42 Years Of 'High n' Dry'

Well, if you want to feel ancient, I can help: Def Leppard's High N' Dry album is 42 years old. Of course the album features "Bringin' On The Heartbreak," a song that solidified the Brits as the real rock deal.

The new Def Leppard book DEFinitely has a little tidbit about the album cover for their debut On Through The Night and how the band had nothing to do with the creative concept at all. The label "took care of it" and the band wasn't pleased. From then on, the members of Def Leppard exerted creative control over their album covers and iconic art. The cover for High n' Dry was actually meant for Pink Floyd in the late 70s, but rejected by the prog legends. (The graphic designer of the cover was Storm Thorgerson. He also did the art for Dark Side of the Moon).

Def Leppard began their long partnership with the late designer Andie Airfix with the Pyromania album. 

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Comments

[Him]

Thorgerson knows how to create oddly captivating covers. Nuff sed. Does this one compare to the guitar on a flatbed? Well, it does. How well? Not so sure. Is _Pyro_ a better cover? In terms of being sorta' on topic, sure. And Andie Airfix's _Hysteria_ cover has the luck of being, good or bad or otherwise, attached to a mega-seller.

Those covers stir some conversation up. _Adrenalize_? Just crap. _Retro Active_? Clever, if you haven't seen the trick a number of times. _Slang_? Did Winger just give them that as a way of saying "you are great guys"? _Euphoria_? _Adrenalize_ with less money?

I kid. I kid. For my money (and I am frugal), the EP cover is where it's at. It is a sign of (cheeky) intent that they far surpassed. But it suggest what a young and hungry band was capable of doing when they weren't so sure they had the stones or the money to do it. Simple. A bit rough. Perfect.

Long live Atomic Mass!