Album · Def Leppard
High ’n’ Dry by Def Leppard
High ’n’ Dry is an album by Def Leppard, released in 1981. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 78 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Bringin on the Heartbreak”, on 71 lists with a best position of #68.
High 'n' Dry, the second album from Sheffield's Def Leppard, came out on Vertigo in 1981, and it's the record where Mutt Lange took over the producer's chair and helped the band find the melodic hard rock sound that would make them. Joe Elliott sings, Rick Savage plays bass, Rick Allen drums, and Steve Clark and Pete Willis trade guitars, on what turned out to be Willis's last full-time album with them.
The riffs are still lean and hungry, pure new wave of British heavy metal, but Lange sands down the edges so the hooks hit harder. "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" is the jewel, a moody, slow-burning power ballad whose video became one of the first rock clips on MTV in 1982, and "Let It Go" struts. The album reached No. 26 in the UK and No. 38 in the US, then came back for a second run in 1983 after Pyromania made them stars.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from High ’n’ Dry on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bringin on the Heartbreak#443 of all time | 71 | #68 | – | 1982–2026 | |
| 2 | Let It Go | 7 | #312 | – | 1990–2002 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.