Def Leppard 'Hysteria': C/D?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

This was one of my favourite records as a very young chap. Haven't listened to it in years. You guys all hate it, right?

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

GOOD LORD NO.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

yeah, this is pretty indisputably classic

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

man for a sec i thought gil meche started this thread

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

You'll find some general rambling on the band here but I'm content to turn this into a '50 reasons why Hysteria is so goddamn great' thread, so:

1) That weird-ass a capella bit at the start of the album version of "Rocket" -- and the way it's chopped up, reused, referred to and more throughout the song.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

I LOVE HYSTERIA.
It was my age 15 album.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

Good thing, Ned.
My brother is still not able to hear someone say 'good times' with adding 'drums!' afterward. Apparently a line from that album.
My first ever MTV experience was watching the video to 'Pour some Sugar on Me.' I was/am from Canada. I actually would like to buy a copy of that album; it's probably really cheap now.

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

This is one of the few albums from the hair-metal era that I like.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:19 (9 years ago) Permalink

2) The main guitar melody on "Dogs of War" -- pure glam descend/power of command/inexpressible this-is-IT focus.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:19 (9 years ago) Permalink

I guess this is all insisputably the beat Def Lepard album?

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

3) ONE LUMP OR TWO?????

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

4) Tying into Dan's reference, the fact that it's actually an industrial-pop album most of the time. Turn the vocals gutteral and make all the guitars ugly synth noises (instead of pretty synth noises) and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

5) laughing your ass off like fucking crazy the first time you see the british version of the 'pour some sugar on me' video

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

6) WHAT'S THAT SMELL???

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

3) The intro to the same song: flanged drums!

(x-post -> now #5. I'm talking about "Gods of War".)

(Isn't it "Guitar! Drums!"?)

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

7) the supersheen call and response "AND I WANT - AND I NEED" at the end of "animal"

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

I guess this is all insisputably the beat Def Lepard album?

I'd have to say so, you'll find disagreements of course. But I dunno...

8) Goddamn is the start of "Love Bites" weird and queasy. It's a power ballad but it isn't.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

perhaps I'm showing my age, but I much prefer PYROMANIA. They didn't get much better than "Photograph" as far as hooks go.

― steeve mcqueen (steeve mcqueen), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

10) the way between "pour some sugar on me" and the crue's "home sweet home" you have like five years at number one on dial mtv.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:23 (9 years ago) Permalink

11) The momentous intro to "Women"

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Right, "Gods of War," I goofed up there, d'oh!

Number 7 OTMFM.

12) the buildup to the chorus of "Run Riot" is so fucking great -- the missing fake-rebellion-as-anthemic-noise link between Sweet's "Teenage Rampage" and the Prodigy's "Firestarter."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

LADY MS LUREX TO THREAD DAMMIT

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

12) That they all gave themselves titles like "Wing Commander"

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

13) the way "pour some sugar on me" was kept outta the number one spot by a power ballad (cheap trick's "the flame") so the lep went "oh, so it's like that huh? DEPLOY POWER BALLAD" and next thing you know "love bites" is the number one single.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:26 (9 years ago) Permalink

14) Mutt Lange. I mean, that goes without saying.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:27 (9 years ago) Permalink

15. Great liner notes.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

16) ARMAGEDDON IT.. ARE YOU GETTING IT?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

17) "ARE YOU EXCITABLE...ARE YOU EXCITABLE...AREYOUEXCITABLEAREYOUEXCITAREYOUAREYAREARAAAAAA..."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

17) All the saccharine-dripping fruitcake call-and-response pre-chorus shit in "Hysteria": the "I gotta know tonight/It's been a lonely night/ . . ." stuff as well as the "I'm just another guy/You're just another girl/It's just another night" stuff, always punctuated by Elliot's post-Alvin "Ooooh"s.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

Actually we're up to number 19 with that last one, next one needs to be 20!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

TS: Lep's "Rocket" vs Smashing Pumpkins' "Rocket".
I know this is a Def Leppard appreciation thread, but I've got to side with Billy & Co. It's close, though.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

they're closer than you think!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

20) Speaking of "Rocket," how great is the video midsong break to T. Rex? Now that's a goddamn homage worthy of the name.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

AH NOOOOOOO FLASHBACKS FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL

and i hated the drum sound.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

21) The first low vocodered "She's so dangerous" in "Don't Shoot Shotgun".

