Def Leppard’s Phil Collen looks back at their hit Hysteria single Love Bites and admits that when it hit the top of the charts they’d never played it together in the same room
Def Leppard had never played Love Bites together in the same room when it hit the top of the charts back in 1988, says guitarist Phil Collen.
The song was just one of seven smash hit singles from 1987’s Hysteria – and was their only track to make it to no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But in a new interview with Spotify’s Under Cover podcast, Collen says they struggled to pull the song together following its release as they had recorded it piecemeal in the years before the album’s release.
He says: “We’d never played Love Bites together when we released it. It was a studio song. We did bits and pieces here, and the next year we did some in another studio and tracked crazy vocals.
“We release it and it goes to no.1 on Billboard and we’ve never played it – our only no.1 Billboard single.
“Pour Some Sugar On Me was no.2, Armageddon It was two, we’ve had top 10s and all that. This was no.1 and we didn’t know how to play it. It was a real struggle playing guitar and singing at the same time – there’s so many vocals on it, but we finally got it.”
He says: “We did a covers album called Yeah! and we made a point to not do Beatles, Stones or Zeppelin – the run of the mill stuff. When this session came up, what was really interesting was that everyone was going, ‘Maybe be could do an Eagles song or an Abba song.’
Closing out a banner 2018, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® nominees Def Leppard reveal a string of upcoming releases. The group assemble a brand new greatest hits collection entitled The Story So Far – The Best Of, arriving in stores and online November 30, 2018. It will be available in multiple configurations: a 2-CD set comprised of 35 tracks, 1-CD comprised of 17 tracks, 2LP vinyl, and digital. Among a blockbuster tracklisting loaded with timeless smashes, all four versions feature three new songs, including the official recording of the band’s recent fan favorite Depeche Mode cover “Personal Jesus,” “Rock On (Remix),” and the original holiday song “We All Need Christmas.” As a bonus for collectors, the first pressing vinyl copies of The Story So Far feature an exclusive 7” single of “Personal Jesus” and “We All Need Christmas.” See full tacklisting below.
The pre-order just went live today, and it unlocks an instant grat download of “Personal Jesus.” Rolling Stone claimed it “features a little more of the group’s signature giant vocals…and to great effect.” Essential for newcomers and longtime fans alike, The Story So Far plays out like the ultimate Def Leppard set upheld by stadium-size hits.
Additionally, Def Leppard is sharing a brand new Christmas single titled “We All Need Christmas”. A delicate acoustic ballad, the track proves fireside-ready with its uplifting, hopeful spirit and sense of seasonal soul.
Listen to “We All Need Christmas” HERE and stay on the lookout for the music video’s debut soon 🎄
Next up on November 30, Def Leppard will release Hysteria: The Singles, a new limited edition, 10-disc vinyl box set featuring all of the 7” singles from the multi-platinum album Hysteria, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. Hysteria: The Singles features repressed versions of all eight 7-inch vinyl singles for Hysteria including their Top-5 hits “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Animal,” “Love Bites,” “Hysteria,” “Rocket” and “Armageddon It.” Two bonus singles, “Excitable”/”Run Riot” (Album Version) and “Love and Affection”/”Don’t Shoot The Shotgun” (Album Version), are only available in this box set.
Housed in a box with a lift-off lid, Hysteria: The Singles features new cover art made up of all 10 of the single’s sleeves, including the special Spanish “Animal” single, plus a booklet with a full band discography and an introduction written by Joe Elliott.
Get Hysteria: The Singles vinyl singles box set HERE
Everything sets the stage for what promises to be an even bigger 2019. Be on the lookout for more from Def Leppard soon.
