Def Leppard

Def Leppard are an English heavy metal band, best known for the Eighties FM/video staples “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak,” “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Love Bites.” Between 1980 and 1992, they released five albums and went multi-Platinum with their 1983 third, Pyromania.

Members: Joe Elliott (vocals), Rick Savage (bass), Pete Willis (guitar, 1977-82), Tony Kenning (drums, 1977-78), Frank Noon (drums, 1978), Rick Allen (drums, 1978-present), Steve Clark (guitar, 1978-91), Phil Collen (guitar, 1982-present)

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Background

Def Leppard evolved from the power-trio Atomic Mass, formed in 1977 by three teenagers from Tapton School in Sheffield: bassist Rick Savage, guitarist Pete Willis, and drummer Tony Kenning.

One day that November when Willis missed a bus, he met Joe Elliot, who auditioned to be their guitarist but was ultimately hired as their singer. He suggested the name Deaf Leopard, which he invented for an art class poster assignment. Thinking it looked like the name of a punk band, they altered the spelling to Def Leppard. They rehearsed at Portland Works, a Victorian metal trades factory.

In January 1978, they hired classically trained Steve Clark as their second guitarist. He won the audition by playing “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd in its entirety.

On July  18, 1978, Def Leppard gave their first public performance at Westfield School in Mosborough, Sheffield. Their fifty-minute set included the Thin Lizzy cover “Jailbreak” and an unrecorded original, “World Beyond the Sky.” On September 11, they played Sheffield’s Limit Club as part of the Local Nite Festival, an event for unsigned Northern acts. The Human League headlined the event, which also featured Graph (with future HL bassist Ian Burden) and Tontrix (the root band of A Flock of Seagulls and Hambi & The Dance).

In November, Kenning left the band. With drummer Frank Noon, they entered Fairview Studios in Hull and demoed three songs: “Ride into the Sun,” “Getcha Rocks Off,” and the eight-minute epic “The Overture.” By Thanksgiving, fifteen-year-old Rick Allen joined as their permanent drummer.

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The Def Leppard E.P.

In January 1979, the three songs appeared as The Def Leppard E.P., a limited-issue release (1,000 copies) on self-press Bludgeon-Riffola.

A1. “Ride into the Sun” (2:51)
A2. “Getcha Rocks Off”  (3:38)
B. “The Overture” (7:41) 

Joe Elliot photocopied the lyric insert at work and glued the sleeves together with help from his mother. During an event at Sheffield University, he handed a copy to DJ John Peel, who played the record on his BBC Radio 1 show. This exposure sent the record onto the BBC singles Top 100.

Def Leppard became a live attraction across the UK, where they rose to the fore of a movement dubbed the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM): an influx of acts — Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Tygers of Pan Tang, Saxon — who revitalized the style with tight riffs, lightning solos, and galloping precision. By June, Def Leppard secured a contract with Phonogram/Vertigo.

On November 2, Def Leppard released their first proper single: “Wasted,” a co-write by Elliott and Steve Clark; backed with “Hello America,” written by the pair with Rick Savage. They co-produced the single with Nick Tauber, an early Thin Lizzy soundman with recent credits behind Slaughter & The Dogs and Girl, a glam-metal band with guitarist Phil Collen. 

On January 18, 1980, Def Leppard launched a 38-date UK tour at Aberdeen University, supported by Witchfynde.

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On Through the Night

Def Leppard released their debut album, On Through the Night, on March 14, 1980, on Vertigo (UK, Europe, Oceania) and Mercury (North America). 

The album contains ten songs co-written by Joe Elliott and Steve Clark, including re-recorded versions of “Wasted,” “Hello America,” “Getcha Rocks Off” (titled “Rocks Off”), and “Overture.” Bassist Rick Savage third-wrote all Clark/Elliott numbers apart from “Wasted,” “It Don’t Matter,” and “When the Walls Came Tumbling Down,” co-written by outsider Andrew Smith. Pete Willis co-wrote “It Could Be You” with Elliott and contributed to “Sorrow Is a Woman,” “Satellite,” and the balance of Side B.

Def Leppard recorded On Through the Night with Tom Allom, a prior soundman for Strawbs, whose erstwhile singer, Dave Cousins, performed the spoken-word intro on “When the Walls Came Tumbling Down.” Clark and Willis trade solos across the album, which features Adam & The Ants drummer/producer Chris ‘Merrick’ Hughes as guest synthesist on “Hello America.”

