Today (August 1, 2009) is the 50^th birthday of Joe Elliott who is best known as the lead singer of the band Def Leppard. I did 50^th birthday issues for Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson and even Simon LeBon from Duran Duran, so I thought that I would at least celebrate Elliott's with a Flashback Video issue.

Def Leppard formed back in 1977, but became rock superstars in the 80s with Pyromania (1983) and then Hysteria (1987). Both of those albums were hugely successful each selling over 10 million copies in the US alone. Def Leppard is one of the most popular musical artists of the 80s selling over 65 million albums worldwide in that decade alone.

I thought I would pick one song from each album to feature in this issue. From 1983's Pyromania, I chose my favorite Def Leppard song which is "Rock of Ages." From the odd gibberish spoken in a German accent by producer Mutt Lange at the beginning of the song (instead of the regular one, two, three, four) to the hard rocking guitar riffs that only come in on the chorus, I have just always been very fond of this song. So this week's first Flashback Video is "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard...

From 1987's Hysteria, I had no choice but to choose what is likely the band's signature song and one of the true arena rock anthems of all time, "Pour Some Sugar On Me." The video was #1 on Dial MTV for a record 73 days (from May 26-September 5, 1988). MTV would rank "Pour Some Sugar on Me" #1 in its Top 100 Videos of All Time Countdown in 1991 and, then in 2006, VH1 ranked the song #2 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. I give you permission to rock out with this week's second Flashback Video, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard...

There was a T-Mobile commercial that had a confused listener think that the song lyrics for that song were "pour some shook up ramen." I can't help but remember that when I hear the song now. There are several other mis-heard song lyrics that I always remember like that and I will have to do a separate issue on those sometime.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.