TS: Lep's "Rocket" vs Smashing Pumpkins' "Rocket"

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

22) YAY THAT DRUM SOUND! Rick Allen loses an arm, Lange gets millions in digital drum technology to fool around with = echoing domination from the heights.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

22) oh god that weird ass 'rooowww, Rooooow, ROOOOOW' backward (?) part of the guitar solo, such awesomeness

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:35 (9 years ago) Permalink

23) might be one of the most over-produced albums EVERRR

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:36 (9 years ago) Permalink

"I'm just another guy/You're just another girl/It's just another night" stuff

Oh wait, this one is actually in "Love and Affection".

24) "Hysteria" and "L&A" blend into one giant smeared-out falsetto ballad epic.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:39 (9 years ago) Permalink

It's taken 20 years for me to discern any melodies at all in the oceanic whooshing and wind-whipping of this record. As a Def Leppard album I dud it, but as a triumph of production over band it's classic.

High N' Dry for this teenybopper.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

25) Hysteria:Ian::Loveless:Dr C

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

26) haha better drum sound than Loveless

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 02:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

"All the saccharine-dripping fruitcake call-and-response pre-chorus shit in "Hysteria": the "I gotta know tonight/It's been a lonely night..."

It's actually, "I gotta know tonight/If your alone tonight"...;)

I memorized the lyrics from my brother's Hit Parader when I was in junior high. It doesn't get much better than "Hysteria" for power ballad goodness.

― kickitcricket, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 03:44 (9 years ago) Permalink

"If you're alone tonight"

― kickitcricket, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 03:45 (9 years ago) Permalink

Mutt Lange is a genius as I only recently realised/appreciated properly

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 09:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

Dud. I'm as big a Chuck Eddy (and Ned Raggett!) fan as you'll find, but I just can't imagine why Chuck felt it deserved an entire book, because 90% of it absolutely refused to imprint itself on my memory. (Any one of their previous three, particularly Pyromania, is more worthy of praise.) Simply inferior to all its obvious sources of influence, and probably the single most lifeless "heavy metal" artifact I've ever tried to listen to (and once owned). Goes in one ear, and...nothing. I just don't get it.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 11:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

27) *Weird guitar noises* "AN-I-MAL"

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:48 (9 years ago) Permalink

28) I need to go buy this album on my lunch break now.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:52 (9 years ago) Permalink

28) "Skin on skin ... let the love begin!"

― Conor (Conor), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 12:52 (9 years ago) Permalink

I'm as big a Chuck Eddy (and Ned Raggett!) fan

! Why I'm flattered, but I don't think I've quite deserved to be spoken of in the same breath. ;-)

30) To perhaps answer Myonga's point -- as I said it's an industrial-pop album in ways, but more to the point it's a pop album straight up. A huge over-the-top one of course, but that's precisely its appeal for me at least, it's a place where x ALWAYS equals x. Literally half the album became singles that charted, and while that doesn't rival all but two songs off Thriller going top ten, say, it's still something. So it CAN catch, but I think thinking of it as a heavy metal album, quotes or no quotes, actually isn't the best or only way to regard it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 13:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 311 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

there was that dumb commercial where the guy sings 'Pour Some Shook Up Ramen"

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 August 2012 15:55 (10 months ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

Okay this was fun to write:

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

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 15:06 (9 months ago) Permalink

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 15:53 (9 months ago) Permalink

Love the idea of this album, but the non-single tracks are almost all dogs, which was a drag when I had it on cassette. Perfect disc for the MP3 era, however, when I can cull it down to its hits, which are so monolithically hit-like they totally make up for the dross.

Huge as this album was, lotta people forget that "Pyromania" was the second highest selling album of 1983 after "Thriller."

