Def Leppard are a hard rock band from Sheffield
who formed in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
On the strength
of their albums, Pyromania & Hysteria, Def Leppard became one of the top selling
rock bands of the 1980s.
Music
The music of Def Leppard is a mixture
of hard rock, AOR, & heavy metal elements, & has been associated more
with the pop metal movement of the 1980s than with the NWOBHM of the late 1970s,
in large part due to their mainstream success & production. However, Def Leppard
have expressed dislike of the "pop metal" label
By the release of the Hysteria album, the band had developed a distinctive sound featuring heavily processed drums & effects-laden guitar sounds, overlaid with a multi-layered wall of husky, harmonised vocals. Def Leppard is one of only six rock bands with two original albums selling over 10 million copies each in the U.S. The others are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles & Van Halen.
History
1977
- 1979
Rick Savage (bass), Pete Willis (guitars) & Tony Kenning (drums),
formed the band "Atomic Mass" in 1977 as students at Tapton School in
Sheffield (see 1977 in music). Joe Elliott auditioned for a spot as their guitarist
following a chance meeting with Willis. However, during Elliott's audition, it
was decided that he was better suited for the role of lead singer.
Soon afterwards, they adopted the name "Deaf Leopard" (which Elliott had thought of in his school days). At the suggestion of Tony Kenning, the name "Deaf Leopard" was slightly modified to Def Leppard in order to avoid comparison to punk bands, & perhaps also as an indirect homage to Led Zeppelin's similarly styled band name.
While perfecting their sound as a band in spoon factory, the band added another guitarist Steve Clark in January 1978. Tony Kenning suddenly left the band in November 1978 prior to recording sessions for a three-song EP in late 1978. He was replaced for those sessions by Frank Noon on what was known the Def Leppard EP.
Sales for the EP soared soon after the track "Rocks Off" was given extensive airtime by renowned BBC Radio DJ John Peel, considered at the time to be a champion of punk rock & new wave music. 15-year-old Rick Allen joined the band as its full-time drummer towards the end of November 1978.
Throughout 1979, the band won a loyal following among British hard rock/heavy metal fans, & were even initially considered the leaders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (eventually losing that spot to Iron Maiden). This emerging popularity resulted in a major label record deal with Phonogram/Vertigo (Mercury Records in the US).
1980
– 1983
Their debut album, On Through The Night, was released on March
14, 1980. Although the album hit the Top 15 in the UK, many early fans were turned
off by the perception that the band was trying too hard to appeal to American
audiences, with songs like "Hello America" & touring more in the
US (supporting Pat Travers, AC/DC & Ted Nugent). While performing at the Reading
Festival in August (alongside fellow NWOBHM pioneers Iron Maiden), audience members
showed this displeasure by pelting the band with garbage during their set.
In retrospect, the hostility was unfair as the band was simply taking advantage of opportunities not given to most young British rock bands at the time. However, the damage was done & it would take years until Def Leppard won back their homeland.
The band then caught the attention of AC/DC producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who agreed to work on their second album, High 'n' Dry, released on July 11, 1981. Lange's painfully meticulous approach in the studio greatly improved on Def Leppard's potential from On Through The Night.
Despite mediocre album sales, the "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" promo clip became one of the first "metal" videos played on MTV in 1982, & this brought increasing visibility (and momentum) to the band in the States.
Phil Collen, former guitarist with the glam band Girl, replaced Pete Willis who was fired on July 11, 1982, due to excessive alcohol consumption on the job (Willis later resurfaced with the bands Gogmagog & Roadhouse). This personnel change took place during the recording of their third release, Pyromania, released on January 20, 1983, & also produced by Lange.
The lead single "Photograph" turned Def Leppard into a household name, supplanting Michael Jackson's Beat It as the most requested video clip on MTV, becoming a staple of rock radio (dominating the US Album Rock Charts for six weeks), & hitting #12 on the pop charts.
Fueled by "Photograph" & subsequent singles "Rock of Ages" & "Foolin'", Pyromania went on to sell six million copies in 1983, & was held off the top of the US album charts only by Michael Jackson's Thriller. The album has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA in the US, & is considered a classic in both the mainstream rock & heavy metal genres.
Def Leppard's US tour in support of Pyromania began by opening for Billy Squier in March, & ended with an audience of 55,000 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, CA in September.
As a testament of the band's popularity at the time, a US Gallup poll in 1984 saw Def Leppard voted in as favourite rock band over peers such as the Rolling Stones, AC/DC & Journey. However, this popularity was not matched in their native England, a fact that greatly bothered them.
1984 – 1989
Following
their breakthrough, the band moved to Dublin in February 1984 to begin writing
the follow-up to Pyromania. Mutt Lange initially joined in on the songwriting
sessions, but then suddenly declined to return as producer due to exhaustion.
