Page 80 - Classic Rock - The Complete Story of Def Leppard 2019
P. 80
What you looking at?
Early Leps in full-on ‘Hysteria set a standard
glowering mode.
that has, from a
production point of view,
never been been beaten.’
PG BRUNELLI/ICONICPIX takes to the mic.
Vocalize: Elliott
the time was a Midlands-based melodic rock band called
City Boy – a unit that benefitted from Mutt’s production
chops, stretched over five albums. If anything, Mutt was
proving to be a reputable and reliable producer, sowing
GETTY the seeds for a big breakthrough, which came in the
unlikely guise of AC/DC.
in the late 70s she formed a band with Manfred Mann Although Eddie Kramer was in the frame for their
Earth Band vocalist Chris Thompson called Night who breakthrough album Highway To Hell, band leader
recorded two very satisfying rock albums, in the Malcolm Young baulked and turned to their then manager
Fleetwood Mac vein, the first of which was a considerable Michael Browning to recruit someone else. That someone
success in the US, producing the hit single Summer Night. was Mutt Lange. Both parties were sceptical at first but as
But perhaps the most recognisable achievement, with its recording progressed it was evident that Mutt was about
stunning vocal performance, was a song called Remember to take the band to a whole new level, one that placed
My Name, used extensively on TV as the music for a them firmly on the map as international contenders, but
Limara Body Spray advert. it wasn’t until Back In Black that the fireworks really
Mutt’s first productions were stylistically scattered, a exploded. It has sold more than 40 million copies
sign that he was not only trying to get his foot in the door worldwide, and is the biggest-grossing album, second
but also searching for a pathway to future excellence. only to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. A monumental
Initial projects included albums for Savoy Brown, Graham achievement for such an uncompromising record and its
Parker & The Rumour, Mallard (Captain Beefheart’s success shook the very foundations of the music business,
backing band), Kevin Coyne, Clover, Supercharge, Deaf opening up the way for hard rock to compete with even
School, The Records, Broken Home, Tycoon, The Motors the biggest pop stars of the day.
and, surprisingly, the Boomtown Rats. He even got in Mutt’s next move was to forge another mega selling
some southern-rock action, working with The Outlaws album, with Foreigner (4, 1981), a record that contained
on their Playing To Win album. However, his big ticket at three global hit singles in Juke Box Hero, Urgent and Waiting
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