40 Years Ago, Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen Lost His Arm: His Story Is One of Resilience
Rick Allen, the legendary drummer for Def Leppard, faced a life-changing challenge on Dec. 31, 1984, when the then 21-year-old Allen and his girlfriend were in a horrifying car crash on a rural road in the English countryside; in the aftermath, Allen lost his left arm.
At the time, Allen and his fellow Def Leppard members had, well, some kinda hold on music fans. The band’s third album, Pyromania, released the year before, had launched the boys on a successful worldwide tour that took Def Leppard from bar band to opening act to stadium headliner in less than a year. The record also produced four Billboard Top 40 singles that also enjoyed heavy rotation on MTV. A US Gallup poll that year named Def Leppard America’s favorite rock band, more popular than AC/DC, Journey and even the Rolling Stones.
Def Leppard performing at the Channel 4 Christmas Show on December 12, 1983. Photo: Rogers/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
But New Year’s Eve 1984 would test both Allen’s and the band’s resilience — and their fiery commitment to their place in rock ’n’ roll history.
Speeding along in his Corvette Stingray outside of his Sheffield, England, hometown, Allen lost control of the vehicle while street racing with another sports car. The Corvette flipped and smashed into a wall. As Allen was launched through the open sunroof, his left arm remained tangled in the seat belt, severing it at the shoulder.
A pair of nurses and a cop came upon the gruesome scene minutes after it happened, but Allen’s injuries were too severe for his arm to be successfully reattached. Though his recovery would take time, Allen refused to accept that his drumming days were over. And while his bandmates knew success could be fleeting, they also knew that Allen had laid down enough material for their upcoming album, Hysteria, that the disc could be released, leaving time to figure out what happened next.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
After six weeks in the hospital, Allen was released. He rejoined Def Leppard in the studio days later. Three months after the accident, Allen was drumming again, working with electricians and engineers to develop a custom drum kit that allowed him to use his right arm and a series of foot pedals to create the same percussion sounds he did with two arms.
Def Leppard bided its time with small local shows while Allen regained his strength and skills, returning to the stage with a monster performance at the 1986 Monsters of Rock music festival in Castle Donington, in Derby, England. Allen’s fans and fellow musicians were stunned to see “The Thunder God” return to his kit with the same fervor as before the accident.
As a band, Def Leppard’s star continued to rise. And as a person, Allen began to see the blessings that arose from the worst day of his life, taking up painting, spending time with soldiers and others who’d suffered traumatic injuries, and creating the Raven Drum Foundation, which blends music, mindfulness, movement and other therapies into healing and self-empowerment.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
“It enabled me to grow in so many ways,” Allen said of his injury in a 2021 interview with ABC. “It became a blessing and a responsibility — a responsibility to other people, to myself. That has become a huge gift.”
Remind 
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘80s? See what your favs are up to now!
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