Rock Band Borrowed 80s Hit from a Hymn Book!…Record SOLD 10 Million Copies! | Professor of Rock

The making of one of the biggest rock albums of the 80s was full of drama, comedy, secret messages, and young lust. Def Leppard Pyromania... It started out with Def Leppard having to fire their longtime guitarist Pete Willis who was so drunk he couldn’t play the songs. They brought in a hot shot rookie named Phil Collen who became the missing piece that helped make this band one of the biggest of the rock era and the only rock band outside of Led Zeppelin to have 2 straight 10 times platinum records and this was the start. Joe Elliott was revved up and ready to go with iconic hits like Rock of Ages, Photograph, and Foolin... Up next, the story of a rock song that came from an old hymn book and the origins of the iconic gibberish that everyone has tried to translate for years but came from the band not wanting to say the same old thing. The story of a record that sold over 10 million copies but was cursed to be #2 never reaching the #1 spot… Next on Professor of Rock.
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Def Leppard was on a steady path of progression leading to the recording of their 3rd studio album Pyromania in early ’82. The band’s debut LP On Through the Night was a platinum seller in the U.S. & Canada, and their 2nd album High & Dry was twice as successful- selling over 2 million units in America.
Def Lep’s invaluable partnership with pre-eminent record producer Mutt Lange was forged on the High & Dry album that led to even loftier achievements on their next two albums. Recording an album with Def Leppard was always an adventure.
There wasn’t as much turbulence as there was during the making of Hysteria, but the Pyromania sessions were not without drama. The biggest soap opera was the sacking of founding member Pete Willis. The band was well into the recording of Pyromania when everything came to a head. Willis was a notorious partier, and his alcohol abuse proved toxic for his bandmates.
After a heavy night of drinking, Willis stumbled into the recording studio completely unable to play his guitar parts on the track “Stagefright”.
Mutt was disgusted at his unprofessionalism, and told Willis to go home and “dry up.” The other three members asked then manager, Peter Mensch, to fire Willis, but Mensch refused. “It’s your band, said Mensch, you do it, you’re big boys.” Not only was Willis a founding member, but he had been a very integral part of the band’s sound, especially on the preceding High & Dry.
But Willis’s drinking had been a major issue within the band for several years. Def Leppard had lofty goals, and their potential for something grand with Pyromania was evident.
The last thing they needed was a toxic relationship to wreck their future prosperity. To replace Pete Willis, Joe Elliott & Steve Clark recruited guitarist Phil Collen, who had been playing with the band GIRL. Elliott & Clark had serious discussions with Collen about joining Def Leppard a year prior, since they were losing confidence in Willis well before his official dismissal, but decided to give Pete another chance to get his act together.
Phil Collen hit it off with the core foursome from the outset, and quickly established a brotherly relationship with the guys, especially with fellow lead guitarist, the beloved Steve Clark.