Def Leppard

Def Leppard
Def Leppard live (2007)
General information
Genre (s)	Hard rock , heavy metal
founding	1977
Website	www.defleppard.com
Current occupation
singing	Joe Elliott (since 1977)
Lead guitar	Phil Collen (since 1982)
Rhythm guitar	Vivian Campbell (since 1992)
bass	Rick Savage (since 1977)
Drums	Rick Allen (since 1978)
former members
guitar	Pete Willis (1977-1982)
Lead guitar	Steve Clark (1978–1991, † January 8, 1991)
Drums	Tony Kenning (1977-1978)
Drums	Frank Noon (1978)
Drums	Jeff Rich (1986, temporary drummer at some concerts)
Live support
guitar	Steve Brown (2014, since 2015)

Def Leppard is a British hard rock - band , which celebrated from 1983 to 1992 its greatest successes. Her most successful album is the fourth studio work Hysteria , released in the summer of 1987 .

history

1977–1982: The early years

Def Leppard started in 1977 as a school band under the name "Atomic Mass" in Sheffield, England . The band was founded by guitarist Pete Willis, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Tony Kenning. Singer Joe Elliott brought with him a new name with his entry: "Def Leppard" (from "Deaf Leopard"). The band gave their first concert in front of a few friends in December 1977 and played a set that mainly consisted of covers by bands like Thin Lizzy or David Bowie as well as their own composition Misty Dreamer . In January 1978, the band took on Steve Clark as the second guitarist in their ranks. Def Leppard's official live debut followed on July 18, 1978 at Westfield School in Sheffield, and Def Leppard recorded their first single in November 1978. Kenning left the band after his girlfriend had given him the decision - "me or the band" - and was left by her shortly afterwards anyway. Frank Noon became the new drummer. Noon stayed with the group for seven concerts and was then replaced by Rick Allen . The recordings for the EP Getcha Rocks Off cost the band £ 148.50 with a circulation of 1000 copies. The first edition was sold out quickly, which is why the EP was reissued on the label Bludgeon founded by the band.

With the support of the music magazine Sounds , the demand continued. Another new edition with 24,000 sold records reached number 84 in the extended English charts. Def Leppard signed with Phonogram in mid-1979 and toured England that fall as the opening act for Sammy Hagar . A new single called Wasted followed before the band jumped on their Highway-to-Hell tour to support AC / DC . On this tour they met the AC / DC manager Peter Mensch, who from then on was also responsible for Def Leppard's concerns. After the release of the debut album On Through the Night in 1980, the band toured extensively in the United States from May onwards as the opening act for bands such as Judas Priest , AC / DC, Ted Nugent and Pat Travers .

Although Def Leppard were only at the beginning of their career, voices were already being heard in England accusing them of selling out on the American market because of these tours. They were pelted with bottles during their performance at Reading Festival . For the second album they chose Robert John Lange as producer. The album High N 'Dry was released on July 11, 1981. Further tours through America in support of Rainbow , Ozzy Osbourne and Blackfoot consolidated the band's status in the States. The emerging music network MTV put their song Bringin 'on the Heartbreak in the heavy rotation , which in turn brought the album into the charts. Def Leppard also engaged John Lange as producer for the third album. During the recording they separated from guitarist Pete Willis. He was kicked out of the band during the recording for excessive alcohol consumption and replaced by Phil Collen in July 1982. With the release of Pyromania , the band had their big breakthrough worldwide.

1983–1993: The breakthrough and worldwide success

Phil Collen made his live debut in February 1983 at London's Marquee Club . England still seemed to resent the band's engagement in America, the halls were sometimes only half full. In the USA, however, the picture was completely different. The band began the tour as support for Billy Squier, but from March onwards they played as headliners with bands like Krokus , John Butcher Axis, Gary Moore and Uriah Heep in the opening act. Pyromania reached number 2 in the American charts, their tour was the second most successful of the year - after Michael Jackson . The album stayed in the charts for 92 weeks and sold an average of 100,000 copies a week. At the end of the year, Def Leppard had sold nine million records. The world tour ended in Bangkok in February 1984 and the band immediately went back to the studio with Mutt Lange. The resulting recordings were not to the satisfaction of the band or the producer and so the group was forced to start over.

