Def Leppard-Classic or Dud

Haha, well, he had to be a clown in the first place to do something clownish, or at least have had clown potential. He's owning his clowning.

New album is titled Diamond Star Halos. My first impression of the single Kick is that it's not bad, but not particularly great. Instead of Bolan, it brought to mind late 80s Joan Jett or something as a hair metal take on glam. I'm definitely going to be interested in hearing the rest though. The idea seems like a good match for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeWFvZX2lkI

Sometimes when I listen to Let's Get Rocked I intentionally mishear the chorus (where possible, i.e. the parts where 'rocked' is muffled) as 'Lexicon Lexicon Lexicon Lexicon of Love'.

It also always occurs to me that 'Slang' sounds far more like a 1992 lead single than a 1996 one.

In "Let's Get Rocked" I pretend he sings, "I guess Iraq's out of the question".

Sorry, my scrupulous integrity compels me to correct: "I suppose Iraq's out of the question".

let's get rocked has to be one of the stupidest songs ever recorded. the classical music part is pretty amazing though

yeah that song def started my decline in fandom

it was on the radio alllllll the time & the stupid animated video was everywhere too
i still hate it

That and they played it at the Queen tribute concert. I mean Spinal Tap's "The Majesty of Rock" was more appropriate.

I'm not the sadness police, but I was put off that this was how they decided to re-introduce themselves to the public after the death of a core band member.

the classical music part is pretty amazing though

Hell yeah it is. Also I love the video, mostly for in-jokes that would make no sense to anyone but me and my school-era best friend.

me and my friends made fun of that song so much it became part of our lexicon, especially saying "let's get the rock out of here" when we were going to leave someplace

your lexicon lexicon lexicon lexicon

lol

I'm not the sadness police, but I was put off that this was how they decided to re-introduce themselves to the public after the death of a core band member.

Def Lep's knack for mighty rhythm riffs vanished when Clark died, that's for sure.

MOW THE LAWN

I was just a wee lad in the '80s (born in '79) so I can't imagine how much I would've hated them if I had been a little older.

Born in '65, I despise them. Although, Pyromania takes me right back to the numerous keg parties of my senior year in high school.

The popularity of this band has always been bewildering to me, mainly because I never hear anyone mention them or play them. Obviously people in this thread have heard them, but for a band that's sold over 100 million records worldwide and has two diamond-certified albums in the U.S., I feel like I should hear them as much as, say, Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac or Nirvana, but they never come up.

(in real life that is, not on a forum thread like this)

idk this is a capt obvious observation but maybe it depends on who you hung out with and the kind of music you consumed?

they were hugely popular to me as a kid & teen into early 90’s, i knew lots of people who liked them growing up especially in Hysteria times: less so in college when brash glam rock got deeply uncool really quickly

the genre they operated in never exactly had the support of the rock crit establishment

They're all over classic rock radio, I listen to them with a decent amount of frequency. Loads of kids in the middle school are wearing their tees, which may have more to do with successful licensing (for some reason it's mostly Adrenalize tees) and parents trying to keep up with the throwback styles but it's not nothing.

xxp Oh I don't mean then, I meant more like the past ten years or so. I actually haven't listened to classic rock radio ("The Drive" in Chicago) in a decade, but that's a pretty seismic shift if they're on there now.

"The Drive" LOL

In Atlanta, it's "The River."

In Denver, it's "The Mountain."

I would think "The Drive" would be more appropriate for L.A.

Lake Shore Drive! I think it made perfect sense if you lived around Chicago, but yeah I know what you mean.

Someone in another thread mentioned "The Blimp."

The Hub

But Boston seems to snob-provincial to do it. Ain’t lived there in 30+ yrs so I don’t know who is playing Peter Wolf deep trax

also “too”

(tbf i dig the right j geils and cars, so, eh… jam on Hub FM if u exist)

i leave aero to aero, i don’t know

I hear at least eight or so of their songs all the time.

I was playing some of their early NWOBHM-era stuff recently, you could see how they got big when most of their contemporaries didn't. Even back then they were way more professional and charismatic than, say, Praying Mantis (sorry lads), and also willing to write blatant efforts at making inroads into the US market like this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTwEfAwX3ig