Def Leppard’s Retro Active album was released in the U.S. on October 5, 1993. (The U.K. release was October 4, 1993.)
What’s Old Is New
The year was 1993. Def Leppard had released their fifth original studio album Adrenalize the year before, which performed extremely well early on but notably began losing sales momentum in the months that followed. The album would go on to sell four million copies in the U.S. alone — an impressive achievement but nowhere near the sales heights of previous releases Hysteria and Pyromania.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest movie Last Action Hero was being released that summer. Def Leppard had been approached about contributing a song to the film’s soundtrack, but due to the band’s ceaseless touring in support of Adrenalize — a tour that would last nearly a year and a half — they didn’t have the time to record a new song. So they ended up sending over a leftover B-side from their Adrenalize recording sessions for consideration: a Joe Elliott-penned ballad titled “Two Steps Behind.”
Not only would the track end up on the Last Action Hero soundtrack, but a new layer of orchestral strings (courtesy of music conductor Michael Kamen) was added on to further sweeten and enhance Def Leppard’s song offering.
Being included in an Arnold Schwarzenegger summer film presented a great opportunity, at least until critics’ reviews and word-of-mouth panned it, resulting in the movie grossly underperforming box office expectations in the U.S.
As for the placement of “Two Steps Behind” in the film, moviegoers and Def Leppard fans would have to wait…and wait…to hear it, as it was slotted at the very end — not even in the movie portion, but deep into the end credits.
From a marketing and publicity perspective, it was a great selling point to tout that Def Leppard’s song would be included in Arnold’s latest movie, but having it appear so late in the film — literally, when most of the audience had already left the theater — was disappointing.
Nevertheless, there was a bright spot: The soundtrack — featuring acts such as AC/DC, Megadeth, Tesla, Aerosmith, and Def Leppard — was a hit, unlike the film, and ended up going platinum, helping bring added awareness to “Two Steps Behind.”
The song ended up peaking at an impressive #12 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 singles chart. For comparison, “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” also peaked at #12 on the same chart a year earlier; only “Love Bites” charted higher in terms of Def Leppard ballads. (Though not realized at the time, “Two Steps Behind” would be the band’s last major hit single, in terms of mainstream, Top 20 chart performance.)
The impact of “Two Steps Behind” went beyond its chart achievement, though, as it resulted in something even more significant: its success inspired Def Leppard to put together a compilation album filled with B-sides and other previously unreleased material.
This brings us to Retro Active.
Def Leppard: Retro Active
Retro Active featured an eclectic mix of material, including B-sides, newly recorded tracks, and even alternate versions of songs. The unique compilation was also noteworthy for another reason: it provided the opportunity for the band to reflect and close the book on a previous era, most notably the Steve Clark years.
Retro Active‘s release occurred about a year after guitarist Vivian Campbell joined Def Leppard, so what better time to release a collection of material that included remnants of Steve’s work to add a bit of closure.
In the end, there wasn’t a lot of “unreleased” material on Retro Active that was entirely new or never heard before, at least to Def Leppard music collectors. That being said, “Desert Song” and “Fractured Love” were two newly introduced song gems.
As for most of the other tracks on the compilation, previous versions had already been released, whether as B-sides on singles from the Hysteria album, or songs that were included on international releases of Adrenalize.
Retro Active: Track Breakdown
Putting aside minor remixes and overdubbing tweaks that were done for the album, here’s a quick recap of where Retro Active‘s songs had already been available prior to its release:
- Desert Song
New track (from the Hysteria era), never released until Retro Active.
- Fractured Love
New track (from the Hysteria era), never released until Retro Active.
- Action
A cover of a Sweet song, previously released as a B-side on the “Make Love Like A Man” single.
- Two Steps Behind (Acoustic)
Released first on the Last Action Hero soundtrack (with orchestral strings added), also a B-side on the “Make Love Like A Man” single.
