Taking Sides: PYROMANIA vs. HYSTERIA

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Metal with an accessbile pop sheen or Pop with a slight metal patina.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:22 (twenty years ago)

Heh, I remember when I was like ten years old and kind of liked one of their songs. Shameful times.

― feminazi (feminazi), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

I've continued to come across people who who are completely bonkers for Hysteria. I think they're crazy. No contest here. *bangs gavel*

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:29 (twenty years ago)

Well done, Bimbz. Anyone of sound mind knows Pyromania positively IMMOLATES the flaccid, hairspray caked jizzdollop that was Hysteria.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:44 (twenty years ago)

http://www.ccsi.com/~romy/IMAGES/adrenalize.GIF

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:48 (twenty years ago)

You got the power
And the glory
Just say you need it
Just say you need it BLAH BLAH BLAH!

Er, Pyromania without question. The only things that you permission to pour sugar on would be D33Z NUTZ.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:54 (twenty years ago)

[have]

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:54 (twenty years ago)

Anyone of sound mind knows Pyromania positively IMMOLATES the flaccid, hairspray caked jizzdollop that was Hysteria.

OMG I am tempted to take that bait. But since this isn't Defend The Indefensible... I mean, christ what a juggernaut. "Arma-[fuckin']-geddon It" fuckin' charted for fuck's sake.

Since "Photograph" will get all the love it deserves (and for the drums alone, it should), I'll put in a good word for "Comin' Under Fire," F-F-"Foolin," and "Too Late For Love." The minor-key mid-tempers set the template for "Hysteria," which is the only track from Hysteria for which I harbor any love.

Now, where's the love for "Bringin' On The Heartbreak"?

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 04:59 (twenty years ago)

Now, where's the love for "Bringin' On The Heartbreak"?

Well, it's awesome, but it originally appeared on High & Dry. Mariah Carey should be clubbed with cast iron serving tray for the audacity of attempting to cover it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

The "originally appeared on High & Dry" problem troubled me too, but I couldn't see a Def Leppard thread go by without namechecking it.

The Carey cover could have been genius WTF?? but, sadly, did sux0r monkey balls for resolutely, even sullenly, refusing to rock in the slightest.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

While we wait for the East Coast to wake up, can we discuss "Rock Brigade"?

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

Robert Christgau's "credibility" with me went out the window when I read his "reviews" of Def Lep's albums.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:17 (twenty years ago)

Pyromania, hands down! (Regardless of how much I actually do love the "jizzdollop" that is Hysteria.) But c'mon now people, where's the love for 'Rock of Ages'?

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:17 (twenty years ago)

dah-na-na-na-na-naaaaah

I got somethin' to say...

Classic, except for the chorus.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

Best moment in "Rock of Ages"...."Now LISTEN to Maayyy!"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:20 (twenty years ago)

Alex just made me snort my laughing out my nose...

xpost: Hey! I like the chorus. It's full of cheesy goodness.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:22 (twenty years ago)

I said it recently, and I'll say it again. This bit from "Photograph"...

Oh, look what you’ve done to this rock ’n’ roll clown
Oh oh, look what you’ve done

...is inexplicably one of the great goosebump-inducing moments in rock.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:27 (twenty years ago)

Is it clown? I always assumed it was crown (not that either really make sense, mind you).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

...tho' I guess Joe Elliott is a bit of a clown. Some friends of mine actually toured with Def Leppard (the Unband), and said Joe was incredibly cool, accomodating and funny as hell.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:31 (twenty years ago)

I don't care if they played a free concert at Wal*Mart, I love my Leps and I always will. Sadly I'm not willing to pay the small fortune to see them with Bryan Adams this summer, but if anyone is thinking about it, they're still great live, even now. And I say that having seen them & fully expecting them to be completely crap.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:33 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria is an album I've owned on four separate occasions: twice on tape (wore out both), once on CD, once on LP.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:41 (twenty years ago)

http://img296.echo.cx/img296/6825/deafleo4ss.jpg

No shittin'.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:43 (twenty years ago)

I really, really want a t-shirt from that school.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:46 (twenty years ago)

Blind leopards on the other hand, get no respect.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:06 (twenty years ago)

xxxxpost

And now, a word or two for Gear! from Phil Collen on the mad muttlangery that gives that "Photograph" bridge its goosebump induction quotient (GIQ):

"On the bridge section there is a mix of keyboards and guitars. The way I got that effect is that instead of hitting full chords, I hit the notes of the chords individually. Each note had its own track and I faded them in."

