The iconic British rock group Def Leppard transformed the music industry with its distinctive sound and appearance. Def Leppard’s use of technology was one of the ways they altered the music scene. They were among the first bands to use multitrack recording and sampling in the studio, as well as electronic drums in their music. They also profited from the popularity of music videos by creating visually beautiful clips that propelled them to stardom on MTV.
“Photograph,” the lead single from Def Leppard’s third album Pyromania, was a hit in 1983. Many remember the Marilyn Monroe clone in the Def Leppard song “Photograph” music video when they hear it. the aforementioned, the aforementioned, the aforementioned, the aforementioned, and the aforementioned. Because of the peculiar circumstances surrounding her passing, Monroe generates a feeling of mystery and is, therefore, timeless.
Mutt Lange is behind the album’s production and also had crucial input on the tracks, “Photograph” included. All I’ve got is a photograph, which Lange proposed as a lyric, gained traction with the group’s members and was conceptualized around the idea of a guy who was obsessed about a girl but had nothing but a photo of her to keep to himself.
Although the band would occasionally credit the song to Marilyn Monroe (and even featured a lookalike in the music video), there was never actually any solid proof supporting such an allusion, and it was simply done so to give the song a compelling backstory. When closely examined, even the lyrics are ambiguous, but the anthem rocker’s main goal was to convey great adoration for a woman.
This was the final album to which founding member and guitarist Pete Willis contributed; he was replaced by Phil Collen midway through the recording process, and Collen filled in the lead parts for the remaining verses and choruses. Collen usually played quickly and improvised, but Lange instructed him to slow down for the song and strategically put his solos and licks.
About it, Collen said, “With that one, I actually worked out the melodic thing and right at the end Mutt Lange said, ‘Just vibe out on the end. Play solos and licks and go around the vocal.’ Because it was such a melodic, amazing, beautiful melody it was so easy to weave in and out of Joe’s vocals at the end. Then the chorus is so melodic that it was so easy just to play all those licks. It kind of played itself.”
