Def Leppard - Hysteria
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Artist: Def LeppardBrand: DEF LEPPARD
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Island / Mercury
Soundtracks:
- Women
- Rocket
- Animal
- Love Bites
- Pour Some Sugar On Me
- Armegeddon It
- Gods Of War
- Don't Shoot Shotgun
- Run Riot
- Hysteria
- Excitable
- Love And Affection
Music reviews of Hysteria
Music Review: The Album That Almost Wasn't
Rating: 5 Stars
It's probably recognized that every released music album has some type of story behind its production and recording. Most of these are unremarkable and soon forgotten by everyone except the band members and others involved with the album's creation, if the story was ever known by the world in the first place. Yet there are a few music products that have a well-known history behind their creation, in addition to those particular albums being well-known themselves. One of these is "Hysteria" by the British rock band Def Leppard, perhaps the most widely known and appreciated album from this band. It would be a twist of fate, combined with the response of the band and others to that event, that played a role in the shaping of this album and its characteristics.
The members of Def Leppard included (at the time of this recording) lead vocalist Joe Elliot, drummer Rick Allen, guitarist Steve Clark and Phil Collen, and bass guitarist Rick Savage. This group had been known as a hard rock band, and their immediately preceding album "Pyromania" fit the description of hard rock 'n' roll, that album being released in 1983. As in the expected course of events, their next album (this one) would have probably been released around 1985, yet an unforeseen event would arise to change things. Rick Allen was involved in a car accident that would severely injure one of his arms to the extent it could not be saved. Instead of discontinuing his career as a drummer, he decided to resume his playing; his decision was backed up by the rest of the band and the producers. To accomodate his single arm, he had a special drum machine which allowed him to pound away on the instrument as he previously did. After a long period of therapy and rehabilitation, Rick was once again thumping and setting the beat for the band's songs. Def Leppard and the producers made some adjustments to this new situation, toning down on the sound and the tempo from a strictly metal rock to a more pop metal flavor. The result was a sound that appealed to an even greater scope of listeners at home and abroad.
The consequence was an album released in 1987, harboring twelve songs of varying styles, pace, and themes ranging from softer love songs to high energy tracks, dealing with subjects from relationships to war. Each of these selections is unique, so that each track is like no other in this collection. Beautiful background vocal harmony sung by the Bankrupt Brothers and melodic lines are common traits of all the songs included in "Hysteria". Fabulous guitar work by Steve Clark occupy the interim period between verses in each of these selections. Seven of these items became hits in the USA, five major ones, and two other less prominent ones. The highly popular radio hits from this disk are "Rocket", where a steady moderate beat is dominant; "Animal", a high-energy, mid-tempo song about passionate love; "Pour Some Sugar On Me", another passionate love song; the moderately slow, strongly beating "Love Bites", another song dealing with love, where caution and uncertainty about approaching a relationship is featured. The title track "Hysteria" is an extremely popular hit, mid-tempo and soft, with a hint of soft rock blended in with pop and metal. A somewhat less frequently played hit is the moderately paced "Armageddon It", where the title translates to "I'm a gettin' it" and is actually a love song, rather than a tug of war between good and bad, as the title many suggest. The initial track on this disk, "Women", was a relatively minor hit, sometimes heard on album-oriented radio stations. This song had a moderately slow, yet heavy beat throughout. These seven songs comprise more than half of the album, and contributed to its mass appeal in the USA.
The five remaining songs are no less remarkable. "Don't Shoot Shotgun" is moderately fast-paced and makes a good dance song; "Run Riot" is perhaps the highest energy, hard-driving piece on this whole disk, and comes closest to the definition of heavy metal in pure form. The mid-tempo "Gods Of War" contains a strong statement about disliking the duty of serving in battle. Sounds of war: firing of ammunition, soldiers marching, and a bomb at the end of the track create vivid images of a war-ravaged land. The second-to-last track "Excitable" is an explicit illustration of passionate exchange between man and woman, it has a strong thumping beat throughout. The final track "Love And Affection" is soft and mid-tempo, similar to the title track. Its name is descriptive of the subject contained within: another romantic piece combining metal, pop, and soft rock into one. This last track could have become another major hit if it had been released as a single.
This album turned out to be the high point of Def Leppard's career, in the end. Never again would this group produce another album of the caliber that "Hysteria" enjoyed. Tragedy struck the band again with the untimely death of Steve Clark, and instead of "replacing" Clark, Def Leppard decided to let their hit making become a thing of the past. Things could never be the same, and nobody could really take the place of Clark and his style of guitar playing.
Credit is due for making this album possible: Rick Allen deserves admiration for persisting and not giving up his career as a drummer, even in the face of adversity; the rest of the band for agreeing with Rick and supporting his decision continue as their drummer; the record producers for assisting in Def Leppard's efforts to carry on; the doctors and other health care providers for restoring Rick to a functional status; and the people who designed and produced the drum machine that enabled Rick to continue to play in the band. Everybody here contributed their part in bringing this album to production and actual existence.
Description of Hysteria
Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) pressing of this classic 1987 album from the Rock legends. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2008.Probably Def Leppard's best album, and certainly their most successful, Hysteria pretty much sums up 80s hard rock: catchy, tuneful, and fun. It's also one of the few albums from the period that doesn't sound dated now, and singles like "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Armageddon It", and "Rocket" remain staples of rock radio. The rest of the album is equally entertaining; "Animal" and "Hysteria", while mid-tempo, have the same slick intensity, and "Love Bites" is one of the few pop-metal ballads that doesn't sound saccharine over a decade after its release. Def Leppard may be remembered more for their hair than their music these days, but that's more due to changing tastes than anything else. It's still good. --Genevieve Williams
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