Def Leppard

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When a band starts, you need songs, members and a good name. Here are a few legendary bands that could have been named something other than the name that we know them by today. The names were changed either on their own or by outside influence before they broke.

Maybe I’ve mentioned it before, but 'Hysteria' by Def Leppard is my all-time favorite album. Released in late 1987 and really lasting into 1989, it spanned much of my time in high school and was at the center of many of those coming of age moments. It just so happens today on this day, July 23, 1988, the album went to #1 on the Billboard album chart.

Every so often, there comes a day when a number of releases do well. Record stores often call these days in anticipation, “Super Tuesdays.” Back on this day in 1992 was one of those days. Five albums with songs that got a lot of radio play hit stores.

In my younger days, meaning the 80s and early 90s I was a huge Def Leppard fan. I still like the songs from their heyday when I hear them pop on randomly or if I bring a Def Leppard CD into the car but a part of that band died on this day back in 1991.

Today is January 8th. Every year this date rolls around and two celebrities come to mind, Elvis Presley and Steve Clark from Def Leppard. Two very different artists with similar endings; both Presley and Clark liked the substances.

January 7th is ‘National Old Rock Day.’ You'll see today is about old rocks as in igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic type rocks.  Old rocks and fossils aren't a lot fun to talk about at least now that school has let out for the day. So, I'll use the day as a springboard to talk about music.