{"id":50770,"date":"2015-12-19T08:21:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-19T13:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=50770"},"modified":"2016-01-27T10:56:16","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T15:56:16","slug":"phil-collen-with-chris-epting-adrenalized-life-def-leppard-and-beyond-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/phil-collen-with-chris-epting-adrenalized-life-def-leppard-and-beyond-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Collen with Chris Epting | Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard And Beyond<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"collen-adrenalized-life-def-leppard-and-beyond\"From the perspective of the \u201880s Rock fan, is 2015 a year of Def Leppard? In many respects, yes. Of course, the credit has to be given to M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce for causing quite a stir with their (supposedly) Final Tour. There\u2019s been also plenty acts of the era that came up with solid releases in the course of the last twelve months. However, Def Leppard has been one of the most eagerly anticipated albums if it comes to Hard Rock scene. And even though it won\u2019t match the success of Pyromania<\/em> or Hysteria<\/em>, it appeals both to the fans of the classic and post-classic Leppard. Also, 2015 saw the release of the Phil Collen-penned memoir Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard And Beyond. Written with help of the award-winning journalist and writer Chris Epting and published via Bantam Press, it\u2019s the first book even written by a member of Def Leppard. But is it a book on the band really \u2013 or perhaps not necessarily so?<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s title itself is the key to the right understanding of it. It\u2019s all about the eponymous three dimensions to the persona of Phil Collen: his life, his music and anything else that constitutes his being. First and foremost, then, it\u2019s the account of the fifty one years of his living, growth and personal development. The dynamics of the story may be subjected to Collen\u2019s work in one of the biggest bands of the \u201880s and the good portion of the book may be built around stories related to Def Leppard (and, in relatively smaller scale, to side projects). However, it\u2019s still not entirely a band chronicle. Rather than that, a reader gets a personal diary of sorts, narrated by a well-known musician. Some clich\u00e9s in this rags-to-riches (or rather, working-class-to-Rock-stardom) tale were, obviously, unavoidable. However, there\u2019s still more to that than just following a standard.<\/p>\n

The eponymous \u201clife\u201d part is obvious here, ranging from vignettes from the veteran of the music industry to thoughts shared on Collen\u2019s private life \u2013 relationships, family life, fatherhood, alcohol abuse, abstinence, diet choices etc. What could be understood, in reference to the book\u2019s title, as the eponymous \u201cbeyond\u201d parts are mostly our protagonist\u2019s memories presented in a context that\u2019s quite broad for an autobiography. His recollections of particular events or routines related to his past are not introduced for their own sake only but rather to become starting points for some general contemplation. <\/p>\n

To some extent, it can be said the book has both a cultural and a philosophical dimension to it. For example, insight into the guitarist\u2019s family life and childhood memories is a sample of how the ordinary British working class family lived back in the \u201860s. Collen \u2013 being the narrator of the story \u2013 discusses his life in the context of such phenomena as the adolescent angst, the primeval contrast of the British versus the American culture\u2026 or even the psychology of car ownership. He also recalls cultural and musical phenomena of his lifetime \u2013 Glam Rock, Punk Wave, NWOBHM, Grunge etc. \u2013 and provides some surprisingly insightful commentary. Particular passages quoted from this book could also serve in modern day era as the account of one of the first followers of the \u201cslow life\u201d movement, the veganism and keeping fit. Could Phil Collen become your personal coach then? In the pages of his autobiography, he seemed to be pretty persuasive\u2026<\/p>\n

For Def Leppard fans, there\u2019s also plenty of picturesque tales on and off the road and in and out of the recording studio. A reader can find some stories behind the band\u2019s songs and classic albums here (the groundbreaking quality of the cross-genre, technology-driven Hysteria in particular) as well as an insight into the band\u2019s routine, policy and creative process. It\u2019s also a sneak peek into the developing NWOBHM scene in the early \u201880s, the MTV-dominated music industry of the decade or the reality of the \u201880s band adjusting to the changing musical landscape of the grungy \u201890s. However, it\u2019s again more about Collen\u2019s musings on his band experience rather than a month-by-month, year-by-year chronicle of recording and touring. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an insight into Mutt Lange\u2019s work ethics that laid the foundations to Pyromania<\/em> or Hysteria<\/em> as well as a rare occasion to learn what does the mature rock musician think about their fandom, groupies or the pomposity of the \u201880s era. The book also details Collen\u2019s brotherly friendship with Steve Clark (with emphasis put on the fact how the two connected on the artistic, emotional and intellectual level), the aftermath of Clark\u2019s death as well as Rick Allen\u2019s accident and his return to drumming. An interesting thing about all things Leppard in the book is how the guitarist \u2013 deliberately or not \u2013 models himself and his band mates as the \u201cboy next door.\u201d Their down-to-earth, humble attitude, family values and focus on music are emphasized more than their backstage antics. An account of the journey from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the book is critical towards the worship of fame and the fragility of success. Even the photos are more like a few pages torn from Phil Collen\u2019s family album than a handful of Def Leppard\u2019s glossy promo shots. <\/p>\n

The first-person narrative makes it difficult for a reader to actually estimate the co-writer Chris Epting\u2019s influence upon the book. Whatever was the actual working strategy on the book, Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard And Beyond<\/em> turns out to be a very good read in the end. The style is candid, detailed but not long-winded and sometimes humorous. It doesn\u2019t matter if you call it a memoir, a personal diary or a music-related autobiography with a bit of a lifestyle twist to it \u2013 as long as you\u2019re a rock fan, you\u2019ll enjoy it anyway.<\/p>\n

ISBN:
\nISBN-10 – 147675165X.
\nISBN-13 – 978-1476751658.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Bantam Press<\/p>\n

Website: www.transworldbooks.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Sr. Columnist — From the perspective of the \u201880s Rock fan, is 2015 a year of Def Leppard? In many respects, yes. Of course, the credit has to be given to […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":50772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[11901,11903,8719,11900,348,11902,11836],"class_list":{"0":"post-50770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-adrenalized-life","9":"tag-bantam-press","10":"tag-book-review","11":"tag-chris-epting","12":"tag-def-leppard","13":"tag-def-leppard-and-beyond","14":"tag-phil-collen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}