Def Leppard - Pyromania P-P-P-Pollin'!

The soundtrack to an otherwise lamentable year in the eighth grade (and really, Junior High School is the worst) and part of a gateway drug to glam, now it seems so much more like the ubiquitous classic rock that preceded it than the mostly-American contemporaries they shared covers of Hit Parader and Circus with. Oddly enough not a gateway drug to the NWOBHM for me because by the time I had enough sense to start checking out older Def Lep, Metallica and Mercyful Fate started pointing me in that direction.

This is exceedingly difficult for me as it seemed that every song received some air play at the time and the entire album save for maybe the last two tracks stand up to scrutiny all these years later (I still play it from time to time). "Too Late For Love" is great but I generally prefer rockers which puts "Photograph" and "Foolin'" in play with the album opener "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)" as a darkhorse.

Will see what people say here before voting...

I was looking for my LP today and couldn't find it. "Rock of Ages" and "Photograph" get in my head the most but I remember "Die Hard the Hunter" being pretty cool.

I think this has to be Photograph

this is "Stagefright" for me. total balls to the wall verse riff followed by a delicious poppy chorus and featuring a dope-ass solo.

Foolin' is all phases of Def Lep in a single song.

Photograph might get it for me, that soaring chorus just does it for me every time

But Foolin is killer

Ugh

"Action! Not Words" is the only song I'm not real keen on

"Foolin" was the first DL song I ever heard I think. Saw a video of it and it seemed impossibly exciting and naughty.

too hard, "Photograph" vs "Die Hard" vs "Billy's Got a Gun" probably

either foolin' or photograph, leaning toward the former

Ahh, but you've given away the correct answer right there in the thread title.

This album (along with Billy Squier and the first few Van Halen albums) was the soundtrack to boy scout summer camp for several summers in a row. We relied on the one kid who know some german to decipher the intro to "Rock of Ages" for us.

Agreed that it holds up. l still have my copy that I got from Columbia House Record Club, and it does still get some spins.

Lol @ silent harpist in "Foolin'" video

saw Def Leppard last year for the first time and "Foolin'" slayed

"Stagefright" all night for me.

I once went to see Def Lep on the Euphoria tour in Allentown PA and I was joking with my friends about some of their lesser singles. "I hope they do Make Love Like a Man!" "Yeah or Slang!" Later the same night Joe yells to the audience "That was Make Love like a Man, THIS...IS....SLANG!"

This has got to be "Photograph"

Only one mention of "Rock of Ages" thus far? Surely that's crazy. Figured it would be a showdown between that and "Foolin'" with "Photograph" firmly in third place. Then again, 2017 has been full of surprises.

Gunter blieben glästen globen

We relied on the one kid who know some german to decipher the intro to "Rock of Ages" for us.

According to Google Translate, the words translate to "Gunter remained glazed globes."

I almost don't want to know the real translation at this point. It would be more anticlimactic than finding out that Ozzy Osbourne didn't really delay the start of his show until the crowd killed a puppy.

photograph

i really hate the "passion killer" line in Photograph, that is my only mark against it

PASSION KILLER, YOURE TOO MUCH

wtf

but then the lead-in to the chorus makes up for it

SO WIIIIIILD AND FREEEE
SO FAAAAR FROM MEEE
YOURE ALL
I WANT
MY FAAAAANTASYYYYYYY

forgot just how much ass "Die Hard the Hunter" kicks. it is lots. lots and lots of ass.

also helicopter noise.

probably the 'heaviest' song on the album

yeah was gonna say it's the most NWOBHM track underneath Lange's production glitter

i really hate the "passion killer" line in Photograph, that is my only mark against it

I always thought this was "plastic killer", which was kind of cool, but, nope, it says "passion killer" in all caps in the video. I guess they meant someone who kills with passion, as opposed to someone who kills your passion?

For years I thought he was saying "possibly" in a really stupid way

POSS A BILL AH

precursor to Gucci Mane

Great making of in Tape Op. Drums recorded last! Tons of Fairlight.

yeah great article tape op 4eva!!!!!

We're talking about the Tape Op interview in the Hysteria thread.

Some days Mutt Lang looks out of his mountain chalais and ponders that if they would have only spent another 200 hours mixing, Billy's Got a Gun would have been the biggest hit on the record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

couldn't lie to myself, voted "Photograph"

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"Too Late for Love" 0

wau

It really had to be "Rock of Ages" in the end.

i remember thinking for years as a young kid that Def Leppard were covering the hymn "Rock of Ages"

I'm a HUGE Def Leppard fan ("Hysteria" is my favorite album, but "Pyromania" is up there too), and I'm so glad their catalog is finally available digitally.

