Def Leppard Animal Instinct: The Def Leppard Story

by David Fricke, Ross Halfin (Photographer)

Def Leppard are the classic story of rock & roll schoolboys grown into rock superstars. Since their formation in 1977 they had the talent, determination and stamina to climb to the heights of international stardom, capped by their mega-million sales album PYROMANIA...

But nothing could have prepared them for personal tragedies and professional disasters that inflicted their lives and plunged them back to relative obscurity in the mid 1980s.

More than anything, though, Def Leppard had good instincts. And in rock & roll instinct spells survival.

ANIMAL INSTINCT is the story of that survival, from the early days in Sheffield, England to their triumphant return to the international rock arena and HYSTERIA in the charts.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

Reviews

[Michelle "Champ" · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordered this back in 1987....read it so much it fell apart. In 1988, when I went to my first DLconcert, I bought it again. I still have that copy.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say?
It's a book about Def Leppard, there is no way in hell I can ever write an unbiased review about them, I have loved their music since a kid.
This book follows their humble beginnings in Sheffield, their rise, their conquest of America, their subsequent hatred back in their home town due to accusations of "selling out."
Rick's car accident and return to the band plus a shed load of tour shenanigans.
There can never be enough Def Leppard books for me and I soaked up every glorious word and band picture.
There is nothing much else I can say is there?
It would just be even more pure bias as I am a fan and devotee of their music so if anyone reads it for a purely neutral perspective I suggest you go elsewhere.
A brilliant read and just sad it's over, it's like going to a gig and having the come down blues.

[BRNTerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read online 12/2021. Bought 11/17/2022, reread 12/5/2022. This large paperback is 10"x 7"x 3/8" and weighs 1lb.

This is an excellent account of their lives together from the time they met as teens to the completion of Hysteria. This was published almost 35 years ago, right after they'd finished recording Hysteria in January 1987 and before the album's release in August 1987. The author worked closely with them for three years while writing the book and has their full cooperation, including that of ex-member Pete Willis, who's interviewed. The book's title was the tentative title for what became Hysteria.

This was far better than I'd expected, since it's only 144 pages with a lot of photos. There are 12 chapters and they're equally good. It was mentioned many times that Steve and Pete each had a drinking problem but the author never once asked them to discuss the issue, like he just wasn't interested.

This book has an odd mixture of American and British spellings. Sometimes words will be spelled with a u, such as colour, then other times it's spelled 'color', British words with an 's' will sometimes be spelled with the American 'z.' Time will be written with a point, such as 6.30 pm, and other times it's written the American way with a colon, 6:30. The date too is sometimes written in the British way- day, month, year, then other times it's month, day, year like in America. The author's American but it looks as if it's cowritten by someone British. Just some observations I made.

[Vincenzo Ridente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very excellent book on Def Leppard filled with tons of incredible photos a must if your a fan

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice biography of the best rocks bands in history. Still waiting for the sequel.