Check Out How Your Favorite Musicians Stumbled Into Choosing Their Now-Iconic Names

The Name Def Leppard Happened Before The Band Even Formed

Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

Def Leppard rose to fame with their 1981 album High n’ Dry and quickly became one of the bands to define 1980s hair metal. Hysteria, the band’s fourth album, has been certified platinum 12 times and sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Like Aerosmith, the name Def Leppard happened before the band Def Leppard happened.

During English class, singer Joe Elliot wrote reviews of imaginary bands. One of these imaginary bands was called “Deaf Leopard.” The name sounds pretty darn heavy, so Tony Kenning, the percussionist in the band’s original lineup, suggested changing the spelling to make it sound less punk.