With that said, I've got to say the recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction news for Bon Jovi kinda bugged me, so I put together a detailed "face-off" comparing the 2 bands to show which one is REALLY more "worthy" of the honor.

I think you'll find it interesting...Feel free to share it!

"Bon Jovi, but not Def Leppard? For Shame Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!"
https://www.nostalgiclogic.com/bon-jovi-not-def-leppard-shame/

posting the same post on two different threads is about as necessary as a drummer having two arms

MEAN

it can be frustrating dealing with dismissive co-workers, those who are very comfortable routinely doing the same inefficient thing over and over. These folks have simply “accepted” the way things are done, and the most effort you’ll get from them is when they challenge your new ideas.

FP til ya drop

Been jamming PYROMANIA a lot recently, and what’s killing me now is Rock of Ages, specifically how Elliott sings “so feeeeeel it” towards the end, he holds that note and gives it a little vibrato and it owns.

Stagefright has also been destroying me, the chorus feels like it’s almost a bit too fast but it hangs on and makes it all the more thrilling.

Why won't you let goooooo

I like Hysteria a lot but people who think it's better than Pyromania are nuts

otm

phil collins has some great solos on this record

Pyromania is great start to finish, good tracks all the way through. I love Hysteria but Side B drops way off trackwise imo.

Pyromania is just as well crafted as Hysteria but isn't so obsessively overcooked also better songs (imo)

xpost yeah the non hit songs in Hysteria are kinda forgettable

I don't think I can listen to either of these in one sitting.

wtf

I know, right? I think it's that Pyromania the song is imo much better then everything else on here, and there are a few songs I actively hate. Like rock rock till you drop. Hysteria, there are more songs I want to listen to, but I think the running order is weird.

24 Joe Elliott vocal tracks can’t be wrong

Happy 40th

wow

And we’re as far from Pyromania as Pyromania was from a time when the number one song in the country was “There Are Such Things” by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra w/Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers

That's time for you! But I kinda love it, really.

I SAIDAH WELCUM TO MAH SHOWWW

I know I've posted plenty of times on Def Leppard but it appears not on this thread so to repeat what I just said over on FB: this and Duran Duran's Rio are in many tangible ways the lodestone albums for me after what had been a couple of years of top 40 listening primarily, then finally moving into purchasing albums on my own. (Did RCA's record club help in that regard for a twelve-year old? Of course.) The funny thing is that both Duran and Def Leppard were of course strangely similar: two very not-from-London quintets ultimately sourced from UK glam rock's general hysteria and possibilities rather than being seeming opposites of sorts, but if _Rio_ fully inculcated me into possibilities of dance, electronics, beats, a backdoor introduction to Bowie (who of course also hit with Let's Dance in 1983) and Roxy and much more besides from there, then Pyromania is what made me consider noise, riffs, feedback and everything that would lead from there. Foundational stuff! And of course Thomas Dolby was on here so it all kinda intertwined further in the end. Anyway, rock! Rock! (Till you drop.)

I've disliked this band for nearly the entire last 40 years, but, having thought of Mutt Lange as a single-minded obsessive chaser of hit records, actually listening to all of Pyromania reveals that he has an attention to detail that couldn't possibly translate into greater record sales. So there's some deep motivation there not revealed in his Graham Parker productions.

JUST YOU AND ME BABE

Good timing to revisit this old Quietus piece. The author's name rings a vague bell, but I can't quite seem to place it ... anyone?

https://thequietus.com/articles/09833-def-leppard-hysteria

I’d love to hear an Albini produced Hysteria

xpost Heard of that guy.

Gunther glieben ye mad puffin

(for those few people who know my real name, it's funnier in that form, trust me)

Ned's post is all-time wisdom BTW. This was a seminal time for persons of my age, class, and temperament.

Each person's journey is their own, of course, and that journey is unique to that person. Everyone values and treasures their own specific journey. But some of us followed enough of the same path that we can recognize one another. If you had that Members Only-style jacket in eighth grade, we probably have a lot in common. If you were a girl in a big Forenza sweater in a neon color, I see you, friend. If you ever bought a cassingle, you are in my tribe.

Always thought this album cover was a Storm Thorgerson jam 'cos he did High 'n' Dry, but I guess not. Hmmph.