Def Leppard

Released: August 3, 1987

Songwriter: Richard Savage Robert John Lange Phil Collen Steve Clark Joe Elliott

Producer: Robert John Lange

[Verse 1]
Living by the law is a bloody necessary bore
Everybody, are you getting what you're looking for?
Living by the rule is something that you got to do
But does it matter if we (Break a rule or two?)

[Chorus 1]
Get up, break out
Don't be the odd one out

[Verse 2]
Living on the edge, I'm a try and keep a level head
(Oh!)
Every morning it's a bummer getting out of bed
Same old story, doesn't nothing ever ever change?
Yeah, they lock me up and then they let me out again

[Chorus 1]
Get up, break out
Don't be the odd one out
Come on, it's alright
We're hot tonight

[Chorus 2]
You better run
(Run, run riot)
You got to run
(Run, run riot)
You know the time has come
(Run, run riot)
I mean everyone
(Run, yeah, run riot)
Oh, got to riot, babe

[Verse 3]
Going through the motions, desperation guaranteed
Whoa, get frustrated easily
Pedal to the metal, senses working overtime
Oh, a fight to the finish, babe, draw the line

[Chorus 1]

[Chorus 2]
Run
(Run, run riot)
You got to run
(Run, run riot)
You know the time has come
(Run, run riot)
I mean everyone
(Run, yeah, run riot)

[Verse 4]
Speak to me
They lock me up, they let me out
But I'm up and running
I scream and shout

[Chorus 1]

[Chorus 2]
You better run
(Run, run riot)
You got to run
(Run, run riot)
You know the time has come
(Run, run riot)
Come on, run with me
(Run, run riot)
(Run, run riot)

[Outro]
Hey, I'll take you from your misery
Come on, stick with me

In 1977, Rick Savage, Tony Kenning, and Pete Willis were students at a secondary school in Sheffield, England. They had a band called Atomic Mass. Lead singer Joe Elliott joined later that year, and suggested a new band name. Within 10 years, that name, Def Leppard, became one of the most recognised in English rock music. To date, they have released more than 40 singles.

Def Leppard was a definitive part of the new wave of British heavy metal bands in the late 1970s. Their first three albums had tremendous momentum, each outselling the one before. Then, after the release of Pyromania in 1983, drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. The band stuck by him through his recovery and retraining.

When Def Leppard came back, they came back hard. Their fourth album, 1987’s Hysteria, was a hard rock masterpiece that took the world by storm. By then the music video had matured as a film style, and Hysteria’s singles and videos had enough pop, sex, colour, and glam to put it over the top. Hysteria was one of the biggest-selling albums of the 1980s.

more tracks from the album

Hysteria

From the album

Hysteria (1987)

Def Leppard popular songs

Run RiotDef Leppard

Def Leppard

Hysteria