This section looks at the 'Heaven Is' UK single release. The fourth of five singles to be taken from the 'Adrenalize' album between 1992 to 1993.

"The guitar part is a thing we never got right."

Def Leppard released their classic single Heaven Is in the UK on this day in 1993.

The fourth UK single to be taken from the 'Adrenalize' album.

The band performed the song on UK TV shows 'Going Live' and 'Top Of The Pops' which helped its chart position.

It went on to reach Number 18 on the UK Top 40 single chart.

The single was released on CD, cassette, 12" picture disc and a limited edition 7".

The 'Special Edition Etched Autographed Disc' featured two songs on Side-A with the band's autographs etched on to Side-B of the seven inch vinyl. The only etched vinyl single ever released by the band.

The 12" picture disc was the fourth in a series of five picture discs released from the album. All featuring custom album artwork and a band promo photo on the B-Side. This one featured a shot of Joe.

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The B-Sides featured 'She's Too Tough' which had been released in December on the Limited Edition 'Adrenalize' picture disc digipak CD. A remixed version of 'Elected' from the 1987 Tilburg, Holland show was also included along with 'Let's Get Rocked' from Bonn, Germany 1992.

'Elected' was included as it had been released on a US promo CD in November 1992 to coincide with the US election (won by Bill Clinton).

The picture CD single featured the last part of the four CD box set released with the 'Let's Get Rocked' single in March 1992. Each CD fitting into a slot helping to make the full 'Adrenalize' cover. This single was the bottom right segment.

Phil Collen - 2004 Best Of Sleeve Quote

"It had been around for years. Parts of it had been taken from ‘Armageddon It’. We gave it a new treatment and it worked nicely for ‘Adrenalize’."

Joe Elliott - 2004 Best Of Sleeve Quote

"The backing vocals on the chorus made it sound like the Beach Boys. And it was the first time we’d ever gone that far. It was more Queen than Queen. Using backing vocals to sing an entire verse. The guitars were blaring out. But you could still hear the melody. Top stuff."

Heaven Is - CD Single Sleeve Quote

"In your hands, you have the 4th Def track from Adrenalize: 'Heaven Is' - another view about that age old problem of perfect women. Backing this track is another from the obscure Elliott collection of songs: 'She's Too Tough'. The title speaks for itself!"

"We've thrown in 2 more live tracks: Our version of the Alice Cooper (we are not worthy) song 'Elected', recorded with Steve in Tilburg, Holland in 1987 and 'Let's Get Rocked' from our May '92 European tour - city of Bonn, Germany to be precise. The difference in the feel of the two tracks seems greater than the 5 year difference in recording, but, what the heck..."

Joe Elliott - Vault Inner Sleeve Quote

"Purely a pop song. Us sounding like the Beach Boys. Hate the video."

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Joe Elliott - 1992 Interview CD Quotes

"The second track on the album is a song called Heaven Is."

"Which is - I really think it's probably the most, one of the most commercial things we've done."

"But in a real positive way, it's got these like kind of real Beach Boy harmonies in their actual structure but they're sung like Slade."

"Which is what we've always tried to do."

"We've always tried to is be like Queen but with Slade's kind of yelling capabilities."

"And again it's the, it's the age old yearning for the woman sort of lyric."

"Which we tend to do very well 'cause we tend to do it all the time."

"But it's got a great beat, it's really grooving along."

"It#s a riff we've had. The guitar part is a thing we never got right."

"We've had it for, we've worked on it for years and never quite got it."

"And we always knew it would fit into a song one day."

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"And all of a sudden we sit down and we have this idea and Sav says what about such and such and it's this guitar riff."

"And it's like yeah and we just worked on the lyric and worked on the harmonies."

"And as in a lot of our songs the actual lyrical content really isn't that important because I don't care what anybody says."

"As much as lyrics are important, the tune is what you hum."

"People go round whistling the tune."

"They don't go round whistling the words."

"So in that respect we've always gone for the sound of the words much more than the actual content."

Joe Elliott - 1992 Interview CD Quotes

"I'm never gonna win an award that Bob Dylan's gonna win."

"But it still paints a good picture you know."

"And Prince does it a lot. He writes lyrics that sound good."

"'Cream Sha boogie bop'. You know or Bolan the way he'd...'Hubcap diamond star halo'."

"I mean what the hell is one of those but who cares it sounded great."

"And that was a big influence on me as a kid and sticks with me now."

"And it works and it's just nice you know."

"Some people get, you know, they like to write lyrics that tell a story or they're very kind of comic book."

"Like boys own and things like this whereas we've always just gone for the image and the sound of it."

"And with Heaven Is it's very much that way."

"You know it just paints a picture where the listener can imagine it their own way."

"And I guess everybody that listens to it that likes the song will picture the scene that we've painted a completely different way."

"It's the difference between reading a book and watching the film."

"When you read a Stephen King book the monster doesn't look like the one that Dino De Laurentiis out on the screen for ya."

"Or whatever because you're using your imagination and that's the way that we've always tried to do it."

"Whereas if sometimes you make your lyrics too blatant and too obvious there's nothing for the listener to think about."

"So that's why ours are pretty obscure in that respect."

related pages/releases

• Heaven Is Single
• Adrenalize Album