A1. “Rock Brigade” (3:09)
A2. “Hello America” (3:27)
A3. “Sorrow Is a Woman” (3:54)
A4. “It Could Be You” (2:33)
A5. “Satellite” (4:28)
A6. “When the Walls Came Tumbling Down” (4:44)

B1. “Wasted” (3:45)
B2. “Rocks Off” (3:42)
B3. “It Don’t Matter” (3:21)
B4. “Answer to the Master” (3:13)
B5. “Overture” (7:44)

Sessions occurred in December 1979 at Startling Studios, located inside a Tittenhurst Park mansion (formerly Ascot Sound) that Ringo Starr purchased recently from John Lennon. Allom produced the album amid 1979/80 titles by Judas Priest (British Steel), Michael Chapman, Nantucket, Pat Travers, and The Tourists.

On Through the Night was co-engineered by recent Renaissance soundman Dick Plant and early Fleetwood Mac assistant Louis “Snook” Austin, an engineer for post-psych acts (Flash, Groundhogs, Jerusalem, Mainhorse, Orang-Utan) and recent titles by Axis Point, Atomic Rooster, Stretch, and Sweet.

Phonogram art director Alan Schmidt designed the Def Leppard logo: a chrome-pyramid use of Pyrite font, a heavy metal typface designed by Canadian typographer Ray Larabie. Artist Melvin Smith illustrated the front cover of On Through the Night, which shows a hybrid guitar/truck flying outward from the moon. The back cover shows a red-tinted live pic by rock photojournalist Robert Ellis, whose images grace concurrent sleeves for AC/DC, Priest, and Scorpions.

“Hello America” first appeared in early February as a second advance single, backed with the non-album “Good Morning Freedom,” a Startling outtake that Clark/Elliott group-wrote with Savage and Willis.

B. “Good Morning Freedom”

In the US, Mercury lifted “Rock Brigade” as a May single (b/w “When the Walls Came Tumbling Down”).

On Through the Night reached No. 15 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 51 on the US Billboard 200.

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1980 Live Shows

Def Leppard greeted the album’s release with a 21-date April UK tour, supported by Magnum. On May 20, they made their US debut as the opening act for Pat Travers at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Travers headlined eight subsequent shows on the US West Coast, culminating with a May 29, 1980, show at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon, where DJ Gloria Johnson introduced the band to Rose City listeners months beforehand on KGON (92.3 FM). 

On May 31, Def Leppard made their Texas premiere as the opening act for Judas Priest at the Sam Houston Coliseum. Priest headlined five subsequent Texas dates, including a 6/7 appearance at El Paso County Coliseum with a third act, Ray Gomez. In Phoenix, Def Leppard opened for Ted Nugent and the second-billed Scorpions on June 8 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The three acts circled the Midwest, Southwest, Deep South, and Northeast, culminating with a July 5 show at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. Def Leppard played nineteen further summer US dates on bills with AC/DC, Scorpions, and Priest, who headlined the tour’s final date on August 6 at the Twin Cities Civic Center.

On Sunday, August 24, 1980, Def Leppard played Reading Rock ’80, a three-day weekend event at Little John’s Farm on Richfield Avenue in Reading, England. The 1980 event (the festival’s twentieth) marked Reading’s rebrand as a metal-dominated festival. Reading ’80 featured twenty-nine acts, including Broken Home, Fischer-Z, Gillan, Grand Prix, Iron Maiden, Krokus, Praying Mantis, Quartz, Rory Gallagher, Samson, Trimmer & Jenkins, Pat Travers, UFO, and White Spirit (replacing Paul Young’s Q-Tips). Sunday’s lineup also included Angel Witch, Budgie, Girl, Magnum, Slade (replacing Gary Moore’s G-Force), Sledgehammer, Tygers of Pan Tang, and headliners Whitesnake. (Ozzy Osbourne‘s Blizzard of Ozz cancelled their set.)

On September 9, Def Leppard supported Scorpions on a nineteen-date Continental tour that hit Sweden, Benelux, and France, where they played fifteen straight shows, culminating with an October 2 show at Tivoli Hall in Strasbourg. Intended autumn sessions with Robert John Lange got postponed due to the producer’s commitments with Foreigner. In December, Def Leppard passed time and previewed new material on an English mini-tour.

