10 Underrated Hard Rock Songs Of The '80s

In the era of big hair and awful clothing, Def Leppard were actually one of the few bands who pulled off the ridiculous arena rock right. After rising from their native UK, the band spent most of the decade turning in some of the most essential hard rock of the time, with albums like Pyromania and Hysteria becoming the gold standard. It may have not sat well with the heavy metal crowd, but the band could really tear the place apart in the early days.

The group were originally coming into their own as a melodic hard rock act across their first album, On Through the Night, with songs like Rock Brigade and Hello America becoming fantastic singles. Though the band had bigger plans for later on, Wasted was one of the hardest tracks you could have hoped for. Written primarily by guitarist Steve Clark, the whole track has a freewheeling vibe reminiscent of bands like Led Zeppelin, as each riff sounds like it's about to go off the rails yet stays firmly in place.

Seeing how Clark was the punk rock energy behind the band, it makes sense that his first full contribution to a Leppard record was one of their heaviest. Clark was taken from us too soon in 1990. Had he been able to conquer his demons, one can only imagine the amount of kickass riffs he would be pumping out today.