"Armageddon It" is a song by the English rock band

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

from their 1987 album ''

Hysteria Hysteria is a term used to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the bas ...

''. It was released as a single in 1988 and went to No. 3 in the United States, becoming their 3rd top 10 hit. It also reached the top 10 in Canada and New Zealand and the top 20 in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The vocal style of the song is described as " T. Rex meets

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...

with backing vocals", according to lead singer Joe Elliott in the liner notes for '' Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980–1995)''. There are two mixes of the song that appeared on the single: the "Atomic mix", which is the album version, and the "Nuclear mix", which is an extended version.

Writing and recording

"Armageddon It" was one of the songs dating back to the initial writing sessions for ''Hysteria'' in Dublin in 1984. However, the original song was re-written, keeping the chord progression and key, as Steve Clark elaborated: "The chorus wasn’t strong enough so we changed the chorus. Then we thought the chorus is so strong the verse is a bit weak. We rewrote the verse and said the bridge stinks. There’s not one existing note from the original, but a progression that went over about three years."

Music video

The video for the song was the second to feature Def Leppard in a live arena setting. On 12–13 February 1988, the band recorded two shows at the McNichols Arena in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

for a future live film release. However, a month later, "Armageddon It" was set to be released as the sixth single off the popular ''Hysteria'' album and a promo video clip was urgently needed. From the band's end, there was hesitation to film another concept video. Although they were happy with the results for "

" and "

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

", they were very unsatisfied with the way "

Pour Some Sugar on Me "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album ''Hysteria''. It reached number two on the US US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on 23 July 1988. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is considered the band's signatu ...

" had turned out for its concept. Therefore, an idea was pitched to quickly create a video edited from the Denver footage. It was another hit in the UK, reaching the Top 20. Months later, it was released in the United States and was even more successful, reaching the Top 3. However, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was the first song used there for the "live" concept (in fact, many of the scenes are the same in the two), but instead of filming a different video, slight changes were made using footage filmed in October at the Omni in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Track listings

CD: Bludgeon Riffola / LEPCD4 (UK) / 870 239-2 (INT) # "Armageddon It" # "Ring of Fire" # "Animal" # "Pour Some Sugar on Me" 7-inch: Bludgeon Riffola / Vertigo / 872 692-7P (CANADA) / picture disc # "Armageddon It" # "Release Me" 7-inch: Bludgeon Riffola / Polygram / Mercury / 872 692-7 (INT) # "Armageddon It" # "Release Me"

Personnel

* Joe Elliott – lead vocals * Steve Clark – lead guitar, backing vocals * Phil Collen – rhythm guitar, ride-out guitar solo, backing vocals * Rick Savage – bass, backing vocals * Rick Allen – drums, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1987 songs 1988 singles Def Leppard songs Mercury Records singles Music videos directed by Wayne Isham Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange Songs written by Joe Elliott Songs written by Phil Collen Songs written by Rick Savage Songs written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange