Def Leppard – On Through the Night (Release Year – 1980)
On Through the Night is the mighty metal debut by Def Leppard. It blows my mind that so many newer Def Leppard fans are unaware of the band’s NWOBHM roots, and the excellent metal sound they used to possess. This record rocks hard, and does not sound overly dated in 2007.
On Through the Night is my favorite Def Leppard record. I will pick this one every time over Pyromania and Hysteria. On this record, the band was hungry, they had not achieved the massive success that they would years later. The songs have not been over played on the radio as have so many of the later discs. This is one of the reasons I still find this album so appealing.
Sadly, this record often goes overlooked today. Most fans start off of with Pyromania or Hysteria, and they are missing out on some great records by doing so.
The two axe attack of Pete Willis and Steve Clark, and the pre-accident drumming of Rick Allen gives this band an awesome heavy sound.
Rock Brigade and Hello America deliver the best one, two punch that any Def Leppard records could hope to deliver. Both are hard rocking tunes that truly deliver.
It Could Be You is a song that never achieve hit potential but it is a lost Def Leppard classic, that is still worth checking out.
To me, Wasted is still one of the biggest Def Leppard anthems of all time.
I find a lot of the other not so well songs such as When The Walls Came Tumbling Down, Rocks Off, and It Don’t Matter ultimately satisfying. The songs are more raw, and not overproduced as a lot of the stuff from the newer Def Lep releases.
On Through the Night is another classic metal disc that is available for less than $10.00 at most retailers today. It is much better than a lot of the newer stuff out there today, and is a disc that I still recommend picking up! If you don’t own this, you owe it to yourself to check out this lost Def Leppard classic!
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Rock Brigade
2. Hello America
3. Sorrow Is A Woman
4. It Could Be You
5. Satellite
6. When The Walls Came Tumbling Down
7. Wasted
8. Rocks Off
9. It Don’t Matter
10. Answer To The Master
11. Overture
Danger Danger - Revolve
Lynch Mob - Smoke and Mirrors
Outloud! -S/T
Stryper - Murder By Pride
I THINK ALL OF YOU ARE IDIOTS ! NONE OF YOU KNOW THE TRUE LEPPARD IF THOSE ARE COMMENTS YOU COME UP WITH AND “MY OPININ” DON’T KNOW MUSIC (AT LEAST THE GREAT STUFF) VERY WELL ! IF YOU FOLLOWED THIS BAND EVEN SLIGHTLY YOU WOULD BE ASHAMED OF ALL THESE COMMENTS ! D L ROCKED THEN AND NOW ! NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS ! GO BACK AND FIND SOME TRUE INFO !
It wasn’t Rick loosing his arm. They lost “it” when they kicked Pete Willis out of the band. He played on the first three albums. Phil Collen didn’t play on Pyromania even though you couldn’t tell from the videos. Pete rocked. Sure he drank, but he rocked too. I think Steve and Pete kicked ass…Steve & Phil, not so much. My 2 cents.
I TOTALLY agree with your thoughts Irieman !!!!!
Pretty sound theory if you ask me, however I think they made the right decision keeping Rick Allen on board, even if it did alter their sound somewhat.
No, what happened is Rick Allen lost his arm and they had no choice but to bring in “drum machine” help. Or get another drummer. They stuck w/their drummer, so be it.I love the 1st 3 albums.But the edge disappeared from ‘87 and on.Maybe my theory is off, but that’s how I’ve always looked @ it.
The last guy might be losing his mind. ON THROUGH THE NIGHT is their best album by far. Raw, unpretentious rock, without all the studio fluff. I saw them live twice in 1980 and still remember. They’re were a totally different band then. They were much better before rock stardom went to their head. I can only guess that’s what happened.
Much as I hate to give Mutt Lange any credit for doing anything good, I have to say that he helped Def Leppard. On Through the Night is dull and poorly written, not because they weren’t hungry, but because they don’t really have anything that special as songwriters. They’re a solid band that needed a little help to write memorable songs. Granted Mutt Lange also destroyed Def Leppard in a sense, but without him, they wouldn’t have gone anywhere. It was his songwriting help that made the next two albums real standouts.
Great Great album. My favorite Def Leppard album. Not a bad song on it. My faves on it are “Sorrow Is A Woman”, “Answer to the master” and “Overture”. Too bad they didn’t continue on with this style.