This section looks at the 'Rock Of Ages The Definitive Collection' 2CD album release. The second greatest hits collection album to be released in North America featuring the single 'No Matter What'.
"Disc One is the greatest hits, but Disc Two is really what people wanted to hear."
Def Leppard released their Rock Of Ages The Definitive Collection album on this day in 2005 in the USA and Canada.
The second greatest hits compilation album to be released by the band and the North American version of the 'Best Of Def Leppard' release from 2004.
The 2CD set featured new single 'No Matter What' which was the first cover version released as a single in the USA. Also a first taste of the 2006 'YEAH!' covers album.
The single had been released the day before the album and was the first cover version released as a single by the band in North America.
35 songs were included over the 2 CDs featuring 27 singles as well as album tracks.
The album was supported by the five and a half month 'Rock Of Ages' tour which ran from June to mid November.
It included 26 minor league baseball stadium shows played with co-headliner Bryan Adams.
Read some quotes by the band from 2005 about the album.
Screenshot/TV Advert
2005 - Phil Collen Interview Quote
"Disc One is the greatest hits, but Disc Two is really what people wanted to hear. Stuff like 'Wasted' off the first album, 'Mirror, Mirror' and 'Paper Sun' and stuff like that."
2005 - Phil Collen Interview Quotes
"The reason for doing this now is the fact that so many people aren't aware of who we are. I think the record label more than anyone else wanted to re-introduce Def Leppard to the world," says Collen, who hopes the album will reach a new generation."
"It's the teenagers that really make something really special. When you've got that on your side, then it works on a bigger scale."
Advert 2005
2005 - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes
"It's a great way of reintroducing us, I think, to the masses who may have forgotten we exist. The hard core we're fine with, they're good. But it's the ones who stop you in the airport and go, `Hey, you guys still around?' This kind of lets them know we still are, on a slightly bigger scale.''
"I think we were concerned about not eliminating any part of our career. It would've been so easy for us to focus on the Hysteria, Pyromania and Adrenalize trio of albums, but I think it would've been a little unfair on us as artists and on the hardcore fans to not put anything off, say, Slang or off our first album, On Through the Night, on there. We wanted it to be balanced.''
Rock Of Ages Mini-Site
Rock Of Ages The Definitive Collection - 2005 Press Release
Def Leppard, one of the most popular bands in rock, will launch a major tour this spring in the wake of the release of its biggest-ever "best of" album. With more than 65,000,000 albums sold worldwide, including two of the best-selling albums ever issued, Def Leppard celebrates its 25th anniversary and not only continues to sell out arenas around the globe but continues to build on its status as a genuine rock `n' roll icon that keeps on rockin'. How popular is Def Leppard? Only five rock groups can claim two original albums selling 10,000,000+ copies each in the U.S.: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Van Halen and DEF LEPPARD.
"DEF LEPPARD -- ROCK OF AGES: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION" (Bludgeon Riffola/Island/UMe), scheduled for release in North America MAY 17, 2005, boasts 16 of Def Leppard's Top 40 hits among the 35 selections spanning its 25-year album career to date. Besides being the band's first two-CD set, "Rock of Ages" also highlights another first -- the group's first new U.S.-issued song since 2002, "No Matter What".
Attesting to Def Leppard's amazing and enduring success, when U.K.-released with a different tunestack, the compilation became the highest charting debut of 2004 and was gold within a week. The band's previous "best of," 1995's "Vault," has sold 7,000,000+ copies worldwide and is U.S. triple platinum. "Vault" has remained on the Billboard Top 200/Top Pop Catalog Albums Chart since its release, enjoying annual sales of nearly 500,000 copies.
This spring, Def Leppard takes its hits on the road co-headlining the Rock 'N Roll Double Header Tour with Bryan Adams, performing at minor league ballparks across the country. The band will also solo headline shows in additional markets.
Advert 2005
Def Leppard's debut album, the platinum "On Through the Night" (1980), is represented on "Rock of Ages" by "Rock Brigade" and "Wasted." The double platinum "High `N' Dry" (1981) yields "Switch 625," "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," "Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)," "High `N' Dry (Saturday Night)," "Another Hit and Run" and "Let It Go."
1983's blockbuster "Pyromania" hit #2 and 10 times platinum, with its "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages" Top 20 and "Foolin'" Top 30. "Rock of Ages" adds its "Rock Rock (Till You Drop)," "Too Late for Love," "Die Hard the Hunter" and "Billy's Got a Gun." 1987's #1 "Hysteria" soared to 13 times platinum with the #1 "Love Bites," #2 "Pour Some Sugar on Me," #3 "Armageddon It," Top 10 "Hysteria," Top 20s "Animal" and "Rocket," and "Women." The triple platinum "Adrenalize" (1992) debuted #1 led by the Top 15s "Let's Get Rocked" and "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad," Top 40 "Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)" and "Heaven Is."
From the 1993 platinum outtakes collection "Retro Active" are the Top 15 "Two Steps Behind" (acoustic version) and Top 40 "Miss You in a Heartbeat." From "Vault" is the then-debuting "When Love & Hate Collide"; from subsequent gold albums are "Work It Out" and "Slang" from "Slang" (1996), and "Promises" and "Paper Sun" from "Euphoria" (1999). The band's most recent CD, "X" (2002), contributes "Now."
TRACKLISTING DISC 1:
- 1. Pour Some Sugar On Me (Historia video edit)
- 2. Photograph
- 3. Love Bites
- 4. Let's Get Rocked
- 5. Two Steps Behind (acoustic version)
- 6. Animal
- 7. Heaven Is
- 8. Foolin'
- 9. Rocket (Visualize video edit)
- 10. When Love & Hate Collide
- 11. Armageddon It
- 12. Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
- 13. Rock Of Ages
- 14. Hysteria
- 15. Miss You In A Heartbeat
- 16. Bringin' On The Heartbreak
- 17. Switch 625
TRACKLISTING DISC 2:
- 1. Rock! Rock! Till You Drop
- 2. Let It Go
- 3. High 'N' Dry (Saturday Night)
- 4. Too Late For Love
- 5. No Matter What
- 6. Promises
- 7. Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)
- 8. Women
- 9. Another Hit And Run
- 10. Slang
- 11. Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion)
- 12. Rock Brigade
- 13. Now
- 14. Paper Sun
- 15. Work It Out
- 16. Die Hard The Hunter
- 17. Wasted
- 18. Billy's Got A Gun
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