THE STORY SO FAR TRACKLISTING:
Disc 1
1. “Animal”
2. “Photograph”
3. “Pour Some Sugar On Me”
4. “Love Bites”
5. “Let’s Get Rocked”
6. “Armaggedon It”
7. “Foolin’”
8. “Two Steps Behind”
9. “Heaven Is”
10. “Rocket”
11. “Hysteria”
12. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad”
13. “Make Love Like A Man”
14. “Action”
15. “When Love & Hate Collide”
16. “Rock of Ages”
17. “Personal Jesus”
Disc 2
1. “Let’s Go”
2. “Promises”
3. “Slang”
4. “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak”
5. “Rock On (Radio Remix)”
6. “Nine Lives” (feat. Tim McGraw)
7. “Work It Out”
8. “Stand Up”
9. “Dangerous”
10. “Now”
11. “Undefeated”
12. “Tonight”
13. “C’Mon C’Mon”
14. “Man Enough”
15. “No Matter What”
16. “All I Want Is Everything”
17. “It’s All About Believing”
18. “Kings Of The World”
HYSTERIA: THE SINGLES TRACKLISTING:
DISC ONE: Women / Tear It Down (US Version)
DISC TWO: Animal / I Wanna Be Your Hero (US Version)
DISC THREE: Hysteria / Ride in To the Sun (Int Version)
DISC FOUR: Pour Some Sugar on Me / Ring of Fire (US Version)
DISC FIVE: Love Bites / Billy’s Got A Gun (Live)(Int Version)
DISC SIX: Armageddon It / Release Me (Can Version)
DISC SEVEN: Rocket / Woman (Live) (US Version)
DISC EIGHT: Excitable / Run Riot (Album Version)
DISC NINE: Love and Affection / Don’t Shoot Shotgun (Album Version)
DISC TEN: Animal / Tear It Down (Spanish Artwork Version)
To be eligible for this year’s ballot, each nominee’s first single or album had to released in 1993 or earlier. Several of the nominees have appeared on previous ballots, but this is first appearance for Def Leppard, Devo, Prine, Roxy Music, Nicks and Rundgren. Radiohead and Rage Against the Machine both made their debut appearance last year in their first period of eligibility. This is the fifth appearance for Kraftwerk and LL Cool J, the fourth for the Zombies, the third for Janet Jackson and Rufus featuring Chaka Khan and the second for the Cure.
A voting pool of more than 1,000 artists, historians, journalists and members of the music industry will select the new class, and once again fans will have a chance to be a part of the process. They can vote on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website or visit the museum in Cleveland and make a selection at an interactive kiosk.
As in recent years, the Hall of Fame has announced the individual members of each band that will be inducted. The current lineup of Def Leppard is listed along with the late Steve Clark and original guitarist Pete Willis.
The classic Roxy Music lineup of Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Eddie Jobson and Paul Thompson made the cut, though none of their many bassists did. Roxy hasn’t played with Brian Eno since he left in 1973, which could lead to a historic reunion should the band get inducted.
The core Kraftwerk lineup of Karl Bartos, Wolfgang Flür, Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider are listed, though at this point only Hütter remains in the group, setting up another possible reunion at the ceremony.
Many musicians have come and gone through the Cure over the years, but only Robert Smith, Porl Thompson, Perry Bamonte, Michael Dempsey, Simon Gallup, Lol Tolhurst, Boris Williams, Jason Cooper, Roger O’Donnell got the nod.
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan has been largely inactive since their slip in 1983. The Hall of Fame will induct Dennis Belfield, Al Ciner, Andre Fischer, Chaka Khan, Tony Maiden, Nate Morgan, Kevin Murphy, Ron Stockert, Bobby Watson should they receive enough votes.
Radiohead has had the same lineup since their formation in 1985, so it’s no great shock that Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway all made the list. The big question is whether or not they’ll show up should they make it in. Last year, they booked a South American show on the evening of the induction ceremony before they learned they didn’t make the cut. Speaking toRolling Stone last year, bassist Colin Greenwood said he wasn’t sure if his bandmates would attend a Hall of Fame ceremony. “It might be me just doing bass versions of everything like, ‘Come on, you know this one!’” he said. “I’d have to play the bass part to ‘Creep’ five times.”
Def Leppard has been eligible for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination since 2005. But after taking look at the ballot for the class of 2019 — and the other five first-time nominees — frontman Joe Elliott isn’t complaining about his band’s 13-year wait.
“You’re looking at the likes of Todd Rundgren (23 years) and Roxy Music (21 years) and Devo (15 years), and it took them long enough to get a nomination,” Elliott tells Billboard. “So I don’t feel so bad now that we got overlooked when you see people like them, people I was out buying their records when I was 12 years old. So it’s alright. It’s kinda cool.”
