If you read my site, you know Def Leppard is one of my all-time favorite bands, if not the #1 band on my list. And for that, this list was extremely hard for me to do, yet easy as well. I will already go ahead and say it, there is not a horrible album in this bunch only some I like more than others and yet a few that are absolute no-brainers as the top choices. And yes, I am biased.
Speaking of top choices, my Top 5 is my Top 5 because each album is completely different. The band completely changed up the sound and style on each of these albums and when the band does that, for me they hit it out of the park.
From the very beginning in 1980 with their debut and all the way up to today, the band has been mainstay in my musical journey. In 2019, they were inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and all I can say is it is about damn time!!! They received the highest public vote so I am not the only one that things these guys from England are pretty darn great. And their last studio album was 2023’s ‘Drastic Symphonies’…so they are still going strong…sort of.
So, let’s get to it. Here is my favorite Def Leppard albums from the worst one to the very best. I hope you enjoy it.
This album is basically dreadful with some shining moments. There are only 6 tracks worth listening to in my opinion and the rest was waste of time. They did at least experiment with a few tracks, although some were so bad they hurt, at least they tried. The problem was they should’ve “Tried” on all the songs rather then simply add orchestration to a lot of the original tracks. That is laziness. Keep “Turn to Dust”, “Paper Sun”, “Hysteria”, “Too Late For Love” and “King of the World”, skip the rest.
We didn’t need a new album from the band a year after the last one. In fact, we’ve accepted the fact that it takes years for a new album. They should’ve taken their time and really put more effort in to it. I don’t like the fact they used Joe’s original vocals. Again, laziness…and this from a band that isn’t lazy. My Overall Score is a 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars. If you are going to do a Symphonic album, do it live!! Don’t do it this way unless you are dramatically changing the song and actually making it better. My friends, you can skip this one if you want.
Are you surprised that this huge seller is this far down? Let me tell you why. It is them trying to repeat ‘Hysteria’. There is not much different at all between the two except the songs aren’t as superior. Yes, there are some good songs, but for me it it too much of the same. The first 4 albums were each so different from one to the next and this album for me showed zero growth.
It was also the first album without Steve Clark and Vivian Campbell hadn’t yet joined. And for that, the album was missing a very important piece of their success…and it showed. Don’t get me wrong, it is a spectacular album and had some great songs including “Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)”, “White Lightning” and “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” so it is definitely worth picking up. But it also had one of the worst songs they have ever done…”Personal Property” and that deducts from it big time. This felt like rehash. Maybe Mutt is the missing ingredient. My Overall Score is 2.5 out of 5.0 Stars. I hate this album today more than I did back then and I dislike it more with each listen as it bothers me so much with what they did with it.
I have to say, this album is about 5 tracks too long. Why the need to release so many tracks is crazy. Maybe they thought after 7 years we needed more, but a 10 song album is really all we ever need. An hour is too long nowadays. The album also isn’t that heavy. It reminds me more of ‘X’ in that it is poppy and a lot of ballads. I don’t like the Alison Krauss songs either.
A whole lot of misses, but I do like a lot on here as well. The darker songs I find the most interesting and the little anthems they have aren’t too bad either. So keep “Kick”, “Liquid Dust”, “Take What You Want” and even the ballads aren’t bad with “Goodbye For Good This Time” and “Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”. My Overall Score is a 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars. Not their best effort, but still Def Leppard and still some signs of life in the band. They ain’t done yet as they can still write some good songs.
I used to think this was their worst (or at the very least, my least favorite) in my book as it is the one I listen to the least. What left a bad taste in my mouth is the collaboration with Tim McGraw on “Nine Lives”…hate it! Def Leppard album don’t have duets or collaborations with other artist. Now of course, the minute I say this their next album will be nothing, but hip hop collaborations just to piss me off.
But what it is for me was flow. I didn’t like the flow as it felt choppy and songs felt out of place. For me, it wasn’t their best effort. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any good songs because there are. The opening track “Go” is a fantastic opening track as well as “Only the Good Die Young” and I like the ballad “Love”. Overall, it is a good album and My Overall Score is a 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars. I have to say, it keeps getting better with age.
This should be the “Worst” because it is a covers album, but there are some pretty decent covers and I listen to this more than “Sparkle Lounge”. The song choices are perfect as they aren’t necessarily the obvious choices. The playing is stellar as you can feel a passion and love for their influences. They took their time and did it right. There was a lull in the middle but it is bookended by some stellar tracks. The high energy ones like “Hell Raiser”, “The Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll, “Stay With Me”, “It’s Gonna Step On You Again” and “20th Century Boy” are some of the best. Even “Rock On” is incredible and a little gem on the album.
