Def Leppard is one of the five rock bands with two studio albums that made sales of more than 10 million copies in the U.S. Def Leppard came into being in Sheffield, England, in 1977.
Their current member line-up includes lead vocalist Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, drummer Rick Allen, and guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell. Savage, Allen, Collen, and Campbell also act as the band’s backing vocalists.
Def Leppard became an integral part of the new wave of the heavy metal movement in England during the early 1980s.
Music Career
The band achieved massive commercial success in the decade from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.
Although their debut studio album didn’t make a global mark, ‘On Through the Night’ managed to reach the Top 15 in the U.K. Their debut came out in 1980.
Def Leppard’s second studio album, High ‘n’ Dry, came out in 1981. The album featured the band’s melodic hard rock style. The album, however, managed to reach only the Top 30 and Top 40 in the U.K and the U.S., respectively. The most popular track featuring on the album was ‘Bringin’ On the Heartbreak.’
Their third studio album, ‘Pyromania,’ came out in 1983. Two tracks from the album- ‘Rock of Ages’ and ‘Photograph’ topped the U.S. charts. The album was certified 7x platinum in Canada and diamond in the U.S. It managed to reach the Top 20 in the U.K.
The band came out with a fourth studio album in 1987, titled ‘Hysteria,’ and featured music from the pop genre. It topped charts across several countries, including the U.S., the U.K, Canada, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand. It did well in Germany and Sweden, too.
Hysteria is Def Leppard’s one of the best-selling albums of all time, with a sale of over 25 million records across the globe. It has been certified 13x platinum in Canada and 12x platinum in the U.S.
The album contained six Top 20 U.S. singles- Love Bites, Hysteria, Armageddon It, Animal, Rocket, and Pour Some Sugar on Me. In New Zealand, Hysteria had four Top 10 hits.
Their fifth studio album ‘Adrenalize’ came out in 1992. It was their first album to release after the death of their guitarist Steve Clark in 1991. Adrenalize went on to achieve the number one position in many countries.
‘Let’s Get Rocked’ from the album became a massive hit across the globe. The album’s third single, ‘Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad,’ became a Top 15 in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.
Def Leppard released their sixth studio album, ‘Retro Active,’ in 1993. It contained their acoustic hit, ‘Two Steps Behind.’ The band released their hits album, ‘Vault,’ in 1995. It included their hit song ‘When Love and Hate Collide.’
They released five albums between 1996 and 2008. All the albums managed to reach the Top 15 in several countries. Their latest album was their self-titled album, ‘Def Leppard’ in 2015.
Accolades
To date, Def Leppard has sold over 100 million copies globally.
Their albums, Pyromania and Hysteria, have received diamond certification from the RIAA.
VH1 ranked Def Leppard in the thirty-first position on its 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list and in the seventieth position on its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
In 2019, the band got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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