Def Leppard 2000 – Present
 Following Hysteria's mammoth success, the band quickly set out to work on their fifth album, hoping to avoid another lengthy gap. However, Steve Clark's alcoholism issues worsened to the point where he was constantly in and out of rehab. Recording sessions suffered from this distraction, and in mid-1990 Steve was granted a six-month leave of absence from the band.
Clark never reached the end of his leave, dying from an accidental mix of prescription drugs and alcohol on January 8, 1991 in his London home. The remaining band members decided to carry on and recorded of the album as a four-piece, with Phil mimicking Steve's style on his intended guitar parts.
Def Leppard's fifth album Adrenalize was finally released on March 31 1992. The album simultaneously entered at Number One on both the UK and US album charts, staying there for 5 weeks on the latter. The first single, Let's Get Rocked, was an instant smash hit and its video was later nominated for Best Video of the Year at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
In April 1992, guitarist Vivian Campbell (formerly of Dio and Whitesnake) joined Def Leppard, making his official live debut with his band at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Adrenalize yielded six hit singles and sold 7 million copies worldwide. Another successful world tour followed, but the band's fortunes began to be affected by the rise of grunge and alternative rock.
A collection of b-sides and unreleased tracks recorded between 1984 and 1993, Retro Active, was released in October 1993, preceded by the success of Two Steps Behind (from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero). Another single, Miss You In A Heartbeat, hit the Top 5 in Canada, becoming one of their biggest hits there. Retro Active has sold 3 million copies worldwide to date.
Two years later, Def Leppard issued their first greatest hits collection, Vault: Def Leppard's Greatest Hits (1980-1995), which has sold 8 million copies worldwide. Alternate track listings of the album were issued for North America, the UK and Japan.
The compilation included a new track, the ballad When Love & Hate Collide, which became their biggest ever hit in the UK, hitting #2. It peaked at #58 in the U.S. On October 23, 1995, the band entered the Guinness Book of World Records by performing three concerts in three continents in one day (Tangiers, Morocco, London, England, and Vancouver, Canada).
Slang, released in May 1996, marked a drastic musical departure for the band by featuring darker lyrics and a stripped-down alternative rock edge. The US audience reception for Slang and its subsequent tour was a major dropoff from a decade earlier, but Q Magazine would nonetheless list Slang as one of the Top Ten Albums of 1996.
VH1 revived the band's fortunes in the US in 1998 by featuring them on one of the first episodes of Behind The Music. Reruns of the episode yielded some of the series' highest ratings, and brought the band's music back into the public consciousness (following years of burial by the alternative rock climate). The episode was even parodied on Saturday Night Live.
In an effort to capitalize on this new momentum, Def Leppard returned to its classic sound with the 1999 album Euphoria. The first single, Promises, reunited the band with Mutt Lange, and hit the US Mainstream Rock charts for 3 weeks. The album was certified for gold sales in the United States and Canada.
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