| Photograph | |
| Cover: | Def-Leppard-Photograph.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Def Leppard |
| Album: | Pyromania |
| B-Side: | Action! Not Words |
| Released: | January 1983 (UK)[1] |
| Recorded: | 1982 |
| Studio: |
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| Genre: | |
| Length: |
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| Label: | |
| Producer: | Robert John "Mutt" Lange |
| Prev Title: | Bringin' On the Heartbreak |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | Rock of Ages |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
"Photograph" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It is the lead single from the band's third studio album, Pyromania (1983). Their lead vocalist Joe Elliott has described the song as generally about "something you can't ever get your hands on".[2] When released as a single it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for six weeks, and No. 12 on the Pop Singles chart.[3]
In 2008, they performed the song with Taylor Swift on CMT Crossroads. The performance was nominated for both Wide Open Country Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year at the 2009 CMT Music Awards.
In 2013, the song was featured in the Grand Theft Auto V video game, on the Los Santos Rock Radio station.[4] It was also featured in the DLC release of Rock Band 3, in 2011.
The song has been described as pop metal,[5] [6] [7] glam metal,[8] hard rock[9] and power pop.[10]
Cash Box called it "a well-crafted if typical hard-pop outing," praising the "incendiary metal guitar licks and deafening drumbeats."[11]
There are two slightly different versions of the music video. The uncensored version shows a knife scene at the beginning, and on the censored version of the video, it is almost the same except the knife scene is replaced with a stationary black cat among other minor bits removed. There are several appearances of a lookalike impersonating Marilyn Monroe in the video. Mutt Lange would later go on to say that the song wasn't about anyone in particular but more about expressing "young lust in an anthemic song."[12]
The music video was directed by David Mallet[13] and was shot on 2 December 1982 (bassist Rick Savage's 22nd birthday), in Battersea, London, England. It featured the video debut of their co-lead guitarist Phil Collen. The video aired in heavy rotation on MTV.
"Photograph" has been performed at every Def Leppard concert tour since its release. The song is traditionally the final song of the concert, often used during the encore (as well as fellow Pyromania track "Rock of Ages").
"Photograph" is widely considered one of Def Leppard's best songs and one of the best rock songs of all time. In 2009 it was named the 13th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[14] It was also listed as the 17th-greatest song of the past 25 years by VH1.[15] In 2015, Loudwire ranked the song number one on their list of the 10 greatest Def Leppard songs,[16] and in 2017, Billboard placed it number two on their list of the 15 best Def Leppard songs.[17]
| US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[19] | 30 |
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