Elliott first caught wind of Def Leppard’s nomination after the group wound up its tour with Journey on Sunday (Oct. 7) in Los Angeles, when managers told him “it was definitely gonna happen… I’m on vapors ’cause we’ve just done 60 shows all over the U.S., I’ve got a glass of chardonnay and I’m thinking, ‘As one door closes, another one opens…’ I mean, it’s not really gonna change my life, really, one way or the other — but Jon Bon Jovi has been telling me for at least 12 months that yes, it will.”
Nevertheless, Elliott and company are trying to keep a lid on their excitement as voting gets under way. “We’ll wait and see,” he says. “I’m not gonna hold my breath because I know how this can go. Judas Priest didn’t get in last year, and it’s a big disappointment for them that they didn’t. So I’m not taking anything for granted.” Nevertheless, Def Leppard is buoyed by the fan vote that comprises one ballot, and usually picks eventually inductees such as Bon Jovi, Chicago and the Moody Blues.
“That’s kind of swung our attention into a much more positive situation,” Elliott explains. “People keep sending us snapshots if they’re at the (Cleveland) museum — ‘Check out the fan vote!’ and there’s our name at the top, like 300 percent higher than whoever is the No. 2 choice of the fans. That sort of makes it a lot more realistic for us. It’s not this cloak and dagger thing, it is actually bringing the real people to have a bit of a vote on it, if you will.”
Elliott was also pleased to learn that original guitarist Pete Willis, who left after Def Leppard’s second album, was included in the eligible roster — “Pete is very important in the very early embryonic version of this band,” Elliott says — and if the group is inducted it might bring Willis back out into the public for the first time in decades. “I really couldn’t tell you how that’s going to pan out,” Elliott says. “Would we welcome his company? Well, why not? If he’s nominated, he’s rightly nominated. He does deserve to be on the list.”
While Rock Hall voting is going on Def Leppard will be busy on the road, playing Hysteria full-album shows in Hawaii, Japan, Australia and other markets, wrapping up for the year during mid-December in London. The group has done some “bits and bobs” of recording, though no new album is planned at the moment. But Elliott acknowledges that he is hoping there will be something positive to talk about during early December, when the Rock Hall inductees are usually revealed.
“When I look at the list of who’s in, it’s just obvious you’d want to be in that club, isn’t it?” he says. “I’m definitely not Groucho Marx, ‘Any club that would have me as a member I don’t want to join.’ When you think that every band that means anything in the world, starting from the Beatles and the Stones and any artist that influenced them — your Chuck Berrys, your Little Richards, etc. etc. — then of course you want to be in. Why wouldn’t you?”
Mirrorball (Live & More) album has been certified Gold by the RIAA. Released in 2011, “Mirror Ball” included a 50-minute DVD that contained live performances and intimate backstage footage of the band captured on the road. A special limited vinyl edition was also made available.
“Mirror Ball” featured a mix of live DEF LEPPARD classics (recorded throughout the “Songs From The Sparkle Lounge” tour), three brand new studio songs and the aforementioned bonus DVD. “Mirror Ball” featured rock classics such as “Animal”, “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Photograph”, “Nine Lives” and “Rock Of Ages”. The album also brought together three brand new studio tracks — “Undefeated”, “Kings Of The World” and “It’s All About Believin'” — taking their place with ease within this classic setlist.
“When we decided to do [the live album], it just got said, I don’t know by who, ‘Why don’t we chuck a couple of new songs on the end?’ ” frontman Joe Elliott told Billboard. “And that two became three, and in fairness it could’ve been four if we’d just had a little bit more time.”
Elliott composed “Undefeated”, which he described to Billboard as “a very QUEEN-type vocal thing. It even features piano and stuff.” Guitarist Phil Collen’s “It’s All About Believin'”was “a pop-rock song,” while bassist Rick Savage’s “Kings Of The World” was “a big, epic, rock anthem — kind of ‘We Will Rock You’ with guitars, if you like.”