They pull the same key change on the "Foolin" bridge, and it works pretty well there too.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

dah-na-na-na-na-naaaaah

Taking Sides: "In The Evening" vs. "Rock Of Ages"

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:24 (twenty years ago)

pyromania = hit and miss.
hysteria = no filler.

― rick, Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:58 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria was the betrayal album. Pyromania was hybrid. Pyromania was where the Leps managed to take the screaming Gibsons and football terrance chants and deftly fuse them with honest-to-goodness pop songs, forging a guilded ladder from the barbed-wire dungeon of the N.W.O.B.H.M. to :::gasp::: radio/video airplay. Hysteria was the Leps after they'd been uprooted, de-fanged, neutered and hollowed out, leaving only their sickly candy shell....their metal meat extracted and discarded. Pyromania had them scoring hits without sacrificing their bite. Hysteria had them jettisoning bite in search of further hits (which, unfortunatley, worked). Pyromania is Def Lppard's Night Time. Hysteria is their Brighter Than a Thousand Suns.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 11 June 2005 07:38 (twenty years ago)

Since I don't see any mention, I'd just like to rep for "Die Hard the Hunter" which is maybe the NWOBHM-est track on there, and especially for "Billy's Got a Gun" which prob'ly got me into the album in the first place.

Pyromania in a heartbeat.

― Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Saturday, 11 June 2005 08:45 (twenty years ago)

did def laeppard sell out ?
yes they sold out stadiums.

― rick, Saturday, 11 June 2005 09:40 (twenty years ago)

"Pyromania" had a couple of really strong singles, but I still feel like "Hysteria" was more consistent.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 11 June 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

Geir OTM (wtf...) "Photograph" > Hysteria >> Pyromania

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 11 June 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, what you really have to do when looking at Def Lep is to split it up between Mutt produced work and non-Mutt produced work. And, in doing so, there's no question that Hysteria was the apex of the Mutt Lange era.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

Can't choose. Both are beyond incredibly important to me -- Pyromania I played into the ground back in 1983, it got me into loud guitars as such. Hysteria is frickin' Hysteria, therefore untouchable. GENIUS. All hail.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

"Photograph" astounds me more every time I hear it, the way it hops from aggro male posturing to total vulnerability and back, major to minor, its so contradictory, so CONCISE, streamlined weapon of mass consumerism yet bursting with human emotion, its quite possibily the crowning achievement of 80s pop-rock.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

It's a beaut and a half. Hearing that song on the radio every 2 hours all those years ago = heaven.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

I can't think of a Def Lep radio single from either of those albums that I ever got tired of hearing 50 times a day.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

I have to admit I'm not much of a fan of "Foolin'"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

I love the end when the "I'm not foolin' myself" background vocals come in and get repeated.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

"Photograph" probably counts for me as one of those DEATH KNELL OF ROCK "end point" deals for me, where all other songs before and since are either human or techno, leaving "Photograph" as this solitary glimpse of a perfect hybrid. I think the trick must be using standard rock instrumentation and then running all sounds through Mutt Lange's magical Fairlight.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria had them jettisoning bite in search of further hits (which, unfortunatley, worked).

b-b-but "Love Bites"!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

Mutt Lange's magical Fairlight.

It was weird in that I only actually first consciously heard the synth strings many years later. I think this goes to the credit of Mr. Lange.

Fave bit might be the part where Joe goes "You make every man feel like a child, oh!...YOU GOT SOME KINDA HOLD ON ME." Vocals are great but it's also how the arrangement just seems to *really* get it right there. A bit like how on "Pour Some Sugar on Me" the "knockin' on my dooooor" bit nails it for the whole song.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" always reminded me too much of "Lovin' Every Minute of It" by Loverboy.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 11 June 2005 16:09 (twenty years ago)

Hearing that song on the radio every 2 hours all those years ago

you wuz robbed. i swear it was every 15 minutes in pittsburgh...

― john'n'chicago, Saturday, 11 June 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

Just enough time for commercial breaks and traffic reports!

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 11 June 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

My husband maintains that 'High And Dry' is sheer greatness & everything else is trash. However he's not above being completely contrarian so I can't guarantee he's not just saying that to piss me off. I like 'High and Dry' just fine, but 'Pyromania' and 'Hysteria' are my favorites.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Man, I was just thinking about starting this thread after reading the Def Leppard chapter in Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City. Gotta go with Pyromania - Hysteria is just too saccharine for these ears.

