You can leave your friends behind
cuz your friends don’t dance?
And if they don't dance, well...
They're no friends of mine!
No, and while you're at it ....pour some sugar on me!
They started to heavily use the genre name Heavy Metal is late 60s . Around 70 -72 it was a school yard term and referred to Deep Purple , Sabbath Zeppelin- Hendrix .
I think it's evolved pretty far past that usage.
Iron Butterfly
i think hard rock would be in there prior to metal
isnt zeppelin kinda where they got their name spelling from or was that just an old school rumor.
as in (3 letters and 2 ps)
led zeppelin
def leppard
The Who's Keith Moon may have inspired the name for Led Zeppelin when he supposedly briefly considered leaving them in 1966 and spoke with Entwistle and Page about forming a supergroup; Moon (or Entwistle) remarked that a particular suggestion had gone down like a "lead zeppelin" (a play on "lead balloon"). Jeff Beck's 'Beck's Bolero' is basically that band. I've always wondered what would have come out of that band, overall I think things were best left as they were, but interesting nonetheless.
Joe Elliot proposed Deaf Leopard (which he came up with in school) but the band thought it sounded to “punk” and changed the spelling.
Oh my gosh, I think you're on to something
That’s what I have heard. Don’t really know if it’s true, but I had heard that Joe Elliot was an artist and supposedly he did a painting of a Leopard with a hearing aid. Band member saw it and thought “deaf Leopard” was a cool sounding band name but changed the spelling to be like Led Zeppelin. Like I said, not sure if it’s true, but something I heard (or read).
I’m on board with “proto-hair”. 👍
Zeppelin, as much as Jimmy Page hates it was a term in the 70’s used to describe Zeppelin because up to that point, Black Sabbath, and Zeppelin were the heaviest things out there.
All are hard rock, the first 2 Def Leppard albums could probably be classified as part of the first wave of British Heavy Metal. They softened up, but those first couple of albums were pretty metal for the time.
New wave of British heavy metal. They became poppier as the 80s progressed but I never considered them to be a hair band.
Edit: NWOBHM is the term for British hard rock bands that became popular in the US in the late 70s early 80s.
This is the answer, they changed their sound with the times and the unfortunate accident that took their drummer's arm but never were a "Hair Metal" band. Did they influence a bunch of bands in that scene, hell yeah.
That was Mutt Lange's influence. He wanted to take the edge out of their sound to sell more broadly. It worked, but it erased the band that they were.
This is the correct answer. Their early stuff had more in common with bands like Diamond Head than any kind of American LA hair band. They also predated the rise of that whole scene.
By the time Hysteria came out, they were just boring ass “hard rock” or whatever.
Pop Rock
Iron Maiden is from the same era.
No, I never really put them in that category...when I think hair bands...I think...Motley Crue, Poison, Slaughter, Skid Row
I agree, though Skid Row were the hardest glam band.
Skid Row got thrown in the "hair metal" bucket the same way bands like STP and Candlebox got thrown in the "grunge" bucket.
Slave To The Grind is a killer album
Very True
I’m old enough to have seen Pantera open for Skid Row, then years later, Skid Row opening for Pantera
Definitely
Through High n' Dry no, after that yes.
I don’t agree. You may not like Pyromania and Hysteria, but they worked like hell on those records and they really did aspire to make something great (whether or not they succeeded, YMMV), whereas it seemed to me that the LA bands just wanted money and chicks and had no real ambitions of making music of lasting quality. The LA scene was so cynical and greedy, and i think DL stood outside of that.
My two cents….
I saw them on the Pyromania tour. The phrase "Hair Band" hadn't even been coined yet. I considered them British Rock, with Maiden and JP being British Metal.
Weren't Hair Bands mostly Sunset Strip Bands
Saw them in in the summer of 1980 in Pittsburgh, PA. First tour on the states and was told at the time that they had to learn how to sing in English to join the tour.
They opened for the Scorpions and then headliners Judace Priest. Wow!!
I mean being fluent Yorkshire speakers learning English couldn’t have been easy
As a Yorkshireman I find it amazing that even now when I travel I get accused of being Australian or American more than English. It’s crazy how many folks think the English all sound like Hugh Grant.
I’m Welsh so regularly told, in no uncertain terms that I am Irish, so feel your pain😮💨
Saw that tour also. Great triple bill.
Not the version pictured but the Hysteria version definitely.
I mean look at that hair
But no spandex
I picture the hair band look more frizzy and with makeup. Based oh their hair I’d say we have four hobbits and an elf.
I guess the answer would be occasionally, they weren’t technically a hair band, but Hysteria and Adrenalize were hair metal albums, before they were heavy metal to proto-glam, afterwards they experimented off and on but mostly settled back into their Pyromania sound, glam influenced hard rock with glam influences
"It's Saturday, I feel alright, I've been drinking all day."
Yes
Ehh, kinda. They came up in the hair band era, but their persona wasn’t full fledged hair band. I consider them just hard rock.
Yep. 100%.
