Please step aside anyone who will say "they went pop after pyromania and I don't like pop I like heavy f***** metal".
I get 'Back in Black' is the second biggest record of all time, but it's not like AC/DC has got that many popular songs to compete with the monsters that came out of 'Pyromania' and specially 'Hysteria'. New generations have all heard of AC/DC, yet lots of kids have never even heard of Def Leppard (except a couple cool shirt designs).
Came here to say this... the OP is out of his fucking mind making such an idiotic statement like that.
I mean they call Def Leppard heavy metal.
They "called" Def Leppard heavy metal when they started in the late 70s and they really lived up to the label through the 80s. Once the 90s came about, they pivoted to hard, then light rock. And in the 2000s, they became pop music. How can I say that? They covered David Bowie, of all people and put out acoustic ballads. Heavy metal band don't cover David Bowie or do acoustic ballads.
Def Leppard's frontman, Joe Elliott, has said that he doesn't consider his band to be heavy metal, and has expressed frustration with genre labels that he feels misrepresent the band's music. Elliott has said that he has an issue with the term "heavy metal" because people outside of rock may think that heavy metal bands are bad news, and that this stereotype unfairly stigmatizes the genre and its fans.
Well he's got a point. But back in their prime they embraced the heavy metal term and ran full throttle with it. It wasn't until they mellowed out and changed their musical direction that Joe started speaking about genre labels and feeling Def Leppard wasn't a heavy metal band.
Just because he doesn't like Heavy Metal doesn't change what they recorded in the early 80s. He's also a piece of shit for saying this, because they used the heavy metal community as a platform for mainstream success.
They pivoted in '88. They basically ignor the awesome Pete Willis years.
Yeah, I definitely miss those years. Their sound really changed after Steve died. He was the driving force behind the band's sound and style. When he passed, they moved more mainstream because the others in the band had to take up the slack and had more say.
On through the Night. The best Def Leppard album and only one worth listening to all the way through. High and Dry ¾ & Pryomania ½ of the respective album, any other...1 or 2 songs are not just bubble gum and bullshit.
Pyromania is great live without all of the overproduction.
I saw their Hysteria stop in Denver, which was when & where the video for "Pour Some Sugar On Me" was filmed. If you look close enough, you can't see me. 🤣 Seriously though, it was pretty cool. When the said they were going to be filming it, the entire arena erupted! A nice surprise. And if I remember correctly, Tesla opened up. I'm not a big fan of either but it really was a good concert all in all.
I love Def Leppard all the way through ‘Hysteria,’ but I loathe ‘Adrenalize.’ What a false promise that album title is, considering it’s all ballads except two songs, one of which (“Let’s Get Rocked”) is their worst song ever recorded, the other of which is their only decent song on the album (“White Lightning”)
And the really shitty thing about it all, their sound has never recovered
True dat.
Joe Elliot has very eclectic tastes musically. I've seen and read interviews where he runs down the list of acts that were big influences for him. Not sure about the rest of the band.
But yeah, the OP is comparing apples to oranges. I love both bands, but they are completely different sounds.
Indeed. I love them both equally.
So just because absolute statements are rough
Metallica has official acoustic versions of Nothing else matters Unforgiven
Both Behemoth and Atrocity have covered Bowie.
So just fuck the hell right off with that opinion and start respecting legends even if you exercise your right to not like them.
Be well
Feel free to fuck the hell right off yourself with your opinion.
More than happy to if you can point out exactly what in my post was opinion.
What I did was blow battleship sized holes in the reason for your opinion and called you out for being ignorant of the music you berated.
Be well
They've always been David Bowie superfans, as any music fan with an iota of sophistication should be.
Absolutely spot on, my friend!
The vast majority of metal bands would like to have a discussion with you about how wrong you are here. Imagine saying something so wrong like that so confidently "Heavy metal bands don't cover David Bowie or do acoustic ballads". Hilariously wrong.
Opeth is likely heavier than anything you listen to, and their songs generally contain minutes of acoustic guitar playing... in almost every song. As one of several hundred thousand examples.
