Def Leppard - On Through the Night

It may not have the critical or commercial cachet of their landmark titles Pyromania and Hysteria, but Def Leppard's 1980 debut, On Through The Night, effectively captured the band's confident initial strides on a remarkable journey which has led to over 100 million record sales worldwide and their imminent induction into the hallowed Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Though lacking the poise and sophistication of their legend-enshrining later albums, the brash On Through The Night still has plenty to recommend it. Adrenalized, hook-stuffed anthems such as "Wasted," "Rock Brigade," "It Could Be You" and re-recorded highlight "Rocks Off" showed how deftly the band's bristling rock sound embraced the three-minute pop format, while "Hello America" – with its layered, Queen-esque vocal arrangement – and the complex, Rush-style epic "Overture" proved Joe Elliott and Co. were no strangers to ambition. Perhaps most decisively, the cinematic "Sorrow Is A Woman" drew up the blueprint for future smold