As far as cover albums go, this one might be one of my favorites I’ve ever heard. That doesn’t mean it is getting a 4 or a 5 score, because I will go to their studio albums more so than this, but there is no denying this is a really good album. My Overall Score is a 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars. Worth a listen if you haven’t heard it.
Often called “The Love Album” due to its softer feel and numerous ballads. Def Leppard has always claimed to really be a pop band and with this album, they finally proved it. I know they were chasing the sound of the scene at the time and thus the Swedish Hitmakers, outside writers, etc…but this album still has elements of Def Leppard all over it. The production is slick, the songs are good (mostly) and it is a modern day pop album that hit the goal they set for themselves.
I know a lot of people hate this one, and that is fine, you can’t always be right. This is a great pop record and I one I’ve liked from the moment I heard it back in 2002. I love pop music as much as rock music, so this is great for me. There are couple amazing songs on here that are a couple of my favorite Lep tracks and that is “Scar” and “Torn to Shreds”. Heck, even “Now” and the ballad “Long Long Way To Go” are simply stellar. So at the very least, check these two out. My Overall Score is a 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars.
I have to admit, I really like this album. It was glad to see the band go back to more of the Lep sound we grew up loving yet keep it modern and fresh sounding of today. No, not all the songs worked, some are really bad. Overall though, I found it to be a great, enjoyable listen and that gave me a little nostalgia for the band’s heyday. A bunch of tracks are real standouts with “Paper Sun”, “Promises” and “21st Century Sha La La La Girl” being only a few of them.
One of the band’s later albums, I still pull out and enjoy every listen. Now, it still isn’t as good as their early stuff, but at least it is a step in the right direction. My Overall Score is a 3.9 out of 5.0 Stars. If you missed this and like Lep, then you missed out. Go grab it if you can. One of the promotional tag lines for the album was “After Pyromania and Hysteria…comes Euphoria” and that is true.
The band’s most recent album is actually one of the best. For me, it captured the essence of the band. It played homage to the past while staying rooted in the present. For some reason, the homage to the past didn’t bother maybe because this is so far removed from that time and it was nice for them to give a shout-out to the past. The album also sees them growing at the same time which is hard to do for a band that has been together for 40 years.
The coolest thing on this album is the song “We Belong”. It is the first time the entire band has sung on a song (other than background vocals). Each member of the band had at least one verse to sing. That alone caused me to gravitate to this album. I really liked “Dangerous”, “Battle of My Own”, “Energized” and “Invincible”. What I also noticed is that Joe sings differently and doesn’t try to hit those crazy high notes like the past. He is singing more for how his voice works today and that is brilliant. The only negative is “Man Enough”…I do not like this song…not sure why, but I guess I think it is stupid or something…who knows. My Overall Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars. Maybe when this came out, I was starving for some of the old Leppard sound to come back and it did…all the eras actually. Hey, they did an eras tour on an album rather then an actual concert tour like Taylor.
I know Retro Active is technically a compilation, but it is too good not to have on the list. It is a collection of B-Sides and unreleased material from about ’84-’93. The songs aren’t perfect nor their best, but most bands would love to have their A-Sides sound this good. It is the roughness of the songs that have it this far down when compared to the others.
Now, the good is “Two Steps Behind”, “Miss You in a Heartbeat” and one of my all-time favorite tracks, “From the Inside” which the song is from the point of view of the drugs not the person taking the drugs. The album has some gems and since the songs are what they are, I think only the real fans will appreciate most of it…I know I do. My Overall Score is 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars…no surprise I am sure.
And now the Top 5…as I mentioned at the beginning the Top 5 is the Top 5 because each album is completely different sounding than the previous album (if there is a previous album in one case). That constant change is what I love to see. The growth, the maturity change and just plain experimental attempts on one…all just the best….here is the Top 5…
The debut album was rough, production sucked and the band was all over the map with style and it was 100% amazing. All of those things are the charm of this album. What this album gives you is an album of pure and utter potential. They have straight up rock songs and they even have a prog feel at times with how Pete Willis and Steve Clark seem to try new things during the vocal breaks of the songs (“Sorrow is a Woman”, Overture” and “Answer to the Master”.
The rock songs were also awesome including “Rock Brigade”, “Hello America”, “Wasted” and “Rocks Off”. The rawness of the sound on this album elevated it to another level and as I get older, this album gets better as I really appreciate where they started and how far they have come. A band that was young and hungry and getting ready to take a big bite of the music world with what was to come. My Overall Score is 4.0 Stars out of 5.0 Stars as this band rocked from start to finish, was adventurous and took chances. Something they didn’t do enough of for me.
Hair metal was dead around 1996 and the band felt they needed to try a different sound. The album wasn’t well received and I am don’t know why. It is the most experimental album the band has done and the change was so fresh and so needed after ‘Adrenalize’ and ‘Retro Active”. They needed to go a new direction, but the sucky casual fan base wasn’t having it…what idiots!!