Opeth sucks balls.
High and dry could have passed for heavy metal but that's it
They'll always be rock or hard rock to me.
They were wrong. Hard Rock, yeah.
We can disagree with people here and not call them idiots. That doesn't help our community.
Girls got Rhythm
Touch too much
Shoot To Thrill
What do you do for money honey
Rock n roll ain’t noise pollution
Have a drink on me
Etc
And Sin City
Guns For Hire
Fly On The Wall
Heatseeker
That's The Way I Wanna Rock N' Roll
Etc
AC/DC is not a singles band, they're an album band. One of the greatest in music history.
You don't say!
Who cares about popular disposable pop songs, when you have the lengthy string of monster rock albums in the AC/DC catalogue. Def Lep peaked with Pyromania as far as quality goes, everything else is pretty weak.
You may have listed 9 titles, but it's all the same song. And that song is awful.
lot of these, although great songs, are not mainstream hits
I don’t have any numbers for you but Shoot to thrill has got to be just as popular as any Def Leppard song outside of Pour Some Sugar On You.
You’re right. I’ve heard those but nowhere near as often as their biggest hits.
Hysteria is better than any single AC/DC album but you’ve apparently attracted some super fans to this thread so it might be hard to make the argument.
Hysteria is better in your opinion
If you want to only judge on radio play AC/DC completely dominated
Def Leppard has something like 6-8 hits that are played consistently
Photograph Rock Of Ages Animal Hysteria Love Bites (maybe) Pour Some Sugar On Me Rocket
Im probably missing a couple , but AC/DC has 30+ songs that are consistently played on the radio
By they way, I’m a bigger DL fan
Hysteria is better in your opinion
That’s all I got here pal
Photograph, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rock of Ages, Animal, Hysteria, Love Bites, Foolin, Rocket, Women, Bringin' On The Heartbreak, When Love & Hate Collide, Armageddon It.
I get it: culturally it doesn't have the "legendary" status AD/DC has, but if we measure it in terms of success they shouldn't be that far apart.
Hysteria is the first Def Leppard album that is 80% trash. It is better than exactly ZERO AC/DC albums. And I’m not even that big of an AC/DC fan.
Its not that "they went pop"... but by doing so, they lost 99% of the rabid fans that were there for High&Dry and Pyromania.
With Hysteria, they made a mega-hit, very radio-friendly monster album... and good for them.
But, they basically lost their fanbase... while gaining a new and expanded fanbase that were more into radio-friendly / MTv friendly verse-chorus-verse type of music.
Happened to David Bowie when he released "Lets Dance"... and was such a huge MTv era success that suddenly he realized he was now playing for a completely different fan base at his shows... and they wanted the new stuff. I recall him saying that at the time, he wondered if anyone in the seats even heard of The Velvet Underground.
Happened to Genesis when they got super popular in early-mid 80s. The new fans (that were selling out stadiums) would do bathroom breaks during the long prog instrumental songs (from their 70s prog days)... yet stay around for "Invisible Touch".
ACDC kept their fanbase and just added to it... with Back in Black.
Best answer so far
Bowie recorded "China Girl" with Iggy Pop back in 1977 on The Idiot. By the early '80s, Bowie was tired of people cashing in on his sound (and vision) without cashing in himself and went deliberately Pop. Without this attitude, we wouldn't have the hilariously bad cover song and video of him and Mick Jagger "Dancing In The Steeet".
They’ve done very fucking well. AC/DC is just on that top level for hard rock. Rightfully so. There are 3 or 4 perfect Bon records and 1 perfect Brian record- with a string of big hits after B.I.B. They have an X factor few can match.
Although Brian's vocals had severely deteriorated post 1986, the songs on Razors Edge are perfect imo.
Oh that’s a good album!
AC/DC with Bon was the best!
I don’t know if this is true. They did a stadium tour a couple years ago and I don’t think you can do that without younger fans going.
Still doing it. 3rd year in a row, all over the world.
