Released: January 20, 1983

Songwriter: Pete Willis Richard Savage Joe Elliott Steve Clark Robert John Lange

Producer: Robert John Lange

[Spoken Intro: Robert "Mutt" Lange]
Gunter glieben glauchen globen

[Intro]
Hm hm hm, tsk, tsk, tsk
All right, yeah
I got something to say
Yeah, it's better to burn out
Yeah, than fade away
All right
Ow
Gonna start a fire
C'mon

[Verse 1]
Rise up, gather round
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up, let's go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke

[Verse 2]
Rock on (Rock on)
Drive me crazier
No serenade, no fire brigade
Just the pyromania, come on

[Pre-Chorus]
(What do ya want?) What do ya want?
(I want rock 'n' roll) Yes, I do
(Long live rock 'n' roll)

[Verse 3]
Oh, let's go let's strike a light
We're gonna blow like dynamite
I don't care if it takes all night
Gonna set this town alight, c'mon

[Pre-Chorus]
(What do ya want?) What do ya want?
(I want rock 'n' roll) All right
(Long live rock 'n' roll) Oh, yeah, yeah

[Chorus]
Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', keep a-rollin'
Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', rock 'n' rollin'

[Bridge 1]
We got the power, got the glory
Just say you need it
And if you need it say yeah (Yeah!)
Oh, yeah, heh heh heh heh
Now listen to me

[Verse 4]
I'm burnin', burnin', I got the fever
I know for sure, there ain't no cure
So feel it, don't fight it, go with the flow
And gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme one more for the road, yeah

[Pre-Chorus]
(What do ya want?) What do ya want?
(I want rock 'n' roll) You betcha
(Long live rock 'n' roll) Now hit it

[Guitar Solo]

[Chorus]
Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', keep a-rollin'
Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin', rock 'n' rollin'

[Bridge 2]
We got the power, got the glory
Just say you need it
And if you need it say yeah (Yeah!)
Say yeah (Yeah!)

[Outro]
We're gonna burn this damn place down, woo-hoo
Down to the ground

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh

Def Leppard

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.