taylor-mayed's Full Review: Hysteria by Def Leppard
Heavy rock is perhaps the most underrated of all the musical genres, and Def Leppard possibly the most underrated of all the heavy rock bands, in the UK at any rate, which is perhaps strange given the fact that it’s their home country. In the USA, however, they formed their reputation at THE heavy rock group of the 1980s with two successive albums each selling several million copies, 1983’s “Pyromania” followed some four years later by the album for which they will be best remembered in decades to come – “Hysteria”.
The fact that this album took so long to produce is down to several factors all working against the band. First and foremost is the horrific accident that befell drummer Rick Allen on the night of December 31st 1984, as he was driving outside the band’s hometown of Sheffield. He crashed, an impact so violent that he was thrown from the car, losing his left arm and very nearly his right as well. Surgery re-attached the left limb, but within days infection had set in and doctors were forced to amputate it.
Amazingly, Allen was determined that this setback would not prevent him from drumming for Def Leppard again, and he set about a long process of recovery, learning to play one-armed using specially customized electronic drum kits. However, the new album was further delayed when Mutt Lange, the producer of their smash hit “Pyromania”, was unable to produce the new record so they enlisted a new producer instead. Band and producer did not gel, and after a long and tortuous working process they decided to try producing the new album themselves. They got nowhere and in the end eventually waited for Lange to be available to produce again – which he agreed to, immediately deciding that the work already completed was below standard and instructing the group to junk 16 months’ worth of recordings and start again from scratch.
The result was released in 1987 as “Hysteria” and a legendary album was unleashed upon the world. It sold slowly at first, but then with the release of hit singles such as “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Love Bites” from it, sales leapt into the stratosphere and Def Leppard found themselves as the biggest heavy rock act since Queen’s 1970s heyday as a heavy act before they moved into more pop-orientated material.
The album begins with “Women”, which to be frank is not one of the best tracks on it, but the classic Def Leppard slick production work, guitar sound and unique Joe Elliott lead vocal are all present and correct, giving merely a taster for what is to come. “Rocket” is more of a tribute to all of the musicians the band members grew up listening to rather than an attempt to right a successful rock song, referencing as it does characters such as ‘Sergeant Pepper’, ‘Ziggy’, ‘a Killer Queen’ and ‘Major Tom’ amongst many others.
Things really begin to take off with the third track, “Animal”, a real Def Leppard rocker that gets the pace going and begins to set the hard rocking in motion. Yet as with all Def Leppard material, rather than going for a gritty, dirty heavy rock sound they continue to opt for slick production values, intricate musicianship and multi-layered vocal harmonies, all reminiscent of their great heroes Queen.
“Animal” is followed by one of the all-time classic rock ballads and one of the best songs to be taken for single release from the album, “Love Bites”. Elliott’s impressive vocal performance on this track is augmented by Allen’s powerful drumming (can you really tell this man has only one arm?) and the ever-present guitars.
Then comes the big one, the song for which Def Leppard are remembered more than any other – “Pour Some Sugar On Me”. Right from the music-less, shouted introduction, you get the feeling deep inside that this is a really classic rock epic, one of those huge pounding hits that ONLY heavy rock can produce.
The song has been criticised for being overly similar to Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, and whereas the beats are similar, the music on “Pour Some Sugar On Me” is far more complex and built-up, however it shares the Queen song’s catchy, anthem chorus that sticks firmly memory and it probably one of the main reasons for the song’s runaway success.
After the epic heights of “Love Bites” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, the next track “Armageddon It” is a comparative disappointment, never scaling the same heights as the proceeding two songs. At the same time, however, it is by no means a weak rock song in itself, it is just when placed immediately after such classics, and it sounds no better than ordinary.
“Gods of War” tries to be another rock epic in the mould of “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, and although the chorus has some of the anthem-like quality of that earlier song, the whole thing just doesn’t quite have that ‘epic’ feel to it, despite the atmospheric, slow build-up of the instrumentation at the beginning from a single guitar intro into a pounding, powerful, rhythm-led rock track.
“Don’t Shoot Shotgun” sees the Def Leppard studio harmonies in full force with the multi-tracked vocal of the chorus giving a powerful chanting feel to it. The track has a faster pace to it than many of the others on the album, and once more has some very good guitar work – not the most outstanding track on the album by any means, but keeping up the generally high standard of the songs.
This is followed by another faster-paced track “Run Riot”, which has dated surprisingly well and the intro could almost be by one of today’s thrash rock bands. In fact the whole thing, complete with Elliott’s screeching lead vocal, sounds more reminiscent of Def Leppard’s somewhat more controversial American contemporaries, Guns N Roses, whose classic album “Appetite for Destruction” was released in the same year as “Hysteria”.
The album’s title track provides another iconic Def Leppard anthem, yet another of their most memorable songs and one of the all-time classic rock love songs. All of the instruments combine so well on this track, from the drums to the guitars and the ever-present but never overly intrusive bass line, magnificently supporting Elliott’s emotional and powerful lead vocal performance. The chorus carries the listener along on a wave of pounding rock with real feeling behind it in the manner of all the most memorable rock anthems from down the years.
Probably the most individual track on the album is “Excitable” with its unique and frankly somewhat bizarre intro giving way to another blast of those high-octane studio harmonies and classy guitar work that carries this pacey number along in a manner that sounds a bit like a heavier version of the classic 1970s Slade sound.
The album closes with “Love and Affection”, which in some ways recalls the title track in terms of its construction and arrangement. All the standards of the album are wheeled out here – good guitar work, powerful Elliott lead vocal and those multi-tracked studio harmonies adding that crowd anthem feel to the chorus, but somehow this song feels less than the sum of its parts. Possibly this is because it is so similar to the rest of the album and yet not as good as some of the other tracks.
“Hysteria” in a few words then – powerful, anthemic, a high quality piece of heavy rock without a doubt. The fact that Def Leppard are not celebrated as one of the first rank of rock groups in the same way as Queen, Led Zepplin, Guns N Roses, U2 and the like are is nothing short of a travesty – certainly they rarely deviated from their own set sound and style in their 1980s heyday, but when that sound and style hit its heights, it was better than anything else of its kind around.
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