First few albums were awesome, then they went to crap....pour some sugar on that steaming pile
High n Dry is the shit - One of my favorite albums of all time.
Everything that came after pyro is over-produced Top-40 adult contemporary schlock. Now they just make music for all the moms out there. .
No, they were part of the NWOBHM. They may have changed down the road, but their origins belong with Maiden, Saxon, etc. Those first couple of albums were classics.
Yes
Where's Joe Elliott? Is that him on the right?
the one far left
No Phil Collin yet?
9/10, hands down.
Even the name, I always got the impression that they were trying to ride the wave of Led Zeppelin. Not a hair band, but a band out for money, women and fame. Good for them, but not a fan.
I was a teen when Hysteria came out and it was absolutely everywhere. Being the metalhead I was I thoroughly rejected it. It was chick music, garbage. Give me Maiden, Anthrax, and Metallica all day! But it's funny how time can change ones perspective as these days when I hear a song off Hysteria it absolutely takes me back in a way the music I primarily listened to back then doesn't and I fucking love it. I don't know how to categorize them exactly. They started off hard rock but Hysteria was it's own thing. The electric drums and overall production had a pop vibe but the writing still had the rock edge. You could call them a hair band but their success transcended that micro genre
I do not.
Pop band, boy band
Of course they are
I can understand people calling them a "hair band". I can't say as I don't know what the membership criteria really are when things get blurred.
What I really don't get is why some people call them a metal band. They're a rock band and IMO always have been.
Not a fan, TBH.
Not anymore /s
Hair metal.
I consider only the first album. The rest are for the birds.
They were like Guns n Roses and kinda crossed over into that subculture a bit werent fully that
They were great in the beginning, Pyromania and before that but Hysteria was when they turned pop. Never really liked them. Always thought Joe Elliot was a dick.
Early Def, yes
Hair metal is sort of limited to American bands but they were more of a hair metal band than anything else
New Wave of British Metal until the drummer lost an arm
NO . They were a hard rock band that went pop and made a bazillion dollars. Good for them but ...
Maybe not at the beginning but they sure as hell were by the time Pour Some Sugar on Me was an unavoidable radio smash.
There is a school in Arkansas for the deaf. Their sports team is the Deaf Leopards. And yes Def Leppard has visited them.
Same place at the same time…but no. Not a hair band.
Hair metal...or hair band term is so dumb....they all had hair.....shit...Def Leppard could be mullet rock...look at their hair during hysteria
No
Sure.
Damn. They were distinctly older than me when first heard them. Looking at these pics, they were kids a little older than me.
I consider them a generically lame band.
Yeah
No. Any band that started in the 70’s gets a pass. Their music didn’t change much between High N Dry & Hysteria. The production under Mutt gave it a more pop rock sound but it’s still basically 70’s/Early 80’s Rock with lots of good guitars. Plus they never really glammed out either. They mostly still hit the stage in jeans & t-shirts.
Epitome of hair metal on the early 3 albums.
Def Leppard SUCKS!
I don’t consider them at all.
The hairiest of hair metal bands
That’s tough…they had an original sound, but it was a peak ‘80s sound
Liked On Through the Night, Loved High n Dry and Pyromania, hated Hysteria.
Never considered them a Hair Band. I think of Cinderella, Slaughter, Britny Fox, Stryper when I think Hair Bands.
Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Scorpions are in a different grouping in my eyes.
Technically yes. They’re kind of the Black Sabbath of Hair Bands
Blue Cheer of eternal happiness
No but you really gotta hand it to em…
No, ACDC, Van Halen, Scorpions ect were never hairbands.
Cinderella motley poo and poison are Hair bands.
No. An ‘Arm-band’.
Not two-armed Def Leppard 🥁
Yes
They were just a hard rock band until Pyromania. With that album the songs are still hard rock but it has a huge hair metal production that was the beginning of the style change.
I'd go out on a limb...
No, to me they are a part of the NWOBHM movement
Not quite for some reason and can’t explain it.
Def Leppard sucks. Cool there drummer has one arm… their music is still pop rock trash.
Chick band?
No I do not. I think they had some radio friendly popier stuff, but definitely not a hair band. Poison, LA Guns, Warrant, Winger, Trixter, Dokken, Cinderella and Britny Fox come to mind when I think of “hair bands”.
Associated with the LA "hair metal" no, but yes I'd consider them proto-hairmetal.
Hysteria era, absolutely.
The best
Not really. 80’s rock band. I guess you could call them that though. Saw em in concert three times, both before and after drummers arm loss and they were really good every time.
I consider them a “terrible” band after Pyromania.
Little known fact. The reason they replaced the lead guitarist was because he wouldn't get a perm.
Arena Rock at best
There banging
Hair Band is a stupid term, implying that there is nothing substantial to the band or their music other than the fact that they had good hair. Def Lep was a great band, especially during their first three albums which I consider hard rock
I had never really thought much about it but before reading this thread I would have said absolutely yes.
