| "Rock of Ages" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Def Leppard | ||||
| from the album Pyromania | ||||
| B-side | "Action! Not Words" (UK) "Coming Under Fire" (US) |
|||
| Released | May 1983 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1982 Park Gates Studios Battle, Sussex, England Battery Studios London, England |
|||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||
| Length | 4:09 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Writer(s) | Joe Elliott, Steve Clark, Pete Willis, Robert John "Mutt" Lange | |||
| Producer | Robert John "Mutt" Lange | |||
| Def Leppard singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Rock of Ages" is a song by Def Leppard from their 1983 album Pyromania. It takes its name from the hymn Rock of Ages. When released as a single in the United States, the song reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Top Tracks rock chart.[1]
It begins with a German-like nonsense phrase, "Gunter glieben glauben globen", which was later sampled in "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" by The Offspring as well as "Call Me What You Like (If You Like Rock-N-Roll)" by Puffy AmiYumi. This was also sampled in a parody of the song, "Rape Rock of Ages," by self-proclaimed "rape rock" band The Mentors.[1] According to the official Def Leppard FAQ,
These four words that you hear at the start of "Rock of Ages", mean nothing, though the band sometimes jokingly claims it means "running through the forest silently". It's actually just German sounding gibberish, said by producer Mutt Lange during one of the later takes of the song. Lange was a perfectionist and would often do dozens & dozens of takes, and after repeatedly beginning so many with the standard count, "One, two, three, four" he simply started saying nonsense words instead, the band liking this one so much that they included it on the album.[2]
According to the liner notes of the compilation release Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection, the band was at a recording studio when lead vocalist Joe Elliott stumbled upon a hymn book left by a member of a children's choir that had just used the studio. In the book, he saw the words "Rock of Ages," which prompted him to write the lyrics of the song.
The song is featured in the video game Brütal Legend and the downloadable "Def Leppard Pack" for the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
The song is also available for download for the game Rock Band 3, either alone or part of the Def Leppard Pack 01.
Contents |
The music video was directed by David Mallet[3] and shot on 8 December 1982 (Guitarist Phil Collen's 25th birthday), in Battersea, London, England.
Former Def Leppard co-manager Peter Mensch appears in this video as one of the monks.