- She’s Too Tough
Previously released as a bonus track on the Japanese release of Adrenalize, also a B-side on the “Tonight” single.
- Miss You In A Heartbeat
Previously released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of Adrenalize, also released as a B-side on the “Make Love Like A Man” single. (A previous version of the song was also released years earlier by a band named The Law.)
- Only After Dark
A cover of a Mick Ronson song, previously released as a B-side on the “Let’s Get Rocked” single.
- Ride Into The Sun
Previously released as a B-side on the “Hysteria” single.
- From The Inside
Previously released as a B-side on the “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” single.
- Ring of Fire
Previously released as a B-side on the “Pour Some Sugar On Me” single.
- I Wanna Be Your Hero
Previously released as a B-side on the “Animal” single.
- Miss You In A Heartbeat (Electric version)
“Electric version” new for Retro Active.
- Two Steps Behind (Electric version)
“Electric version” new for Retro Active.
- Miss You In A Heartbeat (Piano version)
“Piano version” new (hidden) track for Retro Active.
While the vast majority of songs were previously available in some form or another, Retro Active was still a solid compilation, especially for Def Leppard fans who never collected the band’s earlier releases and missed out on that material.
Retro Active: Release Strategy
Even as a one-off compilation, Retro Active included tracks that were radio-friendly and worthy of single consideration. Unfortunately, the album’s single release strategy was not optimal and didn’t maximize its commercial appeal.
After several Adrenalize single missteps the previous year, which in part contributed to the album’s sales to stall and never quite recover, there was hope Retro Active could right some of those wrongs.
“Two Steps Behind” was already a well-known track courtesy of the Last Action Hero soundtrack, which was released about four months before Retro Active. Even though the song was officially released as a single in August 1993, if fans wanted to own it immediately — and many certainly did — they could have purchased a cassingle, CD single, or bought the readily available Last Action Hero soundtrack.
Buying Retro Active simply wasn’t an option, since it still hadn’t been released.
So right off the bat, the wind was taken out of Retro Active‘s commercial sails — and, more specifically, sales — since what was likely the most mainstream track on the album was available for purchase elsewhere. (Of course, that doesn’t mean hardcore Def Leppard fans still weren’t looking forward to Retro Active‘s forthcoming release; even those who already had most of the compilation’s tracks in their collection were still eagerly awaiting new tracks “Fractured Love” and “Desert Song.”)
Retro Active: Radio Strategy
While “Desert Song” was tailor-made for album-oriented rock radio (AOR) stations, “Fractured Love” was the more radio-ready track of the two, packing a powerful punch with a hard rock sound that immediately harkened back to the band’s Pyromania era.
“Desert Song” was promoted to AOR radio stations the month of Retro Active‘s release, and it reached a respectable #12 position on Billboard‘s niche Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
As for standout track “Fractured Love,” it was never released as a single or focus track, not even to rock stations. (“Action” was not released in the U.S. either, but was a single in the U.K., peaking at #14.)
Retro Active‘s U.S. promotional strategy ultimately consisted of “Two Steps Behind” (a single which benefited the Last Action Hero soundtrack most), a limited push to AOR stations for “Desert Song,” and one additional single: the ballad “Miss You In A Heartbeat,” which would peak at #39 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 singles chart, the last time a Def Leppard single would crack that chart’s Top 40.
Again, Retro Active signified the end of a Def Leppard era, one the band would never return to due to Steve Clark‘s death, and featured several tracks from the “Steve years.” “Fractured Love” (co-written by Steve Clark) would have emphatically put an exclamation point on the closing of that Def Leppard chapter.
Regrettably, the rock aspect of Retro Active was mostly brushed aside, as the two official singles chosen to promote the album were ballads (“Two Steps Behind” and “Miss You In A Heartbeat”).
And while Retro Active was not a new original studio album, and the band was still touring in support of Adrenalize — which had been out about a year and a half by this point, with all of its singles released — it could have effectively provided Def Leppard with a more substantial tailwind.
