DEF LEPPARD - ＂Let It Go＂

What this video is

Released in August 1981 as the lead single from High 'n' Dry, 'Let It Go' arrived at a pivotal moment for both Def Leppard and British hard rock broadly. The NWOBHM movement had emerged from UK working-class youth culture in the late 1970s, and Def Leppard — uniquely — were already pursuing a transatlantic sound under producer Mutt Lange that would later define mainstream 1980s rock. This video, shot at a regional…

Why it matters

A foundational document of early NWOBHM promo clip aesthetics, predating the polished MTV-era Def Leppard visual identity of Pyromania (1983) and Hysteria (1987). The video's raw, stage-lit performance format represents the transitional grammar between 1970s concert film documentation and the…

The director

Doug Smith directed the music video for Def Leppard's 'Let It Go' in 1981, working through the MGMM video production company. MGMM was one of the leading UK music video production houses of the early 1980s, responsible for a significant volume of British…