Instead, Jim Steinman (of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell fame), was brought in, only
to be let go within weeks.
On December 31, 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash on the A57 in the hills outside Sheffield when his speeding Corvette left the road on a sharp bend & went through a drystone wall. Despite the severity of the accident, Rick was committed to continuing his role as Def Leppard's drummer. He practiced drumming with pillows, & realised that he could use his legs to do some of the drumming work previously done with his arms. He then worked with Simmons to design a custom electronic drum kit.
The other members of the band fully stood behind Rick's determination & never sought a replacement. During his recovery, Mutt Lange eventually returned to the fold as producer, & Rick's triumphant comeback was sealed at the 1986 Donington Monsters of Rock festival, with an emotionally charged ovation after his introduction by Joe Elliott.
Def Leppard's fourth album, Hysteria, was finally released on August 3, 1987. The second single from the album, "Animal", reached #6 in the UK & finally turned the band into stars in their home country. Hysteria immediately topped the charts in its first week of release.
US album sales were relatively slow (compared to Pyromania) until the fourth single, "Pour Some Sugar On Me". The song hit Number 2, & Hysteria finally reached the top of the US Album Charts in July 1988. In October, the power ballad "Love Bites" would become Def Leppard's first (and only) Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100, & in January 1989 the band scored another US Top 5 hit with "Armageddon It".
Hysteria is one of only a handful of albums (and the third in rock history) that has charted seven singles or more on the US Hot 100: "Women" (#80), "Animal" (#19), "Hysteria" (#10), "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (#2), "Love Bites" (#1), "Armageddon It" (#3) & "Rocket" (#12). It remained on the charts for three years & has sold 18 million copies worldwide.
Equally as successful was the accompanying Hysteria world tour which ran for 15 months & saw Def Leppard perform "In The Round". The concept proved wildly popular with fans, as evidenced in the videos for "Pour Some Sugar On Me" & "Armageddon It" (and was later used again for the Adrenalize tour).
In 1989 Def Leppard won Favourite Heavy Metal Artist as well as Favourite Heavy Metal Album (for "Hysteria") during the American Music Awards. It was the first time that a heavy metal category was added to the awards show. (The category has since been deleted in recent years)
By the end of the decade, although Guns N' Roses & Bon Jovi garnered more mainstream exposure, Def Leppard had sold more records than any other rock band in the US.
1990 – 1999
Following
Hysteria's mammoth success, the band quickly set out to work on their fifth album,
hoping to avoid another lengthy gap. However, Steve Clark's alcoholism issues
worsened to the point where he was constantly in & out of rehab. Recording
sessions suffered from this distraction, & in mid-1990 Steve was granted a
six-month leave of absence from the band.
Clark never reached the end of his leave, dying from an accidental mix of prescription drugs & alcohol on January 8, 1991 in his London home. The remaining band members decided to carry on & recorded of the album as a four-piece, with Phil mimicking Steve's style on his intended guitar parts.
Def Leppard's fifth album Adrenalize was finally released on March 31 1992. The album simultaneously entered at Number One on both the UK & US album charts, staying there for 5 weeks on the latter. The first single, "Let's Get Rocked", was an instant smash hit & its video was later nominated for Best Video of the Year at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
In April 1992, guitarist Vivian Campbell (formerly of Dio & Whitesnake) joined Def Leppard, making his official live debut with his band at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Adrenalize yielded six hit singles & sold 7 million copies worldwide. Another successful world tour followed, but the band's fortunes began to be affected by the rise of grunge & alternative rock.
A collection of b-sides & unreleased tracks recorded between 1984 & 1993, Retro Active, was released in October 1993, preceded by the success of "Two Steps Behind" (from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero). Another single, "Miss You In A Heartbeat", hit the Top 5 in Canada, becoming one of their biggest hits there. Retro Active has sold 3 million copies worldwide to date.
Two years later, Def Leppard issued their first greatest hits collection, Vault: Def Leppard's Greatest Hits (1980-1995), which has sold 8 million copies worldwide. Alternate track listings of the album were issued for North America, the UK & Japan.
The compilation included a new track, the ballad "When Love & Hate Collide", which became their biggest ever hit in the UK, hitting #2. It peaked at #58 in the U.S. On October 23, 1995, the band entered the Guinness Book of World Records by performing three concerts in three continents in one day (Tangiers, Morocco, London, England, & Vancouver, Canada).
Slang, released in May 1996, marked a drastic musical departure for the band by featuring darker lyrics & a stripped-down alternative rock edge. The US audience reception for Slang & its subsequent tour was a major dropoff from a decade earlier, but Q Magazine would nonetheless list Slang as one of the Top Ten Albums of 1996.
