Def Leppard News - 34 Years Ago Def Leppard Release Photograph Single In The UK

Friday, 3rd February 2017

34 Years Ago Def Leppard Release Photograph Single In The UK

Photograph 1983.

Def Leppard released their classic Photograph single 34 years ago on this day in 1983 in the UK.

The Marilyn Monroe-inspired song was the first single to be released from the 'Pyromania' album.

It was released on 3rd February 1983 reaching Number 66 and spending four weeks on the UK Top 75 chart.

It went on to become a big hit in the USA for the band and reached Number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 1 on the Rock Singles chart.

The single was issued on regular 7" and 12" with 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' and 'Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)' as B-Sides.

A special 7" version limited to 500 copies featured a Pop-Up camera sleeve. The card sleeve could be made into a camera with an image on Marilyn Monroe visible when looking inside.

Read some comments below on the song by Joe from various interviews.

Photograph - Joe Elliott 2003 Interview Quote

"One day Mutt had the line "All I've got is a photograph." I said, "That's a Ringo Starr song." He went, "Nobody will ever notice." I said, "It's a photograph of something you can't ever get your hands on, somebody that's not here any more." Over the years it's become exaggerated to Biblical proportions that "Photograph" was written about Marilyn Monroe, because she was in the video. I don't want to break anybody's heart here but Marilyn Monroe was just another average actress to me. The song was about somebody that's out of the picture. All I've got is a photograph, but it's not enough."

Photograph - Joe Elliott 2011 Interview Quotes

"It sounds brilliant on the radio. At the time we made Pyromania, we were actually trying to create songs that would sound great on the radio. That was the whole point. By then we had vaulted to another gear. We got the High ’N’ Dry thing out of our system, which was kind of like the homage to AC/DC. Now we were starting to bring in the pop elements. We did them on High ’N’ Dry, but they didn’t get noticed. People picked up on the title track, they picked up on “Let It Go,” and things like “Another Hit And Run.” They didn’t pick up on things like “You Got Me Running” off side two, which is a total pop song-precursor to "Photograph," maybe."

Photograph 1983.

"But when we did “Photograph,” we just knew the way that that riff sounded, and the way that the drums sounded, and the melody, and the lyrical content, we knew that this was what it took to make a hit single. The rest is up to the people whether it’s a hit or not. There’s nothing else we can do. We can advertise it, which is what we did with the video. We can get it to radio and hope that they’ll play it, which they did."

"It took on a life of its own, then, because all of a sudden we’re now in there with your Elton Johns and everybody else who’s established. They’re now peers, if you like, as opposed to heroes. They’re always heroes, but you know what I mean. All of a sudden, we’re on the same playing field and given the same opportunities. We used to go out and buy their albums, Queen, all that kind of stuff. We were there. It’s not that we’d made it, but we were at least now through the door, and it was a different battle that you were going to be fighting, trying to stay in there."

UK Single Advert

"Some like it hot. Some like it heavy. The new Def Leppard single PHOTOGRAPH is both, and their hottest and heaviest yet. 12" available with extra track. Produced and Mixed by Robert John 'Mutt' Lange."

Def Leppard - Photograph Single Section
Def Leppard - Pyromania Album Section
Related News - 30th January 2017
Back

share this story:

get def leppard news

Stay in touch with the latest updates.

Subscribe to the RSS feed

Subscribe to the Mailing List

explore def leppard tour history