The group who would take hair bands to a whole other level would be bound from the United Kingdom and take the American hair bands by storm. Def Leppard would become one of the world’s most infamous hair bands of the 1980’s and 1990’s. The group would form from a number of other groups

Def Leppard

We sit on the fence of hard rock and pop.

Across the Ocean

The group who would take hair bands to a whole other level would be bound from the United Kingdom and take the American hair bands by storm. Def Leppard would become one of the world’s most infamous hair bands of the 1980’s and 1990’s. The group would form from a number of other groups with original members such as Rick Savage, Pete Willis, and Tony Kenning.

They would all be students at the Tapton School in Sheffield England and would form the band called Atomic Mass in 1977. Eventually they would change their name to the present band called Def Leppard and play with groups such as Poison and other hair pop bands in the late 1980’s.

Career Start

Forming under the name of Atomic Mass, the original members of the band would be only around the ages of eighteen years old. They would release their first EP that was self titled in 1977, which would only be a three track release. Although the group had found what they thought to be a stellar drummer, he would leave the band after the demo recording and would be replaced by fifteen year old Rick Allen.

The three track demo seemed to skyrocket after the single Getcha Rocks Off was released and began to be played on radio waves across the U.K. The group would solidify their fan base and be considered by some as the new wave of British hard rock and heavy metal. They would go on to sign a record deal in 1979 and thus the band was off to the races.

Their first album was released in 1980 called On Through the Night and would hit the number fifteen position in the United Kingdom but some said that the group was trying to hard to make it in the United States and would not give the group the warm reception of others. However, from this album, the group would gain the attention of Robert Lange who produced for the band AC/DC and would help them with work in their second album that was to be released shortly.

Continued Success

The group would continue to tour in support of their first album and after the schedule had been finished, Def Leppard would go back into the studio to produce their second album called High ‘N’ Dry, which was released in July of 1981. The album would contain the single called Bringin’ On the Heartbreak and would be one of the first heavy metal videos played on MTV and would bring the group much closer to American audiences. It would also get the attention of other major groups of the time and they would go on to open up for acts such as Ozzy Osbourne and Blackfoot.

The group would go back to the studio and release their third album called Pyromania that contained the hit single Photograph, which brought Def Leppard into the spotlight and created the momentum for stardom. The group was now poised for their run in the United States. Tragedy would strike the band however, and the group would take a break while their drummer Rick Allen would lose his arm in an automobile accident. However, persistence would prevail and Allen would rehabilitate himself as well as have someone design a drum set to where he could drum with both legs and his one arm. He would continue as the group’s drummer.

The group would continue as one of the leading bands throughout the 1980’s and continue to release albums into the 1990’s although their style of music was beginning to wane. Many of the fans of the group can find more information on the band and may find music available as free music downloads or for internet screening.

Did You Know

• Def Leppard was originally spelled just as the animal but was later changed to ensure no similarities to other groups.

• One of the group’s singles would make it to the number one position in the U.S.

• The group was more popular in the United States than in their homeland of the UK.

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