# Photograph (Def Leppard song)

"Photograph" is a song by the British hard rock band Def Leppard that was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The track served as the lead single from the band's third studio album, which was titled Pyromania and came out in 1983. Although it has frequently been described as being a tribute to the entertainer Marilyn Monroe, the group's lead vocalist, Joe Elliott, has described the song as broadly about "something you can't ever get your hands on".
After its release as a single, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for six weeks. It additionally reached No. 12 on the Pop Singles chart.
In 2008, they performed the song with Taylor Swift on CMT Crossroads. The performance was nominated for both Wide Open Country Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year at the 2009 CMT Music Awards.
In 2013, the song was featured in the Grand Theft Auto V video game, on the Los Santos Rock Radio station. It was also released as downloadable content for Rock Band 3 in 2011.

## Musical style

The song has been described as pop metal, glam metal, hard rock and power pop.

## Reception

Cash Box called it "a well-crafted if typical hard-pop outing," praising the "incendiary metal guitar licks and deafening drumbeats."

## Music video

There are two slightly different versions of the music video. The uncensored version shows a knife scene at the beginning, and on the censored version of the video, it is almost the same except the knife scene is replaced with a stationary black cat among other minor bits removed. There are several appearances of a lookalike impersonating Marilyn Monroe in the video. Mutt Lange would later go on to say that the song wasn't about anyone in particular but more about expressing "young lust in an anthemic song."
The music video was directed by David Mallet and was shot on 2 December 1982 (bassist Rick Savage's 22nd birthday), in Battersea, London, England. It featured the video debut of their co-lead guitarist Phil Collen. The video aired in heavy rotation on MTV.

## Live performances

"Photograph" has been performed at every Def Leppard concert tour since its release. The song is traditionally the final song of the concert, often used during the encore (as well as fellow Pyromania track "Rock of Ages").

## Legacy

"Photograph" is widely considered one of Def Leppard's best songs and one of the best rock songs of all time. In 2009 it was named the 13th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. It was also listed as the 17th-greatest song of the past 25 years by VH1. In 2015, Loudwire ranked the song number one on their list of the 10 greatest Def Leppard songs, and in 2017, Billboard placed it number two on their list of the 15 best Def Leppard songs.

## Personnel
### Def Leppard

* Joe Elliott – lead vocals
* Steve Clark – lead guitar, backing vocals
* Pete Willis – rhythm guitar
* Phil Collen – guitar solo, additional rhythm guitar, backing vocals
* Rick Savage – bass guitar, backing vocals
* Rick Allen – drums, backing vocals

### Additional personnel

* Thomas Dolby – keyboards

## Charts
### Weekly charts

| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM) | 32 |
| UK Singles (OCC) | 66 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 12 |
| US Mainstream Rock (Billboard) | 1 |

### Year-end charts

| Chart (1983) | Position |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 90 |
Santana featuring Chris Daughtry :
| Chart (2011–2012) | Position |
| US Mainstream Rock (Billboard) | 30 |
| Chart (2019) | Position |
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard) | 23 |