Def Leppard – On Through the Night – 1980

I once heard an interview with some of the members of Def Leppard where they talked about the musical influences of Queen. At the time I think that Hysteria was just released. An album that was a massive success for the band. Anyway, they talked about the influences Queen had contributed and I couldn’t understand the similarities – until now. On Through the Night is Def Leppards first album and it’s easy to hear. That’s nothing negative in any way since I like début albums. They tend to be less complicated and over-produced than later commercial success – and I finally understand the Queen comments by the band.

The influences from the guitars and vocals are quite obvious. And with that said I also not that the music and production of On Through the Night is very dated. You can easily hear that it’s from 1980. There’s nothing wrong with that either, just that you can’t expect the sound the band later explored.

I will keep this short and stay satisfied with a short review. On Through the Night is a good/ok album in my ears. Not great but a solid start for a hard-working hardrock band. You can hear that later success comes from talent and not from pure luck!