ACDC has just stood the test of time better. They generally have stayed the same the whole time Beyond the changes that came with each singer. They also have a shitload of songs that are perfect for ads, intros, rejoiner and background music for TV and radio etc., especially sports, so they are always relevant. Def leppard has a few too, but they have zero cool or bad ass factor beyond a cool logo. ACDC's general hard rockin' vibe helps them too
Back in the day people made fun of Def Leppard, but I say it’s high time we accept that they have more than proven themselves as musicians. Always been my favorite band, and I’ve worn out many a copy of each of their albums. They’re fun, they’re talented, Rick Allen drums with one arm, and most of all, their music just makes me happy. Joe Elliott writes some weird ass lyrics and I love that too. Does anyone here play guitar? Ever tried to learn any Def Leppard songs? Because some of their songs are pretty difficult to play right. I think they should be right up there with AC/DC, at one point they were the #1 rock band in the world. They’ve certainly paid their dues.
AC/DC had a far more impressive catalog than Def Leppard did BEFORE Brian Johnson became the singer. Then they became even more huge. The first two DL records are bangers, and they rode a wave of huge success in the 80s, but come on, AC/DC's body of work is just way more impressive.
Didn’t Brian join AC/DC BEFORE Def Leppard had their first album out?
Right around the same time, but not sure exactly. They already had a whole string of classic albums by 1980. Then they just exploded in popularity with Back In Black.
I don't know. I get AC/DC are more unique & original. Without them there'd be no Leppard. AC/DC are also heavier, and more raw, which some people here think makes a group better... but Def Leppard's incredible success with 'Pyromania' & 'Hysteria' should at least put them up there with them (if it wasn't for the whole "just another hair band" image)
Def Leppard became massive after Pyromania and Hysteria, no argument there. There were as popular as anyone for a while there. But AC/DC was already huge when DL broke, and remained huge after DL cooled. DL was a super massive, popular band for sure. But AC/DC is iconic.
Fair enough
Haha, not even close.
I don't mean to be off topic but doesn't Cinderella sound like AC/DC if AC/DC were a glam metal band to anyone else, too? Just listen to Cinderella's Shake and see for yourself.
Also Def Leppard is as good as AC/DC.
Strip off the 80's style production (big drums, reverb everywhere, poppy backing vocals) from their songs and you get AC/DC
So like mid 80s AC/DC?
nah, still a step further down the pop metal path
They are not even in the same league. AC DC’s sound and music is timeless.
Been to plenty of Leppard gigs, there's always kids knocking about with parents, or younger fans there with mates. Sure, not LOADS, but there's still plenty.
I think Leppard endure because they still put on a fantastic show night after night, and are a damn consistent band.
I think they're less "out there" than AC/DC and the like because they control their image and song licensing, so they didn't go through the phase of "slap them on everything" because some executive said yes.
I ain't steppin aside. East Tennessee. Fan from On thru the Night. They really kicked ass then ya know hysteria grew on me and adrenalize was pretty good and it just man...slowly got softer and softer and hell yea they left me...i didn't leave them. Still a hall of fame band based on their early years. I haven't even attempted to hear Def Leppard since slang. Who knows what they do. They tour around here all the time East Tennessee. I saw pyromania tour twice. Adrenalize once and hysteria once. So i seen em 4 times. High n dry is like royalty to me.
Back in Black isn't the second best selling album ever - just gonna mention that from the off. It's a frequently quoted claim and just not actually true.
On the topic at hand, I think AC/DC have a few things that set them apart from Def Leppard.
Firstly, a less genre-specific sound - they're a more generic rock band. They've sounded cool to young ears of any generation.
Second, branding. Def Leppard were marketed as pretty pop boys and that's a far harder position in pop culture to maintain.
Third, momentum. AC/DC toured hard and recorded regularly for a long time before slowing down. Def Leppard took four years to follow up Pyromania and five years to follow up Hysteria. It was due to reasons beyond their control but with better timing they could have had a bunch more hits during their peak years.