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:06 (9 months ago) Permalink

but the non-single tracks are almost all dogs

I'm willing to meet you half way on this, but then there's the fact that "Gods of War" might be the best track on the whole album and it wasn't a single.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:09 (9 months ago) Permalink

More than the other also-rans, at least I can hum that one, but I guess the lyrics sink it for me.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:14 (9 months ago) Permalink

Marvelous fun, Ned. Unfortunately we still get comments like this:

This was rock/metal for people who didn’t like the aforementioned. Massively over-produced, polished, and made for FM radio mass appeal. Perhaps the nadir of stadium poodle-permed rock. However, the reaction against this record was seismic – the Seattle bands, Faith No More, Jane’s Addiction, Pixies… Hysteria should be celebrated as the catalyst for bringing about something far more interesting that was about to happen in rock music…

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:26 (9 months ago) Permalink

My second to last paragraph in particular was JUST for them. As well as the earlier one about the continued complaining of 'true metal' types.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:28 (9 months ago) Permalink

Nice read! ANd if your second to last paragraph was aimed at them, you and Def Leppard both have a slightly warmer place in my heart now.

― ms fotheringham (Crabbits), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:29 (9 months ago) Permalink

:-)

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:31 (9 months ago) Permalink

After reading your piece, I think maybe Def Leppard is about two degrees away from something I would totally dig – not metal but more something like two degrees away from The Buggles? All the glam influence/expensive production/cyberpunk underpinnings, looks like something I would dig! IDK maybe I should listen to it again. I just hate Pour Some Sugar On Me so much.

― ms fotheringham (Crabbits), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:33 (9 months ago) Permalink

I don't totally hate it for how it SOUNDS, well I do, but it's also anti-nostalgia of having to hear it every night when I worked graveyard shift making donuts with a bunch of gnarly bros.

― ms fotheringham (Crabbits), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:35 (9 months ago) Permalink

Eurgh. Yeah I wouldn't blame you for that. Try maybe a one/two of the songs "Hysteria" and "Love and Affection" when it's late afternoon/early evening, you're feeling relaxed and the sun's hitting magic hour glow.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:39 (9 months ago) Permalink

"Hysteria" is a wonderful, wonderful song

― DARING PRINCESS (DJP), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:40 (9 months ago) Permalink

It takes genius to mix a song so that it sparkles as brightly as "Hysteria."

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:41 (9 months ago) Permalink

Is that the track where they recorded each string individually to make chords?

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:43 (9 months ago) Permalink

Thanks Ned, that was great!

Mr Veg & I listened to Hysteria on a recent car trip too, and we were both grinning & singing the whole way. There's a heck of a lot of fun at the heart of that album, for sure.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:43 (9 months ago) Permalink

Hysteria's the best. Def my favorite track.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:44 (9 months ago) Permalink

"Hysteria," the song, is I think the one that cribs from "Every Breath You Take."

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:45 (9 months ago) Permalink

There's a great bit in the Classic Albums documentary where Phil Collen talked how he, Steve Clark and Lange worked on breaking down all the guitar parts so it was much more textured than simply a straightforward riff ever would be, and I think "Hysteria" was the song used as an example. Certainly would make sense!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:45 (9 months ago) Permalink

I need to do "Animal" at karaoke soon. Thanks for the reminder.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 September 2012 16:46 (9 months ago) Permalink

xxpost -- "Message in a Bottle," actually! Collen specifically mentions that in the documentary as well!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:46 (9 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, now's a great time to point out that, if you're in any way partial to this record, you should watch the Classic Albums episode. It's fascinating.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:48 (9 months ago) Permalink

Hell, watch it even if you hate this record.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:48 (9 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, I will say that "Hysteria" is the rare example of overproduction working in the album's favor.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:51 (9 months ago) Permalink

is the classic albums special on youtube

― billstevejim, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:52 (9 months ago) Permalink

Naturally. Here's the first part:

There's also the bonus footage too.

