Def Leppard: The Sparkle Lounge

There’s a whole new generation of Def Leppard fans, as teenagers of parents who were teens in the 80s have gotten to know their music, albeit as ‘classic rock.’ The British band was fantastically famous in the 1980s for some huge hits like Pour Some Sugar on Me, Photograph, Rock of Ages and Bringing on the Heartbreak. The band has a new album, The Sparkle Lounge, and are touring to support it this year.

Def Leppard: The Sparkle Lounge

The best way to learn about the band’s new album is in the words of their lead singer.

“The whole record’s got a great ’70s feel,” said lead singer Joe Elliott in a recent news release. “By our standards, it’s a very different album as we’ve been very adventurous, musically, on certain numbers. On the album there are classic Def Leppard songs and then there’s also tracks that are very new-wave influenced while others sound like middle-to-late ’70s AC/DC. There will definitely be some moments on it where anybody that’s familiar with our music will go, ‘Whoa! I wasn’t expecting that!'”

Def Leppard: Touring Today

Def Leppard’s new tour is hot all across America. One stop the band made recently was to the Borgata Hotel Casino Spa in Atlantic City, which is a perfect-sized 2400-seater. The band was really up close and personal. They look fantastic. For guys pushing 50, they look almost exactly like they did a quarter of a century ago. The current tour is to promote their Sparkle Lounge album being released. Fortunately, though, the band clearly knows their fans want to hear the ‘classics’ so they serve them up early and often.

More about New Sparkle Lounge CD

The new album cover resembles The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and includes a collage of photos of various people who have a connection to the band as well as many vintage shots of the band members, crew and friends. The new album has 11 songs and has been long-awaited by fans who haven’t gotten a new album from the band since Yeah in 2006.

New songs include the highly-anticipated single “Nine Lives” featuring a groundbreaking collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw. Recorded last year during month-long stints at lead singer Joe Elliott’s Dublin studio, the album’s title refers to a backstage area called “The Sparkle Lounge” on Def Leppard’s 2006 tour where the band would go to write songs. Tracks from the album have been described by the group as written in the style of “Hysteria” with the production of “High and Dry.

The foundation for the album’s collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw was laid at Def Leppard’s 2006 Hollywood Bowl show where McGraw joined the band on stage for an encore performance of “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The artists stayed in touch following the performance, and when the band started writing the song “Nine Lives” they immediately thought of reaching out to McGraw to sing on it.

If you are interested in learning more about the band, visit the Def Leppard website or watch the VH1 movie Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story.