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UNBELIEVABLE: Leppard org - The Untold Story

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen admits that super-producer 'Mutt' Lange was "about 99%" responsible for the phenomenal success that the English hard rock band enjoyed in the 1980s

"He taught us how to sing, he taught us how to play guitar"

Louder

Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: August 10, 2026

Eight songs you need to hear right now, from Grace Bowers, the Pineapple Thief, Crossbone Skully and more

Louder

"The time is right for a revolution in rock'n'roll. It's yours for the taking. I believe it’s coming." Def Leppard and Extreme are currently on tour together, so we put their guitarists in a room

Def Leppard and Extreme are currently playing a bunch of dates on what promises to be a cracking double-header

Louder

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Def Leppard's Greatest Hits: Built with Queen's Greatest Hits in mind?

All-killer, no-filler compilation that pairs bludgeon riffola with melody. Single-disc minimalism rules!

Louder

“We were labelled ‘the new Led Zeppelin’. I mean, wow! But it was a blessing and a curse. There could never be another Led Zeppelin, just like there could never be another Beatles”: The strange tale of a great rock band that had it all – and then blew it

As one critic said, this band had “more good riffs in one song than there are in the first four Black Sabbath albums”

MusicRadar

"It's not hard to see why they got left behind by Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon": Praying Mantis fail to surf the NWOBHM wave on Time Tells No Lies

Life at the melodic end of the hard rock spectrum was not always kind

Louder

“Me and Taylor sat down, and she says, ‘I can’t sing that line’, cos it was a bit too risqué”: Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott on duetting with the teenage Taylor Swift on an 80s rock classic - and the raunchy lyric they had to change

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“We’d done 11 songs. Nobody wanted to do another except me and Mutt. But I said, ‘Sorry, boys – you can’t turn this chorus down!’”: How Def Leppard created a mega-hit song in 10 days after spending three years on an album

"It was really based on rap stuff – not your standard rock song”

MusicRadar

"I was only allowed to walk forwards if I had a particularly important guitar solo": Meet Star Circus, the missing link between ELO and Def Leppard

Variety is said to be the spice of life, and Star Circus throw a lot into the ring

Louder

“He said, ‘I’ve never seen so many women in my life. We just get men at our gigs”: The night Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris joined Def Leppard to cover Creedence Clearwater Revival

This one-off union of two British rock superstars actually happened

Louder

“Don’t get too precious about your songs. We’re probably going to tear them apart”: Legendary producer Mutt Lange’s first words to the young Def Leppard

How Leppard's 'sixth member' took them to a new level

MusicRadar

“I called out to Mutt and said, ‘How about this?’... It was a complete fluke": How Def Leppard created a rock anthem - with a little bit of divine intervention

"Thank God we let that church choir in!”

MusicRadar

“We had a request from the studio guys: ‘Is it okay if this local church choir comes in to record for a day?’ And thank God we let them in!”: How Def Leppard created a rock anthem - with a little bit of divine intervention

"It was a complete fluke," singer Joe Elliott said

MusicRadar

"The summer is heatin' up!" Def Leppard reveal spring / summer tour schedule

Do you wanna get rocked? Of course you do, silly question really

Louder

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Metal Hammer

“In six months, we got through 300 bottles of vodka, 400 bottles of whiskey and cases of beer. It was insane”: The unbelievable story of Def Leppard’s 80s hard rock masterpiece Hysteria

Four years, one near-fatal car crash and an ocean of booze in the making, Def Leppard’s Hysteria is the 80s hard rock album against which all others should be measured

MusicRadar

“He sings on all our stuff. You hear him on AC/DC, Bryan Adams, Shania’s stuff. He has the best voice in the room”: Phil Collen says Mutt Lange is an ace vocalist who can nail it in one take – and it’s the same with guitar

For Collen, working with Lange is like “going to school for your favourite subject” but recreating the studio magic live on Def Leppard tracks such as Live Bites can be very tricky at first

MusicRadar

“He didn't want his credibility blown by being named on a Def Leppard album!”: The rockers’ secret weapon was a synth pop boffin

“He added a new dimension to our songs,” Leppard’s singer says

Louder

"Vivian is still battling cancer, we've still got a one-armed drummer. But these are obstacles that we just mock": Joe Elliott on why Def Leppard won't be retiring any time soon

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott on the US tour, not selling out, guest appearances, retirement and the next album

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Louder

"We always play UK tours even if we're operating at a loss": Joe Elliott on the importance of Britain to Def Leppard

In 2008, Joe Elliott sat down with Classic Rock to discuss the band's roots, selling Britain to America, and that iconic Union Jack shirt

Louder

"A guy's just died and here we are making this euphoric, celebratory music. It seemed a bit weird": How Def Leppard overcame tragedy and made Adrenalize

Reeling from the death of guitarist Steve Clark, Def Leppard were determined to keep the party going. The result was Adrenalize – their last great blockbuster album

Louder

“We used to cover Problem Child in the early days. We did it two or three times in front of an audience”: we got Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott to pick his ultimate AC/DC setlist

From big hitters to deep cuts, this the perfect AC/DC setlist according to Def Leppard singer and AC/DC megafan Joe Elliott

Louder

“Ritchie Blackmore went into the pit with a box of tomatoes and started throwing them at the singer”: how Deep Purple changed Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott’s life

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott on his love of Deep Purple – and the deep cut he loves

Louder

“We had our pockets stuffed with $16,000 in $100 bills, and there were 8,000 kids in front of us in Bangkok. We caused a riot at the airport coming home”: the rise and fall of Girl, the cult glam rock band who should have been huge

Swaggering and arrogant, NWOBHM-era glam rockers Girl were the biggest band in the world – at least in their own heads

Guitar World

“I thought I’d make the notes count, like Jeff Beck. It doesn’t sound anything like Jeff, but that was the intention going in!” Phil Collen on how – by accident and design – Def Leppard reinvented rock guitar on classic album Pyromania

Pyromania is 40 years young this year is still fresh as a daisy. Collen explains how tones, solos, Mutt Lange and the art of recording one string at a time forged a pivotal moment in rock

Louder

"Even now it still has that special quality that made it such a ground-breaking record": Def Leppard to release massively expanded 40th anniversary edition of Pyromania

The new edition of Pyromania will include a host of demos and rough mixes, as well as a "long-lost 11th song"

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