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"Armageddon It"
Single by Def Leppard
from the album Hysteria
B-side	"Ring of Fire" (UK) "Release Me" (US)
Released	March 1988 (UK) November 1988 (US)
Recorded	1984–1987
Genre	Hard rock pop metal
Length	5:24 (Atomic mix/album version) 7:39 (Nuclear mix)
Label	Mercury
Songwriter(s)	Joe Elliott Rick Savage Phil Collen Steve Clark Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Producer(s)	Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Def Leppard singles chronology
"Hysteria" (1987) "Armageddon It" (1988) "Love Bites" (1988)
Music video
"Armageddon It" on YouTube

"Armageddon It" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album Hysteria. 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 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, Colorado 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 "Hysteria" and "Animal", they were very unsatisfied with the way "Pour Some Sugar on Me" 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.

Track listings

CD: Bludgeon Riffola / LEPCD4 (UK) / 870 239-2 (INT)

1. "Armageddon It"
2. "Ring of Fire"
3. "Animal"
4. "Pour Some Sugar on Me"

7-inch: Bludgeon Riffola / Vertigo / 872 692-7P (CANADA) / picture disc

1. "Armageddon It"
2. "Release Me"

7-inch: Bludgeon Riffola / Polygram / Mercury / 872 692-7 (INT)

1. "Armageddon It"
2. "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

See also

• List of glam metal albums and songs

References

1. Devores, Courtney (20 July 2014). "Kiss and Def Leppard rock the rain away in Charlotte". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021. "Armageddon It" held the most thematic weight as statistics about world hunger, HIV, the environment, and cancer, ticked up on a giant screen behind them. The climbing stats pitted the number of overweight people in the world against the number of hungry and the rate at which forests are being pummeled with the time with which the world's oil will run out—all quite interesting stuff. I'm not sure how many in the audience—fists raised, singing along wholeheartedly—were "really getting it", but it was quite a powerful way to present a 25-year-old pop-metal hit.
2. Stix, John (March 1988). "After The Fire: Interview with Def Leppard's Steve Clark & Phil Collen". Guitar for the Practicing Musician. Archived from the original on 12 September 2019.
3. "Def Leppard – Armageddon It". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
4. "RPM 100 Singles – January 23, 1989" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 49, no. 13. 23 January 1989. p. 6. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
5. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 17. 23 April 1988. p. 25. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
6. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Armageddon It". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
7. "Def Leppard – Armageddon It". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
8. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
9. "Def Leppard Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
10. "Def Leppard Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
11. "End of Year Charts 1988". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
12. "Top 100 Singles of '89". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
13. "1989 The Year in Music: Top Pop Singles" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 101, no. 51. 23 December 1989. p. Y-22. Retrieved 29 August 2020.

• 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