10 Greatest British Hard Rock Bands

Much like their peers Iron Maiden, Def Leppard first found their feet in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. At a time when Diamond Head and Raven were climbing up the ranks, Leppard were the outliers playing an updated version of hard rock. Though they may have been thrown in the metal category at first, Leppard slowly grew into one of the purest rock bands of the '80s.

Starting with the album High N Dry, the band found their perfect sound by combining the riffs and grit of a band like AC/DC with the singalong choruses of '70s pop and rock. Across later records like Pyromania and Hysteria, their songs ended up defining what we now know as hair metal, from the anthemic songs to the stripped down power ballads. While many of the other hair bands could get pretty shallow, Leppard always had the songs to back it up, from the excitement of "Photograph" to the open-hearted pain of "Love Bites."

It's incredibly difficult for any band to toe the line between catchy and heavy, but every Def Leppard tune fit comfortably in the middle ground, with heavy riffs that made you want to sing along and headbang in equal measure. Def Leppard may be a cliched rock band for some, but sometimes the pop rock side of the spectrum is popular for a damn good reason.