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Philadelphia, USA
and London DVD set here
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Box set)
Set
list:
Pour
Some Sugar On Me 4:27
No Matter What 2:47
Rock of ages 5:05
Discography:
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Rock
of Ages |
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The
Best of Def Leppard |
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Hysteria |
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this CD at:
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Pyromania |
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Def Leppard at Live 8
Rick Savage (bass), Pete Willis (guitars) and Tony
Kenning (drums) formed the band in 1977 in Sheffield (see 1977 in music).
Originally they were known as "Atomic Mass", but when Joe Elliott
joined as a vocalist they adopted the name "Deaf Leopard" (which
Elliott had thought of in school). The band changed "Deaf Leopard"
to "Def Leppard" because they thought "Deaf Leopard"
might lead people to believe they were a punk band. They began playing
locally and soon added second guitarist Steve Clark, before recording
the underground hit "Getcha Rocks Off" for Bludgeon Riffola,
their own label. Tony Kenning was replaced in 1978 by Frank Noon, who
was himself soon replaced by Rick Allen, who has been the band's drummer
ever since. They signed to Mercury Records.
Unlike most of the contemporary NWOBHM groups, Def Leppard attempted to
combine hard rock with polished melodic backing vocals. This approach
is very much evident on their first international single, "Hello
America", which featured the backing vocal style of Queen, with the
guitar crunch of Thin Lizzy.
Def Leppard's major label debut was On through the Night (1980 in music).
High 'N' Dry (1981 in music) was their first album to be produced by Robert
John "Mutt" Lange. This album was quite derivative of AC/DC.
From this album, the "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" video was
one of the first "metal" videos played on MTV video. Phil Collen,
former guitarist from the band Girl, replaced Pete Willis who was fired
on July 11, 1982 due to excessive alcohol consumption. Pete Willis later
recorded with the bands Gogmagog and Roadhouse. Def Leppard's personnel
change took place during the recording of their next release, Pyromania
(January 20, 1983). Lange was again the producer. Aided by the singles
"Photograph", "Rock of Ages", and "Foolin'",
Pyromania sold six million copies in 1983 & 84.
The period after the Def Leppard's album's success, however, was difficult:
on December 31, 1984, Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash in which
his Corvette veered off the road into a concrete wall. While recovering
in the hospital from his accident, Rick was committed to continuing his
role as Def Leppard's drummer. He practiced drumming with pillows, and
realized that he could use his legs to do some of the percussive work
previously done with his arms. He then worked with Simmons to design a
custom electronic drum kit.
Def Leppard's next album, Hysteria, (yet again produced by Lange), was
released in August 1987 (see 1987 in music). The first released single,
"Women," was not very successful. It was only released in North
America, with a video that featured a futuristic comic book world in which
women were invented by men as subservient androids with the acronym W.O.M.E.N.
standing for "Worship Our Master's Every Need". The first UK
single from the album was "Animal".
Album sales were slow until the fourth single, "Pour Some Sugar On
Me", became a hit. The album included a total of six Top 20 singles.
The seventh and last single to be released from this album was Rocket
in early 1989 (see 1989 in music).
Much of Def Leppard's success in the 1980s is credited to their producer,
Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who was considered by the band to
be its sixth member. To this end, he received a writing credit on every
Hysteria track.
After Def Leppard's Hysteria 's release, internal problems (including
the death of guitarist Steve Clark from a drug and alcohol overdose on
January 8, 1991) resulted in a long delay before the follow-up.
Adrenalize was finally released in 1992, the only album recorded by Def
Leppard as a four-piece (Elliott, Collen, Savage, and Allen). The album
entered the US charts at number 1. It remained there for five weeks, selling
six million copies, and the first single, "Let's Get Rocked,"
was on MTV's video countdown for a long time. It was also nominated for
Best Video of the Year at the 1992 9th MTV Video Music Awards. However,
it did not have the longevity of Def Leppard's previous albums, and in
retrospect many fans consider it one of their weakest albums.
Def Leppard's Retroactive was released in 1993 and is a collection of
songs which, although not new, were either rare or never previously released.
Some of this album's songs were written as B-sides for Hysteria singles.
Retroactive was followed by the release of Vault 1995, Def Leppard's Greatest
Hits, which has sold over 7 million copies.
In 1992, guitarist Vivian Campbell joined Def Leppard. Vivian Campbell
had previously been in Sweet Savage, Dio, Whitesnake, Trinity, Riverdogs,
and Shadow King. He collaborated in the songwriting for Slang, which was
released in 1996. Next came the album Euphoria in 1999.
X, Def Leppard's tenth album, was released in 2002. The band has stated
that they are very satisfied with this album, and that in many ways they
wish it had been the follow-up to Hysteria.
A best of CD for Def Leppard was released in October 2004. The disc, entitled
The Best Of Def Leppard was also available in a limited edition
2CD format. The first disc was basically a reconfigured Vault, while the
second disc held more obscure tracks. From this collection a new single
was released in the UK, a cover version of the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset."
Due to the fact that The Best Of Def Leppard wasn't released in North
America, a double CD North American best of, entitled Rock Of Ages: The
Definitive Def Leppard was released 17 May 2005. From this set came the
single "No Matter What," a cover of the 1970's Badfinger tune.
It is reported that the songs "Waterloo Sunset" and "No
Matter What" will be included on a covers album, due in September
2005 according to guitarist Phil Collen.
Because of the aforementioned Def Leppard's 'greatest hits' collections,
the album Vault will no longer be available as it is now out-of-print
by the band's record label.
This article about Def Leppard is posted under the GNU Free Documentation
License. It uses material from this Wikipedia
article.
Def Leppard music CDs and Live 8 DVD.
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