Def Leppard

Def Leppard are one of the most successful hard rock bands to ever wield six strings; their blend of glam rock, hair metal, and big pop ballads led to massive wave of success in the ’80s that the band has continued to ride over the ensuing decades. Emerging in the late ’70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they gained a following outside of that scene by toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody. After a couple of strong albums, they found crossover success with 1983’s Pyromania, and skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. They reached the pinnacle of their career with 1987′s blockbuster Hysteria, then had another big hit, 1992′s Adrenalize, that defied the mainstream turn toward grunge. After that, the band settled into a pattern of touring exhaustively and releasing an album every few years, maintaining a steady audience and occasionally surprising fans with a new album, like 2008′s Yeah! or 2022′s Diamond Star Halos, that harked back to the sound of their glory days. Def Leppard originated in a Sheffield-based group that teenagers Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in 1977. Vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatical follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band several months later, bringing the name Deaf Leopard with him. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by a now-forgotten drummer, began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year the band had added guitarist Steve Clark to the lineup, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, they recorded their debut EP, Getcha Rocks Off, and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, 15-year-old Rick Allen was added as the band’s permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the toast of the British music weeklies. They soon signed with AC/DC’s manager, Peter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury Records. On Through the Night, the band’s full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, playing their own shows while also opening concerts for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar, and Judas Priest. High 'n' Dry followed in 1981 and became the group’s first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV’s strong rotation of “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.” As the band recorded the follow-up to High 'n' Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the group because of his alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983′s Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard’s skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV’s repeated airing of “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages.” Pyromania went on to sell ten million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, they were about to enter a trying time in their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group reentered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the bandmembers turned to their former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Allen lost his left arm in a New Year’s Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in. Def Leppard’s future looked cloudy without a drummer, but by the spring of 1985 — just a few months after his accident — Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. The band soon resumed recording, and within a few months, Lange was back on board; having judged all the existing tapes inferior, he ordered the band to begin work all over again. Recording sessions continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed their fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987. The record was released that spring to lukewarm reviews, with many critics claiming that the album compromised Leppard’s metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. Accordingly, Hysteria was slow out of the starting gates — “Women,” the first single, failed to really take hold — but the release of “Animal” helped the album gather steam. The song became Def Leppard’s first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it launched a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included “Hysteria,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Love Bites,” “Armageddon It,” and “Rocket,” the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard’s presence was unavoidable — they were the kings of high school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N' Roses took hold in 1988. Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard’s popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early ’90s, as the band took a break from the road and set to work on a new record. During the recording process, however, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Clark had historically battled alcohol, and following their Hysteria heyday, his bandmates forced him to take a sabbatical. Although he did enter rehab, Clark’s habits continued, and his abuse was so crippling that Collen began recording the majority of the band’s guitar leads. Following Clark’s death, Def Leppard resolved to finish their forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several successful singles, including the Top 20 hits “Let’s Get Rocked” (notable for having one of the first ever CGI music videos) and “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad,” the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After its release, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell to the lineup, thus resuming Def Leppard’s two-guitar attack. In 1993, Def Leppard issued the rarities collection Retro Active, which yielded another Top 20 hit with the acoustic ballad “Two Steps Behind.” Two years later, the group released the greatest-hits collection Vault while preparing for their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it proved more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, indicating that Leppard’s heyday had indeed passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band. Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to their patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999. Despite the success of “Promises,” the record failed to produce any additional hits, resulting in a return to adult pop balladry on 2002′s X. The two-disc Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection arrived in 2005, followed in 2006 by Yeah!, a strong collection of covers. In 2008, the guys released their tenth studio album, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, which debuted at number five and was supported by a lucrative summer tour. Material from that tour helped make up the bulk of 2011′s Mirror Ball: Live & More, a three-disc live album containing a full concert, three new studio recordings, and DVD footage. Another live album followed two years later: Viva! Hysteria found Def Leppard running through their 1987 blockbuster in its entirety on the first disc, and a collection of early, rarely played material on the second. In 2015, the band released Def Leppard, their 11th studio album and first collection of original music since 2008. In February 2017, the group issued And There Will Be a Next Time, a live album culled from the Def Leppard supporting tour. Later that year, a Super Deluxe Edition of Hysteria came out in celebration of the record’s 30th anniversary. Further repackagings continued in 2018 with a box set of their ’80s albums titled The Collection, Vol. 1 and The Story So Far: The Best of Def Leppard, a multi-disc set that included the band’s first four studio albums and various rarities. The next year saw the release of The Collection, Vol. 2, a set of their ’90s records, and The Story So Far, Vol. 2: Hits & B-Sides, which picked up where the first volume left off with material from the band’s ’90s run and beyond. Def Leppard continued to tour on a regular basis and played a Las Vegas residency, then in 2020 issued a collection of their first two albums plus a live set and BBC sessions titled The Early Years 79-81. After this slew of live and reissued material, the band finally released another studio album in 2022, their 12th. Entitled Diamond Star Halos, it was heralded by the barnstorming, old-school promo track “Kick” and featured two collaborations with Alison Krauss. In 2023 the band issued Drastic Symphonies, a set of reimagined Lep classics and hidden gems recorded with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine