{"id":9793,"date":"2010-12-26T17:06:05","date_gmt":"2010-12-26T23:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=9793"},"modified":"2020-10-03T17:26:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T22:26:56","slug":"twenty-years-ago-in-memory-of-steve-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2010\/twenty-years-ago-in-memory-of-steve-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Years Ago: In Memory of Steve Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty Years Ago: In Memory of Steve Clark<\/h3>\n

by Alex Barbieri<\/span>
\nStaff Writer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"January 8, 2011 marks 20 years since the premature passing of Def Leppard guitarist, Steve Clark. This holiday season, raise a pint in honor of \u201cSteamin\u2019 Steve\u201d and the musical legacy he left behind.<\/p>\n

To Def Leppard, Clark was family; a mate who they practiced with in a garage in Sheffield, England, and went on to conquer the world with. To Clark\u2019s girlfriend Lorelei Shellist, he was the love of her life. In her memoir, \u201cRunway Runaway,\u201d Shellist describes Clark as a brilliant musician and songwriter tortured by insecurity, alcoholism and the suppressed need for his father\u2019s approval. If only Clark knew how much he was and still is loved.<\/p>\n

From a songwriter’s perspective, Clark was known as a \u201crif master\u201d with an uncanny ability to pull musical \u201cbits\u201d out of nowhere. His influence on Def Leppard\u2019s greatest moments are many: The intro to \u201cGods of War,\u201d the solo in \u201cHysteria,\u201d and of course the instrumental that has become his posthumous soundtrack, \u201cSwitch 625.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Live, Clark’s playing was all feel: white Les Paul slung low, chords a bit sloppy ala \u201cKeef;\u201d a rock god in the \u2018round in tight cropped jacket, scarves and blond mane flowing; \u201cWhite Lightning.\u201d Was there anything more rock \u2018n roll? In his own cool, quiet way, Steve Clark contributed more to rock \u2018n roll than he will ever know.<\/p>\n

The memory and music of Steve Clark remains strong for a simple reason: his authenticity. In our digital download world, Clark\u2019s playing represents real feel and talent largely missing in music today. You wanna rock? Or better yet teach your kids to rock? Turn up Def Leppard\u2019s High \u2018n\u2019 Dry. Rock school is in session.<\/p>\n

One hopes the result will be that Clark’s playing inspires budding guitar heroes to back away from the Pro Tools, work on writing songs rather than being famous, close their eyes \u2026 and just play. And above all, have confidence that they are talented and loved.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 8, 1991, Stephen Maynard Clark, aged 30, died from a fatal combination of prescription drugs and alcohol. We miss you, Steve. Cheers, mate.<\/p>\n

Watch Steve do what he did best: \u201cHysteria\u201d live on YouTube:
\n


\n<\/object><\/center><\/p>\n

Memories of Steve Clark and \u201cSwitch 625\u201d by Def Leppard:
\n


\n<\/object><\/center><\/p>\n

Read a page dedicated to Steve on defleppard.com:
\nhttp:\/\/www.defleppard.com\/band\/steve.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the tribute page from Lorelei Shellist\u2019s \u201cRunway Runaway\u201d:
\nhttp:\/\/www.runwayrunaway.com\/page18<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit steveclarkguitar.com, a well-done website in loving memory of Steve:
\nhttp:\/\/www.steveclarkguitar.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty Years Ago: In Memory of Steve Clark by Alex Barbieri Staff Writer January 8, 2011 marks 20 years since the premature passing of Def Leppard guitarist, Steve Clark. This holiday season, raise a pint […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6971],"tags":[348,1078],"class_list":{"0":"post-9793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main-articles","8":"tag-def-leppard","9":"tag-in-tribute"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793","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=9793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}