As I frequently tend to do when out in the world, I will ask this question-“Without thinking about it too much, who is your favorite rock band ever?”-Answers are usually something like- “errr, I don’t know, I like lots of music” -this, in most cases, is an outright lie. Everyone has a few favorites but not everyone will admit to it. I guess that is fine. You don’t want some part of yourself out in the public highway to be tread on and run over until you are ready. Music can be a deep and personal experience that some won’t share. Who wants to come out as a Def Leppard fan unless they are of the rabid fanatic variety and cannot help themselves? Because then you are going to have to deal with the follow up questions from the newbie self-proclaimed rock music dude on WordPress like- “That is interesting, you got any of those Union Jack sleeveless tee shirts still in the dark closet you pulled that band name out of?” —yeah…something profound like that, when I should say- “Wow, that is interesting, there must be a story to go with that answer?”…Because there must be a story to go with that answer if out of all the choices of rock bands since the beginning of time Def Leppard is the answer. There has to be a story. It has to be meeting the nice guys from Sheffield who played the best show ever, then stopped the tour bus to help get my cat out of a tree…yes, the bass player climbed up the tree and saved my little fussy paws from certain doom. Def Leppard-Best Band Ever! …you know, a story like that-because the story on the choice is always more interesting than the choice itself.
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Cave of Fame 
Def Leppard has its place in rock music just as comic books have their place in literature. That’s not the total slam it may sound like; there are quality comic books and even ordinary comic books can stir thoughts and emotions you otherwise would not experience… ok, you actually would experience them eventually just not in the six-box per page format with lots of exclamation marks…. and not when you were 10 years old. I guess that’s what comics and Def Leppard have in common; without context of substanitive comparison, they do expose the reader/listener to otherwise unknown ideas… until you turn 12 or 13 and realize what drivel it all is because by then you’ve been exposed to whatever 12 and 13 year olds listen to or read. Even if this is true, however, the Def Leppards of our early years will always have meaning in a nostalgic sense, but also in the sense they may have been the first harbinger of your first rebellious impulsions. As immature as those memories may be, they have value. Wait, what?…. right, that was not the question. Favorite Rock Band. The question specifies “rock” band so I’ll eliminate wave, punk, metal, et al and limit the resonse to “rock” band. I think unequivacally that would be The Who. Moon and Entwistle were on a plane all their own, and Townsend is a master writer, performer and guitarist. Daltrey gave the perfect voice to Townsend’s music and collectively, through talent and anger and message, they could simply band-rock like no other.
First- thanks for the comment -Like the comic book reference, I also like Def Leppard, I feel like they would rescue a cat…also wish it were true that everyone knows what drivel is by the time they hit 12 or 13…I would like to draw the courts attention to exhibit 14-Nickelback-to show that this may be overly optimistic.