Santa Monica, CA - Media Reviews

Blackfoot/Def Leppard @ Santa Monica Civic Auditorium By Los Angeles Times

To the uninitiated, all heavy metal rock groups sound alike.

Fans of the genre, however, know there are distinct, if subtle differences.

Blackfoot, a Florida-based quartet, with the sound of a lobotomized Lynyrd Skynyrd, was the headliner at the Santa Monica Civic on Saturday night.

But judging by the T-shirts and audience reaction, at least half of the packed house was there primarily to see Def Leppard, an English quintet that rehashes orthodox Anglo riff-rock dicturns with all the originality of a Detroit compact.

Nearly a quarter of the crowd had exited by the middle of Blackfoot's set.

It's not hard to see why.

Blackfoot's Western-biker-hippie image is no match for the youthful, clean-shaven, bare-chested Def Leppard in the looks department.

Def Leppard is a relatively new outfit, which gives its predominately high-school audience the illusion that they're hearing something novel, something exclusively theirs.

Not true.

Oh, it's theirs all right (mostly by default), but new".

Def Leppard regurgitates guitar licks from Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple to Thin Lizzy to AC/DC like an amplified Cuisinart run amok.

The same goes for its vocals, lyrics and showmanship.

The band does work up a fair sweat though, and like its closest-contemporaries - Iron Maiden - Leppard will soon be selling albums by the truckload.

All of which will undoubtedly wind up in the used-record bins within five years.

By Los Angeles Times 1981.

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