Tuesday
Mar262019
Def Leppard Week: Tuesday (Howard Stern Appearance)
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 12:01AM
Looks like Def Leppard are doing a countdown of their own with videos on their social media accounts. Yesterday, the guys picked out clothes for the big Rock Hall induction ceremony.
The Leps will be on Howard Stern today. I'll true to tune in if I remember. I'm not much of a Howard Stern fan but I want to support Def Leppard!
Reader Comments (5)
Anyway, yesterday, my kids had a half day from school. Usually, when they do, I take them to McDonald's for lunch. As they were eating, I was listening to the show, and by extension so were they. They know "songs" from our era, but don't really know about bands, their histories, etc...If a song come on Hair Nation, if they don't see the name on the monitor, they might think a Poison song could be Queensryche. They still think SpongeBob wrote, "We're not gonna take it".
But even in their limited knowledge, they still seemed intrigued by the history and evolution of this band. Meanwhile, I was enthralled with the dissection and the ins/outs of all things Def Leppard. Howard did not disappoint. I knew they were paying attention when my daughter asked me, "the drummer really lost his arm?" But even before that, how Mutt Lange produced Pyromania. What guntar gleeben globin glouten means??? Anyone??? How Joe Elliot is a huge David Bowie fan....so much so, at a Bar-be-que at Bono's house, Bono secretly invited Bowie to surprise Joe. My takeaway was, "Who ever thought that Bono hosts Bar-be-ques?"
Anyway, toward the end of the interview, Def Leppard started playing some of their hits and it was then that it "clicked" with my kids. "Oh, this bands plays "Pour some sugar on me?" Oh, the play, "Foolin'? Wait, wait dad, are you really saying that they write and play these songs and that the height of the career, the drummer lost his arm??? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. What a true inspiration and a test of fortitude and the human spirit. 1, 2, 3,4...
“Private Parts” says it all!
On a personal note, along with the self realization that I’ve dated a lot of notable people’s cousins, I dated one of Howard Stern’s cousins.
She told me that back in the day, before he wound up with the big radio contracts, even before Sirius, he would call her apartment to harass her and her sister as part of the show and he would say the raunchiest sh*t to them.
She told me some of the shockingly funny sh*t he would say to them and their reactions to him that early in the morning when they were getting ready for work.
The questions he asked them when he called them on the air and some of her sister’s responses cannot be printed here and are not in the book!
If you managed to hear those shows when he would call them, and there were quite a few over like a year or two, when, at certain points, he was calling them everyday, you’ll know better than I what was said.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was used as part of the evidence against him in lawsuits and filings both from the radio station and the FCC.
But allow my to take you on a little history tour. I'm originally from Philly. So, I started to listen to Howard in 1986 when he started syndication and began airing on 94.1 WYSP. The other Philadelphia rock station was 93.3 WMMR, hosted by John Debella and his "Gonzo" morning zoo. Debella's show was HUGE in Philly and unlike all of Howard's other markets that he conquered in a relatively short period of time, it took Howard 3+ years to beat DeBella in the Philadelphia ratings market. How do I know how big BeDella was and how much power he wielded? I was there.
I went to an all-boys Catholic High School, where unlike my grade school where we wore uniforms, our High School didn't have a uniform, but instead, it had a very strict, conservative "Dress for Success" policy; whereby students had to wear dress slacks, a button-up shirt (belly to neck with every button secured), shoes, socks, a belt, a tie (not clip-on), clean shaven and your hair could not go past your collar. If, on any particular day, you forgot so much as to wear a belt, you would get a demerit. If you did not shave that morning, you were handed a razor and shaving cream and sent to the bathroom for a shave and you got a few demerits. If your hair went past your collar, three demerits/day until you got a respectable haircut. Accumulation of Demerits lead to Detentions, Suspensions and ultimately Expulsion. You wanna talk Pussification with me BK? Anyway, what's my point???
My point, getting back to Howard and Debella, Debella was huge in the Philadelphia Metropolitan area and on his morning zoo crew show he had some lame bit that Fridays were "Gonzo" days whereby people should wear Hawaiian shirts and listen to the Kingsman's song, "Louie, Louie". Kinda like in today's offices that Fridays are "wear jeans to work day". Well, I gotta tell your, every friggin' Friday, half the students wore button down Hawaiian shirts (with their required tie) and also a lot of the "cool" lay teachers even sported these shirts and ties, too. Yeah, real cutting edge stuff.
And, each Spring, DeBella would host/hold a "Louie Louie" parade down Broad Street where thousands of rabid fans would dress in their silly shirts, drink beer and sing-along to that stupid song. In school on Fridays, when a teacher would ask me why I wasn't wearing a Hawaiian shirt, I'd respond, "I'm a Howard fan", whereby, I'd then get booed, called a faggot and hit with spit balls from classmates while the teacher would inform/lecture me that Howard Stern is not conducive to the moral, Christian Catholic code of ethics and standards. You wanna talk rude, crude and inappropriate, Bk?
Oh, and a couple years later (1993) when Howard Stern showed us his Private Parts, I don't recall MB standing in line with me for 9+ hours in Philly to get her book signed (BTW, He never signed mine. The line was cut off and it still pisses me off every time Howard goes on the air and says that he stayed in Philly until every last fan's book was signed. There were still about 2000 people behind me when the line was cut off.)
But BK, I don't know why we are even having this "conversation". I agree with you that his show has become a shell of what it used to be: edgy, raw and FUNNY. This is why I now only listen to the interviews. And, the Def Leppard interview did not disappoint. This is also a reason why I pre-ordered his newest book, Comes Again. I am looking forward to hearing about his interviewing processes- from the start of when the guest is booked until he closes the interview by clapping his hands and declaring to the guest, "Well, you said it all..."
I am also hoping to read an honest, raw chapter on Artie Lange and his exit from the show. Artie actually broke the book-deal story on his podcast about a year ago saying that a representative from the HS show contacted him to ask if Howard could write about it.
Oh, and Les Moonves suing Howard Stern for inappropriate bits. That's funny. That's like the time when Sara Packer (who I never met) called me at my home in a fit of rage telling me that I had inappropriate decision-making skills and she couldn't believe that she allowed me to foster a child under her watchful eye. She was a County supervisor. I promptly called her NUTS! for which I was later asked to apologize. I didn't. And that wasn't in 1986, that conversation was just a couple of years ago. (google her name). I'm still a Howard Stern fan, just not so much of a fan of The Howard Stern Show.