Also, while their peak creative years were 1976-1981, they did really, really good comeback albums in 1990 and 2008. Def Leppard haven't had a latter day album that really had any potential to take people by surprise like that.
I say all this, Def Leppard are one of my all time favourite bands. I love the later albums, they're still a top tier live act. But that doesn't put them at the AC/DC level.
I'm convinced Def Leppard is the direction Mutt Lange wanted to to take AC/DC in, but they didn't like it and split with him. Mutt eventually ends up with Def Leppard, who started up playing lots of AC/DC covers, a hard rock/metal band, and turns them in to pop rock after a trilogy of albums.
AC/DC transcends metal. AC/DC even transcends pop music.
AC/DC is part of our folk music. When you need to clean your house but don't feel like it, you play Back in Black. When you need to lift another set but you don't feel like it, you play Back in Black. When your football team is travelling an hour on the bus to a game against an inner city school a division higher than your team on a cold October night, with a bitter wind blowing and a highway right next to the stands, and almost none of your fans made the journey anyway you sit in silence with your teammates on the bus ride to the game while the entire album Back in Black plays start to finish, and you get off that damn bus with the proper frame of mind to go into battle and fight tooth and nail every minute and somehow win that meaningless damn non-conference game anyway.
When you need power: Back in Black.
AC/DC is folk music. You can probably summon your friggin' ancestors with Thunderstruck. Etc. Ok point made.
Love this.
I'm going to say it. Def Leppard became a different band after the car accident. Nothing they have made since then, including 'Hysteria' has matched their early output. NOTHING!!! Their first three albums kick ass. The rest is just corporate fluff.
It was Pete….Pete Willis was the guy….went to shit without him
Oh, man, you're not kidding about that. He did have a major influence on the band's direction back then.
I just listened to High N' Dry on a drive today and it's as good as I remember. Pyromania might be slightly better but High N' Drive has a heavier and grittier sound. Such a fantastic album. That was Pete Willis's influence from what I am reading.
That's part of it. When he was still in the band, he and Steve Clark were a two-headed guitar attack. After Willis got kicked out, Clark got relegated to rhythm guitar -- and I don't think he was cut out for that role.
The reworked b-sides found on Retroactive (1993) were some of the best and hardest hitting material since at least Pyromania, if not High N' Dry.
I'm sorry but anyone who says 'On Through The Night' is a better record than 'Hysteria' is just deluded
Hi, I'm deluded, nice to meet you.
I greatly prefer Def Leppard NWOBHM crunch to the slick production of the post-Pyromania era.
fair enough, but that doesn't make Praying Mantis objectively better than Journey
That's because objective better doesnt exist within art
Sure, but there's a kind of threshold that puts Mozart over Mantovani, if you know what I mean
I mean it's pretty universally accepted that way but i still disagree with it, doesnt mean my music taste wont more line up with someone who likes Mozart than someone who likes Mantovani just means the latter is just as respectable as an opinion as the former
Just as well as it's very respectable to think Praying Mantis are better than Journey...
But not objectively
Sure. I stand by my ground of saying that too many people here value edginess as the primary factor of what's supposedly "good"
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I like 'Hysteria' but it's not nearly as good as their earlier output. There's a reason for it, but I'm not going down that rabbit hole right now.
okay, I get you like metal way more than melodic rock, but that doesn't make it better.
'Pyromania' is on par, 'High N' Dry' has got a point, but now way 'On Through The Night' is objectively a better album (and I really enjoy this album, for the record)
Overture Rocks Off Wasted
Pure awesomeness
Hysteria to me is an album with two amazing tracks (women and gOW), the rest is fluff or commercial rock or how ever you want to call it. No edge, pure cheese.
My favorite from the is high’n dry, followed by On through the night, then early years, pyromania, and that’s it. I find retroactive has more edge than hysteria.
So we're judging the edgiest here? is that it?
No. It’s just my personal preference. I like the songs More on those albums as well as the edge or rock sound, atmosphere, heaviness or whatever you want to call it.
💯
They were already moving in the Hysteria direction before Pyromania. Pyromania is where they started working with drum machines.
