Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen saw his career and life flash before his eyes. In 1984, the musician almost died in a car wreck that nearly cost him his life.
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During the crash, Allen got catapulted through the sunroof. He ended up losing his arm in the car crash after it got stuck in a seat belt. Doctors ended up amputating the arm due to an infection. Speaking on The Greg Hill Show (via Blabbermouth), Allen thought his career was over.
“I did. I honestly thought that was it. When I finally realized that I’d actually lost my arm when I came around in hospital, I really didn’t wanna be here and I didn’t want to see anybody. I think the only person I wanted to see was my brother and my parents, but I just wanted to disappear. I felt so self-conscious,” he said.
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Ultimately, a friend helped lift his spirits. He said, “And then a friend of mine, [Robert John] ‘Mutt’ Lange, our producer, he came in to see me, and he just lifted me up, and he turned my attention to what I could do, whereas I was sort of obsessing on everything that I couldn’t do, and he really helped me really dig in and find the power of the human spirit and that’s what kind of lifted me out of it.”
It was important for Allen to adjust to his new normal instead of focusing on how things used to be. He said he realized that life offered him an opportunity — no one could play in the exact way that he plays. Still, he thanks his band mates for standing by him through the difficult period in his life. They gave him the chance to learn how to play the drums minus an arm.
All Allen needed was time. He ultimately adjusted and found his confidence as a musician.
“They left the decision to me, whether I wanted to go on or not, and they gave me time to grow and develop, really, a whole new style [of playing],” Allen said. “And that’s all I needed — I just needed the time. I needed the time to build my confidence and realize that I could do it. Nobody ever said, ‘Well, you have to make a decision now.’ I think that was the most important thing — just that time that they gave me just to find myself.”
[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage]