Hair band or cock rock
In their early days, Def Leppard was one of the pioneers of the NWOBHM scene, so no.
Early Def Leppard was awesome.
After Pyromania though, yeah, they became somewhat of a hair metal band. Not as bad as the bands from the LA scene though.
Is it really true they wanted their name to resemble Zeppelin?
Led Zeppelin
Def Leppard
??? With the spelling ?
The story I heard was that in high school art class, Joe Elliot had an assignment to make album covers or poster art for a fictional band that he had to create, and he loved the process so much he just started doing it on his free time, and one of the fictional band names he came up with was Deaf Leopard and that was his favourite. When he joined the band, they picked that name but changed the spelling to make it cooler.
I think Def Leppard were actually one of the first bands to fall into the category “Melodic Metal” back in the mid 80’s. Their first two albums (up to Pyromania) had a harder edge than their later ones. Pyromania put them on the world stage. I met a few of them a bunch of years ago at a bowling alley in Studio City. We talked for a few minutes and they were really nice but the hair was WAY flatter and shorter than in their heyday plus years of alcohol and what not left them looking… pretty much like 50-somethings who have done a lot of partying.
Yes
Totally hair.
Poodle rock
Just an amazing Rock band!!! 🎸❤️🤘
I consider Def Leppard my favorite band.
No
No
Yes
The Perm Band
The center guy looks like Bruce Dickinson.
Not originally.
They are absolutely a hair band. I first heard them in 1980 when I was 18 and in a hair band myself.
Oh yeah.
No. Just a really good rock band.
Never
Definitely not on their first two albums. Could go either way on the third one (Pyromania). And yes definitely on all their later albums.
Yes of course
Yes
Their transition album from NWOBHM to hair/pop was pyromania.
DL started before there was such a thing as hair bands. By the late 80s, though, I’d say they contributed to and helped establish “hair metal”.
They were too early to be hair band.
Definitely not…. Def Leppard was a standout in its best years. Went to hell once the drummer had his auto accident. Still good songs, but the “bite” was missing.
Well they have hair. All music is hair music unless the band is made up of people with alopecia. Or Billy Corgan's solo project
Girl band
British Bon Jovi
Where’s Phil?
Eels ;)
Rock Pop.
Bangs band
Yeah. They started out a bit harder, but leaned into the hair metal look and sound pretty hard. Id say it worked well for them.
Hard rock
Well, they're not bald lol. But compared to other "hair bands" they're not as hairy, are they. They're more regular guys who formed a band. Like, I would so have a pint with Def Leppard if I were invited. Not a "hair band" exactly. More Pop/Rock.
Not really. They were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. They completely crapped out after Pyromania.
Yes a Hair Band, not Heavey Metal or NWOBHM!
They’re not a hair band but they’re hair band adjacent
Yeah I mean look at all that luscious hair
Yes
100% yes
They're a hair band slightly less than Bon Jovi was. DefLep didn't dive into the L.A. sleaze/makeup element and get all tatted up. There's definitely a degree of separation between them and Motley Crue or Poison.
One one hand yes and.....
I don’t consider them at all
They weren't hair until Pour Some Sugar on Me
Yes
To me no. They listed bands like UFO as their influences. Which were more melodic hard rock.
I would think British hard rock.
NWOBHM turned rock-pop
Bubble gum hair band
No, just an awful band. They neutered the formerly amazing Vivian Campbell, FFS.
Not for the first three albums. But after that yes
Nah
Certainly not an arm band
Maybe a “limb” band.
Yes a product of MTV or to honest the Real Spinal Tap the movie is hilarious there a joke
Hysteria sounds a lot like a hair band album. Plus it has ballads and a bona fide stripper song (Pour some sugar on me).
Hard No
Yeah, and like all hair metal, it’s absolute garbage.
Yes. Cheesy ,80's hairband
I don't. They're usually considered NWOBHM (new wave of british heavy metal) with a strong glam influence.
NWOBHM
I think they transitioned into one for a brief period of time and made gobs of money doing so. But their early stuff is NWOBHM and I would consider them more of a hard rock band if you look at the full arc of their career.
I consider them the answer to the riddle:
What has 9 arms and sucks?
Of course.
I consider them an arm band. A 9-arm band.
Yes
No
Yes.
Yup or even a pop band at this point.
No
Definitely a hair band
Until ‘83? No
‘87 and later? Yes
Absolutely. Maybe the epitome of a hair band.
I'm always reminded of a joke that went around like wildfire in the 90s.
What has 9 arms and sucks? .... 😬
Yes.
Pyromania and before no. Hysteria and after yes.
Def Leppard is horrible. That's all I am sure of.
Does a bear shit in the woods?
A bear shits anywhere it wants to.
They’re hair band adjacent but not quite. Similar to Aerosmith’s 80s albums.
How’d the drummer lose an arm?
Arm Band
They are pre- hair band by a couple of years
I think that's like asking if Zeppelin was heavy metal. Not really, but almost. You can call them (meaning Def Leppard now, sorry) proto hair if you really wanna.