Iconic 1980's hair-metal band Def Leppard have a beef with Universal Music Group, their recording company – and to expres their displeasure, the group decided to re-record their entire song catalog.
One of the world's best-selling acts, with over 100 million records sold world-wide, the rock act fell out with Universal Music Group over a matter of compensation, according to Rolling Stone.
Billboard reported that the band felt they weren't being adequately compensated for their music, especially their digital recordings – not an uncommon complaint in the Internet world. Currently, very little of Def Leppard's body of work is available digitally, something of a kiss-of-death in a digital reliant world, according to Billboard.
If you're interested in sampling Def Leppard's new-old content, renditions of "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Rock of Ages" are available on the band's website, a good 25 years after the originals were first put to vinyl.
The aging rockers admit that creating likely-sounding "forgeries" of their most popular songs hasn't been an easy task.
"Trying to find all those sounds . . . like, where am I gonna find a 22-year-old voice?" frontman Joe Elliot told Billboard recently.
The band took pains to reassure their fans in the Billboard interivew that the new recordings won't take precedence over the production of new material.
The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?