― darin (darin), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:49 (twenty years ago)

YEAH!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:51 (twenty years ago)

I swear, you people.

That said it's really been too long since I have listened to Pyromania all the way through. Still one of the greatest album covers ever.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

Did you read that too, Alex? It's fun - I'm not sure it'll make me re-examine Shout at the Devil anytime soon, but I'm enjoying it nontheless. Come to think of it, I did spend the most of my weekend watching the Bon Scott disc of Family Jewels so maybe it is working...

― darin (darin), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

A fine fine fine disc.

JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIL...BREAK!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 June 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, awesome disc. I think Phil Rudd may be my all time favorite drummer at this very moment.

I tell you folks
It's harder than it looks!!!

― darin (darin), Monday, 13 June 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I read Fargo Rock City a couple of years ago and remember enjoying it quite immensely (this was before Chuck got to SPIN).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 June 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

That said it's really been too long since I have listened to Pyromania all the way through. Still one of the greatest album covers ever.

That's a definite plus -- I never really liked the "Hysteria" cover.
Strangely enough, I bought "Pyromania" on vinyl a couple of months ago, just in time to see this thread and think "yep, it's just as I remember it ... it's no 'Hysteria' but 'Photograph' is one hell of a song". What can I say, when it comes to Def Leppard, give me the POP. See also: old memories dying hard.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 13 June 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Pyromania is an AMAZING cover, whereas Hysteria looks like a scene out of Altered States as filtered through a Tron video game.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 June 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

god, Hysteria is such crap in comparison to Pyromania.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 13 June 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

You bigot, Kyle.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 June 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

With songs like "Hysteria", "Love Bites", and "Animal", Hysteria may as well have been a Bryan Adams album, as far as I'm concerned.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 13 June 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

.With songs like "Hysteria", "Love Bites", and "Animal", Hysteria may as well have been a Bryan Adams album, as far as I'm concerned.

Precisely. In other words, CRAP!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I heard "Summer of 69" on the radio a few days ago and pairing of these two acts started to make a lot of sense, I hate to say.

― darin (darin), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

imagine if Joe Elliott replaced Sting on "All For Love"

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria wins for me. I mean, yeah, all these songs are just pop, but they're good pop. And Hysteria is when the drums became so over the
top!

― daavid (daavid), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

Actually, Hysteria sounds more like The Cars' Hearbeat City (also produced by Lange) to me.

― daavid (daavid), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

Pyromania by a landslide.

Unta gleeba gloutin globin

I think I listened to "F-F-F-Foolin'" and "Rock of Ages" 1000 times in 1983.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 13 June 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria is when the drums became so over the top!

You cannot be serious.

― The drums on "Photograph", Monday, 13 June 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

Pyromania. I've never, ever, nerver understood all the fuss over Hysteria and never will. Not a single muscular riff. Two, maybe three passable hooks. Teflon lyrics and bootstrapping harmonies. This record sounds like the cover looks. "Billy's Got A Gun" and "Die Hard The Hunter" and "Too Late For Love" had already achieved what Hysteria tried to. If it was REALLY recorded entirely with Fairlight samples, the experiment failed. And if it wasn't, then they should've TRIED that.

(And as for the pathetic Bryan Adams, "Cuts Like A Knife" and "Diana" and "Fits Ya Good" all woulda improved Hysteria.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 13 June 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

I DON'T WANNA TOUCH YOU TOO MUCH BABY
CUZ MAKING LOVE TO YOU MIGHT DRIVE ME CRAZY

c'mon, you love it, love it, love it

― loged out, Monday, 13 June 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria : first album I ever bought, with my own money that I had saved up especially. £7. Played it over and over until I bought my second album (Whitesnake 1987). Bought Pyromania a few months later, when I was getting blase about the whole album-buying thing. Thought it was great and all, but no Hysteria.

Best Lyric : Skin to skin, And let the love begin - WOMAAAAANN!!!

Oh yes.

― David N (David N.), Monday, 13 June 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

The drums on "Pour Some Sugar On Me" >>>>>>>> The drums on "Photograph"

― daavid (daavid), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

I mean bigger, not better.

― daavid (daavid), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

Hysteria is when the drums became so over the top!

Now that's just silly.

― The cowbell on "Foolin'", Tuesday, 14 June 2005 03:33 (twenty years ago)

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