In December 1984 the band suffered a severe blow of fate. Drummer Rick Allen had his left arm amputated after a car accident on his way to a New Year's Eve party when his Chevrolet Corvette took a sharp turn off the road and crashed into a stone wall . Nevertheless, the band did not break up with him. A special electronic drum kit has been developed for everyone that can be operated with one arm and both legs. The US space agency NASA was involved in the development. Allen had to learn his drumming technique from scratch, but he was able to drum again. For some live concerts in 1986, status quo drummer Jeff Rich was hired to help Allen, but after a short time Allen was back on the drums, including her appearance at the legendary Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington Park .

In 1987 Def Leppard released their fourth long player album under the title Hysteria and numerous singles. The first single Women sold only slowly at first. The success later became all the more overwhelming. After 49 weeks, the album finally made it to number 1 on the US charts and consequently returned to the charts worldwide. In Canada, Australia, New Zealand and finally also in their home country England the band reached the top of the charts, in Australia almost exactly two years after their first release. The single Armageddon It reached No. 3 in the US, Pour Some Sugar on Me No. 2 and the ballad Love Bites even No. 1. In the end, Def Leppard sold almost 25 million albums by 2016. The tour, which is part of Hysteria , caused a sensation because the stage was not at one end of the stadium or hall as usual, but in the middle. The headlining tour in Germany was also largely sold out. Michael Schenker played in the opening act with his band MSG, which at that time was called " McAuley Schenker Group " and not as usual " Michael Schenker Group " because of the singer in Schenker's band, Robin McAuley . In Denver, Colorado, the band recorded their live video, In the Round in Your Face .

Fate struck again during the recording of the next album Adrenalize on January 8, 1991, when guitarist Steve Clark died of an overdose of alcohol , antidepressants and painkillers . The band completed the album as a quartet, it was released in March 1992 and immediately entered the US charts at number 1 . In no time at all, the band sold over six million units. The album also became number 1 in England , New Zealand , Canada , Australia and Switzerland .

Meanwhile, the band took its time with a successor for Clark. While the press speculated on John Sykes ( Thin Lizzy , Whitesnake ) and Phil Collen's former girl bandmate Gerry Laffy, Def Leppard envisioned two other candidates. On the one hand it was Robin George ( Magnum ), on the other hand ex- Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell. The latter was introduced as a new band member in mid-April and toured the world with the band for the following 15 months. The band had their first big appearance in the new line-up with Campbell on April 20, 1992 at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London's Wembley Stadium .

Their contribution to the soundtrack of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero brought the band another hit. Two Steps Behind narrowly missed the top ten in the US. In 1993 Def Leppard followed up with an album called Retro Active , which consists of rarities and B-sides , such as the single Action , a cover version of a Sweet song.

1994–2006: The lean years

While many 1980s rock bands were washed away by the grunge wave in the first half of the 1990s , Def Leppard didn't hit it until 1996 with the album Slang . The contemporary orientation and a partial change of image was not able to win new fans, but rather put off old fans. The chart positions could still be seen worldwide in comparison to other bands with a similar musical orientation. However, sales remain far behind those of the band's "golden years".

The 1999 album Euphoria then marked a return to old virtues. Not only was the title reminiscent of the 1980s, but the cover artwork was again designed by Andie Airfix . Ex- Formula 1 racing driver and amateur guitarist Damon Hill can be heard as a guest on the album. He plays a guitar solo on the song Demolition Man . In 2002 the album X was released . Due to its softer orientation, X split the fan base and so only a maximum of two songs from the record were played on the tour.

In 2006 Def Leppard released an album called Yeah! , which consists exclusively of cover versions of bands like Thin Lizzy , The Kinks , Roxy Music or Electric Light Orchestra . On October 16 of the same year, a deluxe edition of the Hysteria hit album was released, on which, in addition to the regular album tracks, there are some single B-sides as well as live recordings and remixes on a second CD.

Since 2006: Def Leppard today

Def Leppard are still touring the world as a successful rock band and can rely on a loyal fan base. Her 2005 US tour took her with co-headliner Bryan Adams through the stadiums of America and Canada, and the 2006 tour with Journey . Her current albums regularly achieve good chart positions. On June 17, 2011, the group released their first live album , titled Mirror Ball , which also includes three new studio recordings.

