m Casey Spencer, the photographer.” I say, just to confirm the conclusion he’s most likely already come to on his own.

“You’re a woman?” He says, sounding shocked and it’s not that surprising to me. Casey happens to be a unisex name, and it’s definitely more popular for men in my neck of the woods, so this has been happening to me my whole life.

“Last time I checked.” I say, looking down my shirt for an added effect, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, I’m Joe Elliott.” He says, moving aside. “Come on in, and I’m sorry I was just expecting a man because of your name.”

“Thanks, and don't worry about it.” I say walking into the dressing room, stopping dead in my tracks as I look to the left and see Rick Savage, standing there shirtless.

I can feel the blush creeping across my cheeks. I mean sure I’ve seen him shirtless in photos, but it’s a lot different to see it in person. It almost feels like it’s something I shouldn’t be seeing, considering the fact I just kind of walked in here and he probably isn’t expecting me.

Clearly he feels the same because the moment he notices me he grabs for the nearest shirt pulling it on over his perfect chest. I quickly look away as I feel his eyes meet mine, I’d rather he didn’t know I was just gawking at him. I mean I haven’t even officially met him yet.

“I’m sorry about that, love.” He apologises giving me a smile and I can’t help but notice how beautiful his smile is in person. I mean yes in photos it is gorgeous but in person it’s even more so. “I’m Rick Savage, and you are?”

“I’m Casey Spencer, I’ll be your photographer for the tour.” I tell him, doing the typical Montana thing of offering up a handshake when you meet someone new.

“It’s nice meeting you, love.” He says with a smile, accepting my handshake. Just as Viv, Phil and Rick all round the corner. Phil of course is shirtless, showing off his perfectly toned body, but unlike Sav it’s not overly shocking. If he was wearing a shirt it would probably be more shocking, and he’s not really my type. I prefer men with a little chub on them, someone more like Sav.

“Hey, guys. I'm Casey, the new photographer.” I tell them, giving them all a friendly wave.

“Lovely to meet you.” Phil says, giving me a smile.

“I’m Vivian. It’s nice to meet you.” Says Vivian, returning my wave.

“Rick and it’s great to meet you.” Rick says last, giving me a friendly smile.

“I promise you guys I won’t be in the way.” I tell them, making my point by moving to the side of the room. “And if I am, please tell me.”

The last thing I want to do is be a hindrance in any way. I try to be the least annoying person alive. So I hope to keep to that, I’ll be taking lots of photos but I’ll be doing it in the least invasive way possible.

“You won’t be in the way, love.” Sav informs me, “and even if you are we expected you to be a bit.”

“It doesn’t matter if you expect it, just tell me anyways, I don’t mind moving.” I tell him, “I better get going on these photos.”

“Do you want us to pose or anything?” Joe asks.

“No, I want some more candid shots.” I tell them, as I begin setting up my camera and adjusting the setting correctly for the lighting. “I’ll take some staged ones after the concert.”

“Alright works for me.” Joe shrugs, going back to whatever he’s doing.

I pick up my camera and peer through the viewfinder at my first target Phil. He’s sitting a few feet from me doing crunches or pulls up or something. I don't know the terms for workouts. What I do know though is I’m sure these are the kind of photos his fans would eat up, so I line up the camera making a few adjustments before snapping a bunch in a row.

That’s the key to making sure you at least get one keeper, taking a lot of photos. It's especially true when you aren’t staging a photo and therefore can’t manipulate the outcome.

Once I’m finished, I take a quick look through them on the screen and decide I have a couple of keepers and that’s good enough for me. I was nervous but the moment I met everyone and I picked up my camera all those nerves just melted away. I love photography and I’m doing exactly what I’ve always dreamed. I couldn’t be happier, and yes this will be a long assignment but I couldn’t be more ready for it. It’s a bonus they’re all nice as well, which makes working with them a lot easier, because believe me I’ve had some not so nice clients in the past. I think everyone will work out nicely.