“They’re all very different to each other,” Elliott added. “They don’t sound specifically like any previous DEF LEPPARD songs, but they sound like DEF LEPPARD songs. They have to have our identity on them, otherwise they might as well be Tom Waits or R.E.M. We have a signature sound that we’re not scared of anymore.”
Photo by Kevin Nixon shot at the Los Angeles Forum on October 7, 2018 prior to the last date on the North American tour w/ Journey
Just announced – Def Leppard has been named a 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee! Voting begins now on rockhall.com/fanvote and you can vote once per day until Dec. 9. Thank you to all of our fans for the support!
To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Six out of 15 of the Nominees are on the ballot for the first time, including Def Leppard.
Inductees will be announced in December 2018. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2019 Induction Ceremony, presented by Klipsch Audio, will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on March 29, 2019. Ticket on-sale information will be announced in January.
Ballots will be sent to an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, historians and members of the music industry. Factors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will again offer fans the opportunity to officially participate in the induction selection process. Beginning October 9 and continuing through 11:59 p.m. EST on December 9, 2018, fans can visit rockhall.com to cast votes for who they believe to be most deserving of induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The top five artists, as selected by the public, will comprise a “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2019 inductees. Fans will need to login to vote. Voting is capped at one ballot per day.
Fans can also visit the Museum in Cleveland to cast their vote in person using the Voice Your Choice interactives adjacent to the 2018 Inductee exhibit in the new Hall of Fame Gallery, presented by KeyBank.
HBO will also once again broadcast the ceremony in 2019 and SiriusXM will also carry a radio simulcast, along with specials leading up to the Ceremony devoted to the Rock Hall’s Inductees—past and present— on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Radio (Ch. 310).
After two final sold out Los Angles, CA concerts at The Forum, DEF LEPPARD has wrapped up their 60 date North American Tour w/ Journey. THANK YOU to all the fans for the continued support! Photos by Kevin Nixon
DEF Leppard’s Vivian Campbell will make two fans’ dreams come true this December when the world-famous rock band arrives in Belfast.
Belfast-born Campbell, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland Hospice and Children’s Hospice, is offering a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have lunch with him in his native city, meet the band and enjoy VIP passes to Def Leppard’s historic Hysteria gig at the SSE Arena, as well as hotel accommodation. The experience will be won in an online auction hosted by GIVERGY.COM and will also see two fans attend the pre-show sound-check and play a song for them too. In addition to that, it will also include an autographed edition of Def Leppard’s vinyl boxset released this year and two Hysteria tour tee-shirts.
Guitarist Campbell, 55, become a Northern Ireland Hospice Ambassador earlier this year, supporting the palliative care charity which cares for more than 3,500 adults and children every year. A former Rathmore Grammar School pupil who progressed in the rock scene with bands such as Dio, Whitesnake and Riverdogs, joined Def Leppard in 1992. He has released a number of top albums with the Sheffield rockers such as Slang, Euphoria, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge and most recently the self-titled ‘Def Leppard’ album which received critical acclaim.
Northern Ireland Hospice CEO Heather Weir said: “Vivian Campbell has offered Def Leppard fans a real once-in-a-lifetime experience, a chance to meet rock legends in our beautiful city. It will be an experience to cherish for life. “Vivian is a wonderful Ambassador for Northern Ireland Hospice – open to discovering new ways to support us and raise awareness of the care services we provide for children and adults. This is something we are all excited about.”
In 2013, Campbell was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and openly discussed his treatment with patients when he made a private visit to Northern Ireland Hospice in November 2017. He said: “I’ve always considered myself to be blessed in my music career and it makes me proud that an organisation such as Northern Ireland Hospice recognise this and have asked that I represent what they do. “I have personal experience too with my battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and I can empathise with patients and families on their journeys. Northern Ireland Hospice is a wonderful organisation that I am happy to support and highlight the palliative care services it provides.”
At the December 2 show in Belfast, Def Leppard will perform their global success album Hysteria in full. The album, first released in 1987, has sold over 30-million copies and includes huts such as Pour Some Sugar on Me, Love Bites, Animal and Hysteria. It is one of the most successful rock albums of all time.