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High ‘n’ Dry

Def Leppard released their second album, High ‘n’ Dry, on July 11, 1981, on Vertigo and Mercury. This was their first of three albums produced with Robert John “Mutt” Lange and the last with guitarist/co-founder Pete Willis.

The album contains the Steve Clark instrumental “Switch 625” and six co-writes with Joe Elliott, including “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak,” one of four tracks (along with “Let It Go,” “Lady Strange,” and “You Got Me Runnin”’) third-written by Willis. 

Rick Savage third-wrote “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” and the Willis/Elliott album-closer “No No No.” He collaborated exclusively with Joe on “Another Hit and Run.” Rick Allen earned his first writing credit as a fourth party on “Lady Strange.”

A1. “Let It Go” (4:43)
A2. “Another Hit and Run” (4:59)
A3. “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” (3:27)
A4. “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” (4:34)
A5. “Switch 625” (3:03)

B1. “You Got Me Runnin’” (4:23)
B2. “Lady Strange” (4:39)
B3. “On Through the Night” (5:06)
B4. “Mirror, Mirror (Look into My Eyes)” (4:08)
B5. “No No No” (3:13)

Sessions spanned March through June 1981 at Battery Studios, a Willesden, North London facility also used for 1981 albums by Iron Maiden (Killers), Praying Mantis, and prior Mutt Lange clients City Boy. Lange (an earlier soundman for The Boomtown Rats, Graham Parker, and Supercharge) produced High ‘n’ Dry between Foreigner’s 4 and AC/DC’s eighth studio album, For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).

High ‘n’ Dry  was engineered by Australian Mike Shipley, a soundman on 1980/81 albums by Broken Home, Dirty Looks, Gentle Giant, Ocean, and Night, an Earth Band spinoff with Mutt’s then-wife, Stevie Lange.

Seventies UK design firm Hipgnosis created the High ‘n’ Dry cover: a portrait of a swimmer diving into an empty backyard pool, superimposed on a monochrome crowd photo of spectators looking up in awe. The backside features portrait shorts of each band member, pasted center on another shot of the same crowd, grinning with their eyes shut. Schmidt’s Def Leppard logo reappears in its permanent red/yellow horizontal form.

Vertigo lifted “Let It Go” in mid-August as a UK single (b/w “Switch 625”). The video takes place on a dark, color-lit soundstage, where Willis and Savage (red-clad) wield Flying-V guitars and Clark (white-clad) shreds on his sunburst Gibson. Elliot swaggers in a half-unbuttoned shirt while Allen pounds away in Union Jack shorts. 

Def Leppard filmed the video with director Doug Smith on July 22, 1981, in Liverpool at the Royal Court Theatre (off-hours). In the same afternoon taping, they mimed two subsequent singles for video. “Let It Go” reached No. 34 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

In mid-November, Mercury lifted “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” as a US single, backed with the non-album “Me and My Wine,” a Savage/Clark/Elliott outtake from the Battery sessions. 

B. “Me and My Wine” (3:34) 

The Royal Court video for “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” shows Def Leppard laden with dry ice and brighter stage lights, which illuminate the details of Clark’s Les Paul Standard Heritage model and the red spandex shine on Savage’s pants.

In February 1981, Vertigo issued “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” as the second UK High ‘n’ Dry single. Meanwhile, the album’s title track became an Australian single (b/w “On Through the Night”). The Royal Court “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” makes greater use of camera pans and colored stage-light saturation as Def Leppard rock with animated aggression before an invited audience.

High ‘n’ Dry reached No. 26 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 21 in Sweden. The album peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 in the US, where the “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” video received ample rotation on the fledgling cable music network MTV.

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1981 Tour

Def Leppard previewed High ‘n’ Dry material on a June 1981 European tour, headlined by Rainbow. This tour included ten shows in West Germany and one (6/17) at the 3.5k-seat Eissporthalle in the village of Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg. On July 13, they greeted the album’s release with a 12-date UK tour, supported by Lionheart and MORE. 