_____________________________________________

Sav’s POV

I glance at Casey from the corner of my eye, she’s lazer forced on Phil taking photos of him. Who as per usual is working out, all shirtless and sweaty, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous he’s getting all her attention.

She’s striking, with copper hair and bright green eyes. She has delicate beautiful features, yet her colouring makes her stand out. Casey is gorgeous.

It was surprising to find Casey was a woman, I remember months back when we picked her, we assumed she was a man based on her name. So when a beautiful woman walked into the dressing room I was a bit shocked. If we were back in the 80s I might not have been, back then the dressing room was usually crawling with beautiful women.

It’s not the 80’s anymore and we aren’t young men, women aren’t exactly flocking to us. So now whenever I see a beautiful younger woman I assume she’s someone's guest.

In one way I’m lucky she’s not, I feel less guilty thinking of her the way I am, but in another I’m not. I could never act on those feelings because for one she’s working for me technically, and she’s got to be half my age, maybe even a quarter of it. There is no way she’d possibly want anything to do with an old man like me, especially not in the way I’m thinking of her. It would make it a lot easier to push those feelings aside if she was related to one of the blokes or something, but I’ll just have to fight it.

I quickly pretend to be flipping through my wardrobe as I notice her point the camera in my direction. I’d rather she had no idea I was just looking at her, I don’t want her to get creeped out by it or something. Though I’d love to pose for her, or maybe show off a bit, she instructed us to act like she’s not here. Which for me is clearly an impossible task, after all I’m standing metres away from the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Something tells me this tour will be a long one.

[appetite4savage]

700 Miles Away (Rick Savage)

-

Y/N’s POV

The feeling I get when he leaves for tour is the same every time. Dread, loneliness, all the bad feelings.

Waking up alone is different than waking up with his chest to my back, his hand resting on my hip. I haven’t slept at all from missing him so much.

My work alarm blares at 5:30 sharp in time to interrupt my thoughts.

I groan as the cold air hits me with full force as I get out of bed. Usually, Sav already has my morning coffee made. He always remembers to preset the machine the night before but I never do. It’s the little things like that which make me miss him so much more.

As I’m wandering around our house, I get the craziest idea.

What if I met him at the show tonight?

Reality hits me for a minute. I have to work. And the show is 700 miles away.

I could always call in sick, right?

The next thing I know, I’m on a flight to meet him at the show tonight. When you love someone, sometimes you just have to make an impulsive decision.

-

A two hour flight later, I’m here.

Sav gave me a pass that allows me into every show, should I decide to come to any. So getting in will not be an issue. I can’t wait to see his face when he notices me in the crowd.

I wait at the barricades along with the rest of the eager fans. Little do they know, the bassist is all mine.

Finally, a countdown starts to signal the show is about to start.

The opening chords of Hysteria begin. The band walks out one by one, with Joe walking out last. They’re much too in the zone to notice me yet.

After the song ends, Sav looks up and his eyes meet my own, prompting them to start gleaming. His eyebrows furrow, and his mouth forms a big, shocked smile.

Joe catches this and follows the direction of where he’s looking, only to be just as surprised.

“Well well, looks like we have a special guest out there in the crowd tonight.” Joe winks. “Only Mrs. Savage in the flesh!” He nudged Sav with his elbow, then points to me.

The girls around me give me the worst glares I’ve ever received. I blow the boys a kiss and Sav pretends to catch it, which really sends them over the edge.

-

I make my way backstage after the show. Suddenly, I’m entangled in some strong arms.

“Have you lost your mind?” A familiar voice whispers in my ear. I spin around to meet the blue eyes I’ve missed waking up to.

“As far as my boss knows, I have the flu.” I smile, faking a cough.

“Playing hooky, eh?” He smirks before pulling me closer. His soft lips connect with mine and suddenly everything is right in the world.

“Can’t be away from you for too long.”

“The feeling is mutual.”