“Two Steps Behind” Music Video
Retro Active‘s most well-known music video, “Two Steps Behind,” centered around Joe Elliott walking down a street while everyone and everything around him appeared to move backward.
It was a neat, memorable visual. (In reality, Joe was filmed walking backward while the action around him occurred normally.)
The video was then topped off with live footage of the band performing the song in front of a concert audience. (The ballad lives on to this day, most notably in acoustic form, as Def Leppard frequently performs it on tour.)
The song’s alternate “electric version” was more of a one-off to offer a little more variety and freshness to Retro Active; the only time it received any type of promotional push was during a short TV spot in 1993, which the band filmed for Monday Night Football. In case you never saw it, enjoy:
Undoubtedly, it was fun for fans to see the guys playing ball (and refer to a football as a “saw-seege”), but the spot was far too short to make a lasting, meaningful impression on viewers.
“Miss You In A Heartbeat” Music Video
One of the most memorable aspects of the “Miss You In A Heartbeat” music video was offering fans a peek into some of the band members’ homes.
While Joe Elliott played piano and sang in his living room…
…Rick Savage played bass from the comfort of his own home…
…as Rick Allen supplied the drumming from his residence.
It was a unique approach, but also exposed the fact that the band wasn’t performing the song together. Having everyone’s portions filmed separately resulted in relying on post-production editing and technical tricks to provide more fluidity to the band’s performance.
Hence, Joe performing alone in his living room resulted in Sav’s footage appearing in Joe’s window and footage of Phil Collen appearing on the living room floor, beneath Joe’s feet.
Meanwhile, Vivian Campbell’s footage appeared in Sav’s window, as Rick Allen’s portion was beamed onto a wall.
Making the footage of each band member’s performance work together succeeded for the most part, but, frankly, also came across as lackluster and low budget at times, especially when the video would periodically superimpose Joe Elliott’s translucent face over outdoor scenery to help maintain some semblance of continuity.
It was quite apparent the video was filmed while the band was on break, with each member enjoying time off on their own. Thus, a quick video shoot of them dutifully performing their respective parts for the video would have to suffice.
It’s certainly not a poor result, but it could have been executed better. Much better. But, hey, check out those beautiful, scenic views!
You can view the video and all of Def Leppard’s official music videos here.
Def Leppard Retro Active: Album Cover
Retro Active‘s album cover was inspired by artist Charles Allan Gilbert and his 1892 piece “All is Vanity,” which featured a woman seated at a vanity table, looking at herself in the mirror.
When viewed from a distance, the woman and her surroundings create the eerie illusion of a human skull.
The visual is effective and memorable, and especially apropos for Retro Active and its purpose.
Retro Active Reception And Final Thoughts
Retro Active debuted at #9 on Billboard‘s album chart and went on to reach platinum status. Not including Def Leppard’s greatest hits releases Vault and Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection, Retro Active would be the band’s last “new” studio release to achieve platinum sales certification. (By the way, if you really want to indulge in a lot more Def Leppard, check out this must-read book!)
Ultimately, Retro Active accomplished what the band set out to do: Put out an album of mostly older material to close the book on an era they wanted — and needed — to move on from. Soon afterward, the band would venture into new, uncharted territory to create what would be their Slang album (which is a whole other story).
Even though Retro Active put an end to Def Leppard’s Steve Clark chapter, it’s virtually impossible to ever leave behind Steve’s legacy and incalculable contributions. A fitting lyric from “Two Steps Behind” comes to mind: “You can run but you can never hide, from the shadow that’s creepin’ up beside you.” Likewise, Steve Clark‘s impact will always be a fundamental part of Def Leppard.
And while Retro Active was a compilation primarily celebrating Steve Clark and the band’s earlier work, it’s still a solid standalone release that echoes an earlier Def Leppard era while still sounding contemporary, even to this day.