On August 2, Def Leppard commenced a 33-date US tour as the opening act for Ozzy Osbourne on the ex-Black Sabbath singer’s Blizzard of Ozz tour. After the final date on September 13 at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida, Elliott narrowly avoided arrest for a balcony firecracker incident with Ozzy drummer Tommy Aldridge. Two nights later, Def Leppard commenced a second leg of US tour dates (55 shows) with Southern rockers Blackfoot. After their November 22 show at the San Antonio Convention Center, they flew to Europe for fifteen late-autumn dates with Accept and headliners Judas Priest.

Def Leppard spent most of 1982 recording their third album with Robert Mutt Lange. They completed the rhythm-guitar tracks by mid-July, when they terminated Pete Willis due to alcohol abuse. His replacement, Phil Collen, arrived fresh from a two-album stint with Girl.

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Pyromania 

Def Leppard released their third album, Pyromania, on January 20, 1983, on Vertigo. The album contains the transatlantic hits “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Foolin’,” three crossover rock staples that helped define MTV’s golden age. 

Steve Clark and Joe Elliott co-wrote nine Pyromania songs with producer Robert Mutt Lange, including all of Side B and the Rick Savage co-writes “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop),” “Die Hard the Hunter,” “Photograph,” and “Too Late for Love,” the last two with contributions by “Come Under the Fire” fourth-writer Pete Willis, whose termination occurred halfway through the sessions. The five parties group-wrote the closing number, “Billy’s Got a Gun.” One track (“Stagefright”) is a Savage/Elliott number with Lange’s input. 

Phil Collen joined mid-stage and dubbed solos over the prerecorded rhythm-guitar tracks. Pyromania features keyboards by Foreigner 4 sessionist Thomas Dolby (credited as Booker T. Boffin) and Fairlight CMI programming by John Kongos, plus uncredited work by once-and-future Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye.

A1. “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)” (3:52)
A2. “Photograph” (4:12)
A3. “Stagefright” (3:46)
A4. “Too Late for Love” (4:30)
A5. “Die Hard the Hunter” (6:17)

B1. “Foolin’” (4:32)
B2. “Rock of Ages” (4:09) Lange’s intro (“Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen”) is faux-German gibberish, spoken in lieu of a standard “one, two, three, four” cue.
B3. “Comin’ Under Fire” (4:20)
B4. “Action! Not Words” (3:49)
B5. “Billy’s Got a Gun” (incl. “The March of the Wooden Zombies”) (5:56)

Sessions spanned January through November 1982 at Battery Studio and Park Gates, a complex in Catsfield, East Sussex, used recently by Toyah Willcox, Wreckless Eric, and Robin Trower. Lange recorded each instrument to a Linn LM-1 click track. He green-lit Collen’s improvised solos on the first three songs, “Foolin’,” and “Rock of Ages.” Rick Allen added drum tracks as final details. Lange himself performed vocal backing as part of “The Leppardettes,” an ad hoc studio group with Earth Band singer Chris Thompson and final-phase Charlie frontman (and onetime Back Street Crawler singer) Terry Wilson-Slesser.

Mike Shipley engineered Pyromania in sequence with 1982/83 albums by A Flock of Seagulls, Diamond Head, Q-Feel, and Sniff ‘n’ the Tears; assisted by Battery’s Brian “Chuck” New (Whitesnake, Baron Rojo) and Park Gate’s Craig “Too Loud for Boys” Thomson (Spriguns, The Lambrettas).

Pyromania appeared in a sleeve designed by Satori, the graphics firm behind covers for Sector 27 and the Thompson Twins. London multidisciplinary artist Bernard Gudynas illustrated the Pyromania front cover: a Towering Inferno-like image of a skyscraper upper-floor aflame, as seen from the zoom of a rocket launcher. Original UK copies came with a text-free fire-colored inner-sleeve. On the backside credits, Def Leppard’s “Wotta guy list” includes Trevor Rabin and ex-City Boy guitarist Mike Slamer.

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“Photograph”

Def Leppard lifted “Photograph” as the album’s first single, backed with “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” (UK) and “Action! Not Words” (US).

The video to “Photograph” opens on the chalk mark at a crime scene, where a hatted man materializes face-down amid falling knife repetitions; replaced by a Marilyn Monroe lookalike. Scenes of the fragmentary saga intercut with group footage on a foggy pink-lit stage, where Joe Elliot braces his mic stand while straddled on a floor vent, clad in a white scarf, sleeveless Union Jack top, tight leather pants, and red leg warmers. 

