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on this day - 4th October 1993

On this day in Def Leppard history the 'Retro-Active' compilation album was released in the UK.
Featuring the singles 'Two Steps Behind', 'Action' and 'Miss You In A Heartbeat'. It would be released one day later in North America.

Def Leppard 1993.

"This is not a new Def Leppard album, nor is it an old Def Leppard record."


Def Leppard 1993.

This section looks at the 'Retro-Active' album release. The first ever compilation album released by the band as the 'Adrenalize' world tour ended. A collection a revamped B-Sides, Extra Tracks and never before released studio outtakes.


"We've pretty much cleared out the shelves with this album."

Def Leppard released their compilation album Retro-Active on this day in 1993.

The album was released on this day in the UK and around the world. And one day later in the USA and Canada. It became their third consecutive Top Ten album in the UK reaching Number 6.

The first ever compilation album or collection released by the band. It featured B Sides and unreleased tracks dating from 1984 to 1992.

The band first had the idea for an album featuring B Sides and new songs when touring the Hysteria album in 1987/1988. They had aimed to get the album released in the Summer of 1989 but plans were later shelved.

The idea resurfaced in December 1992 (when Joe also came up with the album title) and the project was put together in just six months. Recordings took place backstage on the May 1993 European tour. They also recorded at Joe's Garage home studios in Dublin before and after the Don Valley Stadium show. The project was then finished off by August of 1993 and ready for release by October.

Def Leppard 1993.

This album was seen as a tying up of the Steve Clark era of the band before making their first album with new member Vivian Campbell. Vivian made his first recorded contributions to the band on this album.

Among the 13 main album tracks were two unreleased gems first written and recorded from 1984 to 1987. 'Desert Song' and 'Fractured Love'. The latter was part of the original tracklisting for the Hysteria album in Spring 1985 before Mutt Lange returned and the song was shelved. The intro was recorded by Joe on 11th June 1993 by tapping his fingers on the studio vocal booth "baffles". The sound was then enhanced and looped to form the atmospheric intro.

Most of the tracks were B Sides originally released in 1992 on the various Adrenalize CD/Vinyl singles. All three B Sides on the UK 'Make Love Like A Man' CD single were re worked and ended up as the three singles from this album.

'Two Steps Behind' had a string section added to it and was the first taste of this album having been released in July 1993 as part of the soundtrack to the 'Last Action Hero' movie. It's first ever in concert performance was captured on film at the Don Valley Stadium show on 6th June in the middle of the final recording sessions.

Three songs were released in 1987/1988 as Hysteria single B Sides. The songs had a new snare drum sound added and were remixed to give them new life.

Read a great article below from October 1993 where the band tell the story of making the album in their own words just as the Adrenalize tour was about to end in Mexico City.

For long term fans you may notice (and remember) how similar their words sound to what was said about the making of the self-titled album released in October 2015.

Retro-Active - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes October 1993

"We didn't go in there with a stick up our asses like we normally do. We went into a studio in Munich one day, and Phil did all the E-Bow intro guitars on 'Fractured Love' while Vivian did some rhythm guitars on 'Only After Dark' because he didn't get to play on the original B-Side."

"The next day, at the gig in Munich, Vivian did some guitars between the sound check and the show on an eight-track recorder."

"We worked backwards, like we always do. But we've done it more organically than we usually do."

(On Two Steps Behind being a hit) - "It wasn't a B-Side it was a D-Side. We always knew it was a good song, but it was a complete fluke."

"We just went in there and said 'Bollocks, that's good enough'. And the music was better for it."

"Next time, as long as we've got the songs, the recording's not going to take a lot of time. I'd put money on that. Name your price, I'll match it."

Def Leppard 1993.

The Making Of Retro-Active In Def Leppard's Own Words - October 1993

Joe Elliott

"We thought about it last December, starting working on it in our heads in January, physically started working on it in May and we finished it in August."

