Def Leppard has unearthed material recorded for their debut album that the band previously thought had been permanently lost.
Drummer Rick Allen made the revelation during a recent appearance on the Jeremy White Show podcast. Asked about any previously unreleased Def Leppard material, Allen admitted the band keeps “uncovering new stuff all the time.”
“For instance, our first record, we thought that the tapes had been destroyed, but it turns out that they exist,” the drummer detailed. “So we were able to pull some versions and some songs that have never been heard from those tapes, which is fantastic.”
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Allen didn’t get into specifics regarding the material or how it could potentially be released.
“There’s always room for another box set,” the drummer smirked, hinting that the rarities could make their way into a future collection.
When Did Def Leppard Release Their First Album?
Def Leppard’s debut album, On Through the Night, was released on March 14, 1980 and immediately established the band as one of the rising stars in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
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The LP earned mostly positive reviews and spawned three singles: “Wasted,” “Hello America” and “Rock Brigade.” Though the commercial success of On Through the Night paled in comparison to Def Leppard’s later releases, it established a firm foundation for the band’s success. The album peaked at No. 51 in the U.S. on the Billboard album chart and climbed to No. 15 in the U.K.
Def Leppard previously released a remastered version of On Through the Night as part of the Early Years box set. The collection also included B-sides, rarities, sessions recorded at BBC Radio One and a live 1980 concert recorded in Oxford, England.
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Underneath it all, they are fans of music. That love and belief in music – other people’s as much as their own, and sometimes more – always seems to bring Def Leppard home.
Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff
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