Photograph by Def Leppard
For a band that formed in 1977 and was getting ready to release its third album, Pyromania (the follow up to the moderately successful High And Dry), in early 1983 MTV seemed like a good way to sell a few albums and build an already strong fan base. Recorded over the previous year, the new album was a step toward a more radio-friendly sound but that's not to say that the new sound lost any kind of hard rock edge. Long cited by many bands as the fore-runners and leaders of the modern British metal movement, they almost immediately struck gold with this release.
This first single off the album reached #12 on the US charts and was widely played on MTV. The first image we see of the band is lead singer Joe Elliott in a Union Jack flag t-shirt, so there's no mistake where this band is from. The band bangs away on the song, showing anyone watching what to expect if they go to a live Def Leppard show and isn't that half of what the band is trying to accomplish?
I'm still amazed listening back to this song nearly 35 years after it was recorded at how layered and full it sounds. The band and their producer, "Mutt" Lange, don't waste any part of the stereo mix with the guitars and the drums sound like you're sitting right on the drum riser. They almost make you feel like you're on stage with them during a performance.
The other images from the video follow a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like as she is stalked by a photographer who ends up dead by the end of the video but only after he is shown killing her (?).....not sure how that fits with the song but the images look cool and isn't that the other half of what the band is trying to accomplish?
Please enjoy....
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