"The majority of the recording was done in Dublin in nine days. I had a nine o'clock flight to Japan one morning, and I was still in the studio at 8:20 having been in all night working on the intro to 'Fractured Love'. I just made the flight!."

"I've got my fingers crossed that we can keep that mentality when we go in to do the next record. I'm hoping we won't freeze up again!. The attitude of the band has changed so much since the start of '92. It's a different animal."


Def Leppard 1993.


Retro-Active 1993.

Phil Collen

"We even recorded some stuff backstage. We just thought. 'We gotta get this done!'. We decided not to treat 'Retro-Active' like a normal Def Leppard album, cos we have tended to get a stick up our arses, over-recording and over-thinking everything. We just said, 'Either it's right or it ain't'."

"'Hysteria' sounds brilliant, but you had to contrive that excitement to a certain degree. This time we didn't have to. When we did 'Hysteria' we were thinking, 'We gotta get this thing finished, it's costing so much money'."

"'Retro-Active' was great, no weird head-trips going off. I enjoyed doing this album, and I can't really say that about the other ones, I like the way the others turned out, but I didn't enjoy the process."

"The inspiring thing about this album is that the sleeve cost more than the recording!."




Rick Allen

"That big Def Leppard sound that's been around since 'Pyromania' has been a bit overdone, and everybody else has tried to do it as well. Ever since I got an acoustic kit at home, I've had a lot of fun going back to real drums."

Def Leppard Retro-Active 1993. Retro-Active 1993

Joe Elliott

"This processed drum sound that we're always getting criticised for; what the fuck do people expect?. They guy's got one arm!."

"It's very difficult for him to play an acoustic kit, because Rick's reliant on electricity - just as an electric guitar is reliant on electricity. It's taken us a long time to make that electric kit sound like an acoustic kit, but we've managed to do it on 'Retro-Active'."

"When you've got an acoustic drum kit that sounds big and fat, you have to make everything else sound big and fat - otherwise the drums sound too big and everything else sounds weedy. What were we gonna do? Fire Rick because he couldn't play an acoustic kit?."


Def Leppard 1993.


Def Leppard 1993.

Rick Savage

"The general feeling in the band is that we want to get back to a more earthy feel. It's still gonna sound like Def Leppard, whatever we do, but we want to get back to our roots. The 'Retro-Active' album is the direction we're going in."

"I don't know whether that would work with Mutt Lange producing, although we may still write songs with him. It depends how the next album goes."

"Mutt's working with people like Michael Bolton now: not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not exactly my cup of tea."

"Then again, the guy produced AC/DC's Back in Black - one of the classic Hard Rock albums, I'd hate to get to the stage where we'd never work with Mutt again, cos we do work well together, there's no question about that."

Joe Elliott

"We approached 'Retro-Active' in a whole new way. We were living on the road, hearing stories,. We weren't locked away in our own little world, cut off from outside influences."

"We were very aware of what was going on around us, so that's why this album sounds much more 'now'. In the past, we've tried to make albums that sound like the future."

"We get accused of selling out, but AC/DC didn't grow up listening to Sweet and Slade and T. Rex. We did, and that's why we have a Pop element to our music. With 'Retro-Active', maybe we're re-awakening the Rock beast!."

"Who'd have thought we'd get an album done in six months?. Well, who'd have bet on Sunderland beating Leeds in the '73 Cup Final?!."

Retro-Active - Phil Collen Interview Quotes 1993

"We always talked about what we were going to do with those tracks, but we were never sure. With a band like ours - especially with our reputation for taking so much time between albums - it's not something you dwell on for very long."

"We've always out our energy into making the best albums we can, ad these tracks are all very good. They just didn't fit in for some reason or another."

"The funny part is that now that we hear them again, some of them are my favourites."

Retro-Active - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes 1993

"People always think that we have ten songs, let's say, on an album, and that we've been working on those ten songs for years."

"That's not true. We often go in and record any number of tracks, some make it onto an album, some don't. It's really that simple."


