10 Musicians That Were Kicked Out Of Their Own Band

Def Leppard's ascent to the top of the hair metal food chain wasn't really the game plan when they were getting the ball rolling. In fact, some of their earlier works like High N Dry and On Through the Night actually put these '80s legends closer to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal than the likes of Motley Crue and Poison. Once things started to turn a corner though, there was one Leppard who couldn't quite make that transition.

Going into the recording of Pyromania, Pete Willis was starting to really lose his step with the rest of the band. With producer Mutt Lange at the helm, the Leppards were really whipped into shape in the studio, as Joe Elliott likened it to being in the musical version of the military. That kind of schedule didn't necessarily mesh with Willis, who would occasionally wander into the studio half drunk before making a half hearted attempt to lay down his rhythm guitars.

After giving Willis a few weeks to figure himself out, the rest of the band quickly drafted in Phil Collen from the London outfit Girl. Seeing the amazing chemistry between Steve Clark almost immediately, it wasn't hard for Def Leppard to quickly make the switch for Collen's more technical approach to playing. For as much as Willis may have had the attitude of a rock star, sometimes you need that discipline if you want to keep your rock dreams going.