This section looks at the 'Too Late For Love' single release. The third and final single to be released from the 'Pyromania' album in the UK.
"They decided they wanted to go to radio with "Too Late For Love"."
Def Leppard released their classic Too Late For Love single on this day in 1983 in the UK.
The third UK single to be released from the Pyromania album.
It was released on 25th November 1983 and would reach Number 86 in the Top 100 singles chart.
The follow up to 'Rock Of Ages' which had peaked at Number 41 in September. The single was released to help promote the short three date UK tour in early December which saw them play in Birmingham, Nottingham and London.
Recent US single 'Foolin'' was used as the B Side with the 12" adding 'High 'N' Dry (Saturday Night)' as a second B Side. The 12" also featured the song title at the top of the cover rather than at the bottom (as it is on the 7").
The over art featured part of the DEF LEPPARD logo set up using matches and being set alight by a female hand.
They would go on to perform the single on a special edition of the TV show 'Supersonic'.
A performance that would later be released on the Historia compilation video in July 1988.
A promo version of the single shortened the title to 'Too Late' and featured the band in their 1983 football kits on the back cover.
The photo shown below dates from the 27th June 1983 match against Z95 radio in Allentown, PA, USA.
Too Late For Love - 2004 Joe Elliott Comments
"When I wrote the lyrics I had almost no idea of what they'd be matched with. They were very un-rock 'n' roll in the sense of what you'd expect."
"The verses and the pop-style chorus don't even go together. But we managed to bash a square peg into a round hole."
Too Late For Love - 2004 Phil Collen Comments
"I'd just joined the band and Mutt found out I could sing. It was before the days of digital recording and we were using two-inch tape. I was adding layers of backing vocals."
"And this antique tape had begun to get worn out. We almost lost all the b/vs: Thank god for safety copies. It was a case of not singing too loud in case the tape broke."
Too Late For Love - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes
"By the time we went back to Europe to do the end of the world tour, they decided they wanted to go to radio with "Too Late For Love," but we weren't really in any kind of a position to make a video for it."
"Plus, there was this feeling amongst us like, "It's a fourth single, but it's just being put out there for the sake of it. It's only being released because of the success of the first three."
"It was never a game plan in January of that year. It was a on the spur-of-the-moment decision made maybe in August or September that we would go with a full single, to which we responded, "Well, okay, fine, whatever you want. But there won't be a video, because we're too busy touring."
"It was just the record company trying to prolong the length of the album and see if that song was going to fly."
Too Late For Love - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes
"But as great a song as it is, I believe that any success that it achieved was based on the fact that the first three did so well."
It's a fantastic album track, but it's not a single. To me. You know what I mean? "
"It's like, "Are you kidding me?" It's just a great album track. It's not a single. It doesn't have the hook. It's a brilliant piece of arrangement, it's a good bit of writing, it's a great lyric, it's a brilliant piece of music."
"But it's a rock track. It's never going to challenge "Thriller" or "Billie Jean." Whereas, "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages" were, because they were anthemic in a lyrical and a vocal way."
"They were a call to arms. And "Too Late for Love" is a bit more "lamentable," if you like."
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