I was a teenager back then, and this a load of bologna. The direction they went in was the direct result of Rick Allen's accident. They proved to be amazing people and a true friend by working to keep him in the band. Props to them for that. That says a lot about their character.
Had that accident not happened, you can bet their follow up to 'Pyromania' would have had a much harder edge to it than 'Hysteria' and it would have come out a lot sooner as well. Back then bands were releasing albums yearly and bi-yearly. The length of time it took for 'Hysteria' to come out was unheard of back then unless your band was called Boston. They stuck with their friend and went with a one-armed drummer. I admire them for it, as it completely changed their sound. To this day they try to make bullshit claims about it, but they're full of shit. Their sound changed as the direct result of their dedication to Rick Allen. They had no choice but to change their sound and the record labels found a way to work with it. They were a NWOBHM band that went pop due to an unfortunate accident and their dedication to their friend. They will never admit that's why they changed direction. There's one thing those guys deserve credit for. They never gave up on their friend.
Actually even Rick Allen himself has openly spoken about how the whole drum machine business was already on with Pyromania
Mutt Lange was already in-house with the band for Pyromania. Drum machines are used throughout. They were headed poppier long before the accident. The accident sped up the process.
At least according to Joe Elliott.
They gave up on Pete Willis and he was the one responsible for that hard edge
I don't disagree that he was, but I still say that Rick Allen changed their sound far more than his departure. It's impossible to dispute the effect a one-armed drummer had on a band during that time.
Hysteria was their highest selling album. Their style certainly changed, but I’d say it paid off for them.
Well I'm going to say this. People got pissed off because Def Leppard was once one of their favorite bands but now it's their girlfriend's favorite band. Come on guys it's been 40 years. And I've said this in another post before. Hysteria was what Def Leppard was aiming for the entire time. If hello America and bringing on the heartbreak didn't tell you what was coming then I don't know what does. This is the band that they always wanted to be and they got a little closer with each album. Pop is what they've always been. They were labeled sellouts when their first album came out. But they finally break it big in their home country with the album that everybody says they sold out with. Hysteria is the sound they wanted and that's why they haven't changed much since.
AC/DC is not hairmetal, and they have many popular hits. And I’m a Leppard fan but have to give AC/DC too due.
They kind of are to younger generations. Just like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Aerosmith is classic rock to us, Def Leppard is their classic rock
We're closing in on Nirvana becoming classic rock
That's so depressing!
They play Nirvana on my city’s oldies station
Don’t get me wrong… photograph, rock of ages, foolin… holy shit… legendary songs…
But look at the couple of hit posts the first folks here posted…
It’s kinda a unfair to compare the two….
It’s not that def Lep isn’t insanely good… they are…
But AC/DC are in a class of their own I think…
Hair metal stigma, that’s the only reason
I’d say the two bands are on about the same level. AC/DC lhas more male hardcore fans these days, because of that whole harder edged scene that they play to, but Def Leppard is massive and I’d say a lot bigger with women—especially Gen X women who grew up with Hysteria. I know a mother-daughter duo who’ve seen Leppard 18 times and are all in to go again later this year.
Idk if I’d say that. Def Leppard is one of the biggest rock bands. The only thing that I think supports what you’re saying is the fact that their songs don’t feature in movies/TV shows/video games as often as other bands from the era. But it’s because their music was expensive to license on account of they were so massive lol
Also possibly because of issues with their label because I have noticed their songs being featured in more things lately now that that’s resolved.
They did the "Taylor Swift" before Taylor Swift, and re-recorded all their music so that when people bought it, they got the money and not the label.
Not on the same level
"Mistress for Christmas" is one of the best songs about prostitution ever made.
Literally Def Leppard is the top hair metal band of all time.
I don't consider them hair metal, they are a jeans and t shirt rock band mostly, but they had a very 80s productions and pop centric producer.
You apparently don't know what "literally" means.
