"Armageddon It" is a song by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals) ...

from their 1987 album ''

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

''. It was released as a single in 1988 and went to No. 3 in the United States, becoming their fourth top-ten 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. Cochran's songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desir ...

with backing vocals", according to lead singer

Joe Elliott Joseph Thomas "Joe" Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English–Irish rock singer, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute b ...

in the liner notes for '' Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995)''. There are two mixes of the song that appeared in the single: the "Atomic Mix", which is the album version, and the "Nuclear Mix", which is an extended version.

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 McNichols Sports Arena was an indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado. Located adjacent to Mile High Stadium and completed in 1975, at a cost of $16 million, it seated 16,061 for hockey games and 17,171 for basketball games. Sports use It ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

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 Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

", 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 2 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 23 July 1988, behind " Hold On to the Nights" by Richard Marx. "Pour Some Sugar o ...

" 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 capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

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 Records / Mercury / 872 692-7 (INT) # "Armageddon It" # "Release Me"

Personnel

– lead vocals *

Steve Clark ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

Phil Collen Philip Kenneth Collen (born 8 December 1957) is an English musician who is best known as the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard, joining the band in 1982 during the recording of the ''Pyromania'' album. Prior to joining Def Lepp ...

– rhythm guitar, ride-out guitar solo, backing vocals *

Rick Savage Richard Savage (born 2 December 1960) is an English musician best known for being the bass guitarist and one of the founding members of the English rock band Def Leppard. Savage and lead singer Joe Elliott are the only two remaining original ...

– 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