In monochrome character scenes, “Marilyn” poses for paparazzi, braces pearl strands, and snogs with the hatted subject in a back alley as spotlights descend. The camera pans down on Elliott as he bellow “You’ve gone straight to my head!” Collen’s brief solo signals the harmonized vocable of the frazzle-haired cage girls. Marilyn falls from the hatted man’s arms as Elliot belts his unequivocal admission:  “I want to touch you!” Marilyn stares down the lens with a heel plunge. She reappears motionless and shut-eyed against the blue-lit alleyway wall, tied upright with barbed wire as the camera zooms out from the nearby chalk mark.

Def Leppard filmed “Photograph” with director David Mallet, a music video pioneer whose earlier credits include clips by Queen, The Pretenders, David Bowie (Lodger/Scary Monsters era), Blondie (their Eat to the Beat video album), and Iron Maiden’s recent Number of the Beast clips. The Marilyn was portrayed by Kay Kent, an English Monroe impersonator who died by suicide in June 1989 at age 25. 

In the US, “Photograph” received heavy MTV rotation and reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Meanwhile, Def Leppard launched the first leg of their Pyromania promotions with a 25-date UK/European tour that commenced on February 9, 1983, at London’s Marquee Club and wrapped on March 15 at the Salles Des Fetes in Melun, France, supported by H-Bomb.

On March 18, they launched the North American leg at the Omni Arena in Atlanta. They played 24 shows through the South, Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast as the opening act for Billy Squier, culminating with an April 21 show at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum. Def Leppard played their first US headline show on April 29 at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, Texas, supported by Krokus and John Butcher Axis.

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“Rock of Ages”

In June 1983, “Rock of Ages” became the second Pyromania single; backed with “Action! Not Words” (UK) and “Billy’s Got a Gun” (US). 

The Mallet-directed video opens with stark hooded monks and the Grim Reaper, whose utterance of the faux-German cue alerts an owl and Joe Elliott. The scenes occur in a foggy cavern, where the Reaper plays chess with a white-robed woman, who reappears tree-tied with gothic death pallor. Her emotionless stare cuts first to the owl and a burning nearby tree, then to the band and a hand-shattered wine glass.

Def Leppard perform in a dugout, where Elliott prances in stud-belted leather pants and a sleeveless yellow shirt with handkerchief; lined by Clark, Cohen, and Savage, who hoist their guitar necks side-to-side like an artillery front. Elliott pulls a sword from stone and enters the Reaper’s fire chamber, where the sword becomes a Flying V on contact with a table of light. Cohen’s solo sets the chained woman free. As the song reaches climax, Elliott’s final chorus un-shatters the wine glass.

Amid high MTV rotation, “Rock of Ages” reached No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Between April 30 and July 21, Def Leppard headlined 44 stadium shows across the US and Canada.

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“Foolin'” | “Too Late for Love”

In August 1983, Mercury lifted “Foolin'” as the third US single (b/w “Comin’ Under Fire”).

The “Foolin'” video opens to a masked harpist, who plucks amid fire as the camera circles out to Elliott and the band, who play on a skull-adorned soundstage. In Elliott’s nightmare, he’s bound to a triangle at the opened head of a tower-top skull (one of many in a bleak, bottomless city). Def Leppard (clad mostly in white) play along as a sorceress frees Elliott from her crystal ball. Cohen (polka dot top) plays a solo that triggers the climactic scene in the skull pyramid, where each member pops out of the fiery pit. 

Mallet directed “Foolin'” in June 1983 at the Ritz Theatre in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Billy Idol‘s then-girlfriend, Perri Lister, plays the harpist. “Foolin'” reached No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Between August 1 and late September, Def Leppard headlined 39 North American stadium shows with support from Uriah Heep. On September 11, Queen guitarist Brain May joined Leppard on stage at SoCal’s Inglewood Forum for an encore medley of Creedence Clearwater Revival (“Travellin’ Man”) and Led Zeppelin (“Rock and Roll”). 

On October 7, Def Leppard launched a 29-date Continental leg at the Draken in Stockholm, Sweden. The tour hit Copenhagen, Zurich, and multiple spots in Germany, Italy, Spain, and thirteen French cities before they wrapped on November 16 in Antwerp, supported by Killer.

In November 1983, “Too Late for Love” became the third UK single (b/w “Foolin”’). In the video, Def Leppard mime on a fog-laden studio stage amid tubes and chrome fixtures. Elliott sports pleated leather pants and a sleeveless shirt emblazoned with the Japanese sun. 

Def Leppard rounded out 1983 with December 3–5 shows in Birmingham, Nottingham, and London, where they headlined over Airrace at the Hammersmith Odeon. In Germany, they appeared at the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund for the for a Dec. 17–18 festival event with Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Krokus, and the Michael Schenker Group.

Pyromania reached No. 4 in Canada and No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart. On the week of May 14, 1983, Pyromania peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, where it spent two weeks lodged under Thriller by Michael Jackson. The album spent 37 weeks inside the Top 10 and 92 weeks on the Billboard 200. By 2016, Pyromania achieved Diamond status for sales exceeding 10 million copies.

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1984–86

In late January 1984, Def Leppard made their first visit to Japan with two nights in Tokyo and one in Osaka.

On Sunday, January 29, Def Leppard played Day 3 of the Narara Music Festival, a central coast event in Somersby, Australia, with sets by Eurythmics, The Pretenders, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, and multiple local acts (The Expression, Eurogliders, INXS, Kids In the Kitchen, Models). While there, Def Leppard played their first shows in Melbourne (Feb. 2: Earl’s Court) and Sydney (2/4: Selina’s Coogee Bay Hotel).

On February 7, 1984, Def Leppard gave their final concert for two and a half years in Thailand at the Bangkok Huamark Stadium. 

When talks began on their next album, Robert Mutt Lange was unavailable due to ongoing commitments with the upcoming Cars album, Heartbeat City. In August, Def Leppard commenced work with their next choice, Meat Loaf writer/producer Jim Steinman, who proved ill-suited to the group’s vision. As progressed stalled, engineer Neil Dorfsman abandoned the project to work on the next Dire Straits album, Brothers In Arms.

On the afternoon of December 21, 1984, Rick Allen’s Corvette C4 vehicle rammed into a wall off A57 road, outside Sheffield. The impact flung his body from the vehicle, dismembered from his belt-strapped left arm. Doctors amputated the limb after an attempted reattachment caused an infection.

After his recovery, Allen adjusted to the handicap and decided to carry on as Def Leppard’s drummer. The band took time off as Allen grew accustomed to his new setup: a cable-routed kit with panned percussive sounds triggered by his left foot. By the time Def Leppard reentered the studio, Lange was available to produce their next album.

In August 1986, Def Leppard broke their two year dry spell with six shows in Ireland, played as warm-ups to an 8/18 Monsters of Rock event at the Donington Park Racetrack in Derby, England. The event also featured Scorpions, Motorhead, Warlock, and headliner Ozzy Osbourne. In Germany, the Monsters of Rock package held Aug. 30–31 events in Nuremberg and Mannheim.

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“Overture” – slow acoustic plucking/bass intro (D-E-D) herald’s Joe Elliots entrance @:32… Led Zeppelin VI feel (the folky numbers) instantly takes hold in the arrangement, key choices and vocal characteristics… lyrics that deal with mankind’s resolve to rebuild civilization after a catastrophic event… the bass presents sharp turns as the fingered guitar and wordless harmonies mesh… abrupt shift into fast-paced rock number @ 2:15, tight cohesive gallop in Dmin, tonal clarity between the searing leads, buzzing chords, breakneck bass…. solo breaks @4:15, bendy sustains, drum rolls… slow/heavy passage @4:40, harmonized lyrics, epic tom-rolls, wailing leads scaling high (Dmin-C-G-Amin)… I’m reminded here of Kansas (who leaned heavily on Dmin in their intense passages) and the song “Last Chance” by Shooting Star… used fades into a plucked recap of the first section @6:35… ends at 7:40, much like it began… the young band’s noble attempt at creating an epic in the grand tradition of their maximalist rock forebears: Zeppelin, Heep, Queen… even Yes and Tull..

Discography:

• On Through the Night (1980)
• High ‘n’ Dry (1981)
• Pyromania (1983)
• Hysteria (1987)
• Adrenalize (1992)

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Sources:

• Discogs: Def Leppard
• 45cat: Def Leppard
• Def Leppard Tour History
• RYM: English D Artists/albums