Def Leppard 1993.



Def Leppard Retro-Active 1993. Retro-Active 1993

Retro-Active - Phil Collen Interview Quotes 1993

"I think Mutt has gotten a great deal of credit for his work with a lot of artists including us. But sometimes it does get a little tiring to hear how 'without him you wouldn't be the same'. I think Mutt helps make us a better band because he knows us so well and knows what we're looking for. But the idea that we're some kind of puppets that he controls is totally ridiculous."

"I don't know if you ever get over really get over losing someone like Steve. I think it might have been too painful yo go back and hear these things a couple of years ago."

"We've had a little time to adjust, to distance ourselves from his death. In a way this album is a tribute to him - a chance for the fans to hear just how great he was one more time."

Retro-Active - Rick Savage Interview Quotes 1993

"Do you think we're overexposing ourselves?."

"Yes, it probably will be strange for our fans to have so much new material from us in such a relatively brief period, but I'm sure they can handle it."

"The fact is that we've been around for quite a while now, and we've avoided doing the traditional live albums or the 'greatest hits' packages. We've tried to give the fans something a little different."

Retro-Active - Phil Collen Interview Quote 1993

Next Album Late 1995?

"Yeah, that sounds about right. But with us who knows?. We've pretty much cleared out the shelves with this album, so we'll be starting fresh."

"I think we've all got some good new ideas we want to try, and I know Vivian is really looking forward to contributing to an album. But as always, we'll take or time. After all, we don't want to spoil anyone, do we?."


Def Leppard 1993.



Def Leppard Retro-Active 1993. Retro-Active 1993

Retro-Active - Phil Collen Interview Quotes 1993

"Well, 'Retro-Active' is kind of our sixth studio album really."

"I think we learnt a lot from being on tour and I think we learnt a lot from doing 'Retro-Active'."

"I think we did the acoustic version of 'Miss You In A Heartbeat' in one day."

"The same with all the guitars for 'Action' the cover of the Sweet song."

"And I did loads of guitar work on that too, in one day."

"Now quite honestly, that to me sounds as good as anything we've done on previous albums and the recording process will definitely speed up."

"It's great. There's a breath of fresh air."

"You get so up tight and into recording in a certain way."

"It's just a nice release to do that."

"I mean, we are a rock band, that's why we started in the first place."

"And yes, it's more fun playing that sort of stuff."

"It does sound real different to anything we've done on the past three albums."

"Since I joined the band in fact."

"I don't want to say we've ironed anything out, because I think we've made some of the best rock music I've ever heard."

"Stuff like 'Rocket' and stuff, but without wanting to sound cliched, it's great to actually go back to your roots and and be a rock band again, It's great!."

"I think the new stuff sounds great."

"I think it's the direction our next studio album should go in."

"And the recording technique has changed so much and we're pretty aware of what to do in the studio."

"The other thing that is really refreshing about 'Retro-Active' is that the sleeve cost more than the actual recording!."

"For us, to have had three albums in a row that have been so highly produced, it's a good direction to go in to do something that isn't so highly produced."

"Because that would become really boring."

"It keeps it interesting, otherwise it would be a real drag."

"We've definitely lightened up."

"We've taken a stick out of our arses."

Next album with Mutt Lange?

"I don't know. We're gonna start writing on our own, now."

"I'm waiting for my stuff to get back from the tour."

"I've got a 32-track studio of my own, and we recorded 'Retro-Active' on machines like that."

"You don't have to spend 'Hysteria' sort of money to get a good sound."


Retro-Active 1993 - Press Biography Quote

"This is not a new Def Leppard album - nor is it an old Def Leppard record. It is "Retro-Active", a collection of songs that have appeared in hard to find places or, in certain cases, never made it out of the studio until now.

"Retro-Active" was compiled from songs recorded over a nine year period and features three versions of Def Leppard: with Phil and Steve on guitars, with Phil alone, and with the current Phil/Vivian axis."


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