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def leppard / vault greatest hits 1980-1995 album release

on this day - 23rd October 1995

On this day in Def Leppard history the 'Vault Greatest Hits 1980-1995' album was released in the UK / Worldwide.
Featuring 14 classic hit songs and new single 'When Love & Hate Collide'.

Def Leppard 1988.

"It's the perfect time for Def Leppard to do a hits album."


Def Leppard 1995.

"The greatest hits is like closing a chapter."

Def Leppard released their first hits collection album Vault Greatest Hits 1980-1995 in the UK on this day in 1995.

The 'Vault Greatest Hits 1980-1995' release was their first hits album and collected together all the biggest singles from their most successful period.

The album was released to celebrate the fist 15 years of the band's career dating from their debut in 1980 with 'On Through The Night'.

It included 15 of the biggest hit singles starting with 1981's 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' and up to 1994's 'Action' and 'Miss You In A Heartbeat' taken from 'Retro-Active' the band's first compilation release in October 1993.

The main UK version included 15 songs taken from - 1983's Pyromania (x2), 1987's Hysteria (x6), 1992's Adrenalize (x4), Retro-Active (x1), High 'n' Dry (x1) plus new song 'When Love & Hate Collide' which reached Number 2 in the UK charts.

It went on to debut at Number 3 in the UK and 15 in the USA.

The album's UK success had been helped by the 'When Love & Hate Collide' single peaking at Number 2.

At the time, and still, the band's biggest ever UK hit single which once again missed out on the top spot as 'Let's Get Rocked' had in 1992.


Def Leppard 1995.


Def Leppard 1995.

Release Dates/Tracklisting Info

The album was released earlier in Japan on 13th October and came out in North America on the 31st October.

The UK and World edition featured UK/European single 'Heaven Is'. For one pound extra UK fans could buy a Limited Edition version featuring a 9 track bonus CD. This had live songs recorded at the June 1993 Don Valley Stadium show in Sheffield.

In Japan and North America 'Foolin'' was included instead of 'Heaven Is'. The Japanese version added 'Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)' in the main tracklisting as it had been a popular song there.

The North American version also replaced 'Action' with 'Miss You In A Heartbeat'. A thank you to Canadians who had made it a hit in that country. 'Can't Keep Away From The Flame' was included in Japan as the usual extra bonus track.

Joe Elliott on Tracklistings - 1995 Interview Quote

"That is because certain songs are bigger in the States or Japan, so we thought, 'Why not do a different album for each territory?'."

Vault - 1995 USA Press Release

Def Leppard To Release 'Vault' Greatest Hits LP To Include New Song.

Mercury recording artists Def Leppard are set to release 'Vault', a collection of 15 tracks, consisting of songs from the band's previous hits, and one new song. 'When Love And Hate Collide'. The track will be released to radio on October 23rd and the LP will be in-store October 31st.

Vault draws on songs from 1981's 'High 'n' Dry', 1983's 'Pyromania', 1987's enormously successful 'Hysteria', as well as tracks from their most recent 'Adrenalize' and 'Retro-Active' LPs.

Def Leppard will also release a new studio LP in 1996, tentatively titled 'Slang'.


Def Leppard 1995.


Pour Some Sugar On Me 1988. Def Leppard 1995

Vault Greatest Hits 1980-1995 - UK/World Album Release

The album had originally been announced in the UK press as being released on 16th October with 'When Love & Hate Collide' coming out before this on 25th September. Both of those dates got pushed back. The UK press had also announced the album would be out around Christmas time with the band playing a Far East tour in December 1995. In May 1996 the album was certified Platinum in the USA and went on to become four times Platinum in June of 2005.

Vivian Campbell - 1995 Interview Quote

"I'll be honest, when I first heard that there was going to be a greatest hits album before Slang, I thought, "Oh bollocks!". But then, if you think about it, it's the perfect time for Def Leppard to do a hits album because we want the new record to be perceived as something new, so the greatest hits is like closing a chapter. And if the greatest hits is successful, it'll provide a good springboard to release the new album."




