In their forty-three year (!) recording career, it isn’t unfair to say UK rock stalwarts Def Leppard are known for a pretty steady formula and approach of, in the main, pristine, polished hard rock songs, centred in an eighties sheen. Most of us could recognise a Def Leppard-style song without too much difficulty, and they aren’t (a few deviations – RetroActive, Slang, Taylor Swift, and Ghostly interactions – aside) known for their musical risk-taking or surprises.
Def Leppard will celebrate the 33rd anniversary of its mega-selling album “Hysteria” with a week of special events. Kicking things off will be a listening party and live chat with guitarist Phil Collen today (Monday, August 3) at 9 a.m. PST, as well as a 33% off discount store-wide for the whole week.Def Leppard says: “Follow along with the Def Leppard social channels all week long as we celebrate the album anniversary with ‘Hysteria’ artifacts, commentary, music videos, merch, a contest giveaway, and more!”
After many years of eligibility, Def Leppard was inducted into The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame last night. Inducted by their friend and peer, Dr. Brian May of Queen, the band was gracious and overcome with happiness. Band members entering the Rock Hall include the current lineup — Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen along with founding guitarist Pete Willis and late guitarist Steve Clark. For the performance part of the evening, the band played four of its biggest hits: ‘Hysteria’, ‘Rock Of Ages’, ‘Photograph’ and ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’. The 2019 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concluded with an all-star performance of David Bowie’s “All The Young Dudes”, featuring Def Leppard, Ian Hunter, May, Steve Van Zandt, The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, and The Zombies’ Rod Argent. HBO will broadcast a truncated version of the ceremony on Saturday, April 27 at 8 p.m. EST. Continue reading