This is the album of firsts…the first with Vivian Campbell and the first without the traditional Def Leppard logo…which it needed as this wasn’t the Def Leppard of old. There were huge Indian musical influences and they experimented with so many sounds that it is a shock to the system, but stay with it and give it a few listens and you get it. Songs like “Slang” and “Work It Out” were rocking enough, but songs like “Truth?”, “Turn to Dust”, “Breathe A Sigh”, “Blood Runs Cold” and “All I Want is Everything” are a smorgasbord to the senses. It is a breathtaking album for me. My Overall Score is a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars. I pull this out more than any other album except the first four. I can’t recommend this one enough.
The album that cemented Def Leppard into the musical landscape was “Hysteria”. With Mutt Lange still at the helm, the band would release 7 singles…yep, 7…and sell over 12 million copies in the U.S. alone. An album that defines the band and defines a genre of music. I am not sure what else to say about it, it is that good (but not #1 good amazingly enough, yes…one album better).
Who doesn’t know the song “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. Hell, even my kids know that song. Plus, “Animal”, “Love Bites”, “Hysteria”, “Rocket”, “Women” and “Armegeddon It”, the list goes on and on. Hell, even the deep cuts were sensational, “Gods of War”, “Love and Affection” and “Excitable”. Top notch all the way. I own so many copies of this on various formats and deluxe editions that it’s crazy. My Overall Score Is a 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars. The band had a trilogy of amazing albums and this is the book end of that trilogy and what a way to end their time with Mutt Lange.
The album that truly broke them in the States after the moderate success of High & Dry. It was still the early stages of MTV and rock was really taking hold. Their slick production (thanks to Mutt Lange) and their catchy, yet heavy songs struck a chord with people and the band started taking off. From “Photograph” to “Foolin” to “Rock Of Ages”, each song got the band more and more popular.
The first album with Phil Collen after the departure of Pete Willis and I think the guitar work stepped up a notch (now Pete was the rhythm guitarists on all the songs, just no solos). The birth of the Terror Twins of Clark/Collen was born. What other songs were great? “Rock, Rock (Til You Drop)”, “Stagefright”, “Too Late for Love” and “Die Hard the Hunter” to just name a few. I can see why this album sold over 10 million copies. The great thing about it is that is sounds nothing like their prior album, it is an entirely new sound. Still heavy, but a lot more pop sensibilities as the band was heading to a more radio friendly sound. My Overall Score is easily a 5.0 out of 5.0 Stars!
Surprise!! Hysteria is not #1. Why? Because High & Dry is the most solid, pure rock & roll album of their career. It was straight-up hard rock, no fancy tricks or gimmicks only hard driving guitar rock. It was also the first album with Mutt Lange and the beginning of a very fruitful relationship.
The track listing and how these songs seem to fit perfectly together in an almost seamless transition from one song to the next. The flow is perfect, the energy is electric and the dual guitars of Pete Willis and Steve Clark are nothing short of magic. From the opening track of “Let It Go” all the way to the final tune of “No, No, No”, you are taken on a journey that your ears will never get enough.
The album brought us the classic song “Bringing On the Heartbreak” and the beautiful instrumental creation of Steve Clark, “Switch 625”. The deep cuts…oh the deep cuts…are what is the greatest thing about this album from “Lady Strange” to “Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)” I just can’t get enough. Okay, enough already…I like this one a lot. It is my go to album whenever I need a pick-me-up. My Overall Score is quite obviously a 5.0 Out of 5.0 Stars. It don’t get better than this.
And there you have it, the Def Leppard studio albums in order of how I rank them from the worst to the best. Let me know what you think. Where did we differ and where did we agree. What is fun about these list is how differently each album impacts people. What I like, you might not, but we like the same band and that is all that matters really.
I know I normally end the series with the rankings, but this isn’t the end of the series as there are still 3 more posts to go. I wanted to go ahead and put this list together since we were done with the studio albums (at this point).
