
Last Friday night I acquired Def Leppard's
High 'n' Dry. Yes, I've already had this CD for two or three years, but that was the 1992 edition. Now I've got the 1984 original issue. What's the difference?
The difference is the song "Me and My Wine," the video for which you may have seen on MTV back in the mid-`80's (below). I'm fuzzy on details even after some Google searching, but I believe it was released as a single in Britain with a Mutt Lange remix of "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" as the B-side. (The remix of "Heartbreak" added cheesy Casio-ish keyboards to the original track.) When
Pyromania was a colossal hit in 1983 and CD's were brand new,
High 'n' Dry was issued on disc with "Me & My Wine" and the "Bringin' On the Heartbreak (Remix)" as bonus tracks (they weren't on the vinyl and presumably the cassette, either). Then when
High 'n' Dry was reissued on CD in the early `90's the bonus tracks went missing.
While the remix of "Heartbreak" ruins a great song, I really like "Me & My Wine," and I would say this is probably one of my favorite videos. It's like the video is saying, "Def Leppard is a bunch of guys who live in a suburban house just like you, except they have guitars and drums crammed in every corner, even the bathroom, and they're cool."
Another Def Leppard factoid: according to the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Def Leppard has sold 35 million albums, putting them ahead of Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, The Doors, The Who, The Police, The Grateful Dead, and The Blonz.
Their fans quite rightly say that after
Pyromania they sold out big-time, but you can sure say they never sold their drummer out. How many bands do you think would be willing to put up with waiting for someone to get a special drum kit made and then learning to play it? Especially platinum bands that could've hired any number of wanna-bes to sit behind the skins. Hats off to Def Leppard for being such loyal friends.
Here's that video for "Me & My Wine". Enjoy!