In addition to covering all of the tropes of heavy rock, it shudders with youthful exuberance and authenticity. track that wasn’t redone for their 1980 debut On Through the Night, is a fist-raising, nearly three-minute-long introduction to the testosterone-laden rockers. The opening track, “Ride Into the Sun,” the only E.P. In late 1978, shortly after Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott turned 19, the vocalist borrowed a little more than $200 from his dad and the band entered Fairview Studio in Hull, England to record three songs for The Def Leppard E.P. The Early Metal-Ish Years Ride Into the Sun And songs by other bands that Def Leppard covered and dueted on, exhibiting both their broad musical tastes and affinity for a good tune. This chameleonic ability to mutate when necessary allowed them to thrive through scenes with which they vibed (New Wave of British Heavy Metal, glam, country) and survive those that didn’t compliment their long hair and spandex outfits (punk, grunge, EDM, hip-hop).ĭef Leppard’s catalog can be broken up into four categories: The most metallic songs that were heralded by the rock press during the NWOBHM movement the polished mega-hits starting with “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” and progressing through the singles that propelled both Pyromania and its follow up, Hysteria, to Diamond status (10 million sales) deeper ‘90s album cuts that demonstrated Def Leppard’s penchant for experimentation and efforts to shift their sound to be accepted by fans that no longer cherished glam metal. Since they emerged from Sheffield in 1977, Def Leppard have blended rock and influences into an eclectic catalog that helped lay the foundation for various music movements. If you’ve only listened to one or two songs from Def Leppard’s decades-long recording career, you probably don’t know just how versatile England’s most popular hard rock bands has been.