Rock Brigade

IN HONOR OF DEF LEPPARD’S IMPRESSIVE NEW BOX SET, THE EARLY YEARS 79-81, JOE ELLIOTT AND PHIL COLLEN DISCUSS THE BAND’S FIRST TWO ALBUMS — ON THROUGH THE NIGHT AND HIGH ‘N’ DRY — AND EARLY GUITARISTS PETE WILLIS AND STEVE CLARK

- Joe Matera

U.K. FIVE-PIECE DEF Leppard burst out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in the late Seventies and released their debut album, On Through the Night, in 1980. They quickly followed up with 1981’s High ‘n’ Dry. By the time the band released their commercial breakthrough, Pyromania, in 1983, founding guitarist Pete Willis had been fired and replaced by Phil Collen. Hysteria, which followed in 1987, brought the band worldwide commercial success and etched them forever into the annals of rock history. Forty years on, the band are enjoying a busy 2020; projects include the recently released box set, The Early Years 79-81. Spanning five discs, it contains remastered editions of On Through the Night and High ‘n’ Dry, a newly unearthed Live at the Oxford New Theatre, recorded on their 1980 U.K. tour, along with a collection of B-sides, remixes, further live cuts and more. We recently caught up with Joe Elliott and Phil Collen to discuss the early years of the band.

The new box set includes an unreleased and much rawer-sounding version of “Rock Brigade,” originally produced by Nick Tauber. Why wasn’t it ever released?