Def Leppard- Rock On- Abbey Road Studios London 2008

When Def Leppard found themselves at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios in 2008, they wanted to mark the occasion by recording something meaningful to them regarding from where they had all come individually, and how far they’d gone collectively. Def Leppard had taken the exercise so seriously that they recorded and released an entire cover songs album, Yeah!, just two years prior, but this dead-on rendering of the David Essex chestnut “Rock On” serves as a tasty appetizer.

When you even mention the former EMI Recording facility there where virtually all of the Beatles songs were made, you’re “talkin’ ’bout my generation” and its musical equivalent of the Temple Mount. For instance, fifty years ago when Pink Floyd were putting the finishing touches on Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road Studios, a very young and impressionable Joe Elliott and Ric Savage would have been all ears in the northern industrial city of Sheffield hearing  the delicious, otherworldly song “Rock On” by David Essex on BBC Radio One. Check out Def Leppard’s impressive 21st century live-in-the-studio version in this rare chestnut. –Redbeard