Def Leppard 'Hysteria': C/D?

50) "hysteria, when you're near"

That being said, there are no rules without exceptions, and in the case of hair metal, Def Leppard were among the most obvious exceptions.

Great songs, great harmonies, great production. "Photograph" was a better single, but I still see "Hysteria" as a better overall album than "Pyromania", and certainly one of the better album of the somewhat dodgy music year that was 1987.

Incidentally, why did they release the singles in that order? It makes sense to release two rockers first and then a power ballad, but why "Hysteria" over (at the time) "Love Bites"? Isn't "Love Bites" *clearly* the better/shmaltzier choice for a band seeking a radio hit? Or is this my hindsight talking?

I was a big fan of the album at the time, but didn't get on board (along with millions of others) until "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and didn't even realize that it was the fourth single until months later. So I don't have any firsthand recollection of how the first three singles were received.

No, I meant that if the #3 single was going to be a ballad, why release "Hysteria" instead of "Love Bites"?

I'd never seen this vid before -- the one that always used to air featured the band playing on a huge concert stage (IIRC, the same one as the video for "Armageddon It"). The "living room" video looks a bit amateurish, so did they simply film a new one once the album went mega?

Animal>Hysteria>everything else on Hysteria

dud. dud. dud.

dud. dud. dud. dud. dud. dud. dud. dud.

god, no. def leppard? you've got to be kidding me...potentially the worst band of all time. and I speak from a position of assumed hometown loyalty.

it is my birth name, yes. and although I was brain-baffled by an excess of red wine last night, which led to some overly vicuperative spouting off, I stand by my statement. horrible band. the kenny G of rock.

1. photograph
2. animal
3. now
4. armageddon it
5. hysteria

all of those songs are catchy, melodic, and even get me nostalgic

Stumpus Maximus is, in fact, the band's tour manager Malvin Mortimer, and "The Good Ol' Boys" are Def Leppard. It's not a regular version of the old Engelbert Humperdinck song. With every verse, Stumpus is singing higher, until the end when he does nothing but screaming. It was meant as a joke, and was released as the B-side of the "Rocket" single and other singles.

Malvin became somewhat of a celebrity in '88 when some DJ's in Greece began playing the b-side instead of the usual A-side.

Yes. (Now that I finally have it too.)

I'm an idiot.

Whatever. Hysteria doesn't hold a candle to Pyromania. That is all.

So Hysteria: dud for production, classic for the actual songs, and doesn't vaguely measure up to the preceding two albums.

And all these weird CoolEdited, Pro-Tooled, compressed rock records from Nickelback and P.O.D. that get released these days can all trace their family tree back to this record. God bless Rick Allen for having heart in the face of adversity, but a one-armed man does not belong on the drummer's stool for a rock record. I've got factory preset drumtracks on my cheap four-track at home that have more soul than Rick Allen's drumming.

And keep in mind that I LIKE Def Leppard.

The fact that, as is noted above, the design theme of the album appears to have been Tron just makes it all the cooler.