Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On Me
Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On Me
The legendary English band under the sign of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Currently, they play in the composition – Joe Elliott (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Phil Collen (lead guitars, vocals), Vivian Campbell (rhythm guitars, vocals), Rick “Sav” Savage (bass guitars, guitars, keyboards, vocals) and Rick Allen (percussion instruments, vocals).
At the beginning there was the Atomic Mass group, which was founded in 1977 by then Tapton School students – Rick Savage (bass), Pete Willis (guitar) and Tony Kenning (drums). The Irishman Joe Elliott applied for admission. The guitar was already taken, so it was decided that he would take on the role of vocalist. They gave their first performance at a local school. Soon after, Elliott proposed to change the name to “Deaf Leopard” and eventually stood on Def Leppard to make it sound “less punky”. In January of the following year, guitarist Steve Clark joined the formation, who impressed the boys on rehearsal with his version of the song “Freebird” from the repertoire of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Exactly a year later they released their debut EP “The Def Leppard E.P.”. Because Kenning left the band, Frank Noon succeeded him for recording sessions. Within a month, the drummer Rick Allen joined the band. The mini album was selling well considering the expansion of punk and new wave in those days. The musicians decided to go in the direction of NWOBHM, in which then the flag star was Iron Maiden. Meanwhile, they were gaining more and more popularity, they also managed to sign a contract with Phonogram, and their interests in the United States were to be represented by Mercury Records.
Their first full-length album “On Through the Night” appeared in stores in mid-March 1980. Although he did well in the charts – many British fans turned away from the group at the time, accusing the musicians of “Americanising the image” and focusing on the local music market. Indeed, the group toured primarily across the ocean, supporting AC / DC, Pat Traversa and Ted Nugent, among others. Then they also caught the attention of the AC / DC producer, who would agree to cooperate on the second British album. Longplay “High ‘n’ Dry” was released in July the following year. It is thanks to the skillful management of studio work – the full definition of their specific sound can be heard on the disc. The songs also included a band’s big hit – “Bringin ‘On the Heartbreak”, to which the promotional clip was one of the first metal broadcast on MTV in 1982, bringing the band a huge wave of popularity, especially in the United States. Soon after, the musicians went on a concert tour during which they performed before Ozzy Osbourn and Blackfoot. In the middle of the year, Pete Willis said goodbye to the squad. Phil Collen replaced him. All this happened simultaneously with the preparations for the next album – “Pyromania”, which premiered in January 1983. He was promoted by the single “Photograph”, to which the music video on MTV broke the popularity of the then hit “Beat It” by Michael Jackson. The hit also came from the hits – “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin”. In 1983 alone, the publishing house distributed more than 6 million copies, resulting in over 100,000 copies sold each week! Positions at the top of the list of the best albums a year threatened only by the unmatched “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. The album received diamond status, which meant over ten million sales of the publishing house. As part of the promotional concert, they played, among others, before Billy Squier. Meanwhile, the Gallup Institute reported that in 1984 respondents indicated Def Leppard (alongside Rolling Stones, AC / DC and Journey) as their favorite band.