VH1 revived the band's fortunes in the US in 1998 by featuring them on one of the first episodes of Behind The Music. Reruns of the episode yielded some of the series' highest ratings, & brought the band's music back into the public consciousness (following years of burial by the alternative rock climate). The episode was even parodied on Saturday Night Live.
In an effort to capitalize on this new momentum, Def Leppard returned to its classic sound with the 1999 album Euphoria. The first single, "Promises", reunited the band with Mutt Lange, & hit the US Mainstream Rock charts for 3 weeks. The album was certified for gold sales in the United States & Canada.
2000 – Present
On September
5, 2000, Def Leppard were inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame, on Hollywood's
Sunset Boulevard by their friend Brian May of Queen.
In 2001 VH1 produced & aired Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story, a biopic that included Anthony Michael Hall as Mutt Lange & Amber Valletta as Lorelei Shellist (Steve Clark's girlfriend). The docudrama covered the band's history between 1977 through 1986, recounting the trials & triumphs of Rick Allen & Steve Clark. The July 18 broadcast still produced some of the channel's highest-ever ratings & is available on DVD.
A side project at the time consisted of Joe Elliott & Phil Collen teaming up with members of the Spiders From Mars (David Bowie's former band), minus the late Mick Ronson, naming themselves the Cybernauts. The group played several shows, covering Bowie's Ziggy Stardust-era songs.
Def Leppard's tenth album, simply titled "X", was released in July 2002. It saw the band's musical direction moving more towards pop & further away from the band's hard rock roots. In fact, some tracks were produced by the hit factory behind Britney Spears & the Backstreet Boys.
Although greeted with generally positive reviews, X quickly disappeared from the charts, ultimately becoming the band's least successful release. However, the accompanying tour played to the band's strongest audiences since Adrenalize.
An expanded & updated best-of collection, Best Of, was released in October 2004 internationally. The North America-only version, Rock Of Ages - The Definitive Collection, was released the following May. Def Leppard would participate at the Live 8 show in Philadelphia, & toured in the summer with Bryan Adams. 2005 also saw the band leave their longtime management team, Q-Prime & sign with HK Management.
On May 23 2006, Def Leppard released an all-covers album titled Yeah!. The disc pays homage to classic rock songs of their childhood, originally recorded by David Bowie, The Kinks, Blondie, & Badfinger among others. It debuted at #16 in the US, their tenth consecutive Top 20 album & has scanned 140,000+ to date. It did very little business in the rest of the world though.
The band, along with Queen, Kiss, & Judas Priest, were the inaugural inductees of "VH1 Rock Honors" on May 31, 2006. During the show, The All-American Rejects paid homage to the band with a cover of "Photograph". Soon afterwards, they embarked on a successful US tour with Journey. That October, Hysteria was re-released in a two-disc deluxe edition format, which combined the original album, remastered for the first time, with b-sides, remixes & bonus tracks from single releases.
Def Leppard began their latest tour, the 52-date "Downstage Thrust Tour," on June 29, set to take them across the US & Canada. The openers are Foreigner & Styx (with the addition of REO Speedwagon or Kim Mitchell on some dates). The band's upcoming album is tentatively titled Songs From The Sparkle Lounge & is scheduled for release in 2008.
Current members
Joe Elliott - lead
vocals, occasional guitar (1977-present)
Phil Collen - lead & rhythm guitars,
backing vocals (1982-present)
Vivian Campbell - lead & rhythm guitars,
backing vocals (1992-present)
Rick Savage - bass, keyboards, backing vocals
(1977-present)
Rick Allen - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1978-present)
Former members
Steve Clark - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
(1978-1991)
Pete Willis - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1977-1982)
Tony Kenning - drums (1977-1978)
Frank Noon - drums (1978)
Side
projects
Phil Collen played guitar, uncredited, on Sam Kinison's "Wild
Thing" from 1988. The video featured members of Poison, Bon Jovi, Mötley
Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Ratt, & Aerosmith.
Collen also produced & played on the 1991 album On The Edge from Australian band BB Steal.
Joe Elliott sang lead vocals on two tracks on Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood's 1992 solo album, Slide On This. His then-wife Karla appeared in the video for "Always Wanted More".
Various members of Def Leppard have played on tribute records for Jeff Beck, AC/DC & Alice Cooper.
Joe Elliott performed on two tracks to the soundtrack of the 1996 Sheffield-set motion picture, When Saturday Comes, the title track & an instrumental, "Jimmy's Theme".
Phil Collen has a side band called Man-Raze, which is set to release its debut album September 2007.
Vivian Campbell joined former Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm & bassist Bruce Turgon on the one-album project Shadow King, in 1991.
Vivian
Campbell has played with two side bands in recent years, Clock & the Riverdogs,
& recorded a solo album, Two Sides of If, released in 2005.
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