amymyoung | Oct. 8th, 2008

Okay. So, I finally have had enough of the utter stupidity that seems to surround the bassist for Def Leppard, and had to sit down and put fingers to keyboard and explain why I admire him.

I’ve been a Leppard fan since High N’ Dry, through osmosis really. My father listened to them and loved them, and I naturally fell into listening to what my Dad listened to. Now if you’re doing the math to figure out how old I was at that point – I’ll save you the time – I was young – but not deaf or stupid.

Both my parents musical views trickled down into what I listen to today – I was taught to value any type of music – be it classical, country, metal, rock, pop, choral – that was well written. I’m not saying this makes me a “better” Leppard fan than anyone else, more that I’ve seen the band go through a lot of changes – from Pete Willis being replaced by Phil Collen to Vivian Campell stepping in after Steve Clark’s death in 1991.

Of course, the first person that anyone can identify with in any band is the lead vocalist. They are, for all intents and purposes, the public face of the band. Joe Elliott, to the best of my remembrance has always been a brash loudmouth, though generally with his heart in the right place.

I found myself indentifying more and more as I got older with the quiet spoken bassist – Richard Savage, AKA Sav – because when he opened his mouth you’d listen – he came over as educated, and rarely spoke unless it was something he had a passion for, an important fact or conjecture to provide. Where Joe was a brash, balls to the wall, over the top figure, Sav was down-to-earth. This is a good deal of the problem. He comes over very much as the “every man” of a band that, until recently, has been very accessible.

Unlike a lot of fans, I just don’t see Sav as a sex symbol. I clearly remember, in the Vault days, when my best friend thought that their new bassist was hot, my jaw hit ting the floor. She was quickly reminded that the bassist was the only remaining member of the original band (meaning Atomic Mass), it was Vivian Campbell who was the “new guy”.

Nor do I see him as a bass god either. He is good at playing bass, no question about that. He will tell you that he’s not the best bassist out there – that there are many better than him, including one of his own (and many others) bass icons – Geddy Lee. I surpassed Sav’s skill level within a year of learning to play bass. This is not to say that Def Leppard’s songs have exceedingly easy bass parts – they don’t – but at the same time, they don’t have the complexity of a Rush song either.

Do I care about Sav’s Bell’s Palsy? Yes, only to the point of it’s painful watching another human being suffer from a disorder that leaves you unable to control a portion your body (FHM for the lose there as well). Did it change him? Oh yes. Sav has always been shy compared to his band-mates. This changed him (with other factors) into almost a hermit. It taught him the sheer cruelty of people, and that even the ones you love aren’t exempt from that cruelty. It’s a hard lesson to learn and a lot of people don’t come out the other end of that dark passageway.

Simply, I admire him for being a gentleman over all. He’s human just like you and me. He has bad days, good days, puts his pants on one leg at a time (I can only assume), gets worn out and cranky just like the rest of us. I admire him for not giving up when things got bad, and then even worse. For being a person who, despite the extraordinary job, has mostly kept a level head, and his sense of humor – as well as putting up with Mr. Motor Mouth Elliott without drowning him in bucket. Repeatedly.

I admire him for putting up with fans that come from the scarier pages of the DSM-IV-TR and not climbing a clock tower with a high-powered rifle, despite some of the scarier things they have done. Having had run-ins with some of these people myself, I can attest to the sheer “WTF?” that you walk away with.

I highly doubt the man himself will ever lay eyes on this. I’m just one inconsequential blogger of millions. He (and the band) owe me nothing, and I owe them nothing more than a “thank you” for being a part of the soundtrack of my life.

So, I close with two words.

Thank you.