Literally
Because AC/DC is (approximately) one hundred times the better band. Def Leppard had in my opinion one great record (Pyromania), and a popular but lame album afterwards. They have maybe two albums worth of great material in total. High and Dry isn't bad. But AC'DC's catalogue through Black in Black is virtually untouchable in rock and roll.
Def Leppard didn't change their sound from the early records. It is just their sound got palatable for the radio. They were never "heavy".
Because AC/DC mops the floor with Def Leppard and everybody knows it.
I like both. Ac/Dc rocks harder - og hard rock. Def Leppard is more poppy - more hair band once they went Hysteria.
I can name a bunch more AC/DC hits than Def Leppard hits, and I love Def Leppard. That is a really odd accusation to make.
I fuckin love Def Lep and AC/DC. But DL has had such a strange trajectory. You had the Pyromania/Hysteria years. Arguably the biggest rock band around. Then it slowly eroded away. I remember them playing something like the Tulare County Fair in 2008/2009? Something like that. Then they did the thing on CMT with Taylor Swift. Next thing you know their selling out stadiums all over.
Joe and Phil have never been shy about their pop fandom. I always thought it was odd that Pete got the boot because of his drinking but they literally kept a guy that drank himself to death (RIP riff master Steve). Pete wanted DL to be AC/DC 2.0. Joe wanted a Queen/Slade/Ziggy Stardust love child.
AC/DC is just a tier higher. Not saying they're better musicians or anything like that. They just have a lane, are exceptionally good at it and crank out banger after banger (RIP Malcom).
BTW, if you haven't heard DLs newer stuff, "Kick" and "Take What You Want" are pretty fucking solid.
Because Def Leppard had one monster record for the masses and that's fucking it. ACDC made a career out of giving the fans exactly what they wanted time and time again. Def abandoned their core fans for radio play.
Def Leppard was my springboard band into metal. Sure they mellowed out. I still love them
Because after the first few albums, Def Lep turned into a big sell-out. Other than the puke inducing and poorly mixed "Fly on the Wall" AC/DC stayed true to their mission. Even "Power Up" in this decade kicked ass.
I'm so burned out on every DL hit. Same 6 or 7 songs all the time.
Def leppard was never heavy metal. They were a hard driving rock band when they started. If anything that's when an ac/DC comparison might be made. And the hell with the haters the band hot famous off Pyromania. IMHO the last true rock album they made. Everything after that was made for air play and record sales. Rick losing his arm didn't help. Sorry fellow drummers it's electric, it sounds electric, it is what is is. It's not their fault but let's be reasonable they will never be in the same category as a hard rockin band with driving guitar, and killer drums keeping time. They are two different bands, Leppard became pop rock. ACDC is not. Get over it.
Give me Def Leppard over AC/DC any day! Not that I don’t like AC/DC, just think DL is more diverse.
I'm one of those people you've told to step aside, so I won't address the train wreck that DL became after Pyromania.
AC/DC had an entire career's worth of great music before they ever hired Brian Johnson and came out with Back in Black. They've also been doing the same thing consistently for close to 50 years without pivot or change. Consistency sells. Comparing AC/DC to Def Leppard is like comparing Led Zeppelin to your neighbor's garage band.
AC/DC is straight ahead Rock and Roll which is far more resistant to categorizing as a niche or time period than Def Leppard's music, which is predominantly thought of by most people as "80s music", not even hair metal.
Well I prefer Def Leppard over AC DC
because the albums highesy to hell, back in black and for those about to rock said so 😀
having said that, i do love both bands tho and hysteria definitaly warrants more youth attention, however acdcs holy trinity are stellar to me.
This is a wild statement and I’m a huge fan of both bands
Fwiw I like Def Leppard 100x better than AC/DC but they’re not on any of my playlists and I haven’t bothered to introduce either band to my kids.
If you want to get (some) kids to listen, there’s a CMT Crossroads episode with Def Leppard and Taylor Swift and it’s actually pretty great. Taylor’s mom was/is a Def Leppard fan and it rubbed off.
bc hysteria was their last lp that did anything. they flopped with the follow-up of hysteria.
about as relevant as bon jovi
Lol what? Bon Jovi were pretty much the most successful 80s band beyond the 80s. They stayed relevant until around 2010. It would be a compliment to call DL that relevant.
def Leppard had 2 lps that sold over 10 million. bon Jovi had 1
And in the 90s - 2000s, how were sales?