NEXT UP: DEF LEPPARD – ‘ONE NIGHT ONLY: LIVE AT THE LEADMILL (RSD – 2024)’
THE DEF LEPPARD COLLECTION SERIES
- Def Leppard E.P. – 7″ Single (1979)
- First Strikes 1978-1979 (Bootleg CD)
- Girl – Sheer Greed (1980)
- On Through the Night (1980)
- When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (April 26 1980) (2020)
- High & Dry (1981)
- Too Many Jitterbugs – B-Sides And Rarities (2020)
- Raw – Early BBC Recordings (2020)
- Girl – Wasted Youth (1982)
- Pyromania (1983)
- “Photograph” 7″ Single (1983)
- “Too Late For Love” 12″ Single (1983)
- Live at the L.A. Forum 1983 (2018)
- Seattle, August 3, 1983 (Bootleg CD)
- Pyromania TV Collection (Bootleg DVD)
- Hysteria (1987)
- “Animal” 7″ Single (1987)
- “Women” 7″ Single (1987)
- “Pour Some Sugar on Me” 7″ Single (1987)
- “Hysteria” 7″ Single (1987)
- “Armageddon It” 7″ Single (1988)
- “Love Bites” 7″ Single (1988)
- “Rocket” 7″ Single (1989)
- Animal Instinct – The Def Leppard Story – Book Review (1987)
- Rarities – Volume One (2018)
- Live in Mountain View – August 17, 1988 (Bootleg DVD)
- Historia – DVD (1988)
- Live: In the Round, In Your Face (CD Video / DVD) (1989)
- Adrenalize (1992)
- “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” – Cassette Single (1992)
- “Tonight” CD Single (1993)
- Live Sheffield 1992 (Bootleg DVD)
- Retro Active (1993)
- Visualize DVD (1993)
- Hard Rock Café – Singapore, Malaysia October 26, 1995 (Bootleg DVD)
- Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995) (1995)
- “When Love & Hate Collide” – CD Promo Single (1995)
- Video Archive (1995)
- Slang (1996)
- Montreal: The Classic 1996 Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
- Live Bites: FM Broadcast (Bootleg CD)
- Live in Argentina 1997 (Bootleg DVD)
- Euphoria (1999)
- Rarities – Volume Two (2019)
- Rarities – Volume Three (2019)
- Tokyo 1999 (Bootleg CD)
- Cybernauts – Live (2000)
- Cybernauts – The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts (2001)
- X (2002)
- Hysteria: Classic Albums DVD (2002)
- Best of Def Leppard (2004)
- Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (2005)
- Yeah! (2006)
- Yeah! Bonus CD with Backstage Interviews (2006)
- Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
- Man Raze – Surreal (2008)
- B-Sides (2021)
- Yeah! II (2021)
- Yeah! Live (2021)
- CMT Crossroads – Taylor Swift & Def Leppard (2009)
- Down ‘N’ Outz -My ReGeneration (2010)
- Man Raze – PunkFunkRootsRock (2011)
- Down ‘N’ Outz -The Further Adventures of… (2014)
- Def Leppard (2015)
- Personal Jesus 7″ Single (2018)
- Down ‘N’ Outz -This is How We Roll (2019)
- Hits Vegas: Live at Planet Hollywood – Vinyl (2020)
- Hysteria: Live – Vinyl (2020)
- Def Leppard Acoustic In Vegas – 10″ Vinyl (2020)
- Down ‘N’ Outz – The Music Box E.P. (2020)
- Diamond Star Halos (2022)
- High & Dry – Picture Disc (RSD) (2022)
- Drastic Symphonies (2023)
- Drastic Symphonies – Picture Disc (2023)
- Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard (2023)
- The Albums Ranked Worst to First
- Def Leppard – ‘One Night Only: Live at The Leadmill’ (RSD) (2024)
- Pyromania – 40th Anniversary Edition Box Set (2024)
- “Just Like ’73” – 7″ Single (2024)
PREVIOUSLY POSTED:
- The Def Leppard E.P. (1979/2017)
- Def Leppard: Interview Picture Disc (1982?)
- “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” – 12″ Promo Single (1984)
- Live at the Top (Bootleg) (1987)
- “Pour Some Sugar on Me” – 5″ Shaped Picture Disc (1987)
- Hysteria U.S. Tour 1988 – Tour Book (1988)
- “Make Love Like a Man” – 12″ Single (1992)
- “Let’s Get Rocked” – 12″ Single (1992)
- Adrenalize: The 7 Day Weekend Tour (1992/1993)
- X: World Tour (2003)
- Mirrorball – Live & More (2011)
- Def Leppard: The Definitive Visual History – Book Review (2011)
- Viva! Hysteria (2013)
- And There Will Be A Next Time…Live from Detroit (2017)
- Hysteria: 30th Anniversary Box Set (2017)
- The Story So Far – The Best of (2018)
- The Collection, Volume 1 (2018)
- Hysteria: The Singles Box Set (2018)
- Live at Abbey Road Studios (2018)
- Def Leppard: Concert Review – Charlotte, NC June 9th 2018 (2018)
- The Story So Far – The Best of Volume 2 (2019)
- The Collection, Volume 2 (2019)
- London to Vegas (2020)
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 29 March 2019 (2020)
- The Early Years ’79-’81 (2020)
- The Collection, Volume 3 (2021)
- Def Leppard Funko Pop!
