Def Leppard
ROCK OF AGES: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION
Universal Music
I have to give it to Def Leppard…they’ve had a LOT of hits. On ROCK OF AGES: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, they give you 35 songs, and surprisingly I know all of them. This is surprising because I all but gave up on this band back in ’88-’89 when HYSTERIA changed them from a metal band to a radio rock band.
Even knowing that though, this is a band that created a lot of good music. Most impressive on this collection is that it really seems like a fan of the band worked on the songs that are included here. They span all points of Leppard’s career, and pull out a lot of fan favorites that you generally don’t think of anymore when you think of Def Leppard. Songs like “Wasted” and “Rock Brigade”, for instance, are old-school favorites that really weren’t hits except to the most hardcore early fans of the band.
“Another Hit And Run” falls into this category as well. For all the chicks, all of your songs (you know, the songs that ruined them as a band for most of us) are here as well – “Miss You In A Heartbeat”, “Two Steps Behind”, “Love Bites”, “Now”. And, most of the HYSTERIA album is here for those of you 12 million fans that originally grabbed that one up. This is a surprisingly good collection, with the only notable missing song being “Hello America”. I’m not a big Def Leppard fan anymore, but I will say that if you are, this one will sound good to you.
RATING – 7/10.
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Chris,
This post has been digitally replicated over at Advance.net, a place affiliated with about 10 newspapers around the country.
One such site is here.
Also please let your contact know, if you had one, that this article, is published at one more place. That helps to show they get two?, three? for the "price" of one.
Thank you.
Temple Stark
2 - AaronL
The songs that ruined Def Leppard as a band for MOST of us? NO song they've ever done has ruined them as a band. Their slow ballads prove they can draw fans from any category they choose, redneck metalheads, teenage boys and girls slow dancing at prom, soccer moms...you name it. A band with talent can do that. A band that sticks to one genre has 1/10 the fan base it could have. Look at Megadeth. Great music. Super talented guys...but are they a household name like Def Leppard? NO. Do their paychecks reflect that? YES.
Variety is the spice of music. A talented band like Def Leppard can turn to gold anything they touch.