It's a shame because New Jersey > Slippery When Wet
They’re two very different beasts
I could never get past the vocal style of AC/DC. I hate that I'm not a huge fan.
They got too soft and unfortunately, Rick Allen‘s accident and the loss of Steve Clark.
Not heavy enough and too slow. Plodrock. Vs Nodrock. As in you cant help but nod your noggin to AC/DC but ya kinda wanna sit down and go to sleep to Def Leppard.
Both are extremely overrated. Personally, I think AC/DC and Metallica are literally the two most overrated bands on the planet, particularly when you compare them with the bands that were playing in their respective scenes before they made it big.
AC/DC is what happens when nepo-babies decide to start a rock band and have family already in the business. They're nothing special, the BS story they spin about playing dive bars as nobodies for ages before getting anywhere is pure BS as well.
Nepo babies? Lol they were poor working class kids. Yes they had an older brother in a successful band with other poor immigrant working class kids, until it broke up and the brother tried to stay in England but it didn't work so he moved back to Australia broke and they became studio songwriters and producers, but they hardly got anything from their parents. The old brother took what he learnt from his career, what worked and failed, and taught Angus and Mal what to do to make it big. Bon Scott was also in a number of 'almost' bands. He was working at the docks and moonlighting as a labourer for touring bands in the city at the time.
It's not BS they played a gig every day of the week in pubs and clubs all over. They played in schools and parks. They worked for it.
I think both are fantastic bands. Def Leppard High n Dry and Pyromania are elite albums that can compete with anybody's best. You could argue Hysteria for a lot of people and I'm not putting it down, I enjoyed it but it wasn't on the same level as the other 2 albums for me. I actually thought Adrenalize was decent and even a little underrated. On Through the Night was ok but they certainly hadn't come into their prime yet. After that, maybe with the exception of 1 or 2 songs (Promises, maybe) there is nothing I want to listen to in the Def Leppard catalog. Aside from Back In Black, AC/DC doesn't have any whole albums that grip me but just a massive collection of hits that everyone knows, maybe average 2 or 3 for every other album at least up through the Razors Edge. Maybe not Fly on The Wall.
I love Def Leppard and AC/DC, and have for years.
Because they are completely different genres
Not completely. Easy Def Leppard has a very AC/DC style.
Here we go again. A lot of you ignorants in the comments and people who didn’t live through the ‘70s and ‘80s trying to rewrite history again.
Hell, Flick of the Switch defeats Def Leppard’s entire discography all by itself.
lol what
What? You can’t read?
Def Leppard is more like Queen in my opinion and never really metal. Despite having heavier stuff on the first two records kind of like Queen.
Shoot, AC/DC isn’t even metal. They’re just a fast loud rock band closer to punk that metal.
If you’re to ask our parents or religious leaders from the 80s, they would tell you it’s because AC/DC sold their soul to the devil
Def Leppard has two good albums. AC/DC has more.
Because def Leppard sucks?
Bon Scott
Because Def Leppard has 9 arms and sucks.
Def Lepperd = Hacks.
I hate Def Leppard, but AC/DC bores the living shit out of me. I’ll take early DL over any AC/DC. Thunderstruck came on the other day, and I couldnt turn the station fast enough.
Because they sucketh?
No comparison,not even close
Oof...
For those of you that don't know this already, legendary producer Mutt Lange produced 3 different AC/DC albums. Highway to Hell, Back in Black and For Those About To Rock. He also produced 4 of Def Leppard's albums. High n Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize. Both bands owe a great deal of their success to that common denominator of Mutt Lange.
I'll Tudor you. ACDC is ACDC. Def Lep...is not ACDC To be clear Lep is iconic. Photograph is a magical journey. Yet ..they are not ACDC
They can’t even afford a whole drummer.
