Terror Twins
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The Terror Twins is the nickname of Def Leppard's co-guitarists:Phil Collen and Steve Clark.
Their career together began in July of 1982 when Phil Collen joined Def Leppard, replacing original guitarist Pete Willis, and ended with the passing of Steve Clark in London on January 8, 1991.
During their career in Def Leppard, the two guitarists were involved in two albums and tours together - the 1983 release of the album Pyromania and the tour that followed it as well as the 1987 release of the album Hysteria and the tour that followed it until October of 1988 when the two musicians did their final show together in the Seattle, Washington area when the Hysteria tour officially ended. Phil Collen remained in Def Leppard after Steve Clark's passing - from 1992's release of the Adrenalize album (in which he played all of the guitar parts that he and Steve Clark had written) through the release of 2006's Def Leppard's covers album "Yeah!" and the present. He also has a side project Man-Raze that features a member of the Sex Pistols and a member of Phil's former band Girl. They have completed an album entitled Surreal and it is to be released on the band's own label (Surrealist) sometime in January of 2008.
The moniker is also a partial tribute to Aerosmith's Toxic Twins, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.
[edit] References
- Animal Instinct (Def Leppard's official biography) by David Fricke, published in 1987. There is a chapter in this book that documents some of the antics of Phil Collen and Steve Clark that further define them as being The Terror Twins. One such episode occurred when they rode into the foyer of a hotel on a tandem bicycle and asked if the staff provided valet parking. Subsequent interviews have since revealed that the "Terror Twins" moniker was somewhat diminished in the mid-80s when, after a drinking spree, Collen awoke to find he had purchased a $10,000 USD wristwatch with no memory of the incident. He promptly quit drinking, stopped eating meat, and adopted a healthier lifestyle which he has continued to this day. Steve Clark was unable to do so, passing away in 1991 of a drug and alcohol overdose after several incidents of clinical intervention.
