40th Anniversary of Def Leppard's Pyromania
20 Jan 2023
This week marks the monumental 40th Anniversary of Def Leppard's Pyromania, the album that helped to propel the band into becoming household names in 1983. The album charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, sold over ten million copies in the US and became certified diamond status by the RIAA.
Widely considered one of the best rock songs of all time, the lead song 'Photograph' was Def Leppard's breakthrough in America, becoming their first top-20 hit in the US and supplanting Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' as the most requested video on MTV.
'MTV played a huge part in the success we would achieve in 1983. But none of that could have happened without a good album and an insane tour. We had to go out there and perspire.' - Joe Elliott
The album also featured hits such as 'Rock of Ages' and 'Foolin', which have also received massive critical acclaim and appreciation in their own right.
Def Leppard have kicked off celebrations on social media with the #Pyromania40 hashtag, with fans sharing their vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, t-shirts and merchandise celebrating the band and album.
'Coming up during the punk era helped us because there were only a couple of bands playing our type of music. People probably took more notice of us because we stood out.' - Rick Savage
The band goes into great detail about their experience creating
Pyromania in
Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard, which is narrated by the band and illustrated with hundreds of photographs and items of memorabilia from their personal archives.
As the band became one of the world's best-selling music artists with hit albums Pyromania and Hysteria, the band overcame drummer Rick Allen's accident and the death of bandmate Steve Clark. During their 45-year history, Def Leppard have continued their streak of bestselling albums, with 12 studio albums to their name including their 2022 release Diamond Star Halos, finding further success with every record and tour.
'Resilience and drive are at the core of Def Leppard and a big reason why the band has endured.' - Vivian Campbell