You can stream the whole episode on Netflix as well.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:54 (9 months ago) Permalink

The "over" in overproduction indicates that the process reached a point where no more production was necessary, but the band/producer carried on anyway. I disagree with this whole premise re: Hysteria. It's the most perfectly produced album ever made. Never under, never over. It's just right.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 16:54 (9 months ago) Permalink

I suppose it's a bit of a paradox, isn't it? If excess is the aesthetic goal than you really can't go over the top.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:03 (9 months ago) Permalink

The dogs on this are "Excitable" and "Dont Shoot Shotgun". The rest is gold.

― Master of Treacle, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:06 (9 months ago) Permalink

I wonder how they would be viewed now if they had split when SC died.

― Master of Treacle, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:08 (9 months ago) Permalink

That's a good question. However, the thought of 5 or 6 Joe Elliott solo albums is scary.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:18 (9 months ago) Permalink

the part in the documentary where Phil Collen is showing their dueling guitar riffs, it's amazing how mathy it seems when taken apart.

― Poliopolice, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:39 (9 months ago) Permalink

I take guitar lessons, and my teacher is always impressed when I bring him something he considers through-composed, whether it's Def Leppard or Bedhead or Television, where the guitarists have put a lot of thought into how their parts fit together.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:41 (9 months ago) Permalink

also, it's funny when they're talking about the making of "Rocket" and all the lyrical references they were making to the early 70s glam stuff ("Satellite of Love", "Jean Genie", "Killer Queen, etc)... These were references to things just 12-13 years earlier. If I were writing "Rocket" right now in 2012, and wanted to reference 20 things from 1999 or 2000, what would I mention?

― Poliopolice, Monday, 3 September 2012 17:47 (9 months ago) Permalink

N'Sync, Condi Rice, you know.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 September 2012 18:06 (9 months ago) Permalink

Y2K

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 3 September 2012 18:21 (9 months ago) Permalink

Hell, watch it even if you hate this record.

This would be me - been reading about the making of it in Greg Milner's Perfecting Sound Forever and am kind of intrigued. Actually that's not true, I've never heard the album in full, I just really dislike Def Leppard in general (though I'll grudgingly admit that 'Animal' is quite good apart from the chorus).

― Gavin, Leeds, Monday, 3 September 2012 18:24 (9 months ago) Permalink

the chorus is the ideal release for the pent-up energy!

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 September 2012 18:26 (9 months ago) Permalink

the chorus is the ideal release for the pent-up energy!

It's that one-note gang-shout bit, it just doesn't work for me at all in this context. I did actually watch the Classic Albums last night though and very much enjoyed it. Phil Collen demonstrating all the separate guitar parts was particularly interesting and they all seemed like genuinely nice, down-to-earth guys. Wished there was more soundboard stuff but I think that about every one of those documentaries. I still can't get behind the actual songs I'm afraid - I realised this is mainly down to Joe Elliot's voice, I just don't like his strained way of singing higher notes (and having it tracked a thousand times doesn't exactly help).

― Gavin, Leeds, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 11:18 (9 months ago) Permalink

Got real Prince of Darkness "This is not a dream..." speech vibes off this pic of Ann Romney, in relationship to the Hysteria album cover.

― how's life, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 11:34 (9 months ago) Permalink

You are receiving this album in order to alter the events you are seeing.

― how's life, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 11:36 (9 months ago) Permalink

what's with that horrible cover, anyway? imagine what it could have sold if the cover wasn't so atrocious!

― Poliopolice, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 15:45 (9 months ago) Permalink

GASP

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 15:51 (9 months ago) Permalink

in 1988, my older brother's best friend had three favorite bands: Def Leppard, the Replacements, and U2.

― Poliopolice, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:24 (9 months ago) Permalink

I was into all those bands in 1988. Doesn't seem weird imo.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:26 (9 months ago) Permalink

I was going to say, that seems pitchpoint perfect.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:28 (9 months ago) Permalink

yeah that seems pretty otm

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:32 (9 months ago) Permalink

it's the replacements that confuse me.

― Poliopolice, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:44 (9 months ago) Permalink

Doesn't confuse me at all, they were getting greater attention then anyway.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 16:48 (9 months ago) Permalink

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.