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Song

Kick

Artist

Def Leppard

Def Leppard backstory

Sheffield’s NWOBHM pioneers turned hair metal heroes celebrate their 45th anniversary this year.

And despite selling millions of records the world over it seems that Leppard aren’t done yet.

New album Diamond Star Halos drops this summer.

But significant birthdays for Hysteria (35), Adrenalize (30) and X (20) already meant 2022 was going to be a big, big year for Joe Elliott and the boys.

Leppard have long since changed their trad metal spots but the band’s legendary 80s output remains a staple of any hard rock fan’s collection.

Furious debut On Through The Night and follow-up High ‘n’ Dry were peppered with punchy riffs more akin to Saxon and Priest than Bon Jovi and Europe.

But 1983’s career-defining Pyromania pitched Leppard as remodelled radio rockers ripe for the MTV-obsessed US arena circuit.

And four years later Hysteria completed the band’s timely evolution into stadium-sized pop metal behemoths armed with a raft of Mutt Lange-inspired chart-busting anthems.

That Elliott and co. rode the grunge and nu-metal waves is testimony to a determination and work ethic rooted in their Steel City past.

And if the late 90s and early noughties won’t be remembered as peak Leppard, the band’s last two studio albums pointed to a true return to form.

Incredibly it’s seven years since the self-titled Def Leppard peaked at number 10 on the Billboard charts.

But Kick — and Diamond Star Halos — marks the welcome return of British rock royalty.

In frontman Joe Elliott’s own words

“Everybody goes back to just doing what they do when you’ve got an album finished. 

“And then Phil phoned me up and he says ‘I’ve just written this other song’.

“Normally we’d be like ‘Oh God really?’. I said ‘OK, let’s hear it’ and it was Kick. It was Sav who actually said ‘Hello, Sugar anyone?’.

“He wasn’t comparing the song to Pour Some Sugar On Me. 

“He was comparing the situation and the scenario right at the end of the 11-track album that was to be Hysteria.

“All of a sudden we came up with Pour Some Sugar On Me which arguably became the most important song on the album, if not our entire career really.

“This was the same kind of thing — we all heard Kick and went ‘we’ve got to do it’. 

“The beautiful thing was we had all the time in the world because we were still in lockdown.”

The verdict on Kick

Can’t Kick the Def Leppard habit?

Don’t despair.

This play-safe earworm from the kings of uncool is guaranteed to deliver that long overdue dad rock fix.

And its addictive blend of cheese and chutzpah bodes well for summer’s Diamond Star Halos drop.

Die-hard fans of the band’s late 80s/early 90s peak will love the reassuring echoes of Pour Some Sugar On Me, Let’s Get Rocked and more.

Earlier adopters rooted in the band’s distant NWOBHM past, perhaps less so.

There’s the slow-build chorus, familiar bridge and rhythmic, repetitive chorus. 

In fact, Kick’s the archetypal Leppard singalong party starter.

But it’s got even more in common with Joe Elliot’s glam rock-inspired side project Down N Outz.

And it’s almost as if the band’s busy frontman is singing the right song for the wrong band.

Classic T Rex underpins the Phil Collen-penned lead track from the band’s 12th studio album.

But at their most flamboyant Leppard were never too far removed from Elliott’s 70s icons.

And Kick’s a retro-fuelled celebration of Mott, Bowie and more.

What’s next for Def Leppard

New album Diamond Star Halos is released on May 27.

The band’s North American trek alongside Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett kicks off in June.

Frontman Joe Elliott has revealed the Diamond Star Halos tour will hit the UK in 2023.