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Def Leppard formed back in 1977 in Sheffield, England as
part of the late 70's British Metal Movement and is considered one of
the greatest rock and roll acts of all time. They debuted in 1980
with the album
On Through the Night. It was the song "Bringing on the
Heartache", from their 1981 album, High 'N Dry, that ended up being one
of the first MTV heavy metal videos in rotation. Their 1983
release,
Pyromania,
featured the song "Photograph", which really put them over the top in
the USA. The video for "Photograph" beat out Michael Jackson's
"Beat It" video for most requested play.
Def Leppard started out as a band called "Atomic Mass" by
some school age buddies. Their first gig was at theWestfield
School in Sheffield. The name "Deaf Leopard" was originally
suggested by Joe Elliot (vocals), but to appear less like a punk band,
they altered the spelling as we know it today (not sure how this
misspelling makes them less punkish, but it is what it is). In the
early days, Def Leppard opened for bands like Ozzy Osbourne, Blackfoot,
AC/DC, and Ted Nugent.
In 1987, the release of
Hysteria
found the band with 6 billboard hits from the same album: "Pour Some
Sugar on Me", "Animal", "Rocket", "Hysteria", "Love Bites, and
"Armageddon It". The album itself reached
number 1 on the Billboard top 200. "Let's Get Rocked" and "Have
You Ever Needed Someone so Bad" were chart topping songs from their 1992
release,
Adrenalize.
Many of you may remember that drummer, Rick Allen, lost
his arm after crashing his Corvette back in 1984, yet amazingly stayed
with the band (you could probably remove both of his arms and legs and
he would still play better than many drummers). In 1991, guitarist
Steve Clark died of an overdose, and he was replaced with former Dio/Whitesnake
guitar slinger Vivian Cambpell.
Post 1990's, Def Leppard continued to have a successful
music career, and could be found on various world tours and mega-rock
concerts throughout the world. At the time of this writing, the
Def Leppard Discography was as follows:1980: On Through the Night
1981: High 'n' Dry
1983: Pyromania
1987: Hysteria
1992: Adrenalize
1993: Retro Active
1995: Vault: Def Leppard's Greatest Hits 1980-1995
1996: Slang
1999: Euphoria
2002: X
2006: Yeah!
2008: Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
2011: Mirrorball: Live and More |