Hey dude def leppard aint rock n roll
DL wrote Armeggedon It. A play on words of " are you getting it"? Worst pun in history. For that alone
Also DL went full pop band at a point. Large productions. Obviously trying to sell to the yanks. ACDC stayed 99% true to their rocknroll foundations
DL are massive Bowie and Queen fans, diverse groups. Queen were anything from metal to funk to synthpop. DL wanted to emulate that a bit.
Def Leppard fell off a cliff after their biggest album while ACDC keeps chugging along.
Neither AC/DC nor Def Leppard are metal bands....and not even "hair" metal, so why is this posted in this sub?
bruh I've seen Loverboy and even Anthrax posted here. Plus, if Def Leppard are not "Hair Metal" then who is?
You know, back in the day when Highway to Hell and Back in Black were out, they were absolutely considered metal albums. It's hilarious how now decades later we have kids lecturing us retroactively they weren't metal. Okay kid.
I'm 49 years old. AC/DC has never been considered metal. They are a hard rock band.
AC/DC opened for Black Sabbath and many thought they were a harder band live. The energy of something like Let There Be Rock live would be considered metal in the 70s.
I'm 59 years old and you're wrong.
I’m 51 - AC/DC are my favourite band. Some people consider AC/DC Heavy Metal - but generally not any AC/DC fans that I have known. And they certainly don’t consider themselves Heavy Metal and have made a point of correcting people over the years.
In the 70s some people considered them Punk and they were briefly lumped in with the Punk movement even though they didn’t much care for Punk themselves.
The band have always described themselves as Rock n Roll. And that’s essentially what they are. They’re more Hard Rock than Heavy Metal. The whole rock scene I was part of in the 80s and early 90s described them as Hard Rock. It was generally people who didn’t know anything about them that called them Heavy Metal.
Personally, I do think they occasionally veer into Metal territory- I would call Hell’s Bells a Heavy Metal song. But more generally - no they’re not Heavy Metal, they don’t class themselves as Heavy Metal and the majority of their fans don’t consider them Heavy Metal.
Both have moments were their music has been borderline metal and borderline hair metal. Def Leppard especially.
‘Hysteria’ was pieced together in a petri dish strictly for maximum sales and audience. Every chord was put into a sampler and replayed by Mutt Lange and his engineer (there are some great interviews about this out there: a little is here). There is some irony that Lange also recorded ‘Back In Black’, but the lengths at which he went to perfect ‘Hysteria’ were the equivalent of blasphemy in the time it was made. Ultimately, regardless of Def Leppard’s prowess as a band, ‘Hysteria’ lacks the most important ingredient for a metal audience: authenticity.
Lang also recorded For Those About to Rock, and AC/DC had had enough of him by then. That album has excellent production, maybe their slickest sounding album, but it wasn't how the young bros liked to do things and they parted ways.
Cuz they’re not AC/DC. I dunno what else to tell you.
LOL...
Neither AC/DC or Def Leppard are hair metal.
That is Hilarious
Lol
Thunderstruck is played at nearly every sporting event and is even popular college drinking song. Younger generations absolutely know it.
So is 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', shouldn't that one count?
I have heard that at some stadiums. Is it a drinking game?
Def Leopard does nothing for me. But I can’t deny AC/DC kicks some serious ass. Whether you like that type of music or not, they deliver a novel heavy vibe
DL crapped out after Pyromania.
AC.DC had a huge career before Back in Black ever came out. The Bon Scott era was actually WAY better.
If I had my druthers, AC/DC. Def Leppard is ok.
Really dumb question
Because after Pyromania they were nothing but sissy Rock or back in the day we called it pussy Rock cuz you only listen to it if you want to get some pussy but it wasn't really rock anymore AC/DC never went that direction really although they didn't do anything after Back in Black that was worth listening to either
Neither are hair metal.
What would you consider Def Leppard?
Hard rock before Hysteria, which is a great album. They went super soft after that. I’d call them sellouts before I’d call them hair metal.
It's universally known that they went "super soft" on Hysteria, not after.