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RARE PHOTOS: Phil collen | Rare Historical Photos

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

“Mutt said, ‘Give it a go, and if it doesn’t work get rid of the guy.’ And that’s exactly what we had to do, because Jim was less than useless!”: Why Def Leppard couldn’t make their monster hit Hysteria with Jim Steinman as producer

“The food budget for the Steinman sessions was probably as much money as The Dark Side Of The Moon cost to record”

MusicRadar

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

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Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: July 20, 2026

Eight songs you need to hear right now, from Queens Of The Stone Age, Villagers Of Ioannina City, Ricky Warwick and more

Louder

“They were far superior guitar players to me. I could never play lead to save my life. But one thing I’m quite good at is playing with a certain feel”: Def Leppard bassist Rick Savage reveals “80%” of Hysteria’s jangle guitars were him all along

“I used a Telecaster for that thin, bright sound”

MusicRadar

"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

Def Leppard’s Phil Collen reveals his one issue with playing Las Vegas Sphere

Phil Collen says Def Leppard would love to play the Las Vegas Sphere - but worries the venue’s massive visuals might steal the spotlight.

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"I swear to God I turned the radio off because I got sick of hearing us every 20 minutes!" The story of how Pyromania sold 100,000 copies a day and turned Def Leppard into superstars

Def Leppard made an album so huge that only Michael Jackson’s Thriller prevented it from reaching No.1 in America

Louder

"It's hard rock for us. It's got a bit more of an 'oomph' than stuff we've been doing for a while": Def Leppard launch new single Rejoice ahead of Las Vegas residency

Def Leppard say they've returned to a rockier sound

Louder

"They did okay without me." Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith looks back on his unsuccessful 1991 audition for one of the biggest bands in the world

"It sounded good. And they're a great bunch of guys. But it didn't work out"

Metal Hammer

Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: October 27, 2025

Eight songs you need to hear right now, from Michael Monroe, Mammoth, ZZ Ward and more

Louder

“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

Slash, Halestorm, Blackberry Smoke and more line up for star-studded Bad Company tribute album

Watch now: The Struts' video for their cover of Bad Company's Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy

Louder

“I hope people hear these albums and go, ‘Oh, this is where that legendary American rock guitar archetype is from’”: This unsung guitar hero's band was called the American Led Zeppelin, and his virtuosic playing paved the way for Van Halen and Satriani

Often left out of discussions of the great rock guitarists of the '70s, Ronnie Montrose had little interest in chasing hits or following a consistent artistic path. Nonetheless, he left the guitarists who heard him spellbound

Guitar World

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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

Guitar World

“The secret weapon that defined the sound of 1980s arena rock”: MXR officially revives the Rockman – the revolutionary headphone amp used by Joe Satriani, Phil Collen and Boston

The device – considered to be a forerunner to today's multi-effects pedals – revolutionized guitar recording, and can be heard on thousands of hits

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

Louder

"If God gets in his way he'll burn the heavens down": Tommy Henriksen's track-by-track guide to Crossbone Skully's Evil World Machine

Evil World Machine is the debut album by Crossbone Skully, formed by Alice Cooper and Hollywood Vampires guitarist Tommy Henriksen

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Metal Hammer

“We weren’t trying to better Iron Maiden. We were trying to better Michael Jackson!”: The metal fan’s guide to Def Leppard

From the NWOBHM to the world – how Def Leppard became one of the biggest British rock bands of all time

Guitar World

“The neck is essentially twice the thickness of many standard necks. It was like, ‘Let’s see how big we can go – let’s go for a record-breaker’”: The making of Phil Collen’s monster new Jackson Tele-style

Jackson Master Builder Joe Williams shines a light on the process behind the Def Leppard guitarist’s prototype Jackson T-style, which may well enter production as a future signature model…

Guitar World

“You could sing along to the songs – including the solos. You can really mess a song up by playing the wrong solo. You can put people off”: Phil Collen on Def Leppard x Tom Morello, his love of thick guitar necks – and why Pyromania still blows him away

Taking five between packing out stadiums, Collen shares his philosophy on digital amps, what Mutt Lange taught him, and how Tom Morello found himself on a Def Leppard track

Guitar World

“It’s got the fattest neck Jackson has ever made… I said, ‘Am I going to be able to play this thing?’” Jackson has made Phil Collen a Tele-style model with a neck twice as thick as a regular guitar’s – and a signature version could be in the pipeline

The Def Leppard guitarist has remained loyal to Strat-style models for much of his career, but he's developed a new affinity for single-cuts

Guitar World

“He said, ‘Take this cassette home and see if you can come up with something.’ I plugged the Destroyer straight into the Marshall and that’s what came out”: Phil Collen's first Def Leppard solo is one of his most famous – and he did it in one take

Recruited by Def Leppard in 1982, Collen was put straight to work on Pyromania, and contributed a rather notable lead effort he nailed in one go

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

MusicRadar

"Really, really cool... his guitar style is so unique and he really didn't let us down”: Def Leppard’s Phil Collen on their collab with Tom Morello

Tom Morello guests with Def Leppard on their new single

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