History Music / DefLeppard

* PunnyTitle: "Love Bites" an angsty IntercourseWithYou song that is a play both on how much [[LoveHurts love can be emotionally painful]] and [[BiteOfAffection physical "love bites,"]] or marks on the skin after intimacy.

* TheAlcoholic: Steve, so tragically much. Pete, not so tragically.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* RatedMForManly

* '''Rick Savage''' used to be [[TheChick "the Cute One"]] (even getting name-checked to that end on ''Heroes'').

->''"Gunter gleben glauten globen..."''

* HandicappedBadass: Even without his left arm, Rick Allen can still drum with the best of them. He has an adapted kit to bypass the disability, but you wouldn't know just from listening.

* TheAlcoholic: Being a rock band in the 1980s, all members would definitely qualify, though most of them have gone sober since then.
** To whit; Joe gave up alcohol to preserve his voice on tour. Phil gave up alcohol after getting black-out drunk and waking up with an expensive watch he didn't remember buying, which spooked him. Rick gave up alcohol after a domestic incident with his then-wife that got violent.
** Tragically, this was (infamously) the case for Steve Clark. He sought refuge in alcohol, and when his bandmates went sober he drank himself to death, unable to escape his depression.

* BaldnessMeansSickness: Vivian Campbell, had cancer (as of June 2013) and went bald due to chemo.

* CoolOldGuy: The band is still going strong over 40 years into their career and are still packing arenas as of 2020, with Phil Collen standing out among the individual members due to being highly athletic in his 60s with his bodybuilding physique.
** Some of the members are also in a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernauts David Bowie Cover BAND]]!
** Joe Elliott's main side project is the Down N' Outz, a Music/MottTheHoople cover band.

* {{Determinator}}: Rick Allen after his accident learning to play one handed. To the point after one show on the comeback tour after the accident the backup drummer on standby in case Rick couldn't play the songs said to the rest of the band essentially "You guys don't need me here" and flew home.
** Also Vivian Campbell who refused to let a little thing like cancer stop him touring with the band in 2013.
** Rick Savage during his fight with Bell's Palsy in TheNineties.
** The whole band can count to an extent, they've survived a founding member drinking himself to death, the ups and downs of the music industry, all the aforementioned tragedies and 30 years of shitty arm jokes.

* DrivenToSuicide: Steve Clark according to the band, and his loved ones. While his death by overdose sounds like a typical rock thing, people who knew him say he was very well aware that his drinking problem had become life-threatening, and completely unbothered by it, not to mention he had struggled with intense depression most of his life.

* FunctionalAddict: Most of the band in relation to alcohol during their 80's heyday, though tragically not the case with Steve Clark, who while functional in the sense that he could do his job wound up ending his own life through extreme alcohol abuse.

* HandicappedBadass: Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident. His response? Get a specialized drum kit and keep playing.
** Steve Clark during his worst moments also counted. Completely boozed up, so depressed and unwilling to play he used to ''smash his hands up in the sink'' - yet still the guy to put on a hell of a show.

* OneSteveLimit: Subverted between Rick Allen and Rick Savage, who is called "Sav" instead of his first name.

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Steve Clark once landed in the hospital for alcohol poisoning, with a blood alcohol level of 0.54. To put that in perspective, [[Music/LedZeppelin John Bonham]] had a blood alcohol level of ''0.41'' the day he died.
* PintSizedPowerHouse: Phil Collen - shortest guy in the band, but with a physique rivalling a bodybuilder's.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Steve Clark and Phil Collen - "''The Terror Twins''", at least up until Collen sobered up.

* TheTeam: The band has very much the same line-up for nearly 3 decades.
** TheLeader: Joe Elliot; the band credits his "take charge" attitude for much of their early success.
** TheLancer: Or Lancer(s), Steve Clark (also TheAlcoholic) and Phil Collen (also NaiveNewcomer, formerly TheSixthRanger prior to Pete being fired), collectively known as the [[TagTeam "Terror Twins"]].
** TheHeart: Rick Allen (also HandicappedBadass, formerly TagalongKid joining the band at 15)
** [[TheChick Rock & Roll Sex God]]: Rick Savage; reportedly, he was handed a notebook on one occasion which had been utterly filled with the hand-written declaration "I Love Sav".
** TheSixthRanger: Vivian Campbell (Still not generally regarded as Steve's replacement)
* TheNapoleon: Pete Willis reportedly suffered from this, and coupled with his alcohol abuse made his personality too volatile to function within the band.

* TheAlcoholic: Steve, [[TheWoobie so tragically much]]. Pete, [[{{Jerkass}} not so tragically]].

'''Discography'''

* ''High [='n'=] Dry'' (1981)

* TheAlcoholic: Being a rock band in the 1980's, all members would definitely qualify, though most of them have gone sober since then.
** To whit; Joe gave up alcohol to preserve his voice on tour. Phil gave up alcohol after getting black out drunk and waking up with an expensive watch he didn't remember buying, which spooked him. Rick gave up alcohol after a domestic incident with his then-wife that got violent.

* MoralityBallad: "From The Inside" - it's about drug addiction but written and sung from the ''drugs'' point of view.

** Backstage Pass: "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (U.S. version) and "Armageddon It".
** Band From Mundania: "Me And My Wine".

* PowerBallad: Many, many. "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" from ''High [='n'=] Dry'' was their first. The 1987 album ''Hysteria'' is practically built on them. Including the TitleTrack, "Love Bites", and even "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (though it is more thunderous than the other two).

* ShoutOut: "Rocket", a shout out to the groups that the band likes.[[note]] In full: Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}, Music/EltonJohn (twice), Music/TheBeatles (specifically ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''), Music/DavidBowie (three times!), Music/LouReed, Music/MarcBolan, Music/PaulMccartney & Music/{{Wings}}, Ram Jam, Music/ChuckBerry, Music/{{Queen}}, Music/ThinLizzy and Music/{{Sweet}}.[[/note]]

* ShoutOut: "Rocket", a shout out to the groups that the band likes.[[note]] In full: Music/TheRollingStones, Music/EltonJohn (twice), Music/TheBeatles (specifically ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''), Music/DavidBowie (three times!), Music/LouReed, Music/MarcBolan, Music/PaulMccartney & Music/{{Wings}}, Ram Jam, Music/ChuckBerry, Music/{{Queen}}, Music/ThinLizzy and Music/{{Sweet}}.[[/note]]

-->''[[Music/{{Queen}} Sheer Heart Attack]] and a [[Music/TheRollingStones Jumpin' Jack Flash]], like a [[Music/TheShangriLas Leader of the Pack]]...''

** TheLeader: Joe Elliot

** [[TheChick Rock & Roll Sex God]] : Rick Savage

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Mutt Lange is South African and has the corresponding accent in real life. Anthony Michael Hall plays him with his natural American accent. Since the accents of Def Leppard are all over the place though, he probably just decided to not embarrass himself.