Joe Elliott - 1995 Interview Quote

"It's the perfect time to do it as far as I'm concerned, you know, looking at our career overall. We've got a brand new album that's nearly finished. It's coming out in Spring next year and it is a slightly different sound to anything we've done in the past. To have done a Greatest Hits after that record I think would have been a bit like opening up the 80s again. And it's something that, you know, this is a chapter that we think it needs closing."

Pour Some Sugar On Me 1988. Def Leppard 1995

Rick Savage - 1995 Interview Quotes

On Including A New Song

"No I don't think it's cheeky. I mean you hope that that's gonna become a hit as well. I mean it would look a bit out of place if it didn't, but it seems to be doing well. So I mean we're fortunate in that respect. But we wanted to put a new song out there just to actually let people know what is happening and it's basically a good advertisement for the album. If the single does well. It's like well it's a brand new track as well as far as the people are concerned."

"We're very strong internally. We have a lot of respect for each other's musical ability and personalities. And we give each other the right amount of space. I think that helps."

"We've always wanted to be in a position to be able to put a greatest hits album out. And we now are in that position, We've had 16 or 17 songs around the world, singles that somewhere around the world were hits. And it's great to put them all on one album you know. And this is not the end of Def Leppard by a long chalk. Hopefully there's loads more hits to come. But it's basically just ending a chapter as such. that's the first 15 years."


Def Leppard 1995.


Def Leppard 1995.

Joe Elliott - 1995 Interview Quote

Playing Live/Next Album

"We have to go wherever we're needed, wherever we're wanted. If somebody's says come play, you can play now like South Africa, we've never been, we'll now go."

Rick Savage - 1995 Interview Quote

"It's an old cliche but you can't beat playing live you know. And it's a bit Spinal Tap and what have you, but it's true. It's the only reason you ever start a group in the first place is actually just go out and perform. Whether it's ten people or ten thousand doesn't make any difference."


Vault Album - 1995 News Quotes

Rock Superstars line up winter assault

AC/DC and Def Leppard are both set to release new albums this Winter!.

Def Leppard, meanwhile, will release a 'Greatest Hits' set this Christmas! It's expected to include such smash hits as 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak', 'Photograph', 'Foolin', 'Animal', 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', 'Hysteria', 'Love Bites', 'Let's Get Rocked' and 'Two Steps Behind'. There's also the possibility that a handful of new and/or previously unreleased tracks will be added.

The band are also set to play a series of dates lined up in the Far East this December!.

Leppard are currently in LA working on their next studio album with co-producer Pete Woodroffe. Provisionally titled 'Slang'. It will emerge in the first half of next year!.


Def Leppard 1995.


Def Leppard 1995.

Vault Album/Joe Elliott - 1995 News/Interview Quotes

Def Leppard - No More 'Let's Get Rocked'!

The Sheffield stars get serious with 'moody' new studio LP. Plus Joe Elliott gives Mayhem an exclusive rundown of their hot new tracks!.

Def Leppard are set to release two albums inside the next 10 months!.

The first, a greatest hits collection entitled 'Vault', is out on October 16. It includes all of the band's biggest UK hits plus the new track 'When love & Hate Collide'.

And 'Vault' will be followed next Summer by a brand new Leppard studio album, 'Slang'. The quintet are currently recording 'Slang' in a house in Spain with producer Pete Woodroffe.

Leppard singer Joe Elliott reveals, "We're excited as hell about 'Slang'. It's different, but we haven't gone weird!. It's a very positive move.".

"It's got a bit of a '70s vibe. The house in Spain has got marble floors so the sound has a lot of slap!. It's very organic and a little more mature, more serious. I'm not saying it's all doom and gloom, but I can't be 17 forever."

"I'm 36, I can't write another 'Let's Get Rocked'. But we do what we do,. We don't make records to please a Green Day fan!.

'Slang' is scheduled for release in the Spring of 1996.

"But hey, you know us!."


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