24 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Release ACTION Single In The UK
Def Leppard released their classic single Action 24 years ago on this day in 1994 in the UK.
The song was the first cover version to be released as a single by the band. The original was released by Sweet in July 1975.
It was first released as the B-Side to 'Make Love Like A Man' in June 1992 with a more electronic sounding snare drum along with two other future singles 'Two Steps Behind' and 'Miss You In A Heartbeat'.
When putting together the 1993 'Retro-Active' collection of B-Sides and unreleased songs/versions the band decided to revamp it with a new snare drum sound. Vivian Campbell (along with friend P.J. Smith) sang backing vocals in one of his first contributions to the band.
The song was included on the 'Retro-Active' compilation album and it reached Number 14 on the UK Top 40 single chart in January 1994. One better than Sweet's original which got to Number 15 in 1975.
The front cover live photo was taken in Zurich, Switzerland at the Hallenstadion on 10th May 1993 at the end of an 'Adrenalize' world tour concert.
The single was released in the UK on a regular CD single featuring Joe Elliott's original 1985 demo for 'She's Too Tough' with his original guitar solo included. Plus Phil Collen's original demo for 'Miss You In A Heartbeat'.
A second limited edition CD single was housed in a PVC Video Box/Digipak case featuring a 12 page (and very inaccurate) UK Discography, Joe's demo for 'Two Step's Behind' and 'Love Bites' live from the 1993 Don Valley Stadium show. Cassette and 7" versions were also released.
On Germany the CD single included both 'Foolin'' and 'Too Late For Love' live from Don Valley Stadium. This was the only release that included 'TLFL' from this show. Both 'Foolin'' and 'Love Bites' would be released again on the 1995 'Vault' bonus live CD.
Joe Elliott - Vault Inner Sleeve Quote
"If you're going to cover a song there's two choices: either copy it exactly or do it completely different. We opted for the former and got Andy Scott's enthusiastic approval."
Def Leppard - Retro-Active Inner Sleeve Quote
"We wanted to do a couple of cover tunes for the 'Adrenalize' album B-Sides. We did this tune because we were all Big Sweet fans. Nuff said."
Phil Collen - 2004 Best Of Sleeve Quote
"I was also a huge Sweet fan when I was a kid."
Vivian Campbell - 2004 Best Of Sleeve Quote
"I don't think I actually played guitar on it. Those parts were already done before I joined. But I definitely remember trying to sing those ridiculously high vocal parts. It was a song that had a big influence on me as a spotty-faced youth. Sweet were definitely one of the rockier glam bands."
Joe Elliott - 2004 Best Of Sleeve Quote
"The backing track was recorded in a day. And I sang it the next night. I was hammered so there was much sobering up to be done. But when I heard it back. I thought. 'Wow, I should get drunk more often'. We knew we could cut loose on b-sides. Which 'Action' was at first. But we had to learn to extend that to everything. It certainly pulled the stick from out of my ass."
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- Def Leppard - Action Single Section
- Def Leppard - Retro-Active Album Section
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