Four years passed between Def Leppard’s massive Pyromania and the band’s pop metal masterpiece Hysteria. The masterpiece tested the limits of the compact disc and became a thoroughly futuristic-sounding rock album. Between those two albums, Def Leppard suffered immense tragedy, including a near-fatal car crash involving drummer Rick Allen, which resulted in him losing his left arm.
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Allen survived and relearned the drums by reimagining his kit with electronic trigger pads. His survival and new approach to percussion helped shape the sonic direction of Hysteria. Producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange, known for his relentless perfectionism, dialed in stockades of guitars and voices that made Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound seem like something shrunken inside a mid-century lab.
More than half the album’s tracks were released as singles. Def Leppard wanted to make their Thriller, and saw themselves within the larger context of pop music. Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe weren’t their peers; Michael Jackson and Prince were.
Whether Hysteria equals Thriller is best left to the internet to work out. But Def Leppard perfected the art of pop metal, hair metal, 80s hard rock, etc. Whichever descriptor you choose, Hysteria has endured as a singular achievement by any measure or genre, as the five tracks below prove.
“Pour Some Sugar On Me”
When “Pour Some Sugar On Me” dropped in 1987, you couldn’t escape it. Phil Collen and Steve Clark recorded layers of guitars, but they were treated in a way to make space for Allen’s electronic groove. The new wave groove and bubblegum (pun intended) vocal melodies leaned more toward pop than metal. However, the track still hits hard and sounds every bit as modern as anything produced using Logic or Pro Tools today. You don’t get to the slick productions of modern country music without “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.
“Armageddon It”
Hair metal has roots (again, with these puns) in early 70s glam rock. “Armageddon It” continues this tradition with the glitzy boogie of T. Rex’s Electric Warrior. Also, guitarists in the 1980s prioritized fretboard gymnastics over … music. But every note of this record is meticulously composed. Yet, with all the science involved in crafting this behemoth, it’s incredibly musical. Most albums this worked over suck the life out of the performances like pore-less skin in a Photoshopped image. Lange’s vocal production makes Slippery When Wet sound small in comparison, but you can dance to it, too.
“Hysteria”
Often, when one speaks of hair metal, it’s accompanied by an asterisk: guilty pleasure, ironic listening, 80s tribute night, etc. But the title track to Def Leppard’s masterpiece needs no such explanation. Another thing that set the band apart was how they didn’t write typical power ballads. “Hysteria” builds on layers of clean guitars, which wouldn’t have been out of place on The Joshua Tree. Perhaps this is Def Leppard’s version of the power ballad, but it’s much more sophisticated than, say, “Home Sweet Home”. Since 1987, any time a band uses the suspended D chord in a progression, it’s hard not to hear “Hysteria”.
“Rocket”
The stadium hook to “Rocket” isn’t hard to learn: “Rocket, yeah!” But there’s an interesting lyric hidden in the glossy production: “Satellite of love.” Singer Joe Elliott references Lou Reed’s classic from Transformer. Lange smeared the back half of the hook that mentions Reed’s song, leaving only what’s necessary for the radio audience to understand. You wonder how many people over the years at a Def Leppard concert have chanted “Rocket, yeah!” then kind of mumbled their lips over the “satellite” bit. Doesn’t matter. “Rocket” became a classic and was the seventh and final single from the album.
“Animal”
The pre-chorus to “Animal” would be a hit chorus for lesser pop metal acts. However, Def Leppard always had another level. Just when you think a vocalist has reached their zenith, enter Joe Elliott. When other bands track gangs of vocals, there’s an ambiguity to it. But Def Leppard’s gang vocals still sound like Def Leppard. The final track on this list could have been “Love Bites” or “Women”. The band almost called the album Animal Instinct, which makes “Animal” a definitive piece among the sprawling 62 minutes of music.
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