In the summer of 2012 Def Leppard announced that they would re-record some of their older pieces and publish them directly. This was preceded by a dispute between the band and Universal Music over the rights to use the older works, especially for digital offers, which did not lead to an agreement. A rule in copyright law stipulates that new versions of one's own songs are allowed even if the usage and exploitation rights are held by third parties. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the new recording of Pour Some Sugar On Me has already been downloaded 21,000 times for a fee, and that of Rock of Ages over 5,000 times.

Vivian Campbell has often been represented by Steve Brown ( Trixter ) since 2014 , as he was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and returned in 2015.

On October 30, 2015, the band released the 11th studio album entitled Def Leppard . The first single Let's Go was released on September 15, 2015.

In March 2019, Def Leppard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . The laudation was given by Brian May ( Queen ).

On numerous albums you worked with the Irish sound engineer Ger McDonnell .

Discography

→ Main article : Def Leppard / Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1980	On through the night	-	-	-	UK15 (8 weeks) UK	US51 platinum (51 weeks)US	First published: March 14, 1980 Sales: + 1,100,000
1981	High N 'Dry	-	-	-	UK26 (7 weeks) UK	US38 × 2 Double platinum (124 weeks)US	First published: June 11, 1981 Sales: + 2,100,000
1983	Pyromania	-	-	-	UK18th silver (8 weeks)UK	US2 diamond (123 weeks)US	First published: Jan 20, 1983 Sales: +10,860,000
1987	Hysteria	DE10 (19 weeks) DE	AT71 (1 week) AT	CH2 platinum (17 weeks)CH	UK1 × 2 Double platinum (108 weeks)UK	US1 × 2 Diamond + double platinum (136 weeks)US	First published: August 3, 1987 Sales: + 20,000,000
1992	Adrenalize	DE8 (32 weeks) DE	AT11 (20 weeks) AT	CH1 platinum (26 weeks)CH	UK1 gold (30 weeks)UK	US1 × 3 Triple platinum (65 weeks)US	First published: March 31, 1992 Sales: + 4,000,000
1996	slang	DE34 (11 weeks) DE	AT38 (7 weeks) AT	CH19 (10 weeks) CH	UK5 gold (11 weeks)UK	US14th gold (12 weeks)US	First published: May 14, 1996 Sales: + 700,000
1999	Euphoria	DE14 (9 weeks) DE	AT48 (2 weeks) AT	CH14 (5 weeks) CH	UK11 (7 weeks) UK	US11 gold (16 weeks)US	First published: June 8, 1999 Sales: +650,000
2002	X	DE19 (5 weeks) DE	AT35 (3 weeks) AT	CH9 (9 weeks) CH	UK14 (4 weeks) UK	US11 (8 weeks) US	First published: July 30, 2002
2006	Yeah!	DE73 (1 week) DE	-	CH57 (3 weeks) CH	UK52 (1 week) UK	US16 (10 weeks) US	First published: May 23, 2006
2008	Songs from the Sparkle Lounge	DE43 (2 weeks) DE	-	CH29 (3 weeks) CH	UK10 (3 weeks) UK	US5 (7 weeks) US	First published: April 25, 2008
2015	Def Leppard	DE10 (3 weeks) DE	AT18 (2 weeks) AT	CH2 (5 weeks) CH	UK11 (5 weeks) UK	US10 (4 weeks) US	First published: October 30, 2015

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

literature

• Ross Halfin: Def Leppard - The definitive story in pictures . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2011, ISBN 978-3-85445-348-2 (original edition: Def Leppard ).
• Geoff Dyer : Def Leppard and the Anthropology of Supermodernity. In: Geoff Dyer: Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews. Graywolf Press, Minneapolis 2011, ISBN 978-1-55597-579-1 .

swell

1. ↑ Rocks - The magazine for Classic Rock, issue 06/2016, page 28
2. ^ The tombstone tourist: musicians by Scott Stanton, p. 303
3. ↑ Billboard.com: Def Leppard Recording 'Forgeries' of Old Hits To Spite Label, http://www.billboard.com/news/def-leppard-recording-forgeries-of-old-hits-1007484752.story#/news /def-leppard-recording-forgeries-of-old-hits-1007484752.story , accessed on July 9, 2012
4. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/def-leppard-feat-trixter-guitarist-steve-brown-video-footage-of-us-tour-kick-off/
5. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
6. ↑ Def Leppard setting off 'Hysteria' with Las Vegas run. In: USA Today. November 12, 2012, accessed December 11, 2018 . 

Web links

Commons : Def Leppard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• The Def Leppard World - Discography